Fatal Attraction

Chapter 16

Lauren stared at the clock at work, anxiously waiting for the clock's hands to turn to 7:00 PM.

Unfortunately for her, it was still 6:54.

After the long, intimidating conversation with Dinah and Normani, they agreed that they should all spend time together as a group. That way, Camila and Lauren didn't have to have any of that first date awkwardness, and the girls could have some time to bond.

If it wasn't clear enough, this was 100% Dinah's idea.

Lauren would rather deal with the awkwardness of the first date rather than the awkwardness that would come with being in a room with both Camila and Dinah.

Especially since their spontaneous date at Insomnia Cookie went so well, Lauren was looking forward to spending some one on one time with Camila.

But, of course, Camila's roommate (a.k.a. Camila's third parent) was, for the lack of a better term, twat-blocking.

It was hard for Lauren to not tell Dinah to mind her own business and to butt out, but she had promised herself that she would do whatever she had to do to win Dinah's approval.

Because without Dinah's approval, the relationship could turn real messy, real quick. Therefore, Lauren was playing it safe.

Tonight, they were going to Dinah and Camila's shared apartment and we're going to have a "Parks and Recreation" marathon while binging on junk food together. Luckily, Normani invited herself immediately, that way Dinah wasn't a complete third wheel.

Not like that was going to make Dinah act any less crazy, but hey, anything can happen.

6:57. Fuck.

Lauren tried to make herself busy, cleaning out one of the coffee machines to perfection. Suddenly, she began to worry.

What would she wear? What would she say? How was this going to work, especially with all of Dinah's crazy assumptions and interruptions? Would Dinah convince Camila that she wasn't a good person? What if Dinah had already talked to Camila, and Camila decided that she spontaneously hated her?

Fuck.

6:59.

Lauren noticed her boss, John, staring at her in her peripheral vision. He was probably staring because Lauren never cleaned. Ever. Typically during her last few minutes of her shift, she would race to the bathroom, or would simply state off into space, thinking about a newspaper article she had read that day.

But instead, she was aggressively cleaning a poor coffee mug that literally didn't ask to be attacked at that moment.

"Yo, Jauregui!"

Lauren snapped out of her trance, realizing she had been cleaning that mug for a good 90 seconds without paying attention to anything else.

"Yes, sir?"

"In your several months of working here, I have never seen you clean. What's going on, are you all right in there?"

Lauren sighed. "I'm not even sure how to answer that question, to be completely honest."

John checked his surroundings, making sure none of the other employees were within earshot.

"Hey, let me pour you a cup of coffee. Want to talk about it?"

Lauren was definitely surprised by the gesture, and accepted his invitation. Since she wasn't very close with her father at the moment, it was nice to have somewhat of a "father figure" in her life.

They sat down in the corner of the cafe, and set down their drinks on the small table. An awkward silence fell upon them, but luckily, John quickly filled the silence.