Nosebleed

"C'mon you've gotta go, Sofi's gonna be home from school any minute."

"Remind me again why you don't want me to meet your sister?

"First of all, you don't even have a shirt on, and I can't find my pants. Secondly, it's not that I don't want you to meet her. It's that she might not want to meet you."

"Ouch. And here I thought your family loved me."

"My parents love you. The only people Sofi loves enough for me to bring home are Dinah and Ally."

"Well, that's not fair," Lauren objects, pulling her shirt off the floor back on. "Ally is literally a walking ray of sunshine and Dinah is-,"

Camila curses, interrupting her after hearing the front door open and shut, followed by, "Kaki! I'm home!"

There's singing coming from down the hall, and then it's heard outside the door; it comes in as the form of Sofia Cabello, tugging her hair into a neat ponytail, headphones still in her ears.

"Who's this? And why aren't you wearing pants?"

"H-hey, Sof. I was just about to change. But since you're here, there's someone I want you to meet." She picks herself off her bed, gesturing grandly towards Lauren. "This is my girlfriend, Lauren."

"Hi, Sofi. I'm Lauren, it's nice to finally meet you."

Lauren offers out her hand, and to her surprise, Sofi sneezes on it.

"Bless me. I'm going back downstairs for food." Sofi wipes her nose on her sleeve, excusing herself out.

"Um, why don't you take Lauren with you? Y'know bond over food while I find some pants."

She nudges Lauren by the shoulder, urging her to follow her sister. Lauren pumps out some hand sanitizer from Camila's desk, then sprints downstairs to keep up with Sofi.

"So, what do you feel like eating Sofi?" Lauren asks, trying to make it sound like she's not out of breath.

"I want ice cream."

"Cool, I won't have to cook anything." Lauren strolls over to the cabinets to fetch two bowls and two spoons, "Uh, how was school?"

"It was good." Sofi replies nonchalantly as she scrolls through her phone. Since when did eight year old's get iPhones?

"That's....good." Oh God, Lauren feels like her mom.

She delves into the freezer in search of banana split, or at least she assumes they have banana split. After all, Camila is the one who does the grocery shopping.

"Where do you guys keep the ice cream?"

"It should be right next to th-"

"Nevermind. I found it." She pulls her hand out of the freezer to hold it up the tub of ice cream, until she feels something hard hit her elbow. Lauren winces in pain, dropping the tub in the process.

When she turns around, she sees Sofi with blood dripping down her chin and staining the collar of her uniform.

And then she's screaming.

"Oh shi- shoot. Shoot. Oh shoot."

So much for a first impression.

Her screaming is uncompromising. It echoes off the living room walls before Lauren can do anything to stop it and her attitude is surprisingly rigid for an eight year old.

And Camila's rushing down the stairs, tripping on steps and buttoning up her pants.

"What happened?"