One and Only

Part 18

One and Only - Chapter Eighteen
Camila's POV
-
I woke up next to a sleeping Lauren. I wasn't exactly sure how we ended up in our bedroom, but we'd certainly managed to. I paused. Wait. A sleeping Lauren.
I peered down at her, her head resting in the crook of my neck. Her arm was resting across my stomach, our legs tangled together under the sheets. A light blush rose to my cheeks when I remembered just how exposed we both were. It was then that the memories of last night flitted through my mind, intensifying the shade of pink covering my face. Despite my crimson cheeks, I smirked to myself. I couldn't decide what was better-the-release-of-seven-years-of-sexual-tension sex or make-up sex. I think I liked both equally.
It was very rare of me to see Lauren asleep, on account that it's very rare of her to sleep. I remembered that she slept well after our first time, too, and that made me ooze with joy. Maybe I was the secret ingredient Lauren needed to help with her incapability to sleep. I knew I was just flattering myself, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to be a little more confident. My lack of it was what got us into that mess in the first place.
All too soon, I felt Lauren stir next to me, her eyes fluttering open to meet mine. They were always such a nice shade of blue in the morning. I smiled at her.
"Camz," She whispered, "Where are our clothes?"
I laughed, her head raising up to look around the room. "They're somewhere in the kitchen."
Lauren turned to me, "Oh, right. I remember now." She wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively before she sat up. "What time is it? I have that meeting today with Mr. Clarke."
I looked at her, confused. "What meeting with Mr. Clarke?"
Lauren took one look at our alarm clock and got up quickly, running into the bathroom. "Shit, shit, shit!" She fussed. I heard the shower turn on before her head popped out of the door, looking back at me. "I'll tell you about it when I'm out of the shower!" And the door was shut.
I looked at the time. We didn't have to be at work for another three or four hours. A meeting with Mr. Clarke? What could've possibly happened in the last week or so that I didn't know about? The one time Lauren and I stop talking, something big happens for her career and I'm not there to celebrate? I huffed, getting up out of bed to put something on so that Lauren didn't see my body in complete daylight. I'd seen Lauren nude many times before and my body was nothing compared to hers. I'd also seen many of her girlfriends nude, by accident, and my body was definitely nothing compared to theirs. I groaned, pulling on a minimal amount of clothing before walking out into our dark loft. It wasn't light out yet and I wasn't used to being up this early. I flicked on the light switch to the kitchen, moving to make some coffee, before I smirked at the sight in front of me. I stepped around the scattered articles of clothing, the evidence of last night making me squirm. Lauren sure knew how to express her forgiveness.
I made my way to sit in the living room, the thought of having breakfast over the counter making me blush. It didn't take long for Lauren to get out of the shower, her pace to get ready doubled by whatever meeting she needed to get ready for. When she appeared out of our room, she was in a bra and panties, her hair still wet as she walked quickly to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee. I watched her laugh at the sight of our escapade from last night, her eyes gleaming under the fluorescent lights.
"So," I began, turning my body on the couch to face her. "What's with the meeting?"
"Right!" She exclaimed, her eyes fixed on the coffee pot as she poured it. "I'm being watched." I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "By upper management, I mean. It seems Mr. Clarke thinks I'm quite the catch." A small tug of the lips appeared as she made eye contact with me, the news setting in.
"Lauren!" I squealed, jumping up. "That's incredible!" I met her with a hug, my arms wrapping tightly around her bare waist and my head resting against her shoulder. "Buy us a nice penthouse when you start making millions a week."
I heard her chuckle, my heart fluttering at the sound. "I knew you were only with me for the money."
I pulled back to look up at her, a grin etched onto my face. "Damn right I am. I mean, what else are you good for? You're horrible at cuddling, you can't cook, you aren't satisfying in the bedroom... The list goes on and on, but that doesn't matter as long as you're bringing in the big bucks."
She raised her eyebrows at me, fighting a smile to play along. "I am, in fact, a fantastic cuddle buddy. A 'good cook' to you is someone who can make pizza rolls without burning them, and I definitely succeed at that. And as for the bedroom, I might be mediocre there, but I remember being pretty damn satisfying in the kitchen-specifically, on countertops." I inhaled sharply as she gripped my backside, pulling me into her. "If you don't remember, perhaps I could jog your memory?" All I could do was nod, finding it very hard to speak at that point. "Too bad I have that meeting." Lauren smirked, letting me go as she walked back into the bedroom with her coffee in hand.
