My Favorite Camren One-Shots (Part 3)

The Babysitter

Lauren just let herself into the Cabello household, she had been babysitting Sofia for six months now and they trusted her enough to just walk in. "Mrs Cabello."

"Ah, Lauren, dear. Just in time." Sinuhe smiled, walking out of the living room with her husband.

"Sofia is coloring in the living room. Camila is due back from school tomorrow so if hear someone come in the house early in the morning it will just be her."

Lauren had never met Camila, she had heard about her from Sofia and seen pictures but she went to a private school out of state so Lauren never got the chance to meet her.

"Yeah, ok."

"There's a lasagna in the freezer you just have to heat it up." The woman said as she pulled on her jacket. "We will see you in the morning."

Lauren said goodbye to the couple and kicked her shoes off, heading into the living room where Sofia was. "Hey, little duck, what're you coloring?"

"A dinosaur. He's like Barney but blue." Sofia explained without lifting her eyes from the book in front of her.

"Ah, ok." Lauren nodded, placing her bag on the floor and sitting cross legged in front of the coffee beside Sofia.

"Can we make cookies and watch Snow White tonight?"

"Sure we can." Lauren agreed, picking up a crayon and began coloring the page beside the one Sofia was coloring. "After dinner, though. Your mom left us lasagna."

"That's Garfield's favorite." Sofia murmured, her tongue poking out of her mouth as she concentrated.

"It is. I will put it on in a little while." Lauren smiled, leaning back against the sofa. "Are you excited for your sister coming home?"

Sofia nodded, looking back at Lauren. "Yeah, she's coming home over the weekend."

"How long is she staying for?"

"All summer."

"Why is she at that school, anyway?" Lauren asked, she knew she probably shouldn't be asking Sofia about this but her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"Mommy said it's because she's can't behave herself and that the school will help her behave."

"Was she that bad?"

"One time she beated up Jackson's big brother because Jackson hurt me but he was to small for her to hit."

"Oh," Lauren nodded, she had seen pictures of this girl and she just didn't look like someone who would hurt anyone, much less for no real reason.

"She's nice to me, though. She reads me bedtime stories when she's home and gives me her pudding when mommy isn't looking."

"She does sound nice." Lauren agreed, pushing herself up to her feet. "I'll go put dinner on, do you want to go upstairs and wash up."

Sofia nodded, climbing to her feet and rushing off upstairs to get ready.

Lauren went into the kitchen, turning on the oven before heading over to the freezer and bending down to get the lasagna but it slipped from her fingers when she stood up and someone grabbed onto the collar of her shirt and pushed her up against the freezer.

"What the fuck? Get offa me!" Lauren snapped, calming down considerably when her eyes landed on the girl she was used to seeing in photos with Sofia and her parents, though the real life version looked a lot more roughed up, with her black eye and a split lip.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the person who babysitting your little sister!" Lauren snapped, sighing when Camila loosened her grip on her collar. "What? Did you think I broke in to steal your moms lasagna? Which is ruined, by the way."

"Yeah, I guess you wouldn't do that, my moms cooking is shit." Camila agreed, lifting the corner of her mouth that wasn't cut into a half smile.

"What happened to your face?"

"Charming." Camila grinned.

"I didn't- I was talking about the bruises." Lauren clarified.

"Oh, that's nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing." Lauren glanced down at Camila's hands, the right of which was tinted blue and purple and the knuckles were split. Lauren took ahold of the wrist of that hand, pulling it back to get a better look. "You look like you've been rough housing with Mike Tyson."

"You should see the other guy, his hand is just as bad as my face."

"Lo, I can't find fluffy." Sofia said she she walked into the kitchen, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her sister. "Mila!"

"Hey, Sof." Camila smiled, groaning when Sofia jumped into her arms and wrapped her arms tightly around her neck.

