#people who draw on their phone/with their finger have my undying respect

[brain-rot-hour]

At this point Flat Inu isn't my mood cause going flat requires too much effort; I just wanna stay however I land

[5hfanfiction]

you keep robbing my heart like a bank ~camren~ 7/?

Camila: hey lauren do u need a ride to the mall?

Lauren: No that’s okay! Ally is driving us there. We’re meeting at 4 right?

Camila: yes ma'am :) see u then

Before Camila can do anything else, a heavy weight drops on top of her back.

“You’re so heavy. Get off of me, DJ.” Camila’s groan is muffled as her face gets pushed into the bedspread.

“Yeah, Dinah,” Normani chimes in from where she’s spinning in her desk chair. “You don’t want to kill Mila before she has a chance to declare her undying love for Lauren.”

“Oh yeah, of course not!” Dinah agrees loudly in Camila’s ear but makes no move to get off of her.

Camila blindly tosses a pillow at Normani but of course completely misses the girl. After some struggling, she’s finally able to roll out from underneath Dinah and Camila sits up as she throws a glare at Normani. “I’m not in love with Lauren.”

“I don’t know. I mean, when you’re into someone for three years, I don’t think that can be called a crush anymore,” Normani argues.

“More like an obsession,” Dinah pitches in, dodging the pillow Camila lobs at her.

“Shut up you assholes. Don’t go throwing the L word around. I just really like her, okay?”

Normani pouts sympathetically at the girl, finally pausing her swiveling. “You’re right. But are you every going to actually do something about it?”

“I’m trying,” Camila groans, flinging herself backwards onto the lone remaining pillow and rubbing at her eyes with the heels of her hands. “This shit is hard.”

“Well you better do something soon, before Zayn makes a move. Lauren likes his attention, you can tell,” Dinah says, lying down next to Camila.

“Mila,” Normani begins. “You should really tell him that you like Lauren. You know what he’s like. He’ll back off because he cares about you.”

Glancing at Normani with tired eyes, Camila ponders over the girl’s words. 

Why hasn’t she told Zayn yet? Camila knows that if she admitted her crush on Lauren to him, he would respect it and stop making advances. He’s one of her closest friends. Hell, the guy would get involved in fights that he had nothing to do with just so that Camila wouldn’t have to deal with them alone. He’s one of Camila’s closest friends and would never make a move on someone she likes.

“You’re right. I should tell him.”

“Fuck yeah I’m right, I’m always right.”

“No, not really,” Dinah comments from where she’s examining her nails.

Normani throws a dirty look at Dinah that the girl completely misses. “I don’t recall asking you, ho.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Mila,” Normani whines from her seat. “Smack Dinah for me.”

Camila rolls over away from the two, unlocking her phone and tapping on an app. “No. I’m busy. I need to beat my high score in Flippy Bottle.”

All of a sudden, a shadow looms over Camila and she gazes up to see Normani’s face haloed by her dark hair. “I bet that if Lauren asked, you would have done it right away.”

Camila feels movement behind her as Dinah sits up to join in on the teasing. “I bet you would do anything for Lauren.”

“Anything she wanted.” Normani draws out her words, a smirk on her face at Camila’s narrowed eyes.

“Oh my god, Mani!” Dinah suddenly exclaims, bouncing up onto her knees. “Lauren would totally top Camila!”

Bursting into loud laughter, Normani collapses back into her desk chair as Dinah joins in. 

“Shut the fuck up, Normani!” Camila shouts but it pretty much goes unnoticed. She would throw a pillow at the girl but she doesn’t want to use the one she’s lying on. “I’m not a bottom!”

“Maybe not usually, but with this girl you would be,” Normani barely gets out between her snickering.

Flaring her nostrils, Camila locks her phone and sits up, scowling at the two girls in hysterics. “I’m leaving. I’ll see you two assholes at the mall.”

Throwing herself forward, Dinah wraps her arms tightly around Camila’s waist, effectively preventing the girl from standing up. “No! Don’t leave, Mila. We’re just joking.”

“Yeah, we’re sorry,” Normani offers with a pout, but there’s still a small smirk that she can’t keep off of her face.

“I’m not a bottom,” Camila whispers, an angry pout on her face.

Dinah pats the girl on the shoulder, sitting back with a grin. “Whatever you say, honey.”

~~

“Hello, guys!” Ally greets happily as the three girls approach the table.