It took a moment for me to figure out how to breathe properly again, a smile appearing despite the tease. She wasn't being weird this time and for once, I didn't feel like I was unwanted. She'd admitted to feeling something for me and I felt it-I felt it when she held me, when I woke up next to her... It was all consuming and I knew I would give up the world before I gave up Lauren.
-
"I want to take you somewhere."
Lauren turned to face me, her eyebrows raised in surprise. I smiled. She didn't get surprised often. "Where?"
I blanked-I didn't have a place. I managed to come up with, "It's a secret."
"A secret?" She hummed, facing forward and buckling herself in. "This better be good, Cabello."
I sent a small nod her way, cursing myself for not thinking this through. What a great idea, Camila. A nice date after work at ... Oh, wait. You don't know where you're going. Nice job.
So, I just drove. I could only think of one place that was truly beautiful enough, despite some faults....
-
When we arrived, Lauren was eager to get out of the car. I'd driven us to a nice secluded beach area, the sun almost beginning to set. We got settled in, sitting next to one another in the sand in our 'professional' clothes and I almost didn't think she'd notice where we were until-
"Is this where Adam proposed to you?"
I winced. "I thought you wouldn't remember."
She laughed which made me relax a little. "Of course I would remember. You showed me pictures of this place for weeks after it happened." Lauren hit the side of my arm, "I can't believe you thought I wouldn't remember-I can't believe you brought me here!" Her mouth was open in pure amusement, a grin complimenting her face.
"It's so pretty, though. I've been dying to come back here! And don't even play the 'Horrible Date Location' game with me. You took me to a restaurant where you fucked the waitress in a booth ten feet away." She kept giggling, and I knew that there was no way I could ever be here with anyone else. Lauren was probably the only person that I'd met in my entire life who wouldn't get mad at something like this... Lauren was probably the only person that I'd met in my entire life who wouldn't get mad at anything, actually. I liked that about her. She always chose the positive.
My girlfriend shook her head, chuckling. "We're so bad at this dating thing."
"Yeah, maybe this wasn't the best idea." I said, my eyes focusing on the sea in front of us. "You just had to go out and steal my heart." I joked.
Lauren scoffed, her forehead creasing in disagreement. "I stole your heart? Excuse me, but if I remember correctly, I did not once come on to you while you were with Adam."
"You're forgetting that one time in college when you were drunk." The memory flashed through my mind, a smile forming immediately.
Lauren thought for a while before it came to her, a laugh erupting from her mouth. "Oh, don't remind me."
"Too late!"
-
I heard movement in the darkness, immediately moving to sit up and switch on the lamp next to me. There appeared Lauren, who was stumbling in our dorm room drunk as ever. "Lauren," I spoke, the exhaustion in my tone evident.
"Shh!" She put her index finger up to her mouth to silence me as she walked over to my bed. "Camz is sleeping!"
I sighed, wiping the tiredness from my eyes. It was then that I noticed I was fully dressed-Adam had never come to pick me up for our date. I had fallen asleep waiting for him, the realization making me bitter. "Go to sleep, Lauren." I practically growled. I wasn't in the mood for this.
The brunette swung her left leg up next to me on my bed, the dim light hitting her shiny heels. "Help me take these off." She whispered. "If I bend over, I'll puke everywhere."
I obliged quickly. Cleaning up Lauren's throw up wasn't exactly how I planned to spend the rest of my night. I patted her left leg when I was done and she switched, stumbling back slightly at having to balance her weight on one leg. I took that one off, too, and she stood before me for a second before she plopped down on my bed. "Thanks!" She squealed, moving up to sit next to me. Her green eyes met mine as she sat criss-crossed by me. "Hey, wait. You are Camz!"
I rolled my eyes. "How much did you have to drink?"
"Don't worry. You're only a little fuzzy." She began, inching closer, "I can still see how sexy you are."
My eyes widened and I got a feeling deep in my chest that I couldn't quite explain. Lauren had never said anything like that to me-well, she had said things like that to me about her girlfriends, but never about me. She really needed to stop drinking so much. "Okay, I take it you had a ton to drink."
She didn't entertain my statement, quickly moving on to something else. "Where's your boy toy tonight?"
