#these guys are so fucking messy!! i love reading these every friday at midnight and seeing what kind of awful decision theyve made this wee

[sun-cube]

it's literally 6am dude i could NOT fall asleep after reading @uhohbestie's newest chapter (16) of TAMN are you kidding??

[cozywritings]

Stitches: ch1

Summary: Transferring to a new college two years in seemed crazy, but so was being a fashion major that was being double housed in a dorm building with medical majors. Meeting Shawn was a bonus to the arrangement, and everything else that happens, well, that was just fate. 

------

Explaining to people that you were going to college for fashion merchandising was always a fun conversation. You usually got weird stares or the famous question “what can you do with that?” But that’s what you wanted to to. So now here you stood, in front of your dorm hall, your final suitcase in hand as you took it all in, in it’s old beige bricked glory.

For the next two years, this was your home, and as much as you’d miss seeing your family every day, you’ve lived with them for the first 20 years of your life.

When your parents dropped you off, your mom told you “Don’t think I don’t want updates every night during dinner, especially about boys. And classes. But mostly boys.” She’s always been very pushy about you having a boyfriend. Or at least one that treated you correctly.

Since you were a transfer, luckily you didn’t have to live by the usual first year dorm rules. So while you were required to spend at least a semester in a dorm, you could choose a single room., so you were on the housing website at midnight on choosing day. Sure it was more expensive than a double occupany, but your college fund your parents set up paid for your tuition, so you got one of the lucky single rooms. Considering your odd sleeping habits, your need to listen to music while you study, and a few personal reasons,  it was really best for everyone that you had a single room. Plus, now you could binge watch Gossip Girl and Project Runway on repeat without judgement.

What you just learned, however, was that your dorm was one of the few on campus that was housed by two majors. Usually they try to keep students together by major so studying is easier, but yours wasn’t just fashion majors, you were sharing a dorm with med students. Which was an odd combination, but the biology building was on one side of the dorm and the business building was on the other, and fashion majors were required to have a business minor. So it made logical sense in terms of location.

Walking into your new room, you saw all the opportunities for decor. The walls were totally bare, the bed was light enough for you to easily move it around the room, and there was a small package of dorm safe hanging hooks on the desk in the corner, along with a list of things that you were allowed to do and what was restricted.

Dropping your suitcase to the floor, you walked over to the desk and began reading your list to see if you could get a mini fridge.however, a soft knock on your door startled you, and you dropped the paper, letting it flitter down to the carpet.

You opened the door to see a tall brunette holding out a small gift bag and giving you a really nervous smile. “Hi, I’m Emily. I live just down the hall and I, uh, wanted to drop this off.” She looked at you with big eyes as you took the bag from her and smiled. “It’s got um, some popcorn and a bottle of soda in it and a few snacks and stuff. Oh! And a few school supplies.”

She was obviously very nervous, a freshamn. Technically you were too, but you understood being 18 and trying to make friends in college. Even if your first two years where at a comminuty college. She was probably doing this to meet new people and try to find some friends.

“Hi. Thank you so much! This is actually really cute and I love Dr. Pepper, it remonds me of home. It’s really nice to meet you.” The two of you finished your introductions. You learned that she was a first year med student, and that the RA’s were showing a movie being the hall’s big study loft tonight, and that’s why she put the snack bags together.

“So I guess I’ll see you tonight?” She asked, excited to have a new friend.

“Of course! I love Pretty Woman, it’s one of my absolute favorites.” Emily squealed and clapped her hands before walking off the deliver the rest of her treats the other residents. “Oh and Emily, if you ever need anything, I’m always here. Just be sure to knock twice so I know it’s you.” Her smile got even bigger, if that was possible.

“Thank you so much! You’re so sweet. I’ll see you tonight!” After waving goodbye, you closed you door and looked around your empty room again, thanking the gods you had a whole room and bathroom to yourself. You’d never lived alone before, well technically you weren’t alone, but it was close enough.

Wondering out loud to yourself you asked. “What am I going to do in here?” You eventually decided you thought the desk would look better by the window, for a pretty view while studying, and the bed would be best on the opposite wall. Tha t would make it easier to see your tv that you’s put on your dresser. When you were able to find someone to lift that heavy thing onto it, and how you were going to move it all, you had no idea. But for now you could at least plan out where the rest of your things could go, and put up the things you knew wouldn’t be in the way of the rearranging.

Things were going along rather smoothly until you heard a loud thud against the outside of your door. Opening it carefully, a tall guy with glasses tumbled into your room. “Oh fuck! I’m so sorry I stumbled over my own two feet.” He laughed, face a bright pink in embarassment.

“Oh, no, It’s alright, are you okay?” you asked and he stood up and nodded, brushing off his jeans.

“Yeah I’m good, I just have two left feet and the world’s worst balance. I’m Kyle by the way!” He smiled, sticking out a hand. You gave him the same intro you gave to Emily, he was also a fashion merchandising major, the first one you’ve met today. “So if you need any help just come get me. I took most of the intro classes already so I can give you my notes. If you’d like.”

You let out a sigh of relief. “You’re a lifesaver! Thank you so much. Are you going to this movie thing tonight?” You asked, hoping he’d join and Emily wouldn’t be ubset that you brought an extra person.

“Yeah, who would pass up a movie night? Also it’s got pizza and snacks and it’s kinda just a greeting party. Last year’s was really cool.” You talked for a few more minutes before saying goodbye after sharing phone numbers, then you were left to get ready. This thing seemed like it would have a lot more people than you thought, so you decided to take a shower after working on your room.

A few hours later, and your bedroom was now fully put together, kind of. You made sure that your sheets where clean and your bed was freshly made with the brand new white quilt your mom got you. All of your school supplies were put away respectively, and your clothes were all put in the small dresser and closet.

After taking your shower you called your mom. “Hey sweetie. All moved in and comfy?” She asked, excited for you. She was a little bummed that she wasn’t able to stay and help you unpack, but her job was demanding, and you understood. Besides, you had to grow up eventually.

“Yeah. I just took a shower. They’re playing Pretty Woman in the loft tonight so I’m going to go watch it. It’s like I never even left home honestly. That’s probably exactly what I’d be doing tonight anyways.” She laughed, knowing how you watched this movie almost every weekend and it eventually became a family tradition on Friday nights.

“Oh honey I miss you so much already! Your room is all empty and your father is already talking about a men cave.” She groaned, already fearful of the idea.

“You’re not letting him turn my room into a man cave. That’s stupid.”

“Well duh, he’s lucky I let him put his football stuff up in the living room.”