"I'll go get fluffy." Lauren said, her eyes lingering on Camila, who was staring at Lauren over her little sisters shoulder, before heading up to Sofia's room where fluffy was no doubt sitting on her bed like it always was.

Lauren grabbed the stuffed lion from the bottom of the bed before heading back into the kitchen where Isabella was sitting at the table and Camila was cleaning the food off the floor. "It was on you bed where you left it, silly." Lauren pushed the nose of the animal against Sofia's cheek before setting it on the table.

"What are we going to have for dinner now?" Sofia pouted.

"Maybe your sister can make something, I'm going to head home since she's here."

"But you said we could bake cookies and watch Snow White tonight."

"You may as well stay." Camila said, standing up to put the ruined food in the trash. "I can't bake and you're being paid to be here anyway. When will my parents be back?"

"Tomorrow."

"And do you just stay here?" Camila asked, leaning back against the counter and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah, I sleep in the spare room."

"That's my room."

"Oh, your mom said..."

"I can imagine what's she's told you about me." Camila chuckled, pushing herself away from the counter. "She would fire you if you left me alone with Sof, anyway, so unless you want to lose you job I'd stay. At least until she's in bed."

"Ok, sure." Lauren agreed, watching Camila as she walked past her towards the kitchen door.

"I'm going to shower."

Lauren just nodded, tearing her eyes away from the door when Sofia tugged on the sleeve of her sweater. "That's my sister."

"I know, she's, uh, nice." Was the only word Lauren could really think of right now. "What do you want for dinner?"

"Can I have a cheese sandwich?"

"Not for dinner but you can one for a snack later. How does cheesy pasta sound?"

"Yeah,"

"Does you sister like that?"

"I think so."

Lauren nodded, setting about making the food.

While she was waiting on pasta to cook she slid up onto the counter. "Where have your parents gone tonight, Sofia?"

"Out of state." Sofia shrugged, "that's all they said."

Lauren nodded and Sofia went back to coloring.

Lauren pulled out her phone, texting Vero to ask if she knew anything about Camila, lifting her eyes from her phone when she heard someone enter the kitchen, her phone almost tumbling from her hands when Camila walked in, her wet hair pulled over one shoulder and the only thing covering her body was a white towel that was just barely keeping her fully covered.

"Forgot all my shit was down here." Camila explained, leaning down to pick up her suitcase. Lauren unconsciously licked her lips, forcing herself to look away from the half naked girl in front of her. "What're you making?"

"Uh, pasta. The cheesy kind." Lauren said, mental kicking herself because of just how stupid she sounded.

"Oh. Are you ok? You look kind of... Flushed."

Lauren didn't need to look up to know Camila was smirking but she made the mistake of looking up anyway, any chance she had of replying completely disappearing when she saw the smirk on Camila's face.

Camila pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and winking at Lauren before turning and leaving.

"Fuck me." Lauren murmured, sliding off the counter and going to tend to the dinner.
Camila came back downstairs just as Lauren was serving the dinner, dressing in a pair of ridiculously short black shorts and a dark gray tank top, her still damp hair thrown over one shoulder.

"Mila, will you watch Snow White with us later?" Sofia asked, looking up at her sister as Lauren sat a plate in front of both of them.

"Sure, Sof. But I'm fed up with telling you that the lion kind is better."

"Not true. Does the lion king have dwarfs?"

"No but it had Timon and Pumbaa with is better than one hundred of your dwarfs." Camila argued, holding her hands up as if challenging her sister to argue.

Sofia tutted, stabbing her fork into a piece of pasta. "Those things were just a pig and a chipmunk."

"They were a warthog and a meerkat and they had killer voices."

"Lo, sure Snow White is bestest." Sofia turned to look at Lauren who was content just watching
the sisters fight.

"She's my generation, Sof, she knows which is better."

"I'm sorry, kido, but I have to agree with your sister on this one. I like the Lion King better."

"Told you so." Camila grinned, poking her tongue out at her sister who mirrored her action.

