Bound To You (camren au)

unsure i can trust

yall remember at the beginning of this book when i described this story as "marginally angsty song fic-y fun"..... wtf happened

on that note tw for mention of self-harm. also a recap of c's backstory towards the end so another tw for eating disorders & suicidal thoughts

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lolo: hey camz

lolo: wanna hang out

sorry i can't :(

hailee and i are having a movie night

lolo: oh she's back in town?

yeah

lolo: oh

another time??

lolo: yeah for sure

-

lolo: hi are you free today?

sorry lo i'm not

date night with the gf

i'll see you tomorrow morning though?

lolo: yeah

lolo: see you then

-

lolo: dj and mani and i are going shopping this weekend

lolo: wanna come?

aww that sounds so fun :( but i already told hailee i'd stay in with her tonight

lolo: oh alright

lolo: see you at work

-

July stretches out ahead of them, hot and lazy. The club gets rowdier in the summer, and Camila's paychecks have gotten even better. Things are in a pleasant lull in her life outside House of Hernandez, but inside House of Hernandez, she's got regular patrons stuffing money in her hands and men offering to pay for her college tuition. Just the other day one of their regulars, a super-sexy (Dinah's words) twenty-something with great hair and an accent, dropped off a gift for Camila that made its way up to the dressing room.

It was this totally fabulous fur coat - the kind girls at Camila's high school would call a hooker coat, probably, which makes it even more amazing. Camila cheered and danced around in it and then dedicated her next song to Mr. Sexy with the accent.

It was a good day. But Camila had to leave early because she was supposed to meet for drinks with Hailee and her work friends, so high on attention and her new present, she rushes out of the club in one of Lauren's dresses that she left there one time (black, girly, sweetheart neckline, surprisingly modest) and her brand new coat and her hair swept back into a low ponytail. Her winged eyeliner is smoked out, with tiny rhinestones on each inner and outer corner, courtesy of Dinah, who has gotten into the habit of ambushing every House of H girl and sticking gems on top of their eye makeup. It's pretty charming,

"You are so fucking beautiful!" Normani yells after her before she leaves, so Camila's been feeling good, and Ariana twirled her out the door with a very approving look, so she's been feeling extra good.

Hailee picks her up outside the club. "Nice prostitute getup," she says.

Camila beams at her and drops a peck on her cheek. "Thank you!"

They go to a bar, casual and fun, and Camila is somehow both pleasantly overdressed and slightly underdressed at the same time, and Hailee's friends are really cool and really nice. They like her, Camila thinks happily. This is what she does best, anyhow - she charms strangers. It's her job. Even though they're all a lot more sophisticated and worldly than she is, Camila gets the energy up, gets them laughing. She shares some funny anecdotes because they all seem fascinated by her job, which she loves. They compliment her coat and her dress and her makeup, and it feels good, that she's Hailee's pretty, intriguing girlfriend who knows how to work a room in her own compellingly awkward way.