The two of you talked for a good ten minutes before she brought up the topic of boys. “Well honey, just remember. You’re living with soon to be doctors. Imagine scoring a hot doctor. Like a McDreamy of your own!”

Your mom always watched Grey’s Anatomy with you, and you laughed at her comment. “Okay mom, I’ve gotta get ready. This thing starts in an hour and I’ve got to make sure I look worthy of a hot doctor.” Your mom put your dad on the phone to say goodbye before you hung up and turned your music on, tossing your phone onto your bed.

Your mother's words in mind, you decided to redo your makeup for the movie night. Who knows, you really might just meet someone. But you’re doubtful they’d be interested in you.

Looking yourself over in the mirror, your loose and slightly messy curls, the vintage long sleeve from your cousin, and your black jeans looked presentable enough. Slipping on your vans you grabbed your snacks from Emily and your phone and made your way to the loft.

“Hey, you came!” Emily smiled when you walked in, a group of other students sat around her on the fluffy bean bags and waved with her. Kyle was with them as well, so you made your way over to them. Most of them looked like first years, but then again, so did you.

Emily went around introducing everyone “There’s a few more I know are coming. I met them last, they were talking about coming but I just don’t know where they- oh hey!” Her smile bright as her eyes shifted to look at the new arrivals.

When you turned to look for yourself, you were expecting another freshman, maybe another girl like you, who decided to show up in something other than pyjamas.

However, the person in front of you was not definatelynot a freashman, or female. He was tall and handsome. Extremely handsome. Your fingers twitched in the need to touch the curls on his head and his eyes were the most beautiful thing you’d seen.

His jeans were probably as tight as yours, and you wanted to know what was under that beige hoodie more than anything in the world, but you were getting way ahead of yourself. You hadn’t even spoken to him yet.

“Guys, this is Shawn!” Emily announced “Actually, he lives just across the hall from you.” She said, placing a hand on your shoulder. before she bent down and whispered “he’s also a junior, like you. He’s gonna be a doctor.”

Looking back at the gorgeous man before you, you watched as he grabbed a bag of popcorn and plopped down into the beanbag next to you. “Hey, I’m Shawn. We’re neighbors right? Emily was telling me about you.”

You nodded, unable to speak. “Yeah. I live just across the hall apparently.” His eyes were so pretty, and his smile was unlike anything you’d ever seen. I was almost impossible to not smile with him.

“Yeah I saw you moving in earlier. If you need any help rearranging the room just come ask. I usually study in my room anyways so I’m almost always there.” You nodded, making a mental note to ask him to help you move the tv as well

“How did you know I was thinking about rearranging the room?” You questioned, stealing a few pieces popcorn from the bag that he’d tilted towards you as an offering.

He just shrugged, “When I first moved in I wanted to do it too. I thought the desk would look better by the door, that way I could put my bed by the window so I could look out over the courtyard. Plus the sun in my face really wakes me up” he let out a soft chuckle. It was almost like everything about him was enchanting.

Smirking a little you popped the popcorn into your mouth before speaking again. “I’m going to have to take you up on that offer. I was actually going to rearrange today until I realized I needed some help. So I’m assuming you’re in a single room as well?” He nodded, grabbing a slice of pizza and a water bottle.

“Yeah I got lucky since I’m a junior but also real close to graduating next year with my program internship. l want to specialise in Pediatric Surgery.” You looked over at him in shock. There was no way he was already about to graduate, especially in a field like that. This was a man after your heart. “I know I know, I’m young. But in my 11th and 12th year I ended up at a special center for Medical studies so I got started early. I’m hoping to get into a residency soon, and wow I am talking about myself a lot. What about you?”

You smiled, giving him an earful himself of your love for fashion and how you hoped to one day work in New York, LA or even Paris or Milan. What surprised you was how interested he seemed. It was like he actually cared about what you were telling him as opposed to being obligated to listen to you drone on and on about trends and the color patterns for next fall.

“So, I was thinking tomorrow about going around campus and just finding where everything is. Are there any suggestions for the perfect studying spot? Or where to get the best foor or decaf coffee?” He swallowed his mouth full of pizza before answering.

“I’ll one up you. I’ll show them to you myself.” Before you could say anything else, a dorm adviser announced that they were about to start the movie and the lights went out as the opening credits rolled. When you felt a nudge on your shoulder, you looked over to see Shawn offering you a blanket from the backpack he brought with him, noticing your slight shaking due to the temperature of the room. You didn’t even realise how cold you were until you wrapped it around yourself, whispering a small “Thank you.” You finally situated yourself into the fuzzy bean bag, snuggling into the blue fleece.

You took a deep breath to relax and had to stop yourself from humming at the smell of cologne that lingered on the fabric. It had a nice sandalwood scent mixed with a bit of vanilla and you had to keep from audibly moaning at the smell. So instead you focused on the movie, shoving a handful of popcorn into your mouth. Trying to ignore the literal greek god only 6 inches from you on the grey bean bag was nearly impossible, especially since he kept looking over at you.

It was almost midnight when the movie ended, half of the dorm had fallen asleep on the floor, Emily and a few others in the group included. The rest had left right at the end of the movie to sleep in their own beds. To be honest, you weren’t far behind, but there was no way you were getting up, you were wrapped up in this blanket, Shawn falling asleep on your shoulder. You didn’t have to heart to wake him.

Technically you didn’t have classes for another week, so thankfully someone decided to start another movie. It would’ve been boring to try to fall asleep to the main menu repeating over and over until someone decided to turn it off. You smiled as the beginning music of The Great Gatsby filled the large study room. The DiCaprio version would always be the better. So you settled back into the bean bag chair, wrapping yourself tighter into the blanket, deciding to fight sleep in favor of another one of your favorite movies.

Right when Nick walks into the parlor where Jordan and Daisy are lounging, Shawn rolled over in his sleep. At first it was fine, that is, until he kept rolling and ended up halfway on top of you. His head on your shoulder and his arm draped across you, his leg curled up on top of yours as he got comfortable.

You thought about waking him or moving him off, but he looked too peaceful. Too cute. And his body heat mixed with the blanket was keeping you comfortably warm. So you let him stay there, it wasn’t like he was hurting anything.

Throughout the movie, Shawn would move slightly closer. Obviously it wasn’t on purpose, and at one point, Cheryl, another girl you’d met earlier in the night, woke up and offered to help you get out from under him. She said her girlfriend likes to cuddle so  she got really good at sneaking away since she likes to be at the gym by 5am.

“No thanks, I’m pretty comfortable and I wanna finish this movie. But thank you.” She smiled down at you, bidding you a goodnight.

