youth. (camren)

(two)

On her ninth birthday Lauren gets a brand new skateboard from her parents. Not even ten minutes later she's at Camila's doorstep holding both her skateboards.

"Happy birthday!" Camila lunges forward into Lauren's arms and Lauren wraps her arms around the girl as both her skateboards clatter on the ground, "Thank you, Mila." She picks up the new skateboard, "Look what I got!"

"Wow." Camila runs her fingers over the army green wood.

"Cool, right?"

Camila nods, "But why did you bring the other one?" She asks, referring to Lauren's old skateboard. "Well for you of course!" Lauren states matter of factly as she lets herself in and kicks off her sneaker.

"F-for me?"

"Yeah! I wanna teach you how to skateboard."

Camila shakes her head as she closes the door, "I dont't think that would work, Lo."

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it."

Camila shoots her a quizical look.

"It means don't bash on something before you've done it yourself."

"Oh.. I still don't think it would work."

"We'll see about that." Lauren smirks as the girls enter the living room.

"Happy birthday, Lauren." Camila's mom smiles as she passes the girls on her way to the laundry room.

"Gracias, Mrs. Cabello. My parents wanna ask if you'll come by for cake later?"

"Por supuesto!" (Of course)

"¡Genial!" Lauren turns to Camila with a grin on her face, "Let's skate!"

"I don't know about that." Camila says with a pained expression on her face. "Come on!" Lauren pouts, "I'll give you some of my cake. At least try it." Camila can't hold back a giggle at the sight of Lauren's puppy dog eyes. "Before I knock it?" the younger girl jokes. "Exactly!" Lauren grins, "Let's go!" She runs to the door with Camila right on her heels.

Ten minutes later Camila's wearing all of Lauren's old safety gear including a ladybug helmet that Lauren straight out refuses to wear ever.

"Stop laughing at me." Camila pouts, watching Lauren doubled up with laughter.

"Okay I'm done." Lauren lets out one last giggle before getting up and grabbing her new skateboard. "Let me show you how it's done first."

Camila nods, "I'll just watch you."

Ten minutes of explaining and demonstrating later Camila's hand is in Lauren's as she sets one foot on the old skateboard. She squeals and loses her footing as the board rolls away from under her foot. She cries out Lauren's name and the girl swiftly catches her with one arm as she halts the skateboard with one of her feet.

"It's okay, I've got you, you're fine."

Camila lets out a shaky breath, "Lauren, I don't think-" "You can do it, I know you can."

The smaller girl bites her lip and wipes a few tears from her cheeks before nodding. "Can you.. can you keep holding me like that?"

"Oh." Lauren looks down at where her arm is still in contact with Camila's back. "Of course. I've got you remember."

Camila nods before placing her first foot on the board, "You better give me a lot of cake after this." She whispers before getting on fully.

"You did it!" Lauren exclaims, urging Camila to open her tightly shut eyes.

"I did it!" The younger girl turns her face to look at Lauren and the two grin at each other, Lauren's arms wrapped around Camila's waist as the girl balances on the skateboard.

•

"When did I give you permission to use that?!" Lauren pushes her brother off of her old skateboard and picks it up, her new stilettos causing a whining sensation to run through her feet as she bends down.

"Dude, chill!"

"I'm not a dude, Christopher. And use your own damn board!"

"You know it's busted! And you never use yours anymore anyway!"

"Not my problem." Lauren fixes her skirt and stands up straight. She takes a deep breath before going back inside, knuckles white from holding on to the skateboard.

"You used to be fun, bitch!"

She knows he's right but she doesn't care.

•

About twenty attempts later Lauren isn't holding anything but Camila's hand as she's stood next to her. "Now lift your foot."

Camila hesitantly lifts her left foot.

"C'mon, you can do it, Camz!"

And she finally takes off, Lauren skipping along, giggling as Camila chuckles nervously. Just as she wants to lift her foot again the girls hear a voice calling them in for drinks.

Lauren takes her best friend's hand and the two run towards the Jauregui house.

"I think you should have my old skateboard." Lauren says once they're inside before stuffing another bite of cake in her mouth.

"And I think you're crazy." Camila does the same.

"C'mon, you're obviously a natural!"

"A natural what?" Camila scoffs and Lauren doesn't bother explaining, instead just chuckling at the girl next to her whose cheeks are still red with heat and excitement.

"The board's yours now. You better take good care of it."

Camila sighs, "Alright, the board is mine."

•

It's dark and Camila's drunk when she nearly trips over her old skateboard. She kicks it under her bed with a groan before pinning the drunk girl down on her mattress.

What was her name again? Annie? Abbie?

"I love you." the girl's words fill the air, all slurred and desperate, and Camila can't help but scoff at the cluelessness of them, "Whatever, sweetie." She knows she says it but it doesn't feel like it.

She can't feel her lips as she presses them against the girl's neck. She can't even feel her fingers as they roam the girl's naked

Hell, she can't feel a damn thing.

•

a/n: Hi! Thank you so much for reading. Big thanks to my honeys Dorine (laurensnugget_) and Maddison (CaKe167) for helping my indecisive ass finally finish this. Hope you enjoyed!