Camila returns the grin Ally sends her, smiling even wider when she sees Lauren wave nervously but friendly at them.

“Hey Dinah, Normani. H– hi Camila,” Lauren stutters cutely.

Camila is about to take the other seat next to Lauren, the one that Ally isn’t occupying, when Dinah plops herself onto it before Camila can.

“What’s up, Lauser? You going to do some shopping today?”

“Um, yeah, maybe.”

Gripping the chair that was supposed to be hers, Camila huffs as Dinah keeps making conversation with Lauren. She sees Dinah glance at her with a mischievous smirk before turning back to Lauren and standing up. “I know Camila has just been dying all day to see you, so I won’t keep you from her any longer.”

As Dinah walks away from the two with a shit-eating grin on her face, Camila has to reign in the urge to smack it. She knows Lauren hates violence, so instead she attempts to hide her flushed face and claims her seat next to Lauren (she did say that she wants to change, and Lauren being here influenced her restraint, so she supposes the girl is helping her, even unintentionally).

“Don’t listen to her,” Camila says, trying to cover up her blush with an eye roll. “Dinah just likes to fuck with people.”

The giggle Lauren lets out tells Camila that the girl doesn’t quite believe her.

Lauren reaches her arm out to grab a cup, taking a few sips before setting it back down on the table. Camila sees the Tropical Smoothie Cafe logo on the side in between Lauren’s fingers that are still wrapped around it.

“What flavor did you get?” Camila asks, nodding towards the smoothie.

“It’s called, um, Paradise Point, I think.”

Camila nods although she’s not familiar with that flavor. “I don’t think I’ve tried that one before.”

Taking another sip, Lauren swirls the straw around, mixing the fruit juice with the ice. “There’s, uh… strawberries, banana, and pineapple in it.” She takes another gulp, hesitating before holding it out towards Camila. “Di– do you want to try some? It’s delicious.”

Camila raises her eyebrows, a little surprised that Lauren offered. “Sure,” she says, but instead of accepting the cup from Lauren, she just leans forward, grasping the straw between her lips and taking a few pulls of the fruity drink while keeping eye contact with Lauren.

When Camila finally leans back and notices Lauren’s flushed cheeks, she smiles fondly to herself because it’s just too easy to get a reaction out of this girl.

“Hey guys,” Camila hears behind her and turns around to see Shawn smiling at them.

“Hope you weren’t waiting too long,” Ariana pitches in from next to him.

“No, we just got here,” Normani explains. “Plus we’re still waiting on Zayn.”

Camila feels a little grateful that he’s running late. He’s one of her best friends and all, but… is it so bad that she wants a little alone time with her crush?

“Oh, I just got a text from him. He said he’s running late so he’ll just meet us at one of the stores,” Shawn reads off of his phone.

“So then, where should we go?” Ariana asks. “Because, I mean… I’m not sure Shawn wants to follow us all to like, Victoria’s Secret or something.”

“Well, it depends on what I get to see.” He smirks at Ariana until she rolls her eyes and shoves him. “Just kidding. Honestly, I’m cool with anything. Where do you guys want to go?”

Standing up from her seat, Dinah walks over to Shawn with a pout on her face. “But I wanted to see you try on the new Pink collection.”

The giggle Lauren lets out from next to Camila has her stomach doing flips.

“Fat chance, DJ. You can recruit Zayn for that, thank you very much.”

Suddenly, Camila gets an idea and decides to speak up. “Why don’t we split into two separate groups? And then when Zayn arrives, he can just meet up with one of them.” Truthfully, Camila is hoping that he’ll meet up with the group that doesn’t have her or Lauren in it so that she can get extra alone time with the girl.

In the end, they all decide to go with Camila’s suggestion. Normani, Dinah, Shawn, and Ariana make up one group (deciding to go to Victoria’s Secret after all because Normani wanted a new swimsuit [Shawn jokingly promises he’ll behave but still gets smacked by the three girls]). Meanwhile, Ally, Camila, and Lauren choose to head to H&M, seeing if they can find some new outfits for themselves.

Rising from her chair, Camila offers her hand out to help Lauren up. She doesn’t let go once the girl is stand, and they head out of the cafeteria behind Ally, Lauren blushing at their joined hands while sipping her smoothie.

Lauren wordlessly holds the straw up to Camila who gently squeezes the girl’s hand in a silent thank you as she takes a drink.