“You just want to bask in the glory of the hot doctor in training sleeping on you.” She whispered, pointing a perfectly manicured nail at you.

Laughing softly, you looked up at her before shifting your eyes back down to Shawn. “You got me. Now go to sleep. You’ve gotta be up early for the gym tomorrow.”

With a laugh and a wave, she walked off, leaving only you and a few others awake to finish the movie. But that suited you just fine. No one to ask questions because they were lost due to their negligence of reading the book.

As the movie came to an end, so did your energy and willpower to stay awake. Looking down at the boy asleep on you and the room full of college students who would probably hate themselves for falling asleep on the floor, you closed your eyes. Joining the rest of the group in slumber, waiting for the aftermath in the morning.

[hellishchrissy]

chapter 1 - this will sound dumb 

chapter 2 - we need rules

chapter 3 - we’re in this mess together

chapter 4 - just don’t do anything i wouldn’t

chapter 5 - so fucking special

“What is this place?” Eleonora asked Edoardo parked in front of a shabby looking diner in some corner of Rome that she had never even visited. She turned back towards Edoardo to wait for an answer, but the boy only shook his head as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

Edoardo jumped out of the car, gesturing for her to follow. “Just wait for it, Sava. You’ll love it.”

“This looks exactly like the place where we both are gonna get murdered,” Eleonora hissed but followed Edoardo nevertheless, frowning as the boy opened the door and held it open for her. Eleonora stepped inside and was slightly taken aback by what she was seeing:

The diner didn’t look like much from the outside, but the moment she stepped inside Eleonora felt like she had been travelling back years, decades even. She could recognize the traditional American diner style that she had seen in loads of American movies, but there was something even more different about this one. The booths were light blue coloured, the air smelled of coffee even though it was nearly midnight on a Friday night, and there was a classic rock song playing in the background.

“Wow,” Eleonora uttered as they sat down in one of the booths, and Edoardo grinned.

“I know, right? Found this place with Elena when we were like 14,” the boy explained, but Eleonora could see him visibly freezing when he forced Elena’s name through his lips. Edoardo fell silent, and the words were left hanging between them like a physical wall, and after a few seconds he started fiddling with one of the laminated menus.

Eleonora turned her gaze away from Edoardo, turning her attention to the people around her, instead. There was a small boy with his mother, both giggling at some joke that Eleonora couldn’t hear. There were teenagers keeping them awake with cups of coffee, there were lonely-looking people scattered around the diner. Eleonora could hear faint singing wafting from the kitchen, and every now and then there was a burst of laughter from somewhere. The entire place felt so alive, even at midnight. Who were these people, why were they here? It was a fascinating thought.

“When I was a kid I wanted to be a waitress at this sort of a place,” Eleonora suddenly said.

Edoardo looked up with curious eyes. “A diner?”

“Yeah. There was a certain charm to it,” Eleonora explained, shrugging at the though that now felt silly. “In all those movies there was always that cute guy that came into the diner and fell in love at first sight with the waitress. It was cheesy, but I loved it.”

But the boy only smiled, shaking his head with a quiet laugh that Eleonora nearly missed. “Likes cheesy movies. Adding that to the list of ‘weird things I know about Eleonora Sava’.”

Eleonora laughed, covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe I told you that.”

Silence fell between them again, but this time it felt much easier than before. Eleonora felt at ease even when they were just sitting there, comfortable in their own, private little moment that somehow felt more real than anything that Edoardo had experienced in a while. Looking at Eleonora right now, he felt some sort of unexpected happiness. He wished he could freeze the moment and live in it a little longer.

“I could take a picture of you,” Edoardo blurted. “You know, post it on Instagram. Elena will see it and… Yeah.”

Eleonora frowned but shrugged, running her hand through her messy hair as Edoardo pulled out his phone to take a photo. She stared into the camera, trying her best to feel comfortable as the boy stared at her through the lense.

“Sava, why so serious? Is my company that bad?”

Eleonora reacted with a reserved smile for the camera, but as Edoardo stared making faces the girl could feel her facade crumbling. And when she finally started laughing, the boy used the moment as an opportunity to snap a picture of the girl’s genuine happiness. She looked beautiful like that; her eyes closed in laughter, her hand waving off the camera like she was trying to snatch it from Edoardo’s hands. Beautiful. And real. Eleonora was like a touch of real life, real moments that Edoardo wished he could experience more of.

“Let me know if Elena likes it or something,” Eleonora said, and Edoardo nodded as he put his phone on the table between them. Eleonora couldn’t deny herself the curiosity she was feeling as she thought of Edoardo’s ex-girlfriend; the girls had only seen exchanged a few glances between them at the party, but Edoardo had never really actually talked about the girl or what they had talked about at the party.

Fuck it. “How was Elena, anyway? I saw you two go into the bathroom together.”

There was a certain sharp edge to Eleonora’s voice, and Edoardo raised his eyebrows when he heard it. “Uhh… She was fine. It’s just weird between us, really. She barely talks to me when she sees me but the moment I leave she’s blowing up my phone. We were at Chicco’s party for a while, and she basically ignored me all night, but now she’s texting me like crazy.”

And almost like it was making a point, Edoardo’s phone buzzed on the table, alerting him of another text message from her ex-girlfriend. Eleonora eyed the phone with a certain distain, and was surprised to feel a spark of jealousy somewhere deep, deep inside her. It was there for a second and gone the next, but it felt jarring. Almost as jarring as Edoardo’s eyes that were now looking at Eleonora with curiosity.

“Why are you asking?”

“I don’t know,” Eleonora said honestly. “Are you gonna text her back?”

Edoardo shook his head, nervously tapping an uneven rhythm on the table. He turned to look away and shrugged. “No. Maybe. I’ll probably call her later or something.”

Eleonora frowned. “You still talk?”

The boy’s gaze shifted back to Eleonora on the other side of the table, and she could see that the boy was gathering up the right words to answer. There was a defensive taste to his tone when he finally answered: “There’s a lot of history between us.”

“That’s not an answer, Incanti. I think you’re just scared to let go of her,” Eleonora said with teasing tone, but there was a harsh truth to her words that Edoardo wanted to avoid.

Edoardo shook his head all the while actively avoiding eye contact. He did this for a while, all the while their silence was constantly interrupted by the buzz of his phone. Finally their moment was interrupted by a pretty waitress that made her way up to them. “Can I get you guys anything?”

“Coffee,” Eleonora and Edoardo said in unison, making the waitress smile.