The way her emerald eyes were on me-it made my cheeks burn. It was like they were commanding me to look at her. I couldn't avert my gaze if I tried. Her powerful orbs were pinning me down, but I was sure that even if I could break the contact, I wouldn't. "He's not around." I answered simply, the anger about him ditching me flooding in once again.
"Not around?" Lauren smirked. "You must be lonely." Her hand rose to brush some strands of hair out of my face, lingering there to caress my cheek. "I can fix that."
And, I swear to God, if I didn't smell the booze on her breath that night I would have let her do anything she wanted to me. But I could, so I held onto my anger to ignore the disappointment. "You're drunk."
"You're pretty."
I got up, the closeness of us not helping my resistance. I decided that the only way this would stop is if we fell asleep. It was always really easy for her to fall asleep when she was drunk. My dress came off with ease and I turned back to see Lauren's eyebrows raised.
"Nice." She complimented.
I ignored her comment, moving in front of her. "Arms up."
"Yes, ma'am." Lauren said. She was still staring at me like I was the most desirable thing in the world-even with my smeared make-up and messy hair.
I pulled her shirt off, throwing it on the floor. "Give me your shorts." She took them off, winking at me as she handed them over. I walked over to our closet, pulling out two shirts. I shrugged one on before I tossed the other to Lauren. "Put it on." But she didn't. She threw it at the end of the bed, remaining in her plain black bra and underwear, and rested her head on my pillow.
Not wanting to argue, I walked back over to my bed, laying down next to her. "You know, you have your own bed, Laur."
"I don't want to sleep alone." She shrugged and that was it. I couldn't ever stay in a bitter mood when she did that. It was my favorite thing about her, the way she frequently raised her shoulders like that. She got this cute expression on her face when she shrugged, too, and it killed me.
"Why didn't you bring a girl over then?" I asked. There was surely no shortage of ones who were dying to sleep with her and, usually, the drunker she was, the more she brought over. It was like there was a line or something waiting outside our door, waiting their turn.
Lauren looked at me as if she didn't understand my question. "I couldn't stop thinking about you." And, before I knew it, she shifted on top of me.
"Lauren!" I gasped.
"Shh." Her finger was placed on my mouth to quiet me. I gaped, trying to understand what was happening. Her long hair fell around us, almost enclosing us in our own little bubble, and when I tore my eyes away from the way she was laying on top of me, I noticed her eyes were on my lips. I closed my mouth, but her stare didn't falter. In fact, her eyes darkened. I couldn't believe this. I couldn't believe the way she was staring at me or the fact that she was on top of me in just a bra and panties. She looked into my eyes and smiled, moving them back down to my lips. We didn't say anything for a moment, but the silence was broken when she laughed. "I think I'm gonna kiss you."
It was like she couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth, either. Before I could reply, the index finger that was keeping me quiet started moving-tracing the outline of my lips. Her smile faded as she studied them and my heartbeat skyrocketed. To say I was nervous was a colossal understatement.
Then she leaned in.
I stopped breathing.
Lauren hesitated, though, moving to kiss my cheek. Her lips stayed there for a while before she moved back to look at me. "One day." She whispered, laying her head on my chest. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep. It took me the whole night.
-
Lauren shrugged. "No regrets."
I beamed at her. "Me either." I paused to laugh. "I wasn't even supposed to be in the dorm that night. I had plans with Adam, but as usual, he decided something else was more important." Lauren listened intently. "But even with the way he treated me, I think he really did love me, you know?" She nodded in response and I was glad that I could still talk to her like we were best friends-because we were, but it was rare to be able to talk like this to the person you were dating. I knew I could never talk about this sort of stuff to Adam if it was about Lauren. Not that Lauren loved me.
"I think he still does." I saw her looking at me from the corner of my eye while I looked ahead.
"Everything is so routine with him. It's nothing like being with you." I turned to look at her to see her smirking.
"Is that good or bad?"
"Well, I'm with you now, so it's good." I paused. "Sometimes." Lauren feigned offense. "You're just so unpredictable."
"Well, so are you. That's why I like you."
I looked at her, thinking about what she just said. "When did you first know?"
"Know what?"
"When you liked me."
"When I first met you." She shrugged. "I've always wanted you to myself." I smiled to myself. "What about you?"
"What about me?"
"When did you know?"
