Crimson Painting (Camren)

IV

a/n: Umm... 14k words this time? I keep apologizing but am I really sorry? I don't believe so. Enjoy (:

One of the many things about Camila that baffled Lauren when they were younger was the fact that she could effortlessly flip her switch between affectionate and hard core bitch within a matter of seconds. She could play with people, toy with their hearts, rip them to shreds and leave them as people who were no more than a fraction of what they had began as. It was a true talent she possessed, no one ever said talents had to be good things, they were just things that made someone exceed in a certain area more than other people. And Camila had that, she could exceed others with her manipulative prowess.

Lauren was one of them. She thinks, Austin might have been too. While she was never a fan of the boy, he had his moments, and he never was a complete dick to her, usually smiling nicely and being a gentleman whenever Lauren was around Camila during their dates.

That being said, Lauren must reiterate, that she hates the boy.

//

16 years old- Lauren Jauregui

//

Lauren can't say it was much of a surprise when halfway through a movie watching with Camila, the girl proposes a hangout, with her boyfriend, at the carnival, where they're supposed to be going for a date.

"Come on, I promise it'll be fun, Lo," Camila whines a little, pouting and throwing popcorn at her best friend as they lay sprawled across Lauren's couch in the middle of her living room, halfway through a binge marathon of all their favorite Disney movies. Some things just really hadn't changed since they were kids, like their love for animate characters and the guaranteed happy ending that came with watching a Disney movie.

"It'll be fun for you," Lauren grunts, shoving a handful of the crunchy yellow stuff into her mouth. "You get to be with your part-time girlfriend and full-time boyfriend, I get to be with my lover and her lover, simmering in jealousy."

She genuinely doesn't mean for it to sound as harsh as it does, but maybe she also underestimated the animosity which she held for the boy. So of course, when Camila's face falls and she shrinks back into the side of the couch, shoulders curling in on themselves, mumbling a "sorry", Lauren feels horrible about her actions.

"Wait, Camila-"

"No I get it, you're right," Camila quickly mumbles, voice spread thin like cellophane. "I shouldn't have even brought it up. I don't know what I was thinking, Austin wouldn't mind you being there, but for you..." she sighed, picking at the fuzzies on her sweater mindlessly.

"Camz," Lauren sighs, putting her bowl down on the floor and crawling towards her sort-of-girlfriend. "You know I didn't mean it like... like I want something more from you. I'm more than happy for what we already have," lies, her inside hisses, "but I just wanted to point out that having both Austin and I there at the same time could potentially set you up for trouble... Seeing as how I would want your attention the whole time and so would he... and then you'd have to-"

Camila gives a watery chuckle. "Okay, okay I see it," her arms come up to encircle Lauren, holding the girl to her chest and pressing a soft kiss into her inky tresses. "Did you recolor it recently?" Camila asks, running her fingers through the girl's locks, admiring the shiny color and smoothness of it between her fingers. She was sure that people's hair quality was supposed to deteriorate after coloring it, but Lauren's only got more perfect. Maybe it was because the girl was an angel of some sort.  

"Yeah, Lucy did it for me, she was high, too, but she did an amazing job," Lauren smiles contently, sitting up and straddling Camila's hips as she runs a happy hand through her waves. "I'd tell her to be a professional hairdresser if she wasn't so intent on doing something much bigger than that with her life."