The rest of the dinner was spend with Sofia and Camila bickering and teasing each other while Lauren just sat back and watched a girl who was apparently so badly behaved she had to be shipped of to boarding school act like a complete child.

"How long have you been babysitting Sofia?" Camila asked as Lauren routed around the cupboards to get everything ready for baking the cookies.

"Six months."

"And is it every weekend?"

"More or less." Lauren shrugged, throwing everything into the bowl and handing it to Camila.

"Mix this."

"I'm sorry?" Camila arched her eyebrows and Lauren probably would've found it threatening if she hadn't just spent half an hour with the girl acting like a child. "I don't remember saying I was going to be helping."

"No, but I'm telling you too."

"A lot of people scarier and bigger than you have told me to do things that I haven't done."

"And you can drop this," Lauren waved her hand towards Camila as she turned on the oven and took out the baking try. "Bad girl act you have going on, too.

"Oh, you think it's an act?" Camila challenged.

"I do, actually."

"Well, why don't you ask the guy who gave me this," Camila pointed to the bruising around her eye. "And the guy who tried to help him how much of an act this is. Better take them some fruit or something, that's costumery when visiting someone in the hospital."

Lauren eyed Camila, looking for any indication she was lying or over exaggerating what she was saying but found none. "Bullshit."

"I don't have anything to prove to you, you're just another one of these spoilt Miami teenagers." Camila spat, handing the bowl back to Lauren. "I'm not helping you bake."

"Ok, one; roll back the fucking attitude, alright? That might wash at whatever school you go to but not with me." Lauren snapped back, pushing the bowl back into Camila's hands. "And two; it's not me who's baking, it's your little sister so mix the fucking dough and act like you're having the times of your life."

Camila glared hard at Lauren for a few seconds but couldn't seem to stop the smirk that was fighting it's way onto her lips.

"Ok, ready." Sofia announced as she walked into the kitchen, rolling the sleeves of her T-Rex onesie up past her elbows.

Camila glanced down at her sister, her eyes quickly returning to Lauren who raised her eyebrows challengingly. "Fine."

Lauren smiled sarcastically at Camila, letting go of the bowl in favor of picking up Sofia and setting her on the counter. "Ok, you watch over your sister and tell her what she's doing, ok?"
Sofia nodded, pointing towards the bowl. "Mix."

"Right you are, Mr. Dinosaur."

"That's miss dinosaur," Sofia corrected.

"Of course, my mistake, ma'am." Camila rolled her eyes, looking over at Lauren who was smiling at the interaction. "Are you just going to stand there?"

Lauren startled slightly, shaking her head and moving to get the grease proof paper and laid it out on the baking tray.

"Choco chips, Lo." Sofia demanded and Lauren gave her a warning look which made the young girl smile bashfully. "Please."

"Better." Lauren handing Sofia the chocolate chips and the girl murmured a thank you as she poured a generous amount into the bowl.

"Mix faster, Mila."

Camila obliged, turning the spoon faster in the bowl and Lauren found her eyes wandering to the girls bicep and just how toned it actually was. This girl look pretty much harmless in the pictures hung all over the house but now Lauren wasn't so sure.

"You're just staring again."

"Ok, now you gotta pick up some and make a ball."

"What? Just pick it up?"

"Like this," Sofia dug her hands into the dough and pulling out an amount about the size of her palm and rolled it into a ball. "Cause it flattens when it's in the microwave."

"Oven." Lauren corrected.

"Oven. And the Choco chips melt but we can't eat them if they're to warm because it burns your tongue and you can't taste things for a little while."

"Speaking from experience?" Camila asked, looking over at Lauren who was rolling up the sleeves of her shirt.

"I warned her but she took one anyway." Lauren answered, helping roll the dough into balls and setting them on the baking tray.

Once the dough was finished Lauren slid the tray carefully into the oven. "These take a while so why don't you go wash up and put your pajamas on, I will set up Snow White."

