Growing Love - Camren

Chapter 4

Lauren's POV

I was grilling the steak outside when I noticed it was almost dark already. The sun was just a sliver over the fields now and I could make out the moon in the sky above the hills. 

As far as I can tell, Camila seems like an interesting character. If i could describe her in one word it would probably be cutesy but also kind of goofy, it's like both. But not the weird kind of goofy, more like the cutesy kind of goofy. 

To be completely honest, I don't know her well enough to pin point exactly what I feel about her. Maybe tonight I could get to know her a little better and have her open up. That might be hard though, I could imagine she won't want to open up to a stranger which is definitely a possibility but maybe if I tell her a little bit about myself, she'll feel more comfortable. 

I just hope I'm not scaring her, I want to make her stay as pleasant as possible. I know I'd be a little scared if I was in her position but I'll show her how nothing about me is to be feared. 

I put the two steaks on a plate, turned off the grill, and brought them inside. 

The corn was scooped into a big bowl and placed on the table. I then put the plate of steaks next to the corn and set out the silverware, plates, and napkins. 

I needed something else, maybe some candles. I opened up the box from the closet with some candles in it and pulled out two tall ones which were then lit and put on the table, distanced so that I would be able to sit across from Camila and see her face.  

After I decided everything was ready, I walked upstairs and noticed her door was still opened up wide. I silently peered in to see her reading a book on the couch next to the bed. 

"Knock knock," I said to get her attention, "dinner's all ready if you want to come down."

"Alright I'll be down in a second then," she said placing a bookmark in the book and setting it down on her bed.

"Sounds good. Hey what were you reading there?" I asked intrigued.

"Oh just The Fault in Our Stars. Everyone told me it's good and I've never read it before so why not start now I asked myself."

"It is a really good book, but I'd keep a Kleenex box near you at all times. Just a tip," I said trying to help her since that book was not too kind to me and I don't know how she'd hold up.

"Hey! Don't spoil it for me Lauren," she exclaimed laughing and visibly ticked off.

"Whatever just trying to help you out," I continued, smiling and teasing her more. 

"I'll be down in a sec Lauren," she said laughing as I left to get back downstairs. 

She did come down less than a minute later and once she noticed the nice set up of candles, light dimmed, and delicious meal I could see her eyes soften and her body become visibly less stiff. This is what I wanted, to relax her and allow her to feel comfortable in my home. 

She slowly walked over and sat down looking at the food and around the room, almost overwhelmed. 

"I picked you a bouquet of flowers from the garden if you want them," I told her as her eyes shifted to the big flower display in a vase of water next to the sink. 

"Wow, Lauren those are beautiful thank you. You're really nice to me and so far have helped me transition quite nicely so I thank you for all that you've done."

"Please, I honestly don't mind. I want you to feel that my home is your home as well," I explained to her. She smiled and looked down at her food.

"This looks great too, god I've only been here half a day and you're already treating me like royalty."

"Just don't kill any of my crops and I'll treat you like this all summer," I said honestly which elicited a laugh from her as she started to eat.

"So tell me, what is your story?" I asked as a gateway into getting to know her personality better.

"Haha what do you mean? Like what I'm like?"

"Yeah, who is Camila Cabello? Can I trust her to be living in my house?" I teased.

"Well let's see, probably not. But I'll go over the basics first. I basically grew up in Miami, Florida. Got accepted to the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, moved up here and discovered I wanted to go into agricultural studies."

"Why agricultural studies?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just feel at home being on a farm, guess I always have but never thought anything more of it until I had to pick what I'd be spending the rest of my life doing. That was just what came to my mind first, I wanted to build life and give it to others and enjoy my time doing so, which I find is easy on a farm."

"Wow, I just did it because my parents wanted me to," I confessed. "But don't get me wrong, I love it, but my other career ideas seemed too far out of reach. When my parents said they'd give me my grandparents land, it just seemed like the right thing to do."

"What other fields of study did you consider. Oh and not literal fields," she suddenly clarified, realizing she just made the worst joke ever. 

I just looked at her for a few seconds with the widest grin after getting the joke and suddenly we both burst out laughing hard until my stomach started to hurt. This is her, the real her. Apparently "the real her" cracks stupid jokes and who knows if she even meant for it to be a joke or was serious but I laughed at it anyways, finding it adorable.

"Wow," I said after gaining back my breath, "that was amazing. You're good at the whole farm joke thing already. But I actually wanted to become an artist or a writer," I explained still smiling slightly.

"Oh wow so you're really into the arts, and apparently corn-y jokes too," she said then paused with her mouth open waiting for me to catch on. 

Once I did, I burst out laughing again. The smaller girl laughed along with me, snorting which only made me laugh harder.

"So this is how it's going to be like all summer, just endless farm jokes because if that's the case I think you should find another place to stay," I said wiping a tear from my eye caused by all the laughter. She looked up at me after hearing what I said somewhat hurt and I could tell she didn't understand now I was the one joking.

"Oh no! I was being sarcastic. I do it a lot, so it's best if you learn not to take me seriously all the time," I quickly clarified. She quickly made an "o" shape with her mouth signaling she's starting to catch on to my sense of humor.

After that, the conversations flowed easily as it seemed I had gotten through to her and there wasn't anymore awkwardness. 

She told me about her life back at home and her old friends, then moved on to talk about her college experience. I told her more about myself and how I grew up on this farm and about my family. I could tell however that she never went in-depth into her family which made me slightly curious but I wouldn't want to force her to talk about something she didn't want to. But I still wondered.