A Door in the Wall (Converted Camren)

Chapter 16

Lauren stayed on Camila's couch after falling asleep in Camila's arms, too tired to drive back to her apartment. They cuddled together after Camila noticed how exhausted Lauren was from her long day. She knew that the interviews could be quite draining, especially if the audience was fully immersed into the show. That pushed any singer  to further heights. When the adrenaline ebbed away afterwards, it sometimes left one completely worn-out and Camila had often only wished for her bed as soon as the make-up came off her face.

As much as she wanted to keep on kissing Lauren and exploring her body with her hands, she did want her girlfriend to get some well-deserved rest. Even though Lauren protested in the beginning, she quickly succumbed to the soothing strokes of Camila's warm hand on her back and started purring like a cat when she felt her other hand gently massaging her scalp. Just as Camila expected, it did not take long until she felt Lauren's body relax as sleep took over. She debated with herself to wake her up again and suggest getting into her bed or at least offer her a T-shirt to sleep in. But she did not have the heart to wake her again.

So she just felt content to hold Lauren, slowly tracing the lines of her face with a soft finger, following the contour of her jaw, up to her full lips, red from all the kissing, over her cheekbones to the gracefully arched eyebrows. Lauren's breath breeze lightly over the skin of her hand as she continued to tenderly let her fingers dance across the velvety skin of the beautiful face in front of her.

Camila had a hard time containing all these feelings of happiness, love, joy, amazement, and wonder that raced through her. Why, so often in life, something dramatic had to happen before you realized what was really important? She pushed the question aside and snuggled closer to Lauren and let sleep take over. Not the exhausted kind of sleep, not the kind of sleep she used as an escape from reality. Right now, she began to like her reality. It was a content kind of sleep, the kind of sleep where you drift off with a smile and wake up with one on your face.

Sometime during the night, Camila's arm had fallen asleep and when she moved it woke her up with a thousand needles pricking her skin. Carefully she disentangled her limbs from the sleeping woman next to her. With a smile, she placed a tender kiss on her head, slowly got up and lovingly placed a blanket over Lauren. The couch was comfortable, but a bit too small for two people to sleep on it without at least one of them getting the cramps. Camila left Lauren heavy heartedly and crawled into her bed, feeling a bit guilty to have abandoned her girlfriend on the couch. Well, maybe she could make it up to her with a very nice breakfast.

.....

The next morning Lauren woke up to unfamiliar noises. When she slowly opened her eyes, it took her a second to remember where she was. Then she caught a movement in the kitchen and watched Camila carefully taking out two plates and cups from the cupboard, placing them slowly on the counter, making a cute face of concentration while trying to put them down without any noise. Lauren watched her move around the kitchen from under her lashes, finding it very endearing how Camila was trying to not wake her up.

Lauren closed her eyes again and just listened to Camila move around. The smell of fresh coffee drifted over and tickled her nose. Then she heard bare feet pad across the floor towards her. A rustling of clothes next to her told her that Camila sat down on the couch table, facing her.

"Hey, sleepyhead!"

When she did not stir, Camila bent down and whispered in Lauren's ear: "I know you are awake. I saw you watching me earlier on." And with that she nipped at Lauren's earlobe before sitting up again. She had placed a hand lightly on the other woman's chest so the little moan her bold action had caused did not escape her.

"Hmmmm, good morning." Lauren mumbled after inhaling the coffee aroma and that of her girlfriend's shampoo. She stretched her arms over her head and let out a content sigh. Then she opened her eyes and found Camila smiling at her. She grabbed the tanned arm that was still on her chest, turned it slightly, and pointedly looked at Camila's bare wrist.