Ink ➳ Camren

Chapter Eighteen

All rights go to original author.

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"Camila?" Lauren looked to Lily for an explanation. Lily just shrugged and took a sip of her coffee.

"Hi Lauren." There was a pause. Camila's eyebrows shot up to the top of her head as she gestured wildly for Harry to help her out with what to say. He just smiled and lit up a cigarette.

Lauren looked a bit lost for words. "Um...I'm sorry. I didn't know who was on the other end. Lily just handed me her phone out of nowhere and then there you were."

Camila got to her feet and turned away from Harry, taking a few steps to put some distance between them. She didn't want her best friend to hear her make a complete dick splash out of herself. "Yeah, I'm kind of in the same boat. Harry and I were just talking and all of a sudden there was a phone in my hand and your incredibly sexy voice on the other end." Camila squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fist as she realized what she had just said to Lauren.

A crooked smile appeared on Lauren's face as she dropped her head; she looked down into her lap, almost ducking under the table. She didn't want Lily to see her cheeks turn rosy. "So, you're in San Jose then?"

"I am."

"Right, well..." Lauren had spent the last four and a half days desperately wanting Camila to call her and now that she had, kind of, she had no fucking clue what to say.

There was another awkward pause in the non-existent conversation. Camila attempted to speak first. "I have to apologize-" Lauren spoke just a beat after Camila had and trampled all over her words with, "I'm so sorry, Camila-" They both stopped mid-sentence.

"Go ahead."

"No, you."

"Seriously, Lauren. Go first." Camila bit her bottom lip and smiled. She's not pissed off at me. Thank you, Jesus. She's not angry; she's not hanging up!

"Well, I..." Lauren started her apology speech, which she had been going over and over in her head since it all happened, but she looked up and was reminded that just across the table from her were the observant hazel eyes of Lily.

Lauren got up from the cafe table and walked a few paces, through the outdoor patio, onto the sidewalk, way from prying ears. It wasn't that she didn't normally speak to girls in front of Lily; Lauren fully-disclosed all the dirty details of her conquests on a regular basis and Lily had found it to be more entertaining than the dramas on television.

It was just that, Lauren wanted to keep Camila to herself for right now. Unlike her typical kiss and tell everything style, Lauren had keep her feelings for the beautiful brunette close to the vest. She didn't want Lily making assumptions about them or trying to speculate on their relationship, especially since Lily was the only other person who knew every single detail of the night Lauren and Camila met.

Lauren thought back to that night; she couldn't remember a time when she had so much fun or had felt so much just holding some one's hand. A wide smile spread across her face. "I lost my phone or left it at the club or something...just in case you were trying to call me." Lauren heard herself say the last bit and winced. She hoped that the next words she heard weren't I didn't try to call you.

"I did call you, actually." Camila offered the information readily. Lauren smiled in relief. "I called you last night and I am sorry that it took me so long to do so."

"It's okay. I understand."

"You do? It was just that-"

"You don't have to explain, I mean, you can, if you'd like, but maybe in person, or something."