The Taxi

Thirteen

Lauren danced around her apartment as Fleetwood Mac blasted. She sang along delicately with Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, keeping in perfect harmony with their voices. She packed her suitcase, readying herself for her trip to Miami with Camila. They were set to take off tomorrow at ten in the morning, and she couldn't be more excited. A full week in a hotel with the girl she was finding herself dangerously close to falling in love with sounded paradisiacal. With every glimpse she caught of herself in the mirror she realized the grin on her face was permanent and completely due to Camila.

While her newfound happiness was welcomed after a long period of apathy and avoidance of emotion, it was weird for Lauren to admit to herself that it was okay to let other people to make her happy. She had spent quite a fair amount of time in her life building walls to keep people out and keeping people at a distance from her. Almost all of her friendships were shallow on her end. She had mastered the art of making people feel like they knew everything about her, when in reality they knew no more than someone who had glanced at her Facebook 'about' section. Lauren had always thought that if she had allowed someone to make her happy, she was setting herself up for heartbreak and pain if they didn't want to provide happiness for her anymore. Lauren had felt this way despite her lack of relationship trauma or any major life event for most of her adult life, perhaps out of a deep-seeded cynicism she had never bothered to try to turn into optimism - until the night she drunkenly hopped in an occupied taxi. Camila was doing things to her Lauren that she didn't even realize was possible.

Camila tapped her foot on the ground, as she crossed her arms and looked down at her open suitcase on the bed. The suitcase was as empty as Camila's list of stuff to bring. She didn't want to bring nice clothes out of the assumption that she'd be able to take Lauren out on a date, but she didn't want to bring clothes that were too casual, in case Lauren would get offended that Camila didn't bother to try. She knew she was driving herself to an anxiety attack that wasn't worth it, but every time she tried to tell herself that, some part of her reminded herself that Lauren was worth it. Maybe not to the degree of full-on panicking, but it was worth the stress if it meant impressing her or showing her that Camila truly did care about her — more than she ever thought she could care about anyone.

Camila's heart fluttered at the thought that she could say that she had a girlfriend, especially when that girlfriend was Lauren. Growing up closeted, she had never bothered to get close enough to anyone to date seriously before. She could never force herself to feign interest for men, and she had never met anyone that felt like Lauren did. Camila had always struggled connecting to people outside of her subjects for work, because it was safe to relate to them. In these situations, the benefit was symbiotic — her subjects got their stories and their voices heard, and Camila bolstered the quality and impact of her articles and photos because of the emotion. However, in real life, Camila often worried that she couldn't provide enough of a benefit to people, and in the end she'd be the one hurt and alone. These thoughts had consumed her mind for almost her whole life, but they never even crossed her mind when thinking of Lauren.

At seven the following morning, Lauren knocked on Camila's door, bags in hand and comfortable clothes on, prepared for the flight ahead of them. Almost instantly, Camila swung the door open, a wide grin on her face. If she was tired, she masked it well. Her eyes were bright and wild with excitement, and something about the mere sight of her child-like energy riled Lauren up to that same level.

"I'm so excited to get out of this depressing weather and into the sunshine and warmth!" Camila squealed, pulling Lauren into a tight hug that if anyone else tried on Lauren, she would've almost positively wiggled herself out of as quickly as possible.

Lauren wrapped her arms around Camila's small frame, spun her around, and replied "I plan on spending the majority of this trip's daylight hours on the beach, so I hope you're as excited as you say you are," laughing as she reached the end of her sentence.

"If you had no intention of going to the beach I'd drag you there myself, so we're on the same page. Same line, even." Camila joked, pointing finger guns at Lauren.

Lauren rolled her eyes, pretending to be unamused by Camila's joke that anyone else would've thought was dumb, but was exactly Lauren's sense of humor. Her façade lasted about three seconds before the two women burst into a fit of giggles.

"I'm afraid if we don't leave now though, the only beach we'll be seeing is our phone backgrounds." Lauren said, reaching for Camila's hand. Camila slipped on her backpack and grabbed Lauren's hand, grabbing her suitcase handle with the opposite. She led them out the door, locking it behind them before they walked down the hall. A comfortable silence occupied the elevator as they rode down to the lobby and made their way into the cab. The two girls set off for the airport, equally as excited for the opportunity to completely fall into each other.