Take Care (Camren)

Chapter 4

"Hellooo!" I beamed as I walked up to sit with Normani and Dinah at our lunch table. "Hey" they said in unison "Where have you been?" Dinah asked suspiciously. "I've been busy." I said truthfully. Truth is , I've spent everyday after school with Camila. "With what?" Normani chimes in. "None of your business." I smile before taking a bite of my sandwich. "Alright. Time for the guessing game." Dinah says throwing her food down on her plate and cracking her finger before staring at me intensely.

"Do you have a new job?" she asks

"No"

"Is someone dying?"

"What? No. I would tell you if someone was dying Dinah"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No." I smile

"It's a girl! She's been with a girl!" Normani says. "Just look at that smile." she says pinching my cheeks. "Okay. You caught me." I said throwing my hands up in defeat. "Who is it?" Dinah asks. "Her name is Camila." I say smiling at the sound of her name. "What does she look like?" she questions again and on cue I see Camila walk through the cafeteria door. "Um. She's actually right there." I said motioning towards the slim girl. "Call her over here!" Normani smirks. "No!" I protest. "You guys are going to embarrass me." I sigh. "I'll do it then gosh." Dinah says before standing up and locating Camila. "Hey! Camila?" she yells across the cafeteria making everyone turn their heads in our direction. "Is your name Camila? No? Turn around then." she says referencing the people still staring at her. "Jesus." Me and Normani laugh. "She's coming." Dinah states after sitting down.

"Hi Lauren." Camila says approaching our table. "Hey." I say before hugging her. "Sorry if she bothered you." I say glancing over at Dinah who had a smirk plastered on her face. "No I'm not bothered." she said. "What's up?" she asks sitting beside me. I placed my hand on her thigh. "Lauren." Normani scoffed. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?" she and Dinah smile at each other. "Oh yeah. Camila, this is Dinah and Normani. Mani, Dinah, this is Camila." I said nonchalantly taking some of my sandwich in my mouth.

"So, Camila..." Normani starts. "How long have you known Lauren?" she questions. "We met at the start of the semester in Mr. Fields' class." she said smiling in my direction. "Are you serious?" Normani asks shocked. "Why are you just now telling us about her Lauren?" she scolds. "I don't know really... I guess it never came up." I said. "Are you free tomorrow Camila?" Dinah asked her. "Yeah I am. Why?" she said taking my hand in hers. "Well, every Thursday the three of us go on a girls date after school. Sometimes we go catch a movie or just out to eat. You should come with us." she said smiling at Normani. "Oh, I wouldn't want to intrude..." Camila said looking down. "You wouldn't be." I assured her, squeezing her hand. "Yeah, we'd love to have you." Normani says smirking. "Here, take my number." she said handing her a folded piece of paper with her digits written on it. "I'll text you everything." she said. "Thanks." Camila flashed a small smile.

"Hey babe." I heard a deep voice say sternly behind me. I watched Camila quickly stand up, suddenly flustered, she let go of my hand.
"I've been looking for you everywhere. Why are you sitting here?" he said intimidatingly and I saw her features change to some full of fear. "I'm sorry Austin, I was just talking." she said avoiding his gaze and I felt my anger rise at the sound of his name escaping her lips. He overlooked our table and nodded. "I was looking for you." he said through his teeth, pulling Camila by her arm. I stood from my seat. "She was just talking to us alright? Calm down." I said and he released Camila's arm and stepping towards me. "Don't tell me to calm down." he raised his voice but I stood my ground. "Don't talk to me like that man." I said trying to control my temper for Camila's sake. "What are you going to do about it bitch?" he said stepping closer to me. I stayed still, my arms crossed in front of my chest. "Woah. Chill out man." Dinah said getting involved. "No one's trying to fight you, we were just talking." she continued. "Austin you need to stop." Camila said placing her hands on his chest. The sight sickened me. "We need to leave." she said picking up her bags and walking out of the cafeteria. "You should probably go too." I said motioning towards the door. He looked like he was about to say something but I guess he decided against it before following Camila out of the building.

"What was that? He's a dick." Normani said in disbelief. "That is her boyfriend." I said taking my seat yet again. "Her boyfriend?" she asked again. "Yes, her boyfriend." I confirmed. "Come on Lo, not this again." Dinah said. "What?" I asked defensively. "You're chasing another straight girl, I thought we were passed this?" she said with a disapproving look. "Same here. I mean after what happened with you and Ally I thought you would only date lesbians." Normani said. "I don't want to talk about Ally right now." I said sighing. "And me and Camila aren't dating... we're just... its complicated." I said trying to explain our current situation but truth is, I don't even know what's going on between us. "She knows I like her, I know she likes me but we haven't done anything. Does that make us friends? More than friends? I don't know alright? I just- I don't want to fuck this up." I sighed again.

"Wow." Dinah gasped. "You really like her." she finished. "Yeah, I do." I said smiling. "We could talk to her tomorrow if you want?" Normani offered. "No." I protested. "I have to do this right, or else everything will be ruined." I said looking at them. "Okay. But that looks like a lot to get yourself involved in. Are you sure she's worth it?" she asked. "I'm sure. I don't know... There's something about her, she's different." I said. "Even if things don't work out, I still want to help her." I say confidently. "Well, we support you no matter what, you know that." Dinah said reaching across the table for my hand. "Thanks." I said flashing a small smile.

[...]

"Lauren.." Camila started as she sat down beside me in Mr.fields' class. "I'm really sorry for what happened earlier at lunch. I don't know what got into him. He's normally not like that, i swear." She says. I just stare at her with a blank expression. "You're mad at me aren't you?" she looks to the ground. "God, I knew I would fuck this up, I always do." she says and my face contorts to one of confusion. I stay silent.

"Lauren will you please say something? I don't want to lose you." she says meeting my gaze. I turn in my seat, scooting closer to her. I take both of her hands in mine and squeeze them comfortingly. "You're not going to lose me." I say quietly enough so only she can hear me. "And besides, you're not the one who needs to apologize. You did nothing wrong." I say. "I know but, if I had never sat over there with you guys he wouldn't have been so angry." she says disconnecting her eyes from mine. "We're the ones who called you over, we knew what we were signing up for, at least I did. You have to stop blaming yourself for his actions Camila. None of that was your fault, it was his. He made the decision to act against his will, not you." I said rubbing the back of her hand with my thumb. "I hate when you put yourself down like that. You don't deserve it." I said slightly caressing her forearm.

"So you're not mad at me?" she asked looking up at me. "No, I don't think I could ever really be mad at you." I said pulling her into a hug. "Thank you." she said into my neck and I found an enormous smile spreading across my face. "Don't thank me." I said rubbing her back. "You can make it up to me though." I smiled, releasing her. "Anything." she beamed and I smirked suggestively. "Okay maybe not anything" she laughed practically reading my mind. "Fine. But you do have to go out with us tomorrow." I said mentioning the girls date that was brought up earlier.

"What if they don't like me? I mean my boyfriend did try to fight their best friend, I don't think I made the best first impression." she sighed. "They're going to love you." I said with a smile and she leaned into my side with my arm linked around her shoulders.

just like I do