Minutes passed, maybe tens of them passed in silence as the pair drank their coffee, grateful for something to do in order to avoid their conversation. Edoardo’s eyes had an intense look on them as he sipped his coffee and scrolled through tens of messages that Eleonora was sending him, and Eleonora watched on with distain. How long had Edoardo been in this toxic circle with Elena, trying to escape her grip of him yet never quite succeeding? He must’ve been truly toxic to seek out the help of a random girl that he had never even talked to. For a second Eleonora’s frustration turned into compassion, but only for a mere, passing second.

“Why do you care, anyway?” Edoardo blurted out as he slammed his phone back to the table, clearly provoked by something he had read.

“Because you got me into this mess,” Eleonora answered, circling the handle of her coffee mug. “Why did you?”

Edoardo groaned and leaned back into the booth chair, sinking into the cushions. “I just really needed someone Elena didn’t see coming. Someone who she didn’t know. Someone I knew she’d be jealous of.”

“And also, I knew that I could be of help to you too. You know, with your ex and everything,” he finished.

“Oh,” Eleonora simply said, feeling herself physically flinch at the mention of Matteo. She gripped her mug tighter, so tight Edoardo could see her knuckles turning white.

“I’m sorry for what he did,” Edoardo simply said, and Eleonora nodded. “You must be scared of it all because of him.”

“Scared of what?” Asked Eleonora.

“Relationships.”

“Oh. Yeah. Well, because of Matteo and my mom,” Eleonora answered, and it looked like she could’ve just about choke on the name of her ex-boyfriend.

“What happened with your mom?” Edoardo asked curiously, although he felt like he was threading on thin ice right about now.

Eleonora took a deep breath but didn’t answer for a while. She turned her gaze to the city lights outside the window, her own reflection in the glass staring back. “She uh… She’s not the most present mother that there is. I just feel like she’s a good example of the more people you actually let in… The more they can just walk on out.”

Eleonora sounded far too casual for the emotion to be real. There was a warmth of sympathy in Edoardo’s chest, and for a moment he felt like he wanted to confess the truth of his own family to the girl. Fuck. That would be too much to load on Eleonora. Too much too quickly. “I get that. I have similar problems.”

Eleonora smiled a broken smile at Edoardo, brushing a lock of brown hair behind her ear. Silence. More silence. Fuck, it felt like they went way too far. Edoardo felt guilty, because he could see how uncomfortable Eleonora felt, how vulnerable she looked sitting there in the booth, her skin pale and eyes glassy. She looked tiny, so frail. So vulnerable.

“But you’re not scared of me,” Edoardo said warmly. “Right?”

“Yeah, of course I’m not.” Eleonora confirmed. “Because we’re just pretending.”

For some reason the words were like a gut punch, and Edoardo felt breathless for some fucking reason. He looked away from the girl, quick to hide the look of unexpected disappointment that was quickly forming on his features. He cleared his throat and nodded far too many times for it to be genuine. A forced chuckle slipped through his lips. “Right. Of course. Eleonora Sava, ladies and gentlemen, you can count on her to keep it honest.”

Edoardo grabbed his keys from the table and scrambled up to his feet, fixing the collar of his eyes in an attempt to avoid looking at Eleonora, who was staring him down. “Wait, Edoardo? Ar- Are we good?”

“Yes, for sure,” Edoardo lied, scratching his head. His tone was pretentiously light and easy-going, and for a moment he hated himself for being such a shitty, shitty liar. “And thank you for coming to the party tonight.”

The ride back was quiet and tension-filled, the car’s stereo blasting out music louder than usually like Edoardo was trying to drown out his own thoughts. They sure did drown out Eleonora’s. Or maybe the boy just really didn’t wan’t to talk. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was tired of Eleonora. Maybe he was angry at her. There were a lot of maybies unsaid in the car, and they both felt it.

“You wanna come to my place for a bit?” Edoardo asked carefully, then quickly added: “You know, just for fun. I could teach you that guitar, remember?” A shitty excuse.

There was strange tone to Edoardo’s voice, but Eleonora couldn’t help herself from smiling when he asked her. It was a  relief that he still wanted to hang out with her, even after the things they shared and the stuff they said to each other. Eleonora nodded. “Yeah, for sure.”

Fifteen minutes later they were pulling up to Edoardo’s house. The neighbourhood was quiet, asleep. The only lights were emitting from the cityline below, and yet again Eleonora was charmed by the beauty of Rome at night; it truly felt like the city never slept. There was a strange, exciting beauty to it, one that Eleonora not had always paid attention to.

“You coming, Sava?” Edoardo hollered from his front door that he was now keeping open for her. Eleonora turned and took a few running steps across Edoardo’s front lawn to reach him, making the boy laugh when he closed the door behind them. He turned on the lights of the grand living room, as he casually walked across the space to the glass doors that led to his back yard. He opened the doors, letting the breeze of cool night air push into the house.

Eleonora followed Edoardo to the door, taking a glance at the backyard. There was a pool a mere few steps away from the door, the lights under the water illuminating the air a blue colour. The beams of light played on Eleonora’s features, and Edoardo couldn’t look away. “You have a pool.”

“I have a pool,” Edoardo confirmed, smiling. Then he turned around, reaching for one of the acoustic guitars on the wall. “And now, we’re gonna be teaching you to play. Trust me, you’ll be better than Jimi Hendricks by the time I’m done with you.”

Eleonora laughed at Edoardo’s words, flopping down on to the soft couch. Edoardo sat in an armchair across from her, fingers absent-mindedly plucking at the strings that were clearly familiar to him. A quiet hum escaped from under his breath, a familiar melody that Eleonora could no longer name.

“I want you to play for me first,” Eleonora demanded, and lifted her hand when Edoardo opened his mouth to protest. “I know you can play, so play. Or are you scared, Incanti?”

Edoardo rolled his eyes as he tuned the instruments, humming the same melody again. It sounded eerily familiar, but Eleonora could not place a name nor a memory to the sound of it - only a feeling that she had heard it sometime. It sounded better right now though, hummed under the breath of Edoardo Incanti at one in the morning.

Edoardo’s eyes were locked on the his own fingers on the strings, pondering. “Fine.”

He looked up from the guitar as he found the right notes, an absent look in his eyes as he started plucking away at the same, familiar melody that he had hummed earlier. And when the lyrics started gliding off of Edoardo’s lips with such ease, Eleonora couldn’t look away. Or perhaps she could’ve, but she didn’t want to - she could’ve sat there for hours, looking at Edoardo Incanti plucking away at his guitar, his voice wrapping around the lyrics in a way that Eleonora had never heard before. There was a certain roughness to his voice, but it merely made it more real.