“Are you going to get anything, Ally?” Lauren reaches forward to nudge the girl, accepting the arm Ally hooks through hers.

“Yeah, probably,” Ally replies. “I want to get a new pair of jeans. Remember that snap I sent you of the chili Tori spilled on me?” Ally waits for Lauren’s nod before continuing. “Well, the stain didn’t come out. Thank God the stuff wasn’t hot anymore.”

Lauren lets out a laugh, clamping her mouth shut embarrassedly when it comes out louder than she meant for it to. “Oopsies,” she giggles adorably (this girl fucking said oopses; Camila doesn’t know how she’s going to survive being just friends with her). “That was really funny though! Tori was sending me snaps of you yelling at her.”

“That’s what she was doing? I should have known.”

Ally continues telling Lauren about that day, meanwhile Camila is content to just hold hands with Lauren and watch her. The girl seems so comfortable and relaxed and at ease, and it makes Camila really happy to see it. 

Camila intertwines their fingers, but Lauren is so engaged in her conversation that she doesn’t even notice the change in position and instead just grips Camila’s hand tighter.

They finally arrive at the store and decide to follow Ally and help her pick out a pair of pants. Lauren stands off to the side, clutching her smoothie in both hands as she cutely sips at it, gazing around the store with wide eyes.

As Ally is sifting through the selection, she picks up a pair of dark gray jeans and inspects them. “These would probably look really cute on you, Camila.”

“Yeah?” Camila asks, then nods in approval to herself after examining them because they’re definitely her style.

“What do you think, Lauren?” Camila spins around to ask the girl but is met with nothing but an empty space that Lauren had previously been occupying. “Where did Lauren go?”

Ally only glances up briefly before resuming her search. “Oh, don’t worry about her. She always disappears while we’re shopping.”

Camila can’t help but feel a little disappointed that Lauren isn’t with them, but she doesn’t want to come across as obsessed with the girl (she’s not obsessed, okay Dinah?), so instead she opts to finish helping Ally out.

Finally finding a pair of white washed jeans she likes, Ally leads the way to the dressing rooms to try them on and ensure that they fit correctly. Camila waits around the corner at the entrance to the changing area, promising to tell Ally how the pants look on her. She can’t see any of the dressing room doors because they’re all hidden behind a wall, but Camila definitely hears the muffled Lauren? Ally lets out.

She can’t make out any of what Lauren is saying because the girl is speaking too quietly, but she does pick up bits and pieces of Ally’s voice.

“What […] trying on?”

“I didn’t know […] stuff like that.”

“[…] very different […] usual clothes […]”

“[…] your closet?”

“Calm down. […] won’t tell […]”

Suddenly it dawns on Camila that she is very inappropriately eavesdropping on a private conversation. Pulling her phone out, she deliberately ignores their hushed voices and tries to distract herself by checking Instagram.

A couple of minutes pass before Ally appears wearing her new jeans, calling Camila’s name to get her attention.

“What do you think?”

Gesturing with her hand for Ally to spin around, Camila nods in approval before offering a genuine smile to the girl. “I love them. They look good on you.”

“Thanks, Mila,” Ally says with a grin, disappearing behind the wall to head back to her changing room.

It’s only a few moments later when Lauren emerges from around the corner, stopping in her tracks when she sees Camila standing near the exit. She doesn’t miss the way Lauren hides whatever she’s holding behind her back.

“Oh hey, Lauren, I didn’t know you were in here. Did you try something on?” Camila is honestly just amused at how flustered Lauren looks, so yeah, she’s being a little shit.

“Um, uh, yeah– I uh, it didn’t, uh, fit so I just… um, I’m not going to– you know, uh, I’ll just go p– put it back.” The way Lauren is stuttering and nervously rocking on her heels has Camila feeling a little bad for teasing the girl.

“Alright. You do that. I’ll just stay here and wait for Ally.”

Camila doesn’t move from her spot near the entrance and laughs slightly to herself at how Lauren tries her very hardest to make sure that whatever she’s holding stays hidden behind her back, even when she goes to pass Camila.

While Camila does stay near the changing rooms to wait for Ally, she also watches as Lauren inconspicuously (not really) heads over to the registers to purchase whatever she’s trying so hard to hide. Camila wonders why it is that Lauren is so shy about it, because based on the girl’s wardrobe it’s probably just another skirt or adorable blouse or something. That’s the extent of Lauren’s style that everybody in school already knows about, so unless it’s something different and not Lauren, Camila doesn’t really understand the girl’s behavior.

