Habit

Chapter 23

Lauren's P.O.V
We danced for what felt like hours to whatever song that played from Camila's stereo, and I made sure to take notice of every single thing that I did that could make her smile or scrunch up her nose, so that I could do it again and again, and again. Eventually, we fell back on her bed with content and sleepy smiles on our faces, and decided to take a nap in each other's embrace at least until her parents came back home from running errands.

It was two hours into the nap that I woke up and to my advantage, before Camila. I shuffled beside her to give my eyes better access at her features. If anyone was outside handing awards for the ''Biggest Creep'' one would be rightfully handed to me, after today. I studied her face in genuine appreciation and felt her hand twitching beside my own and took the opportunity to interlace our fingers. I watched as the corners of her lips tugged upwards and an exhale left her adorable nose. Everything about her screamed, ''Kiss me.'' And it felt so relieving that I could do that now, without having to be intoxicated or a monster to her. I don't think I'll ever understand why she chose me to give her hope, but I'll never take that for granted ever again. As I saw her next to me now, I could imagine an abundance of mornings waking up to this, just as I could imagine nights falling asleep to this. She was a lullaby, my lullaby.

About a half hour after I had woken up, I heard a car park outside and knew that was my cue to leave. ''Camz,'' I said as I shook her gently. Her nose scrunched up, and she shifted herself to face away from me. I chuckled and let go of her hand and climbed over her to be on the opposite side, now facing her again. ''Camz'' I said, louder this time. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration and brought a sleepy finger to her mouth, signaling me to be quiet.

I smiled and leaned forward and kissed her cheek which began to redden and a small smile began to form. She was awake. I kissed her forehead this time, tenderly. The smile grew, a tad bit, almost unnoticeably. I kissed her nose which she covered with her hand and the smile grew even more, showing her teeth now. I kissed her hand before moving it out of the way gently.

''Camz?''

''Hmm?''

''Your parents are here, I have to go.''

Her eyes began to flutter open now, looking at me with no sense of hesitation, ''No, stay. Stay for dinner.''

My eyebrows shot up in surprise, were we at that level yet? Wasn't it too soon? We weren't even anything official, could this ruin everything? But as worried as I was of what the outcome could be, I wanted to stay, so I smiled at her and nodded.

Her smile grew, and she told me to wait a bit for her to change, not knowing how her family would react to company and her in a night gown. I sat on the edge of her bed, as she ran into her bathroom and began to fidget with her fingers. I shouldn't be nervous, but I was. Did they know who I was? Did they know what I had done to her daughter? Did they even know Camila was gay? I looked at her window, and walked over to it. It wasn't that high, I had climbed it before; I could always escape and not have to go through this...

But, I had made a promise to Camila, and she told me she wanted us to be afraid together, so that's what we'll do.

I ran back to my previous spot, and waited patiently for Camila. I began to look around her room, and spotted a mirror and walked over to it. I fixed my bed-head and made sure I looked presentable. I tugged and pulled at my clothing, trying to straighten it out and huffed when a particular wrinkle wouldn't give out on my shirt. I was about to get frustrated when I felt two arms wrap around my waist and Camila's chin on my shoulder. She planted a kiss on my neck and nuzzled her nose against it, ''Relax. You'll be fine. They don't bite; they don't particularly like Laurens for dinner.'' She smirked at her own joke, and I tried to fight the smile that was forming on my lips but gave in anyway. It'd be okay.