Student Exchange

X

"Fuck, I'm nervous," I told Lauren. We were currently in her Jeep. I had just proved I could rap the entirety of Poetic Justice by Kendrick Lamar in front of Ally, Dinah, Normani, and, of course, Lauren. But now, we had dropped the other girls off at home and my nerves were coming back.

Lauren had invited me over for dinner with her Mom. Sure, I had met her mom before, I had even lived in her house! However, I rarely saw any of her family because of the minimal time we spent inside the house and outside her room. It was also different because, now, Lauren and I were together. She wasn't bringing me home as a favour to Dinah and Ally anymore, either.

We originally planned for me to come over Tuesday night but the week had proven to be busier than expected. Luckily, the school had this Friday, or tomorrow, off. So, Lauren and I decided I would have dinner with her mom and possibly her siblings, then I would sleep over since her mom had an evening flight for work, and spend the day tomorrow.

"You've met her before, babe, she's harmless."

"Yeah, and I'm afraid I'm going to be the one to change that." She chuckled and removed her hand from my leg to lace our fingers together. Then, she brought our hands up to her lips and kissed the back of my hand before migrating back to my lap.

"I promise it'll be fine. Plus, you're sleeping over so you'll have plenty of time to recover and," She stopped as the light turned red and turned to , a visibly tense, me. She brought her hand up to my cheek and smiled. "Relax. You're cute when you're stressed,"

In a matter of minutes, way too soon if you asked me, we made to Lauren's house.

"So how much does your mom know?" I asked, pulling my bag out of the trunk.

"She knew about my crush when you stayed over and I told her we're a thing. So basically, I told her not to mess this up," I smacked her arm. "What?"

"Be nicer to your mom," I said with a straight face. She just patted my bum and motioned for me to go ahead.

"Is your dad home too?"

"No, he's away until Monday, I think." I nodded.

When we reached the door, Lauren unlocked it but turned to me before opening it. She gave me a quick kiss on the corner of my mouth and proceeded to walk through the door.

"Ma, I'm home!" Lauren called out.

"Is Camila with you?"

"No, I forgot her at school," Lauren yelled back, laughing. "Of course, she is!"

Clara walked in right after, wiping her hands on a dish towel.

"See how I'm treated, Camila?" She asked, a grin on her face. I laughed politely.

"Don't worry, I got mad at her before," I smiled back and went in for a hug. She rubbed my back and it was nice to have some motherly contact. Clara reminded me of my own mother.

"So Camila," She began, her arm lightly pushing my back, guiding me forward, silently telling me to walk with her. "How have you been ever since you left? I told Lauren she should have kept you here for the month!" I giggled.

"Oh, I couldn't do that, but I've been well. Keeping busy, I'm loving Miami." I told her.

"And Lauren is treating you well?" I couldn't hold back my laughter that only increased when Lauren, who was following behind, spoke.

"Ma!" Lauren cut in.

"Mija, let us be, take her on a date or something and maybe I won't be so worried!"

"Why do I have to be the one that takes her out?"

"Lauren Michelle!" Clara placed a hand on her chest.