~~

Camila hates wasting her lunch period by using the bathroom, especially since the juniors got the worst time slot this year (she knows the juniors get the worst lunch time and the seniors get the best one, so she can’t wait for next year), but she’s about to burst so she sucks it up and heads to the nearest restroom. She’ll be a little late to lunch, but at least the bathroom she’s near is one of the few that’s usually empty so she’ll most likely have it to herself.

When Camila pulls open the door, she’s surprised to see that someone’s already in there. Green eyes whip up to her as she enters the restroom, and Camila smiles at how cute Lauren looks (she always looks cute) with her fishtail braid and her startled expression.

“Hey, Lauren,” Camila greets with a wide smile. Only then does she notice that the front of Lauren’s shirt is stained and damp and the girl is clutching a wet paper towel in one hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah, uh huh, I’m fine,” Lauren says quickly.

“What happened?” Camila asks as she walks closer to Lauren.

“N– nothing, don’t worry. Aus– I mean someone, just uh, accidentally walked into me in the hallways, and, um, spilled their soda on my shirt. But… it was my fault really. I– I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Camila narrows her eyes at the girl, because something tells her that the girl is not being completely truthful. She doesn’t question Lauren, however, because she doesn’t think that they’re on that level of friendship. They’re barely acquaintances.

“Well, I don’t think that stain is coming out until you throw it in the wash.”

Lauren doesn’t reply, just shrugs sadly as she continues to wipe vigorously with the paper towel.

“Do you have a change of clothes?” Camila continues, stepping closer. 

Pausing her wiping, Lauren gazes up at Camila with her lips in a pout and her brows furrowed, a dejected look on her face. “No,” she mumbles almost embarrassedly.

Forgetting her need to pee, Camila suddenly gets an idea and begins making her way towards the exit. “I left a shirt at Mani’s the other day and she returned it to me this morning. You can just borrow that!”

“No– that's– Camila I–”

Camila just waves Lauren’s protests off, already pushing through the doorway. She sprints down the hallways to her locker to retrieve the shirt and returns to Lauren in record time.

“Here,” Camila says, breathing harder through her nostrils. “Don’t worry, it’s clean, and Mani’s laundry detergent always smells really good.”

“Camila, you–”

“Put it on. Really, it’s no big deal.” She grins at Lauren, stretching her arm out further towards the girl.

Hesitating for a moment, Lauren bites her lip before taking the shirt. “O– okay, I’ll uh… try it on,” Lauren relents, tossing the paper towel away and heading into the nearest stall.

It takes nearly a full minute before the door opens again and Lauren walks out, gripping her ruined top in one hand and pulling at the hem of Camila’s shirt with the other.

“Sorry,” Camila laughs lightly. “I probably should have realized that we’re not the same size.”

They’re not too far off in size, but the shirt is a little small on Lauren. It’s snug around her shoulders, and it’s obvious that Lauren has a bigger chest than Camila because it stretches tightly across her breasts. Whenever Camila would raise her arms while wearing it, the shirt would rise up a little. With Lauren, the girl has her arms down by her side but the top is still a little short, and Camila can see her belly button peeking out.

“I just…” Lauren begins, breaking into Camila’s thoughts (as if she wasn’t already in there). “I guess I’m not that used to feeling so, uh, uncovered.”

Smiling softly at Lauren, Camila walks forwards, reaching to tug gently at the shirt and smooth out non-existent wrinkles.

“You look great in it, Lauren. And hey, it even matches your skirt.”

Camila grins at Lauren through the mirror, subtly admiring the girl’s body while Lauren examines herself in the reflection.

“You know I wouldn’t lie to you, right?” Camila asks, squeezing Lauren’s side once before stepping away and putting some distance between the two.

Turning to face Camila, Lauren timidly runs a hand through her hair. “You really mean it? That I look okay in it?”

“More than okay,” Camila replies immediately. “You look stunning. But… I mean… you always do so…” Camila trails off, grinning cheekily at the girl.

Her heart flutters at Lauren’s flushed cheeks, then skips a beat when the girl adjusts her crooked glasses (probably tousled from changing shirts).

Camila rubs at the lone tattoo on her right arm and notices how Lauren’s eyes lock onto the movement. 

“Okay,” Lauren says, looking back up.

“Okay?”

“Okay.” Lauren nods to reinforce her words.