Sofia nodded, running out of the kitchen and loudly up the stairs.

"She seems to like you." Camila commented.

"Yeah, she isn't as hostile as you are." Lauren shot back, washing her hands in the kitchen sink.

"I wasn't hostile at that age, either. But parents fuck you up." Camila shrugged, drying her hands and throwing the towel onto the counter. "Come back to me when she's old enough to realized the extent of just how much my parents don't care about her and tell me how hostile she is then, mm?" Camila arched her eyebrows at Lauren before leaving the kitchen.

Lauren stayed rooted in place, Mr and Mrs Cabello seemed to be nice to Sofia but then again going out for most of the weekend every weekend wasn't exactly being present.

Lauren forced her legs to move, following Camila into the kitchen. "I'm sorry, if I knew I would've refused to babysit."

Camila was standing with her back to Lauren, looking through the DVDs on the rack in an attempt to fine Snow White but was met with row after row of her parents DVDs.

"She hides it. She had her own copy but they threw it out when they needed room for their own DVDs so I gave her my copy, she keeps it down the side of the cabinet."

Camila chuckled humorlessly, crouching down to get the DVD. "It's not your fault. If you refused they would find someone else," Camila explained, turning to face Lauren, biting light down on the uninjured side of her lip. "But I'm glad it's someone who cares about her and not just the money."

"I do care about her."

"I know. I can tell." Camila gave Lauren a half -and, if Lauren was being honest with herself, a tired- smile.

"Ok, I'm ready." Sofia ran into the living room wearing one of Camila's old tshirts as a nightgown, Lauren didn't miss the smile on Camila's face when she saw this but it quickly disappeared when her lips began to hurt. "Why isn't it on?"

"We're doing it now, dummy."

"You're a dummy." Sofia shot back, climbing onto the two seater sofa as Camila put the DVD in the player.

"Your mom is a dummy." Camila grinned when Sofia gasped.

"We have the same mommy,"

"Doesn't matter," Camila argued, sitting down beside her sister.

Lauren opted for sitting on the armchair, throwing her legs over one of the arms and leaning back against the other.

"Ok, play it." Sofia insisted, adding a please before Lauren could even turn to look at her, and cuddled up to her sisters side.

Camila slug one arm around Sofia and hit play on the remote.

Not long into the movie the timer for the cookies went off and Lauren moved to get them,
placing them on a plate and walking back into the living room.

"How long do we leave them for, Sofia?"

"Ten minutes." Sofia huffed, eyeing the the cookies on the table. "Lo, can Camila put me to bed tonight?"

"Of course, I thought she would've been doing it, anyway." Lauren smiled back at Sofia as she
sat back down in the same position as she had before.

Sofia didn't waste any time taking one of the cookies as soon as ten minutes had passed, getting one for her sister, too.

"Mm, we make good cookies." Camila hummed, nodding approvingly at Lauren as she chewed on one of the cookies.

"We make them almost every week, we've got the recipe down."

"Guys, sh." Sofia shushed, nibbling on her cookie with her eyes glued to the tv.

Camila rolled her eyes, a ghost of a smile on her lips as she settled back to watch the movie.
By the end of the movie Sofia was leaning sleepily against Camila, fighting to keep her eyes open.

"Bed time, Sof." Camila whispered to her sister and Sofia yawned, sliding of the sofa and dragging her feet lethargically towards the stairs.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth."

"Ok," Sofia called lazily back as she slouched up the steps.

"You should go upstairs and make sure she does brush her teeth, sometimes she just uses mouth wash and claimed she did brush her teeth." Lauren suggested, pushing herself off the armchair and over to the dvd player to take out the dvd and hide it again.

Camila chuckled, thinking about how that's what she used to do that same thing, and headed upstairs after her sister.

Lauren hid the DVD where Sofia always hid it before picking up the empty cookie plate and heading into the kitchen to clean up the mess in there.

