Rising Love

The Things She Doesn't Notice

When Camila first comes in the house, it is when Lauren least expects it. 

She's wearing off a high on a Sunday afternoon, dancing in the living room wearing only a sports bra and black athletic shorts, holding a hairbrush and singing aloud to the music blaring on the TV, which is Sign of the Times by Harry Styles. 

The open and close of the door doesn't rattle her, as she thinks it's only Zayn back with the groceries, until she sees Camila's face as she walks into the TV room, with Zayn at her side. 

"Lauren, what are you doing?"

"Fuck." Lauren said under her breath, too embarrassed to notice Camila's eyes grazing up and down her body. "I'll go change."

And then she ran, overlooking the fact that Camila was looking at her abs as she left the room. 

"I didn't know she was so ripped." Camila told Zayn after Lauren was gone. 

He shrugged, tracing over the tattoos on his left arm with a finger.  "Baking has a lot of heavy lifting to it. Strengthens the core and stuff."

"Oh. Wow." 

"But Lauren works out often as well, so that contributes to it." 

Silence from Camila, who is mulling over what she's just learned, which is mainly, Lauren has abs. 

"Come on, your room is this way." 

Zayn leads her past the kitchen and into the guest bedroom that he and Lauren made for her. 

"So here it is." he tells Camila, nodding in approval of his own work. "Dinner's at six, okay? I'm making pasta."

Then he leaves the room, with Camila closing the door behind him. She sets the bags she has down onto the floor, sitting on the bed and letting herself fall back into the plush mattress, which is a lot cozier than the one at the hotel. She lets herself relax, sitting there and moving her arms back to try to grab a pillow. 

Instead, she grabs something else. A sealed envelope and a box of See's chocolates. Sitting back up, Camila opens the envelope, which has a small note, only about the size of a index card. It is blank except for a messily handwritten, "Enjoy your stay :)"

Not even the hotel service was this good, Camila thought to herself. While she wasn't entirely sure who wrote the card, she assumed it was Lauren, being the good friend that she is. Camila got off the bed and climbed in fully, using her pillows to prop her head up as she ate about half of the chocolate box. She was pretty sure she was going to like it here. 

Time spent living with Niall had been peaceful enough, yes, but it was often spent in silence, boring. He would spend most of his time in the living room, watching Discovery TV or playing riffs on his guitar, and sometimes Camila would listen to him play. But moreoften, she would be in the bedroom, listening to music or watching a movie of her own. She was excited to be spending time with people after dinner, maybe watching a movie with someone else at her side, eating freshly baked cookies while doing so would be a plus as well. 

Camila looks down at the opened chocolates, deciding whether or not she should just finish off the rest of them until she hears Zayn call her for dinner. Hiding the now-closed box of chocolates and the letter under her pillow, Camila hears the bed creak as she gets up, leaves the room, and heads to the kitchen. 

Lauren is at the table, seated next to Zayn, cheeks redder than Camila has ever seen them. Maybe the pasta is spicy. 

"Hey Camz." Lauren says, cheeks still glowering red. 

"Hi Lauren." 

"The pasta is fettuccine alfredo, made it myself." Zayn says proudly, and that's when Camila first notices the food on the table.