Paper Hearts (Camren)

Chapter 3

“Hey, Laur?” Camila turned her attention from her breakfast to the woman sitting opposite her.

Lauren ignored her and continued to eat her instant noodles.

“Laur I-“

“Lauren.” The woman corrected her, still chewing.

“Laur.” Camila continued to call her by the nickname she tried to give Lauren.

“Cami.”

Camila smiled, pleased with the progress she was making. “Does that mean I can call you ‘Laur’, then?”

“No.”

“But you called me Cami!”

“We’ve been through this, Miss Cabello. My name is Lauren.”

Camila frowned, “Can you stop that?”

“Stop what?”

“Calling me Miss Cabello. It sounds so distant and formal.”

Lauren shrugged, “That’s your name.”

“Can’t you at least call me by my first name?”

“Then call me Lauren.”

“What about Fred?” Camila smirked, referring back to the name that Lauren had first introduced herself as.

“No.”

Camila sulked, “I’m going to call you Laur then.”

“I won’t answer then.”

“But why? What’s so bad about ‘Laur’?”

“Nothing, other than the fact that my name is Lauren.”

Camila rolled her eyes and decided to steer away from the topic for now, “Are we going down to the station today?”

“Yes.”

“What for?” Camila asked, trying to start a conversation with her.

“What do you think?”

“Right.” Camila nodded, “Anywhere else?”

Lauren swallowed her food before replying, “To that ‘creepy’ neighbour of yours.”

“Okay, how long do you think we’ll take?”

“How would I know?” Lauren asked, irritated by all the questions. She just wanted to eat her noodles in peace.

“Well, you kinda do these things all the time?”

She sighed quietly, “Depends if he co-operates with us or not.” She then turned back to her food, hinting at Camila that she did not want to talk anymore, something that Camila noticed but ignored anyway.

“Are you always this cold?”

“Of course not.” Lauren smirked to herself. “I’m hot.”

Camila laughed loudly, she didn’t know that Lauren, the human ice cube was actually capable of making jokes.

“Which means you can be nice too, right?”

Lauren shrugged, to which Camila took as a yes.

“Well then… If we finish things a little early…” Camila continued slowly, she had been itching to go to the mall for days now, to buy some new clothes since most of her old ones were left back at her apartment and since she thought that maybe she could get Lauren to warm up to her a bit more, she had thought of a brilliant idea of shopping together. That way, Camila could give her some advice on clothes and vice versa and maybe even have girly chats, which means that by the end of the day, Lauren and her would practically be best friends and that means no more iceberg Lauren and new clothes. It was a win-win situation. Now, if only Camila could somehow get Lauren to take her to the mall so that she could initiate her plan.