It took Lauren a while to scrub the dough off the counter and floor and to get the floor off of everything but once she did she headed back into the living room, picking up her bag and glancing at the sofa where Camila was now sitting on again, a beer in her hand and an open box of twelve set at her feet.

"Where did you get those from?"

Camila looked back over the sofa at Lauren, glancing at the bag in her hand before bringing her eyes back to Lauren's face. "I had them stashed in my room from the last time I was here."

"Oh, ok. Is Sofia asleep?"

"Yeah, she asked me to read her Funny Bones but she crashed as soon as her head hit the pillow." Camila said, taking a drink from the bottle in her hand before tipping it towards Lauren's bag. "Leaving?"

"Yeah, I figured you'd be fine since she's asleep and your parents will probably be back by the time she wakes up."

Camila nodded, turning back to face the tv. "You should stay,"

Lauren frowned at that, she was sure Camila didn't like her much, if at all, so why would she ask her to stay?

"Why?"

"Because it's dark outside and, to some people, me drinking alone would make them think I was depressed."

"Oh, so not because you actually want to spend time with me."

Camila shook her head as she took another drink of her beer. "Mm, of course not."

"Because that would be ludicrous, right? You wanted to spend time with a rich miami teenager."

"I'm sure I had the word spoilt in there somewhere." Camila pointed out, leaning her head back against the sofa to look at Lauren. "I can say sorry if thats what you want?"

"Will you mean it?"

"No," Camila shrugged, her eyes squinting in what Lauren thought was pain for a few seconds before a smirk formed on Camila's lips. "Do you have something better you could be doing?"
Lauren shook her head, "No, but that doesn't mean I want to sit here with you."

A look of mock hurt flashed across Camila's face. "Ouch, the spoilt brat has a little bite in her, huh?"

"You don't know the first thing about me so back off." Lauren snapped and Camila just grinned, obviously satisfied that she got a rise out of Lauren, and sheepishly leant forward, taking out a bottle of beer and holding it out to Lauren without looking back at her.

"Are your ribs hurt?"

"Broken. Well, they were, they're heeling now."

Lauren wanted to ask what happened, though she knew Camila was probably involved in a fight, and what the hell Camila could possible have done to deserve such a beating but she knew better by now, Camila wouldn't tell her.

"Ok," Lauren agreed, taking the bottle from Camila's hand and sitting down in the armchair.
Lauren twisted the top off the bottle as Camila settled on a channel, the movie channel that was playing Apartment 143.

"Is the plan just to sit here and get drunk?"

"That's my plan, yeah." Camila groaned as she stretched out her legs, probing them up on the coffee table as she drained the last of the liquid in the bottle.

"Your mom would freak if she saw you with your feet up on her coffee table."

"Shame," Camila murmured sarcastically.

Lauren was fighting with herself, she wanted to leave because Camila wasn't exactly the nicest person to be around but she was intrigued but the girl across from her.

"You have a serious staring problem, princess."

Lauren rolled her eyes, turning back to look at the tv and drank from the bottle in her hand.

"How much do they pay you?" Camila asked after about a half hour of silence.

Lauren startled at the sudden voice, already a little creeped out by the movie, her head snapping back to look at Camila. "Who?"

"My parents. How much do they pay you to look after Sofia?"

"Oh, a hundred a night."

"What? Just for babysitting?"

"I know, it threw me a little at first, too, but I wasn't about question them."

"Fair enough," Camila agreed, nodding lazily.

"Is there someone hurting you at that school?" Lauren asked, the words leaving her mouth before her brain could ever register it.

The caring tone in her voice seemed to throw Camila a little but she eventually shook her head.
"No," Camila finished her four beer, setting the empty bottle on the table before taking out another one, holding one out to Lauren, too. "No, it's not like that at all."

"Then what happened to you?" Lauren practically insisted, accepting the bottle from Camila, her third one. "And don't say nothing. It's clearly not nothing, you're hurt."