“- When you we’re here before Couldn’t look you in the eye You’re just like an angel Your skin makes me cry-“

Eleonora remembered. She finally remembered the lyrics, the song, the melody. She could remember Filo blasting out the words on joint car rides, she could remember her mother humming the melody on a grocery shopping trip, she could remember the song playing quietly on her father’s record player. The memories were scattered, they were hazy, but Eleonora remembered.

“You float like a feather,” Eleonora continued, her voice rough. She hesitated, but continued nevertheless: “In a beautiful world.”

A smile tugged at the corners of Edoardo’s lips as he listened, plucking at the melody even after Eleonora’s voice faded into silence. There was something about her, right then and there, sitting across from him at one in the morning, a thoughtful look in her green eyes. She looked beautiful, she looked complicated, and Edoardo felt terrified of what he was feeling.

“I wish I was special, you’re so fucking special,” Eleonora hummed on, following Edoardo’s fingers on the guitar. Edoardo was looking at her, and Eleonora was burning under his gaze; his gaze was intense, nearly invasive in a way that made Eleonora’s cheek heaten up. Edoardo noticed it, and gradually looked away as both their voices faded, the last of the lyrics gliding off Edoardo’s tongue rather than Eleonora’s.

Eleonora got up from the couch, suddenly terrified of the feeling in her chest. Fuck. “I think I should go home.”

“Well, that was a shitty lesson,” Edoardo said, slowly getting up from the chair. “You didn’t even touch the guitar.”

He took a step closer, then another. Eleonora nearly felt herself go out of breath when Edoardo was close enough to touch, towering over her. “I’m kidding. I’ll take you home, Sava.”

“Thank you.”

Edoardo’s gaze was burning again, his mouth opening like he was about to say something. Instead he got rid of the last inches between them, brushing a runaway strand of hair away from Eleonora face. Eleonora shivered when he touched her, feeling the weight of all the unsaid things between them hoverin over the pair. For a second Edoardo almost looked like he was about to say something again, but instead he let his hand fall to his side, turning his gaze to the front door.

“Let’s go then,” he said, completely shifting his entire demeanor.

The silence between them only grew the entire way back to Eleonora’s house. Edoardo stared at the road in front of him, tapping at the steering wheel, his jaws clenched so tight like he was physically trying to stop himself from doing or saying something. Eleonora tried to keep her own, tired eyes on the city they were driving through.

“Well, good night,” Eleonora said nervously as Edoardo pulled over to the side of street. 

Edoardo smiled at her. “Good night, Sava.”

Without saying another word Eleonora got out of the car, hurrying her way to the door of her building, hurrying up the stairs, hurrying to the door of her apartment. She let out a tense sigh when she closed the door behind herself, feeling nearly dizzy as she recapped the night with Edoardo. The apartment was dead silent, and Filo’s keys were gone from the wooden kitchen table. Figures - of course he had went out. It was Filippo Sava, after all. Eleonora smiled at the little note her brother had left for her, crumbling it in her fist as she entered her room. Eleonora kicked off her shoes and plopped sitting onto her bed.

Eleonora’s phone buzzed. @edincanti tagged you in a post.

It was a slightly shaky image of Eleonora laughing, her hand grasping for something - Edoardo’s phone, clearly - in the air, her eyes twinkling with joy. It was strange to see herself like that, through someone else’s lense. The moment felt real even through the screen.

The caption under the photo was simple: “So fucking special.”

[baroquebucky]

chemistry

part 4

A/N: omg you guys i am SO sorry this is so late :-( I’ve been so busy lately i haven’t had time to finish writing this chapter, sorry if it’s a little shorter than the rest. I don’t know when I’ll upload the next part but send in some questions or requests! Love u guys <33333333

part 3

It was Monday. You sat across from peter, looking intently at the screen and sharply back to the book you were reading in class. You knew he was with mj, he walked her to class. You weren’t going to let yourself be led on by him any longer.

——

“dude just ask her if she likes you! She’s came to every one of the home games and she watched you march every single time she obviously likes you” Ned spoke. Peter looked at you, a small smile on your face and ignoring the football game in front of you.

“what about mj?” Ned rolled his eyes. “You don’t even like her anymore, all she does is leave you and hang out with her friends.” Peter glanced at mj, they were broken up for right now, taking a small break so peter could get his head straight.

Without thinking Peter walked down the bleachers and next to mj, smiling at her and sitting down.

“hey babe” mj smiled before turning back to her friends. Peter muttered a small hi before putting his arm around her.

Maybe if they tried just one more time it would work out. So he sat with her the whole time, laughing and smiling at her jokes. But he didn’t feel what he felt with you, the spark if you will.

When saturday rolled around and they had a competition he didn’t want to break up with mj, he assured himself that his feelings would come back after spending enough time with her.

Then he got your text, he was on the bus, getting the goody bags from the band parents and giving his good snacks to mj in return for her bad ones.

He panicked, at the contents of the message. He was with mj, he couldn’t just say “i like you too :)” that’s just gross, he had to figure things out first.

After being ignored for the hours on end they were on the bus and on the field and bleachers peter knew he would break up with her.

He’d make sure he was done with mj, then he’d go and get you.

——

Peter walked with mj after rehearsal that Monday morning.

“mj can’t we talk?” He asked softly, tugging on the edge of his hoodies sleeves, mj nodded and leaned against the lockers.

“listen, you’re great and everything i just- i don’t feel the same anymore. I don’t wanna date you anymore, i don’t feel anything and i feel like we’re together just to say we aren’t single. i don’t think we’re gonna work out” he spoke out, palms sweaty as he spoke and waiting for her reaction.

Mj smiled at him and pulled him in for a hug. “I know, i felt the same but i felt too bad if i broke up with you” she spoke, peter let out a breath and smiled at her.

“so we’re done yeah? no hatred?” Peter asked and smiled at her as mj nodded, saying goodbye and walking into class.

He turned on his heel, a smile on his face as he walked to class. He finally knew where he stood. He was single for sure this time.

He walked into AP Lang smiling at you, but you didn’t even spare him a glance, ignoring him the entire class. He tossed you a crumpled up paper, a joke and a compliment.

You saw the paper next to your foot. You picked it up and walked straight to the recycling bin, tossing it in while holding eye contact with the curly haired boy.

You heard the paper ‘thump’ at the bottom of the bin. Your heart racing as peter looked at you, pain evident in his eyes.

Walking back to your seat and continuing to read the book at hand you stated at the page blankly, wanting nothing more than to read the paper peter gave you and continue to pass notes the whole class, getting nothing done and having too much homework.

The bell rang and peter watched you walk out of class, not giving him even a second of your time. He really messed up, god high school was messy.

You sat across Esmeralda at lunch you were quiet, picking at your before she spoke up.

