Three Is A Crowd

Chapter 18: Reflection

"Bish, move. You're blocking the light."

"Did you get it? Look how cute they are!"

"I could blackmail her for this ish. I can't believe I hit the jackpot."

"She'll kill you, DJ."

"She's a puppy! The only thing she'll kill is Mila's pu---"

"Don't even finish that sentence!"

Lauren blinks her eyes slowly, waiting for the dark veil of sleep to be lifted from her sluggish consciousness; she hears voices, hushed whisperings loud enough to realize that she's not dreaming. She opens her eyes, just a tiny fraction (her eyes are sensitive to bright lights so she needs to get slowly accustomed to the sunlit room first), and the first thing that she notices is the back of an iPhone just mere inches from her face.

"What the fuck!?" She whispers groggily as she tries slapping the offensive object away from her. She hasn't even had her coffee, and the need to punch someone is already climbing on top of her priorities list.

"Good morning to you, too! Did you have a good sleep?"

"Dinah?'" Lauren squints, rubbing her eyes repeatedly as if to make sure she's not hallucinating. "Wait, Mani!? What are you doing here? And Dinah I swear to god you'll have a permanent iPhone-shaped scar on your face if you don't put that shit away."

"No worries, I already got everything I need anyway." She pockets her phone quickly, smiling widely.

The smirk on her face doesn't sit well with Lauren. It reminds her of The Cheshire Cat, in fact, she thinks Dinah looks a lot like him, what with that evil grin and the mischievous glint in her eyes. Dinah Jane couldn't be trusted, and her opinion won't change whether it's eight in the morning or twenty five years later.

"You look comfy." Again with that annoying knowing smirk.

Why are they looking at her like that? Did she sleep naked? Lauren's confused, and, as she lifts her semi-dead arm to pat her precious body parts, she grazes something that's quite unfamiliar to her. It's a thigh, and it's not hers.

When she tries to focus on her immediate surrounding, all sleepiness flies out of her body and straight towards their open window and all the way to Mount Kilimanjaro, because she sees Camila sleeping next to her -- or more accurately, spooned by her.

She knew she should have just gone to her bed last night. It was a momentary lapse of judgment when after she put Camila's laptop on the study table and she hears her sleepily asking for a cuddle and Lauren, without even thinking about it, goes back to Camila's bed to let herself be snuggled with like a giant teddy bear. She knew that when Camila mumbled 'Mami, I wanna cuddle, is cold' she was obviously half-asleep and dreaming that she's back home with her mom.

So, can you really blame Lauren for doing what she did? How can she resist that?

She knew this was gonna bite her in the ass, one way or the other. She just didn't know it's gonna be in the form of Dinah fucking Jane with her phone aimed at her like she's Lois freaking Lane, journalist extraordinaire. She's totally never gonna live this down.

She pushes Camila away, who's starting waking up. When she sees Dinah, she squeaks in delight, jumping out of bed and jumping onto her friend.

She has impressive reflex for someone who just woke up, Lauren observes.

"Why are you guys here?" Camila's voice is muffled because she has her entire face buried under all that blonde Polynesian hair.

"Mani and I brought breakfast, I texted you... But obviously, you already have had your fill of special pancakes I see." Dinah glances at Lauren with that glint in her eyes.