"Ok," Camila murmured, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. "Last weekend I went to a party and slept with this girl, turns out she had a boyfriend, who done this to me." Camila pointed to her face before continuing. "And a brother, who done this to me." she pointed to her knuckled this time making Lauren's eyes drop to her hand.

"All that for a girl?" Lauren inquired, leaning closer to Camila and ghosting her fingertips across Camila's knuckles.

"She was hot," Camila shrugged. "I didn't know she had a boyfriend, she didn't tell me. The first I knew about him was when her punched me and started screaming at me about fucking his girlfriend. I didn't even come on to her, she just sort of grabbed me and dragged me to the bathroom, I wasn't going to say no." Camila explained and Lauren couldn't help but noticed just how sad she looked up this close. "She didn't tell me about him, I wouldn't have done it if I knew."

"So what happened after he hit you?" Lauren asked curiously.

"I warned him, told him that I didn't know she had a boyfriend and that if he didn't back off I wouldn't be responsible for what I did. He laughed at me, obviously, I would've, too, I'm not exactly terrifying. Then he pushed me, asking what I was going to do about it and said I was just 'a girl' and I snapped. I don't actually remember much of it other than the other guy, the girls brother, trying to pull me off the girls boyfriend, I elbowed him square in the nose and he just crumbled, completely unconscious. I only stopped because two teachers showed up and stopped me. They were going to try and charge me with assault but they looked back on the tapes and saw they he hit me first."

Lauren nodded along with Camila's story, "How can you not remember something like that?"
"I black out sometimes, when I'm angry, mostly." Camila answered nonchalantly.

"That's- That's not normal."

"I didn't think it was either, I was shitting myself, I thought I had, like, a brain tumor or something." Camila said, chewing the inside of her cheek.

"Did you find out what it was?" Lauren wasn't just being nosy, Camila could tell by the look in her eyes, she looked empathetic, like she actually cared.

"Yeah," Camila nodded, the look in Lauren's eyes throwing her off kilter a little. "You know everyone have that fight or flight action?"

Lauren shook her head, "I've heard of it but I don't really know what it is."

Camila took a drink of her beer, setting it on the table and licking her lips as she shuffled closer to Lauren. "It's basically when you're faced with something that scared you, like- what are you afraid of?"

"Clowns."

"Clowns. Right, so if you ended up face to face with a particularly scary clown, what would you do?"

"Run, probably."

"So you would pick flight. It's an adrenaline thing, if you're scared you want to act as quickly as possible so your brain takes over and makes decisions for you without you being conscious of it until after, that's what my shrink says happens to me. My brain just takes over but instead of being able to think about it after and remember I can't, not all of it anyway. He said its dangerous, though, that if I fight someone who ends up getting the better of me my brain just would stop fighting back until I've been knocked out of calmed down."

"Oh," Lauren murmured, "Does it happen often?"

"Just when I'm angry,"

"And how often is that?"

"Ok, let me rephrase that; it's only when I get really angry."

Lauren nodded, understanding what Camila was saying. "And your ribs? Was that the same kind of story."

"No, that was different. Since I left here and went to that school I've done MMA fighting, well I don't compete, I just practice it, build up my strength so I can look after myself."

"And did you hurt yourself doing that?" Lauren asked, her eyes moving to Camila's arms, now understanding where she became so toned.

"Yeah, we were sparring on the mats and whatever fuckwit set out the mat that day put it over the leg of a metal stand and the person I was sparring with, my friend Zayn, flipped me and slammed me onto the mat. I shouldn't have hurt at all, it should only have winded me a little, but I landed right on the edge of the metal bar. I broke these four ribs here," Lauren hand expected Camila to demonstrate on herself but instead the girl lean over and lightly pressed her fingers against the bottom four ribs on Lauren's ribcage. "That was about four weeks ago."

"And they still hurt?"

