All or Nothing

16

"So," Camila hears the drawl of her sister's voice a moment before she sees her, Sofi's footsteps heavy as she traipses her way across Camila's gallery-front and into the studio at the rear, an easy smile on her face when she appears in the doorway, "how was your romantic getaway?"

"It was not a romantic getaway," Camila replies with a roll of her eyes, finishing up the part of the piece in front of her that she'd been working on, a slash of white along the exterior of a single lonely house in a field, and sets her brush down, stretching her arms over her head and wincing when her joints crack, having been sat in the same position for too long.

"When your girlfriend invites you to spend the weekend with her in her beach house, it's a romantic getaway," Sofi tells her, settling into the armchair that Camila had set up in one corner for instances such as this – her sister would often drop by on her way home from work, sometimes with takeout and sometimes not, would sit and chatter happily while Camila worked, both of them catching the other up on their day.

"It was... amazing," Camila tells her, with a secret little smile that has Sofi grimacing as she imagines just what it means. Not that Camila is going to tell her, because she and Lauren had spent the majority of the weekend wrapped up in bed together, and she doesn't need to scar her sister with the imagery.

"Yeah? Things are still going well between you two, then?"

"Mhm." Camila rises from her chair to cross to the mini-fridge in one corner, snatches a beer and offers another to Sofi, who shakes her head. "You never turn down beer, what's wrong with you?"

"We're talking about you and Lauren," Sofi waves her off as Camila twists of the cap, and she frowns at her sister as she lifts the beer to her lips. "I... I have a date," she admits under Camil's careful scrutiny, and Camila lets out a gasp, immediately bounding back over to Sofi with a squeal of delight. "And this," she continues with a frown, waving towards Camil and her very obvious excitement, "is why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you'd get all... crazy."

"Oh, come on! I told you about Lauren."

"Because you wouldn't shut up about Lauren," Sofi points out, sighing when Camila pouts. "Okay, maybe that was a little mean. I'm just nervous, it's been a while."

"Yeah, I know," Camila teases and Sofi kicks her in the shin hard enough to make her wince. "Is this the girl from work that you've been talking about? What was her name...? Susan?"

"That would be the one," Sofi murmurs, looking down at her hands. "We went out for drinks last week and I got enough liquid courage in me to ask her out and now I need you to give me a pep talk because I don't know if I have enough courage to leave here again now that I've sat down."

"Okay, pep talks I can do." Camila sets down her beer and kneels on the floor, forcing Sofi to meet her gaze. "You don't need to be nervous about this, Sofi. She said yes, she must like you. And you're... you're amazing, and she's gonna see that. You're gonna blow her away."

Sofi's last breakup had been even worse than Camila's, and in the eighteen months since she hasn't shown an interest in anyone beyond letting them stay the night, and Camila's overjoyed that she's finally daring to put herself back out there again.

"Yeah?"

"Hell yeah," Camila says decisively, curling her hand around the back of Sofi's and squeezing. "Where are you taking her?"

"She's taking me," Sofi admits, and Camila's surprise must show on her face – Sofi is a planner, and Camila doesn't remember the last first date she went on that wasn't on her terms – because she lets out a quiet chuckle.