She was sitting in the kitchen. Camila was out of her room and sitting on the kitchen counter while Mr. Jauregui made a pot of coffee. Her eyes were wide and never left the pages of the book in her lap. Lauren was surprised to say the least to see her out of her room, a t-shirt on her back and pajama bottoms covering her legs as her father poured a cup of coffee and set it next to the sitting girl. Half of the books pages had been turned signaling she'd been reading all night and both family members stare at her in amazement.

Camila flips the page and takes a sip of her coffee, the bags under her eyes now greatly apparent.

"Camila, why don't you go upstairs and get some sleep," Mr. Jauregui suggests but she only shakes her head, eyes never lifting from the current page. With a chuckle, Lauren steps forward and yanks the book from her hand causing a gasp as she fumbles off the counter.

"Sleep," she exaggerates the word, a noise of protest escaping the girls throat before she passes by her to go upstairs. Folding a piece of paper to put in her place, she tosses the book on the counter before saying goodbye to her dad.

All day all she could think about was the date she had with Lucy. Normani noticed her friends happy mood but never once questioned it. Like normal, there was a nap in Math and a video in Science which lead to another nap. By the time last period rolled around, Lauren found her excited mood slowly forming butterflies in her stomach.

"Lauren, wait up!"

The girl turns around to see none other than Lucy herself. She gives a smile as the girl approaches, making the raven haired girl blush by pecking her on the cheek.

"H-hey..." she breathes.

"Walk with me?" Lucy asks and she frantically nods.

-

"She had to cancel plans," Lauren throws her backpack somewhere (she didn't care at this point) across the room, flinging the front door closed. Groaning out loud, she remembers her dad is at work and that she was basically talking to ghosts.

"Who?"

Lauren was surprised to hear the voice. She enters the kitchen to see Camila sitting on the counter, as usual, with her hair tied up and the book in her lap again. She was nibbling on a strawberry, a whole bowl of them to her left, and Lauren wasn't exactly hating the tank top that the brunette was wearing.

"The owl speaks," Lauren chuckles causing her to shift uncomfortably. Sighing, she responds, "Just this girl I've had a crush on since forever. She couldn't come to the movies tonight so we're having coffee at this great place called Susan's on Sunday."

Camila gives a single nod, biting into another strawberry while returning to her novel. She was an odd one, Lauren thought, but in the best of ways. The house was silent, Lauren eventually turning on the television in the living room to check the baseball score and Camila had wandered upstairs. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then the doorbell rang. With a groan, Lauren drags herself off of the couch.

"And who do we have here?"

"What do you want?" her mood easily shifted from laid back to on edge. First of all, why was Vero Iglesias here and second of all, how did Vero Iglesias remember where she lived?

"I came to warn you about Lucy," she answers, looking over the other girls shoulder.

Lauren rolls her eyes, "You just came to see Camila."

Vero Iglesias doesn't even wait for an invitation inside, she just pushes past Lauren and looks around the house. "So that's her name? Camila," she smiles and looks towards the stairs.

The sudden urge to block off the staircase with yellow caution tape overcomes Lauren. So she does the second best thing, leads the other girl into the living room.

"I repeat: what the hell do you want?" Lauren says, crossing her arms and raising her chin in order to appear more confident. She wasn't.

"Like I said, I came to warn you about Lucy," Vero Iglesias shoves her hands in her pockets. Lucy. What could she possibly have to warn Lauren about Lucy?

The sounds of a door upstairs clicking open is the only thing that killed the sudden silence, a moment later it closes again. The last time Vero Iglesias had been in this house was the seventh grade. She was there for a total of two minutes before announcing she had a date with an eighth grader and then walked out. For Lauren, that moment had been the end of their friendship.

"She's not all rainbows and cupcake stickers," Vero Iglesias sits on the arm of the couch as if she was still Lauren's friend. "Did I ever tell you I went on a date with her once?"

Wait, what? If Vero Iglesias and Lucy Vives had ever even so much as held hands it would be all over the school in half a minute.

"Of course you didn't," she continues without an answer, "because Lucy is a psychotic bitch."

"I'm not sure I understand where you're going with this."

"She's... eccentric," Lauren internally applauded the other girls word choice. "I don't really know how to say it, but if I was you, I would skip whatever date you have planned."

Vero Iglesias stands, leaving her ex-friend in silence as she walks out the front door with an expression Lauren can't quite place.

-

edited on june 14, 2019