Or Is It Real?

CHAPTER 8: Carmen

Lauren's POV

Turning eighteen feels awesome. Well, any age as long as I was one step closer to being twenty-one is freaking great in my opinion. Not that being underage has stopped me from doing adult stuff before. As if. But you know, it just feels official, like, fuck y'all I'mma fuck some shit up and no one could stop me.

But anyway.

Here I was, with friends and family, at our house celebrating my birthday. It was my choice to go with a simple celebration because I didn't want anything grand. I've always made it a point to leave my "celebrity status" once I'm home, I prefer it that way. I like simple.

Anyway, the party was almost over, most of the guests were gone, my parents were at the porch having coffee with the Cabellos, and my siblings were somewhere around the house, doing their own thing.

I was in the living room with Luis, Alexa, Keana, Vero, and some guys that Alexa knew from school, while Camila was in the kitchen grabbing some food. It would have been perfect if Dinah, Mani, and Ally were here but of course they have to spend time with their families, and it's totally understandable, given the short amount of time we get to have for our breaks until we have to be all over the country again promoting our music.

Luis was whispering to me, something about going for a ride later to make out, when I saw Camila coming out of the kitchen bringing a plate full of cake.

"Hey Camz, come sit beside me!" I patted at the vacant space on the sofa.

She looked at me briefly, saw her eyes flicker towards Luis who was sitting on my left side, and then proceeded to sit on the other couch, far away from me.

I kept staring at her, waiting for her to look up but she seemed too focused on the cake she was eating, and I'm feeling too pissed I wanted to smack the plate she was holding to her face. So she's really gonna continue ignoring me on my birthday?

What the hell is her problem?

I suddenly have an insane urge to return the gifts she gave me today just to spite her. But of course I wouldn't, because her gifts were actually the best ones I've received so far. She gave me a black moleskin journal with a handwritten note saying "Remember that when you've won your tenth Grammy, I was the one who gave you this where you will write your future chart-topping songs.", and a Nala stuffed toy with another note saying that she has her own Simba to match mine.

Of course I have gotten more expensive stuff from other people, but Camila's gifts were my favorites. I can't tell you how many times I have hugged Nala already, she actually kinda smelled like Camz, which I like. And the journal was already under my pillow, so I could easily grab it whenever I have ideas that I needed to jot down.

How can someone be so sweet, at the same time be so irksome?

Because aside from the quick hug and birthday greeting she gave me as she handed me my gifts, she ignored me in most part of her entire stay today. I don't even know why she bothered coming anyway if she was just gonna act like a total bitch.

It's my birthday so I didn't want my mood messed up. I laughed at something Luis said, I wasn't even sure if it was a joke, but I wanted to show Camila that I was having fun despite her ignoring me.

In my peripheral vision, I saw her look up momentarily at the sound of my laughter, her eyes moving from me to Luis whose hands were on my waist and lips practically glued to my neck. I then turned to Camila to catch her looking at me, and for a few seconds, we just stared at each other; my puzzled expression against her furious glares. Why was she acting like a brat?  She broke off our eye contact and shifted her attention back to her plate. I saw her stab the cake with her fork too forcefully that bits of it went flying to Keana's hair.