2859

Chapter 9

Camila
There are lots of things special about my offer...I'll even send you pictures of my offer later. :)

This woman simply could not be any cuter. There was no way. She had to be the cutest person ever born. Lauren should make her a plaque or something, she needed something tangible to prove it.

Finally getting to talk to Camila that afternoon had turned her day around. She had spent most nights the past week dealing with Ariana's special brand of crazy. So, needless to say, she was stressed to the max. When there was Camila, though, there was a lightness in her step. There was a joy in her heart. She didn't even like joy. Not in any form. Not even people named Joy. Ariana had even asked this morning if there was something wrong with her face and stared at her for twenty minutes until Dinah explained that she was smiling.

She quickly typed out a response and hit send.

Lauren
Can't wait to see your offer. :)

"Your face is doing that thing again," Ariana announced just after she and Dinah had finished a very moving rendition of Seasons of Love. It was a performance that Lauren had seen literally 525, 600 times.

"Shut up, I'm happy right now," Lauren snapped. "I let you guys sing for an hour without calling the cops or making gagging noises. You both owe me."

"You're so dramatic sometimes," Ariana complained.

"Talk about the coffeemaker calling the coffee black," Lauren rolled her eyes.

"Huh?" Dinah asked.

Lauren just waved them off as she clicked through her phone to her Camila pictures. There was the first one, Camila in her gray University of Washington hoodie. Lord Pumpkin, the lucky bastard, was still sitting in her lap. Sometimes, Lauren thought if she stared long enough, maybe Camila would actually drink the Fresca. But, no, it continued to hover chest high in her left hand, while her right arm stretched out of frame to take the self-pic.

She drug her finger across it and the second one popped up. Camila, who had her arms draped over her little sister from behind, had her nose scrunched up like she was snarling at the camera. It wasn't exactly the best picture of Camz, but she had sent it one night after telling Lauren all about how Sofia hated Colorado and called her daily to bitch. Lauren had replied, "If I was with you for that long and then somebody made me move to Colorado, I'd be pissed, too." Camila had laughed at that and confessed that it probably had way less to do with missing her sister and way more to do with missing that little punk ass of a boyfriend she left in Seattle.

One more drag across the screen and the third picture appeared. Ah, the third picture. Lauren let out an audible sigh which Dinah snorted at. She'd witnessed this already.

"How is she?" Dinah asked as she fussed with Ariana's horde of fashionable cardigans.

"Amazing," Lauren answered dreamily. The image in front of her originally contained Camila and Normani. They had been attending the reception of Troy and Ally's, their friends and neighbors, recent wedding. Normani had her arm slung over Camila's shoulders and they wore eerily similar drunken grins. Lauren had made quick work of cropping Normani out, leaving the beautiful brunette. She was wearing a blue dress that showed off her assets pretty perfectly. Camila had told her it was the first time in a while she'd be out dancing. Dancing. Camila. Lauren bit her lip at the thought of what they talked about earlier. "We're Face Timing tonight."

"Face Timing!" Dinah sounded scandalized. "Are you sure you're ready for that? Talk about a huge leap. You've only been talking on the phone for what? Two months now?"

"Fuck off," she said with the accompanying hand gesture. "Sixty-seven days."

"You're counting?"

"Yep." Lauren set the third picture as the lock screen on her phone. She briefly wondered if that made her a creeper, but then decided she didn't give a damn. She then tapped her messages icon and wrote another quick text.