The Next Big Thing

Chapter 19

Can we just appreciate how hot Camila is !?!?!? Also her album is BOMB

Camila followed Lauren back to her apartment, just climbing into the taxi behind her, pressing close, silent and tense. Lauren let her, staying quiet as they both stared out the window, watching the Miami streets go by. She was keyed up, thrumming with pent-up anxiety, concerns racing through her head. Worry that the band would decide she wasn't worth being fired over and, perhaps more so, worry that they would decide she was worth it.

She let them into her apartment, starting to pace in tight circles as the door slammed shut behind them, dropping her keys, checking the fridge, checking the mail, anything to try and distract herself. Camila watched her with big, silent eyes. "You don't think he'll really drop us, do you?" Lauren demanded. "He can't, can he?"

Camila sank down onto the couch. "I don't know."

Lauren grit her teeth. "We shouldn't have said anything. I should have just agreed to have a boyfriend." Just saying it made her stomach turn, the idea of denying who she was in that way, exerting so much energy to appear to be something she wasn't, when she was perfectly happy with herself as a person.

If only Syco felt the same way.

"No!" Camila said hotly. "I don't care what they do to us. You can't let them control your life like that." She looked down at her hands. "I don't want them to control my life like that."

Lauren sighed, dropping down on the couch next to the girl. "Is it really better to be fired, to lose everything you've worked so hard for?"

"I've worked hard to become who I am," Camila said, her jaw set in a stubborn line. "To be proud of myself. I'm sick of playing along with their games, sick of reading rubbish about myself in the paper. There's nothing wrong with being gay. You shouldn't have to hide, and my sexuality shouldn't have anything to do with my music."

Lauren shook her head, in awe of the girl, of how self-assured she was at only sixteen. How brave she was.

"I don't want to hide," Lauren admitted. "I want you."

Camila's eyes darkened as she pushed close, getting into Lauren's space. "I want you, too," she insisted. "I want something real."

And Lauren wanted to give it to her. She leaned in, capturing the girl's lips, tugging her close with an arm wound around her waist. Camila's mouth opened under her, all sharp teeth and hot tongue, fierce and demanding. Lauren matched her fervor, her hands tightening on the girl's waist, drawing them flush together. Hands clutched desperately at her shoulders as Camila squirmed in her grasp, their mouths meeting hotly.

Crowding even closer, Lauren cupped a hand around Camila's jaw, tilting her to where she wanted her. Camila leaned back willingly, sinking back into the couch cushions, and Lauren groaned, shoving her down further to sprawl out on her back. Camila blinked up at her, gaze heated.

The sight of her was enough to turn on Lauren: her flushed cheeks, her lips pink and swollen and her wide eyes dark and desperate. Lauren reached down, ruching up her shirt and petting at the skin underneath. She traced the lines on Camila's stomach, the slight curves of her baby fat.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Lauren," Camila groaned, reaching for her with greedy hands. Lauren let herself be pulled down, stretched over the girl. Camila felt right under her, solid and warm and pliant to her touch. Lauren couldn't help but duck her head back down, forcing her mouth open and plunging her tongue inside as she pushed her hands up under Camila's shirt, stroking whatever skin she could find.