“I’m friends with one of peters friends, Ned” you nodded for her to continue. “Well he telling me that peter didn’t like mj anymore, and that he was gonna break up with her for another girl” she spoke with a small smile.

“really?” You asked, looking at her as a smile broke onto her face.

“yeah i mean these past few weeks I’ve gotten to get to know him and talk to him during rehearsal i think we really connected and” she stopped herself, looking at you warily.

“what is it?” You asked, furrowing your eyebrows and moving your head a little.

“and i like him too now.” You felt your heart stop. Is this some kind of sick joke? High school sucks.

“oh” you let out, shock laced in the one small word, you didn’t know how to feel.

“i know I’m sorry it’s just hes so cute and so funny and he’s fucking hot” she blushed drinking some of her water. You clenched your fist under the table, wanting nothing more than to punch her because, hey thats my crush, get in your lane.

“it’s fine” you spoke, forcing a smile before stuffing your face with food so you weren’t clenching your jaw about to fight the girl in front of you.

Thankfully lunch ended quickly and you walked back to pre cal, checking your phone quickly. One text from peter.

are you mad at me?

You decided to not open it, sliding your phone into the back pocket of your jeans and resuming your work.

Soon you were down the hall of your chemistry class. You walked slowly, not wanting to confront peter and his puppy eyes just yet.

“y/n!” You heard peter behind you and you widened your eyes. You picked up the pace quickly managing to get into the class and in your seat before peter could catch up to you. You had a few seconds to think of what to say.

“hey man” peter spoke, looking at you as he sat in his desk. You smiled at him and looked back down at your bag, looking for your notebook.

The teacher handed out two worksheets and began to put on the slideshow for the notes today.

“are you mad at me?” Peter whispered from beside you, the teacher still explaining how to do some stuff with chemicals.

“no” you spoke, not looking at him and continuing to take notes.

“then what is it? is it because of mj?” he asked and you stopped writing for a split second before continuing.

“no” you spoke, trying to keep your usual tone.

“just let me explain what happened” he spoke. You looked at him with a scowl on your face.

“peter just drop it” You hissed.

“Ms Parks and Mr Parker is there something you’d like to share?” She spoke and the whole class looked at you, sami laughing quietly at your red face and Ned biting his lip to stifle his laughter.

“no ma’am sorry” you spoke softly, looking back down at your notebook and writing quickly. Peter heard your increased heart rate and saw the slight shake in your hands. You hated getting in trouble.

“sorry i was just asking about what you said i didn’t see the last sentence of the slide” peter covered giving her a sweet smile before she continued.

He stayed quiet for the rest of the period.

When the bell rang and peter watched you walk out with sami he slumped in his desk before heading out with Ned.

“I messed up badly dude” he groaned walking to band with his best friend.

“she won’t talk to you?” Ned quiestioned and peter nodded.

“just give her time, she’ll get over it” Ned shrugged and peter let out a sigh. That was the only option he had huh.

As the week passed you and peter got back into the groove of things, whispering in class and passing notes to each other. You kept every doodle he gave you. And he kept every doodle you gave him.

Peter didn’t expect to see you at the football game that Friday. But there you were, sitting on the bleachers with your friend Genesis from math class, laughing at something she had said.

You looked like the most beautiful girl peter had ever seen. A jean jacket over a black hoodie with some slightly ripped skinny jeans. The stadium lights made you look gorgeous, peter smiled at the sight of you.

Your eyes quickly found him and you gave him a small smile before waving at him. He waved back quickly, blushing as you turned back around.

At halftime peter was down on the track, getting his shako and his plume to get ready to march. He searched for you in the bleachers and shot you a smile. You waved at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Peter marched beautifully, you could tell why the band directors liked him so much, nailing his every step and owning his solo.

When he was back on the bleachers you gave him two thumbs up, mouthing to him how great he did. He pointed down and you nodded, telling genesis you’d be back in a bit before heading under the bleachers.

you stood there looking for peter before you saw him walking with one of his band friends.

Once he spotted you he walked quickly towards you and you smiled.

“hey” he spoke, slightly red and out of breath from marching.

“you did so good!” You cheered, wrapping your arms around him before you could stop yourself, peter didn’t hesistate to hug you back, holding you close and hearing your heart beat clearer than ever.

“thank you” he blushed, his friend gone to use the restrooms.

“i have to go in a bit, i have some stuff i have to turn in for English since someone always distracts me” you smiled and looked at peter accusingly. He smirked at you and you nudged him.

“you wouldn’t trade it for the world he smiled and you rolled your eyes.

“no i wouldn’t Parker” Peter smiled at you before seeing his friend motion for the two of them to head back up.

“I’ll text you yeah?” He spoke, walking backwards slowly with a smile on his face.

“yeah” you spoke, biting your lip to hide the smile itching to break onto your face.

“okay” he spoke before turning around and jogging to catch up to his friend.

You felt your face flushed and went to go get some water, you felt like you were burning up even in the cold.

You said goodbye to genesis and headed home, finishing the work due at midnight just in time at 11:39 pm.

You closed your eyes and let out a small sigh, happy that you had the whole weekend to relax. The light from your phone lit up your dark room. You rolled over to check it, the bright light blinding you for a second.

from peter:

I’m home i hope you finished your work you scholar :P

You smiled at his text, remembering what Esmeralda had told you. He liked another girl. Was it you?

I am an AP scholar actually so shut your mouth >:)

You smiled as peter replied quickly,

so am i, your point is?

You and peter talked for hours, sending each other texts and memes until 2 am.

i have a competition tomorrow hehe i should probably sleep

oh my gOD I KEPT YOU UP ALL NIGHT AND YOU DIDNT EVEN SAY ANYTHING PETER KSJXJXBSJ

I didn’t wanna end the conversation :(

whatever you dork goodnight and good luck tomorrow <3

Peter blushed at the heart you had sent him, his own heart racing at the sight of it and his face hurt from smiling even harder than before. His hands shook slightly from how nervous he was.

goodnight :) <3

You locked your phone and tried to stop yourself from smiling, your cheeks hurt way too much but even your best attempts couldn’t wipe away your smile. You closed your eyes and let out a happy sigh, maybe high school wasn’t so bad.

Peter woke up reluctantly at 5 am, throwing himself out of bed and giving a small wave to Aunt May as a good morning before eating the breakfast she had made for him.

“You look so tired pete! did the internship keep you up again?” She asked concerned, ready to fight tony stark if it meant her poor nephew could get some sleep in.

“no” peter spoke, a small smile played on his lips as he remembered the night before and texting you all night. “I was talking to this girl” he smiled as May’s mouth opened a little.