I stopped to think for a moment. "It was gradual, I think. I always knew there was something different with you but I wasn't sure what. I guess the moment I knew for sure was when I came home from Adam's. I'd been gone for a couple of weeks and Gabrielle was there. She just talked and talked about how much she loved you and why she loved you." I looked down at my hands, fiddling with them. "I didn't feel anything like that toward Adam." I shook my head at the thought. "Anyway, I just remember the feeling I had. I'd seen you everyday at work but I hadn't held you in weeks, you know? I was so excited-to just be near you again like that. It wasn't even a question when I finally saw you, either. It was like you knew exactly what I needed. I still remember those butterflies when you held my waist." I giggled. "And then you sent Gabrielle home right after so that you could spend all your time with me... You made me feel special. You always do."
There was a comfortable silence between us as she reached for my hand, squeezing it. I thought about her answer. 'When I first met you.' She'd had these feelings for years and she never mentioned it. I frowned. "Why did you wait so long to tell me?"
"I didn't exactly tell you... You kind of demanded it." She smiled.
I looked at her. What did that mean? I demanded it? Was she never going to say anything? I pulled my hand out of her grasp gently, but she didn't seem to notice. "Would you have ever told me you had feelings for me if I never kissed you?"
"No." She didn't hesitate.
I couldn't help but feel slightly offended. "Why not?"
"Because you should be with someone better than me."
I rolled my eyes. "Stop saying that."
"You asked."
"Well, I don't know how you did it then. Once I realized I wanted you, there wasn't anything strong enough to hold me back." Even I heard the sourness in my voice.
"I had distractions." She spoke.
"Lots of them." I grimaced. "Pretty, sexy, hot, and beautiful distractions."
"And even all of those distractions couldn't keep me away from you. All it took was that kiss on the side of that building."
She looked absolutely serious when she said it. Only, she didn't seem happy about it. "Do you regret it?" I asked. "Do you regret us?"
"No." She answered, but there was this expression on her face just before she said it. I looked away, hurt. She must have seen the look on my face because she spoke again. "You really are the best thing that's ever happened to me, Camz. I just worry that..." She shook her head, her hands digging into the sand to distract herself. "It's nothing."
"It's something."
Lauren sighed. "I just... I worry. I worry that I'm gonna let you down. You've always had this vision of what you want in a relationship and I can't do all of those things-I can't be all of those things. We're different, Camz, and I don't want to taint what you believe in."
I swallowed hard, both of us looking away from each other and at the ocean. What was she trying to say? She was talking about love, right? That's the thing we always argued over when we were friends. I had always told her she would eventually fall in love, but maybe it really wasn't going to happen. Was this her way of trying to tell me that? Of trying to tell me that we wouldn't ever amount to what I wanted us to be? "Lauren, I don't want to be with anybody else." She looked at me. "Do you?"
"That's not what I'm saying. I just know you deserve better, that's all."
I met our eyes. "You didn't answer my question. Do you want to be with someone other than me?"
Once again, her hand found mine. "There's no one I'd rather be with." She brought my hand up to her mouth and planted a small kiss to the back of it.
"But you're afraid of letting me down."
Lauren huffed; talks like this not being her strong suit. "I just don't think I can give you what you ultimately want."
"What I ultimately want is someone to love me... What I ultimately want is you, Lauren."
She let go of my hand. "C'mon, let's not talk about this stuff right now."
I rolled my eyes for the millionth time, watching as she stood up, trying to rid herself of the sand on her clothes. "When will we talk-?"
"I'm so tired." She interrupted. "Let's go home."
I didn't protest. We would eventually have to discuss it and I just had to accept it wasn't happening tonight. I needed to remember to let her come to me. We didn't want a repeat of our last fight.
-
I drove us home; none of us daring to say a word. The drive was pretty long and, halfway through, I felt Lauren's hand rest on my thigh. I glanced at her to see her giving me an apologetic look. I guessed she must've felt guilty for the way things ended. I sighed, interlocking our fingers while keeping one hand on the wheel.
She didn't say anything, but I felt her eyes on me the rest of the way home.
When I finally parked, we sat in the car for a bit. I finally looked over at her, her eyes filled with anxiety. I leaned over and gave her a soft kiss to either try to ease her worry or mine-I didn't know. I unbuckled my seatbelt to go inside, but just as I opened the car door, she stopped me.
"We're going to figure this out. Right, Camz?"
I waited a moment before answering. "We don't have to worry about it tonight. Let's go to bed."
Lauren nodded reluctantly and to bed, we went.
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