"Yeah, but that's normal, the doctor said they could hurt for a while."

"Oh," Lauren whispered, fully aware of the fact Camila's hand had dropped from her ribs to rest on her knee.

"Did that aid your curiosity?"

"I wasn't just curious, I was worried. You're a sarcastic, hostel bitch but you don't deserve to be hurt."

"Not even if I slept with someone else's girlfriend?"

"No. You said it yourself, you didn't know." Lauren insisted, shaking her head lightly. "You act like you aren't a good person but I saw you with Sofia today. I'm not saying it's an act but it's not all of who you are, you're more than sarcastic retorts and mean comments."

"She's my sister, I have to be nice to her."

Lauren chuckled at the answer, bringing the bottle in her hand up to her lips and taking a drink of it.

"Maybe you aren't that much of a spoilt brat."

"Are you going to apologize for saying I was?"

"Don't push it, green eyes." Camila smirked, draining the last of her beer and dropping the empty bottle carelessly onto the table. "Here," Camila murmured as she took the four remaining bottles out of the box and handing two to Lauren.

"Thank you." Lauren smiled, leaning back and drinking the remainders of the liquid in her bottle.

"How many girls HAVE you slept with?"

Camila shrugged lazily.

"You don't remember?"

"Most of them leave before I even wake up and the rest it's me who's sneaking out." Camila answered. "It isn't like the movies, it doesn't always have to mean something. It's about have fun."

"Fun that you could catch anything from."

"I've had myself checked, I'm clean."

"Ball park it?" Lauren pushed, hanging over the arm of the chair, her bottle dangling loosely between her thumb and forefinger.

"I don't know. Twenty, maybe." Camila said and Lauren just nodded. "You can judge me all you want but..."

"Hey, wow. I wasn't judging you, it's fine, you can sleep with whoever you want, as long as your safe about it and are at least decent to the other person then whatever." Lauren assured, "Do you take them back to your dorm or what?"

"Sometimes but they're murder to sneak them out of so we normally go back to their dorm because college dorms have much less security."

"So they're all college girls?"

"Mostly, Zayn is in college so I go to parties with him."

"And you haven't thought about dating any of them?"

"Nah, see, strangely, college girls are more flaky then high school girls. Most of them are just
experimenting and I don't mind being the test subject."

"Have you ever been in love?"

"You get deep after four beers, huh?"

"I would ask you this stuff sober."

"Mm," Camila hummed, scooting up the sofa so she was closer to Lauren. "I haven't been in love, no. I've been too busy hating the world for that."

"Isn't that exhausting?"

"It's better than letting people hurt you."

"Not everyone is like your parents." The words slip from Lauren's mouth before she even has the chance to stop them but when she realized what she had said her hand moved to cover her mouth. "Sorry, I..."

"No, it's fine, you're right. It is all about patenting issues, I know that, my shrink told me so." Camila shrugged nonchalantly. "Does Sof have an imagery friend?"

"Mm. His name is Jefferson and her wears a top hat. Why?"

"I had one, too. The shrink said that some kids think up imaginary friends because their parents aren't giving them enough attention."

"But I had one and my parents were always around."

"Maybe you're just crazy?"

"Mm, maybe." Lauren agreed, "He wasn't much of a friend, he used to tell me to set things on fire."

"Ah, and does he still tell you to do that or has he stopped?"

"Nah, he progressed to telling me who to kill and who not to kill."

"Yeah, and I'm the one with issues."

Lauren just grinned from behind her bottle.

"What's MMA like?"

"What do you mean what's it LIKE?"

"Like, what do you do?"

"Fight and try not to get your ass kicked."

"I reckon I could kick your ass." Lauren said confidently.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Camila grinned, arching her eyebrow at Lauren who nodded as she
finished her beer and popped open the next one. "Then fight me."

"I would but I don't hit girls."

Camila laughed at that, drinking the left overs in her bottle before setting it on the table and standing up. "Come on then."