“wow okay, she must mean a lot if it means not sleeping before a band competition” peter groaned and cringed slightly at her words.

“that makes me sound like such a loser may! I’m not a loser, right?” His eyes widened a bit as May laughed at him, getting the car keys and rushing him out.

You woke up as the alarm you had set went off. You quickly turned it off and went to text peter.

good luck today !! you got this in the bag and make that field your bitch >:)

You sent the text and your eyelids grew heavy once again and sleep soon overtook you.

Arriving at school peter checked his phone as he received your message, his cheeks heating up and ears turning a shade of pink. He smiled and replied quickly.

thank you :)

Peter rushed into the band hall, going to find his uniform and matching shoes and rushing right back out to go change.

“you are awfully giddy this morning” Ned spoke from beside peter and he helped him with his zipper.

“y/n texted me this morning, she woke up just to message me” he smiled and Ned’s mouth flew open.

“oh my god she is totally into you dude!” He spoke hitting him roughly on the shoulder. Peter stumbled and bumped into the wall, being caught off guard since he was too busy wondering what you looked like when you woke up.

“i mean i don’t know Ned” peter mumbled, grabbing his clothes and walking back to the band hall with Ned. He rolled his eyes at his best friend and sighed.

“you’re so bling peter she goes to football games just to watch you march, she woke up to text you good luck and you both have so many inside jokes and make each other blush all the time” Ned shrugged his shoulders and left to go put his stuff in his locker.

Peter unlocked his band locker and took out his instrument, shoving his clothes in and taking a deep breath.

“hey peter!” A female voice spoke beside him and he turned to see Esmeralda.

“oh hey” he spoke giving her a right smile before turning oh his heel. She quickly followed him and attempted to continue her conversation.

“how’s your morning been?” She asked, and peter gave her a thumbs up, looking for anyone in his section to be with.

It’s not that he hated Esmeralda, she just tried so hard to flirt it was annoying. He cringed as she continued to follow him around, laughing at the small comments he made. Peter finally just pulled his phone out and texted you.

I’m so sleepy maybe i do regret texting you all night

He locked his phone, knowing you were dead aslee at this hour and instead went to find his section since he somehow couldn’t find them. Esmeralda was left talking to herself about a story even she wasn’t interested in. She furrowed her eyebrows and let out a huff.

She would get peter, no matter what it took.

The day passed quickly, you didn’t do much and just lounged around, relaxing before the hectic school week began once again. Peter texted you throughout the whole day, send you updates and pictures of him and Ned in their marching uniforms. You definitely saved the mirror selfie peter took, a bright smile peeking out behind his phone.

Sunday rolled around and you went to take a walk, seeing as though you had done all your homework and had no missing work.

“long time no see” you heard a muffled voice and you turned your head, a wide smile playing upon your lips as you waved at the hero.

“hey spidey” you spoke, looking at him as he walked up next to you. “how have you been? any crazy things happen?” You asked, kicking a rock infront of you and trying to keep it going in a straight line.

“Not really, i missed your company actually, I’ve been spending my nights just chilling on rooftops” he spoke, kicking the rick back into your path when it went sideways.

“aw a super hero missing little old me?” You smiled, wiping an imaginary tear from your face and laughing. You could tell the hero was smiling.

“so anyway, when are you gonna tell me how old you are?” You bluntly asked after a moment of silence. The eyes on the suit went wide and you quircked an eyebrow.

“what? not even who i am?” He asked, looking at your face for any hints as to what you were up to.

“well i mean i wanna know if i should refer to you as a boy or man in my head!” you huffed, arms crossing over your chest and stopping in your tracks.

“I don’t know y/n” he spoke hesitant to reply. You uncrossed your arms and put them into your sweaters pockets.

“you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want you, i just wanna know even one thing about you” you shrugged and continued walking.

if only you knew how much you already know peter thought in his head.

“16” he spoke out and you turned around quickly. A smile on your face, but that quickly turned to shock and then concern.

“16?!” You squealed and quickly ran up to him, poking his side as if to make sure you weren’t making this up.

“yeah i know don’t make fun of me” he spoke, you snorted lightly.

“you’re my age and you can probably pick up a car like it’s nothing! I am never making fun of you spider boy” you smiled and took a seat on a bench looking over a small pond. Peter sat close to you, hearing the way your heart rate was a little faster than usual.

“so how did that talk with the boy go?” He asked, clearing his throat, heart rate sky rocketing as he awaited your response. Karen took note of the spike in heart beats and informed peter to calm down. He only ignored the AI, wanting to just hear what you had to say about him.

“it wasn’t so bad, we didn’t really talk, he mentioned it once but never brought it up again” you spoke, watching two ducks swim together.

“did you ever find something out about him and his girlfriend?” He asked, nervous about the fact that you might not know peter had been flirting with you and that he was single.

“oh yeah, i figured everything out but i let him think i don’t know anything, it makes him work harder” you smirked at the boy and he laughed, partly out of relief and partly out of the fact that you really did make peter work hard to flirt with you.

“well I’m very sure that he’d work hard for someone like you regardless” you smiled at him and you got up, stretching and letting him know you were gonna head home.

“text me when you’re home” he spoke and you looked at him confused. “sorry it’s a reflex, but get home safe please” he spoke before swinging off to some other lady of the city do do more hero things.

You smiled at the fact that it’s his reflex to ask people to text them when they’re home, it warned your heart a little. A blush spreading across your cheeks when you thought of how close the two of you were on the bench.

The next day at school you wrote an essay in class, leaving no time for you to flirt with peter andyet somehow he snuck a piece of paper into your backpack.

As you headed to lunch and sat across Esmeralda she had a bright smile on her face looking straight at you.

“y/n! You’ll never guess what!” She smiled, and you raised your eyebrows, looking at her silently as she leaned in closer to you.

“so i was talking to Ned yesterday and he was saying that peter and MJ broke up” you nodded, along and signaled for her to go on, already knowing this information but not wanting to sink her boat.

“and he said that it’s because he likes another girl!” You chocked on your pasta and quickly drank some water.

“do you know who? who he likes?” You asked, your heart rate increasing as she smiled at you.

“Ned thinks that he likes me!” She smiled, her hands flying over her chest and she let out a small noise in glee.

Your heart fell and you were sure that you looked like you saw a ghost. Peter likes Esmeralda?

What about all those times you two giggled at the back of the clas sin chemistry and helped each other with the homework? What about him sacrificing sleep to talk to you? Had he done all that with her too? Were you always the second choice?

“y/n you okay? you look like you’re gonna throw up” Esmeralda smirked and you shook your head, excusing yourself and saying the pasta was bad.