“Okay,” Camila repeats goofily one more time, smiling widely at Lauren’s adorable giggle.

They step around each other, Lauren to exit and Camila to pee. As Lauren is about to leave, Camila calls her name.

“Yeah?” she asks, one hand on the door, the other clutching her ruined top.

“Keep the shirt. It looks better on you than it ever did on me.”

Camila walks into her stall before Lauren can protest, but she doesn’t miss the pink cheeks and happy smile on the girl’s face.

~~

After browsing the shop a little longer, Ally and Camila eventually make their purchases and the three begin to leave the store. They just make it to the entrance when a familiar face appears.

“Hey guys,” Zayn greets happily. “Shawn told me you three were here.”

Camila can’t help but scowl slightly, because there goes her time with Lauren. Zayn is here to inevitably swoop the girl off of her feet and make her forget all about Camila.

“Hi, Zayn,” Lauren returns. She offers him a little wave, and just as Camila is about to accept defeat, Lauren surprises her by grabbing her hand, clutching the strap of the purse she wore today with the other. Camila ducks her head because she doesn’t want anyone to see how widely she’s grinning or how much she enjoys the warmth of Lauren’s skin on her own.

“We were just heading out, actually,” Camila says, not even mad at Zayn anymore because Lauren is still standing next to her, taking the initiative to hold her hand, and literally nothing else matters.

Zayn shrugs, turning to walk back out of the store with them. “That’s fine. I was here last week so I probably shouldn’t be buying any more stuff anyways.”

As they stroll through the mall, Zayn making conversation with Ally while Camila and Lauren trail behind, hand in hand, Camila thinks back to her earlier talk with Normani and Dinah.

They encouraged her to be honest with Zayn about her crush on Lauren, and Camila wishes she had thought about doing that earlier. She figures it’s better to get it done sooner rather than later, so offering a comforting squeeze to Lauren’s hand, Camila turns to the girl with a smile.

“I have to go talk to Zayn about something. Mind if you walk with Ally for a bit?”

“Oh, sure,” Lauren says as she looks at Camila. Her eyes seem extra bright today, and Camila just really wants to kiss her.

They pick up the pace to catch up with Zayn and Ally and switch partners after Lauren cuddles up to Ally and Camila pulls Zayn to the side a little.

“What’s up?” he asks with a serious expression. “Is everything alright?”

Camila takes a deep breath, unsure of how she’s going to word everything. “So… I know you and Lauren have gotten kind of close since we started hanging out with them. I wanted to know… um… do you like her?”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Zayn gazes down at Camila. “How did you know?”

Camila feels her heart drop, because fuck, she’s too late. They already have feelings for each other.

He doesn’t notice Camila’s reaction. “Well, okay I don’t like like her yet, but I definitely have a crush on her.”

“Oh,” Camila mumbles, because she’s not sure what to do with that information.

“Why, what’s up? Do you like her or something?”

Looking down, Camila stays silent. Why does it matter? Zayn is one step ahead of her anyways.

Stopping them in their tracks, Zayn places both hands on her shoulders and directs her eyes to him. “Shit, you like Lauren?”

Camila shrugs sadly but nods anyways. She feels a little embarrassed now, because of course if they both had a crush on the same person, Zayn would most likely win every time.

“Mila, I… I had no idea. How long?”

“Um, since, uh, freshman year,” she admits quietly.

“The fuck? Why didn’t you tell me?” And wait, what? “I was making moves on Lauren because I didn’t think anyone else was into her. If I had known you liked her, I would have never even started. Fuck, I feel like such an asshole now.” He starts pacing in front of her, his hand on his forehead.

“Hold on, you… what?”

Pausing his walking and looking at her, Zayn quirks an eyebrow in amusement. “You’ve liked her for that long and you really think I’m going to try anything? Fuck no. All this time I could have been your wingman. You should have told me.”

“I– what– you… for real?” Camila stutters out.

“Duh,” he says, tossing an arm around her to continue walking after the other two. “I kind of had an idea because you were always looking at her in the hallways and commenting on how cute she looks and how her hair looks so soft and those glasses are adorable.“ She reaches out to lightly smack him on the stomach which he just chuckles softly at. "I’m not going to get in your way. You want to be with her, right?”

Camila watches Lauren walking in the distance, laughing and joking with Ally. “So fucking badly.”

“Well then,” he says, pulling her closer. “Let’s go get your girl.”

~~

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