Fool Me

Chapter Thirteen

Fool Me

Chapter Thirteen

Lauren groans at the light hitting her eyes when she awakes in Camila's bed. She immediately shuts them again and rolls over so she is no longer facing the window with blinds slightly cracked open. The pressure around her temples is indicative of a hangover and it's a familiar, but unwelcome feeling. Minutes pass before she is brave enough to attempt using her vision again, prompted by the sound of Camila entering the bedroom and the smell of freshly cooked breakfast.

"Good morning," Camila greets while displaying a plate of bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns in one hand and a glass of water in the other.

Lauren's mind registers as eager to devour the delicious food overtaking her senses, but her stomach disagrees.

"Oh God..." Lauren trails off as she sits up too quickly, resulting in a spell of dizziness and a wave of nausea.

Camila shows a look of concern before setting the breakfast plate on top of her dresser and walking over to sit on the bed beside Lauren who appears in a daze as she's trying to decide whether she actually needs to throw up or not. She reaches out her free hand to tuck some loose strands of hair behind Lauren's ear before rubbing the side of her forehead with the pad of her thumb.

"Does that help? I have some water here, too," Camila offers, holding the glass forward where it's within easy reach.

Lauren accepts the water, brings it to her lips, and swallows the first couple sips cautiously. Camila withdraws her hand from her face and Lauren finds herself missing the contact. She can barely think with the way her head is pounding, or else she would come up with a way to ask for Camila to resume what she was doing without the risk of crossing a line. Instead she focuses on finishing the glass of water and fighting off the dehydration from her binge drinking. Once it is empty, Camila retrieves the empty glass and brings it back to her kitchen, leaving Lauren to drag herself out of bed.

When she finally stands, she instantly regrets it as the nausea increases tenfold and results in an immediate voyage to the nearest toilet. Camila overhears as the contents of Lauren's stomach make a hasty exit from her body. It's one of her least favorite sounds, but she stands outside the bathroom door and waits for a long pause to check on her.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Lo?" Camila asks after the toilet has been flushed and Lauren has turned on the sink.

"Take a picture of how I look right now and show it to me the next time I try to order more drinks than I should?" Lauren suggests after opening the door for Camila and turning to look at herself in the mirror.

"You're welcome to take a shower when you feel up to it. I try not to plan anything on Sundays so you won't be holding me back or anything if you stay a while."

Lauren nods slowly while rubbing her forehead.

"Thanks. Do you have any pain killers?"

"Sure, I'll check what all I have," Camila agrees, opening the cabinet in front of her where she keeps pills and other miscellaneous bathroom supplies.

She takes out a bottle of Advil and shakes it to listen for the sound of pills rattling against it to verify there are some left.

"Come sit in the living room. I'll get you another glass of water," Camila insists, taking the bottle of Advil with her as she exits the bathroom. Lauren has no reason to protest, so she follows Camila out to the living room and makes herself comfortable in a recliner.

It is mid afternoon by the time Lauren feels like she can function again. Camila ends up reheating her breakfast food for her after she has taken a shower and borrowed some day clothes. They mutually agree that it would be a good day to finish their Orange is the New Black marathon, so Camila sets up her TV as Lauren finishes eating.

"I owe you so much after last night and today," Lauren admits after putting her plate away and returning to fill the space beside Camila on the couch.

"Yeah you do," Camila confirms with a grin.

"I'm being serious though. Does Dinah even realize how lucky she is to snag someone as amazing as you for a best friend? Nobody has taken care of me like this before," Lauren tells her honestly.

"Not even Ally?" Camila wonders, forgetting her filter, not certain why she has the desire to set herself apart from Lauren's ex-girlfriend when they're not really dating.

"Nope. Don't get me wrong, she wouldn't have left me to die in a ditch somewhere or anything like that. But with all of her positivity I felt like a burden anytime I wanted to be negative about something. So I wouldn't admit it when I needed a pick-me-up."

"I tend to pick up on emotions fairly well, and I always look out for people I care about. It's one of those instincts that just kicks in for me," Camila explains.

Lauren experiences an internal flutter when Camila mentions caring about her. In the midst of constructing a romantic storyline for themselves they haven't communicated much about the friendship that inevitably evolved in the background. She is already questioning where that friendship stands for her after recalling their kiss and realizing what little reservation she would have if Camila initiated another one right now.

Lauren notices movement in front of her as Camila is waving a hand to get her attention. She spaced out when she began walking her memory back through the previous night, and now she's embarrassed to discover her gaze has fixed itself toward Camila's lips. Luckily, they begin to move as Camila starts talking again, and it doesn't appear she is uncomfortable, so she must not have observed anything out of the ordinary.

"Are you feeling all right? I think I lost you there for a minute."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lauren plays off coolly, "just trying to remember if I did anything last night that Normani might have filmed and kept as blackmail. You'd tell me, right?"

"The only thing she might have filmed was the karaoke and if she posted that online I think it'd launch your career, not your execution," Camila reasons, still not over how Lauren's vocals had exceeded her expectations and put most of the other karaoke enthusiasts' voices to shame.

"Maybe they never were trying to set us up to date. Perhaps this was really a scheme to force me into getting signed by your label so I'll become rich, thank them, and share part of my fortune."

Camila laughs at the absurdity.

"I have about as much pull at HYPE-R Records as a Serf in Medieval Europe. If I so much as suggested to Stella she should hear my girlfriend sing the next letter she'd instruct me to write would be my own resignation."

"From HYPE-R to Homeless: The Camila Cabello Story. This could be my breakthrough biography!" Lauren entertains with a smirk.

Camila shakes her head.

"If you wrote about me as your subject we'd both be out a job. The bookstore would be too ashamed to keep you around as an employee with such a flop reputation."

"You're right. Let's rewind and stick to writing this romance novel."

Lauren reaches out to intertwine their hands and leans her head so it's resting on Camila's shoulder.

"All right, Sappy, but if my arm goes numb in the process I'm unstanning Camren."

"I'll take my chances," Lauren concludes, continuing to snuggle into Camila as she hits the play button on the remote to resume their marathon.

Author's Note: In reference to alcohol consumption and the use of pain killers. It's common to mix the two, but research suggests it can have negative affects long term, especially if done often. Depending on the type of pain killer (Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, Aspirin, etc.) the amount of damage to your liver or irritation to the stomach lining may increase based on this mixture. For the sake of storytelling, neither Camila nor Lauren are aware of this research. However, I couldn't bring myself to let them get away with it unless I stated this information first. Now I can move forward feeling like a responsible adult.