Three Is A Crowd

Chapter 17: Perfume

When Camila wakes up, three things immediately register in her still-foggy mind: one, she needs to pee, which must have been the reason why she has woken up in the first place; two, the room is already bright with sunlight which confuses her for a minute, because she can't even remember falling asleep last night in the middle of watching Buffy and Faith bantering while hunting for poorly-dressed vampires. Which brings her to her third waking-up realization: half of her body is laying on top of a sleeping Lauren, her arm slung over Lauren's stomach, and Mr. Snuggles in between them.

She knows this is totally an overreaction, but do you know that feeling of waking up after a wild night of partying and binge-drinking and you find a complete stranger lying next to you and the first thing that comes to your mind is how the hell did that happen? That's what's going through Camila's head now, because she's not a morning person and it usually takes her several long minutes (or a caffeine shot or two) to fully wake up and be reminded that she's an adult with responsibilities (there are days when she wakes up totally believing that she's back in third grade where the only conflict she deals with is which cereal she likes best) and that the least she can do is be aware of what's happening around her.

She slowly raises her head from Lauren's chest (much more comfortable than her real pillow, Camila thinks) and looks around, blinking repeatedly in an effort to fight the urge to fall back to sleep. She sees her laptop on her desk, neatly tucked away, and the empty ice cream container beside it, which is weird, because she can't recall ever getting out of bed to do that.

Does that mean Lauren put it there and then went back to sleep beside her? What? That sounds highly improbable, but Camila knows that there's no other explanation -- unless, she really does have her own house-elf, and if she does, she's gonna name him Cannoli. Gosh, can Cannoli please show his hairy ass right now and make her a big cup of coffee?

Enough reflection, though. Her bladder just reminded her that she needs to go to the bathroom soon, or, risk a leak on her sheets. So she gently untangles herself from Lauren, making an effort not to stare too much at her because she feels guilty about it somehow. Like she's invading Lauren's privacy by watching her sleep (this close).

Careful not to make any unnecessary movements, she prepares to roll out of bed without waking her up, which is a bit of a challenge because she's sandwiched between Lauren and the wall, so the only way out of the bed is if she goes over Lauren. And she almost succeeds; her right leg is already dangling over the edge, her right hand is carefully lifting Lauren's arm out of the way, and just a little push of her own body over the side then she'll be free.

But then she feels a warm arm on her back, and before she could process what it means, she is pulled back into Lauren's body. Good thing she has been in a push-up position, so she was able to keep herself from fully crashing into her, because if that happened, man, how can she explain herself lying on top of Lauren? And not only on top, but like, her face buried against Lauren's neck, her leg in between Lauren's thighs, that kind of shit.

When she was yanked down, she thought Lauren has woken up and is pulling a prank on her, but then her breathing pattern hasn't changed, and Lauren hasn't spoken one word other than a few incoherent mumblings, so she must still be asleep, thinking that Camila is Mr. Snuggles.

Does she look like a banana, and a fake one at that? Should she be offended?

Shifting back to her position when she first woke up -- she slides off Lauren's body, so she's now just half-cuddling her -- but definitely has her face still planted on Lauren's neck, she inhales deeply, loving what Lauren's scent does to her body. Like it warms her up, it makes her heart beat faster but at the same time it makes her calmer. Like she can stay here forever, not a care in the world, and only Lauren's presence matters. What kind of perfume does she wear? She wants a bottle or two. It must have some magical powers.