Just Off The Key Of Reason

Chapter 16: Sit Back and Wave through the Daylight

Camila had woken up in the morning to "exercise" on her giant rubber yoga balls, so of course no exercise actually occurred, and now she found herself dancing like a spaz around her living room to Matt & Kim. She was really just flailing around because the beat was all over the place, and pretending to know the words, so, yelling gibberish into a dog brush.

Filled with fluffy golden hair. Camila hoped it was Barnaby's.

Cornelius joined her, with the singing, not the dancing because Barnaby seemed to have that covered, and yeah, she was pretty sure their neighbors would be filing some kind of complaint soon. How could they not with this fucking racket?

Camila was in the middle of tripping over Jelly during a horribly executed moonwalk when Lauren stumbled into the living room, brows furrowed and looking confused as hell. She was cognizant enough to smile when she caught sight of Camila.

"Lauren!" Camila exclaimed brightly, after apologizing profusely to Jelly and setting her safely on the couch.

Camila rushed over to her girlfriend and hugged her warm, sleepy body tightly. She held onto Lauren's hands when she pulled back.

"Dance with me!" Camila attempted to drag Lauren towards the center of the living room, but Lauren leaned backwards like dead weight and wouldn't budge.

Camila looked back at her, and then down at Lauren's feet and huffed. Really, the least her girlfriend could do is dance with her. Before they get evicted or fined or something. And before anyone gets injured.

"Lauren, dance with me!" Camila demanded again, pulling harder. Lauren leaned back further, then lay down on the floor so that she was an immovable lump. Camila would be concerned she'd fainted or something if she didn't have that fucking smile on her face.

Camila stared down at her exasperatedly. She put a foot on Lauren's stomach when she heard it rumbling. Uh-oh. Time to feed her bear.

First the bear had to dance. Camila moved her foot up to Lauren's face and pressed her toes into smiling cheeks. Lauren had her eyes shut.

Yeah, like she was fooling anybody.

"If you don't get up and dance with me Lauren, I'll put my foot over your mouth." Camila threatened. She figured that would be gross enough to get anybody to do anything. Unless Lauren was some pervy foot person.

Camila smiled to herself. Lauren wasn't a pervy anything.

"I like your feet." Lauren commented, eyes still closed. That damn smile was getting even bigger, and she reached out a hand and picked up Camila's foot and kissed it, before opening one eye with a smirk.

Camila bit the inside of her cheek. Goddamned Lauren and her goddamned sweetness. She was impossible to coerce. And Camila had no cookies. She listened to Lauren's tummy rumble again, and decided to use breakfast as a bribe instead.

"Lauren, if you don't dance with me, I won't make you blueberry waffles with chocolate smiley faces again for breakfast."

Lauren's eyes shot open and she dropped that innocent little smirk. She sat up and leaned back on her hands so she could look at Camila. Well God, she looked distraught. That's what blueberry waffles with chocolate smiley faces do to people.

"Camila, I can't-I can't dance." Lauren stuttered. "Can you- can you dance with Barnaby?"

Camila's victorious grin softened at Lauren's tone. "No, honey, I want to dance with you. And I can't dance either. I look like I have no bones in my body."

Which, really, that should make you look like an amazing dancer, right? Not so much for Camila. It was a problem she dealt with every day.

Lauren looked conflicted, so Camila left her sitting on the floor and bounded off to turn up the volume, neighbors be damned. She wasn't actually sure she had any neighbors, because she never saw them. They were probably serial killers or something, just minding their own business.