Walk A Mile (Camren)

XXXIII

"I am so tired," Camila complained after only being at work for about two hours. She had no idea how everyone seemed to flood into the store at once. It was okay, though. They only had six more hours to go.

"Aww, come on. You can do it, babe," Lauren grasped her shoulder and gave her some encouragement. Lauren was more than accustomed to their peculiar burst of customers at the same time. At Dairy Queen, either nothing was happening, or everything was happening at once.

"Where do they even come from? They're like animals," Camila glared at the counter she'd finally been able to step away from.

When Lauren wasn't being abrasive and misplacing her stress on Camila, she was actually a good trainer. Combined with Shannon's endeavors to guide her through each order, Camila slowly developed the necessary skills to aid Lauren with the front. She felt like she was doing a decent job. She'd only messed up three orders, and her brooding anxiety only got the best of her one time. Lauren was superwoman, though. She was tackling the front as well as dealing with the drive through with her headset on simultaneously, because they were understaffed today.

"You did a good job," Lauren stepped forward and kissed her forehead sweetly, just to keep her spirits up.

"I messed up..." Camila mumbled and remained unconvinced. Shannon passed by and had some sympathy for her. She remembered how hard her first few shifts were, and Camila was doing much better than she had. She caught on quickly.

"You did do a good job, Mila," Shannon smiled in passing.

"Thank you," Camila smiled at her. Lauren placed her hands on her hips indignantly.

"What? When I say it, you don't believe me... But she says it and you believe her?" Lauren playfully narrowed her eyes at Shannon, then at Camila.

"You're biased!" Camila explained her rationale and laughed with Shannon.

"I am not. If you did a shit job, you know I would tell you," Lauren deadpanned. Because of her soft spot for Camila, she would probably sugarcoat it or something, but it wouldn't be repressed. She'd always been rather honest.

"Yeah... That's true," Camila nodded slowly, remembering the mouth Lauren could have on her at times. Her smile returned genuinely and she reached out for Lauren's hand. She managed to grab her wrist instead and pull her up to her, then she pecked her lips. "Sorry. Thank you too, Laur."

"You guys make me miss Cam," Shannon sighed.

"Yeah, where is she?" Lauren had noticed her absence, but hadn't asked about it.

"She's sick, so she's probably at home, sleeping," Shannon pouted for her. Camila and Lauren had always reminded her of her relationship with her own girlfriend. Missing her drove her to inconspiciously pull out her phone and try to FaceTime her until they got another customer. She hoped she wasn't asleep, like she predicted. "I'll be right back."

"Remember when you got sick and you wouldn't let me take care of you?" Camila brought up one of their earliest good memories fondly. "You were a stubborn little baby."

"Yeah, until you insisted and made me. I remember you burning the soup," Lauren giggled at her endeavors.

"Of course," Camila rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I remember that. You were so cute," Lauren smiled at her so much that her cheeks began to ache. "I love you."

"I love you too," Camila reciprocated easily and couldn't look away from her compelling eyes. "So much."

"You make it really hard not to - Hang on, babe," Lauren signified with one finger and shuffled to the front promptly to greet a customer. Camila watched her in adoration from where she stood without altering her placement much. Lauren took the man's order within record time. She made her way back over to Camila after handing him his receipt. "As I was saying, you make it hard not to. I don't know why it took me so long to finally tell you."