You pushed open the cafeteria door and rushed to the restroom, pushing in one of the stalls and standing over the toilet, your heart rate slowed down and you felt yourself calming down.

Meanwhile Esmeralda smiled to herself in the cafeteria. Ned has only said that peter liked someone else, not once did he specify that it was her, actually he told her that peter didn’t like her. If she could get you to not like peter at least then you wouldn’t have him.

You walked back to the cafeteria, talking to Esmeralda about something you didn’t even know about. You kinda just went on autopilot, not wanting to think about the fact that the girl who wanted to play match maker took the one you wanted to match with.

You walked into chem dreading seeing Peter. He smiled at you and you looked down at the ground, you knew the moment you smiled back at him you would forget the fact that you were his second option.

“did you see my note? did you get it? francium and for real, because it fr” he giggled softly and you nodded, not looking at him as you passed your homework to the front.

Peter noticed the change in your personality, more closed off and not even sparing a glance at him, what had he done wrong?

“what’s wrong? are you mad at me?” Peter asked innocently, he heard the way your heart rate sped up as he asked you.

“listen Parker you can stop acting like you think I’m special, i know I’m just a second choice so you can cut the shit, i don’t even know what we were to begin with but whatever it was it’s done” you snapped at him, face red and jaw clenched, you got out of your desk and walked to the front of the room, grabbing the instructions and heading to the lab table with sami.

Sami gave peter a death glare and turned back to you, comforting you and soon starting on the lab. It was easy to tell there was tension in the room seeing as though everyone was pretty close in that class and kept glancing at you and peter.

You and sami headed to orchestra, peter and Ned hot on your heels as you all walked the same way, this time you weren’t all talking and peter wasn’t making fun of you for being in orchestra.

Orchestra passed quickly, your concert next week and you were scared about playing your solo. You remembered how peter was counting the days to the concert, promising he wouldn’t miss it for the world and he’d be the first to cheer for you during your solo.

You shook your head, sadness and anger rising in your chest as you headed home, taking a ride from sami’s mom to get to your apartment, praying that your mom didn’t make food so that you all could go eat some fast food.

You called out to your parents announcing your arrival, tossing the keys in the bowl your dad had bought and walking into the small living room. Your mom and dad smiled at you and you threw yourself on the couch.

“i didn’t cook today what do you wanna get?” Your mom asked and you smiled immediately blurting out “Thai” as a grin spread across your face. You dad laughed at your eagerness and you blushed.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket and you quickly took it out, seeing a text from peter.

I don’t like Esmeralda, i don’t want she told you but it’s not true please trust me.

Peter sat in his room, partially not wanting to go patrol today, he just wanted to fix things with you. He was too scared to admit his feelings. That would make it so real. And then he’d have to tell you he was Spider-Man and oh my god you would think he was weird for always looking out for you, like a stalker. What if some villain rolled up and found out his identity and tried to go for you! He couldn’t do it.

His phone buzzed in his hands and he saw your message.

Sure

This was gonna be a long night huh.

You have to trust me! I don’t even talk to her as much as i talk to you

I mean not that i talk to you both

I don’t

I mean i do but you know

you’re my best friend you should understand

You felt your heart fall even more at his last message, peter felt his heart implode when he read your response.

Yeah i am your best friend, so go date her, I’m your best friend so I’ll support you, I’m sure she’d love you.

I didn’t mean it like that y/n and you know that

do i know that? tell me Parker, how would i know what you meant?

Peter was at a loss for words. He i mean yeah he had been flirting with you but it was never any serious sign of affection, it was just jokes and laughing and talking.

you know what i mean :/

You opened his message and locked your phone, finishing your food and excusing yourself from the table, going to your room and changing into a baggy t shirt and some short shorts.

it was only 10:37 and you weren’t sleepy, you tossed and turned but one thing kept you awake. Peter.

Meanwhile Spider-Man was swinging around queens trying to find some yellow roses, to ask for forgiveness. He knew texting you would be useless so he called you.

Your phone rang and you jumped at the sudden noise, debating wether or not to pick up when you saw it was peter.

“what” you spoke, trying to sound mad but you were already smiling at the fact that he really wanted to talk to you.

“where do you live, don’t ask questions now, just-“ he sighed and spoke up again, “please tell me.” Peter was walking towards your house, he knew where you lived due to previous encounters with Spider-Man but you didn’t know that, so he had to ask for your address or else that would just look creepy.

You stayed quiet for a bit before telling him, he let out a breathy “thank you” before hanging up. You felt your hands grow cold and your heart was racing.

Peter swung into a dark alley next to your apartment building and changed from his suit to some regular clothes, taking out the yellow roses and mentally preparing himself.

Your parents were already sleeping so you quietly left your room and opened the front door slowly, making sure it didn’t squeak.

You stood there with your arms crossed for a minute before you saw peter come out of the elevator and walk your way. Your heart speeding up even more as you saw the yellow roses in his hand.

He smiled at you softly and you gave him a small wave, “hey man” you spoke and he smiled widely at your words.

“hi” he breathed out, checking you out not so subtly and his breath getting caught in his throat at the sight of you in such short shorts. “i got you these flowers” his voice cracked a bit and you stifled a laugh, taking them from his extended arm and saying a small thank you. “They’re yellow, for forgiveness, because I’m sorry” he rambled, cuddling with his fingers and looking up at you after he finished speaking.

You felt your heart rate pick up and your face heat up, your insides were almost shaking at how excited you were or maybe because of how cold the hallway was in your pjs. “Peter-” you began but he cut you off.

“no y/n listen i know it’s not fair of me to kinda lead you on and i don’t want to. You’re my best friend and i want you to trust me” peter looked at you, your eyes briefly meeting his before he looked down at the ground and then back up at you.

“i don’t like Esmeralda, really i don’t, i don’t know what she told you or what you think is going on between me and her but really there’s nothing” he spoke, his mind screaming at him to tell you he liked you. He could hear Tony’s voice yelling at him for being such a wuss and not confessing already.

You felt your stomach fall just a bit but it was expected. You gave him a small smile and nodded at him. “I believe you Parker” you spoke, youvoice shaking a bit and the hair on your arms standing from how cold you were.

“okay great” he smiled, quickly noting how cold you were, he quickly took off his jacket and placed it on your shoulders, you barely even had time to react by the time peter had finished placing the jacket on you.

“you already rejected my gloves at the game I’m not letting you stay cold again” he smiled and you blushed.

“such a gentleman parker” you looked down at the roses and back up at peter.

“only for you parks” he smiled and you blushed, giggling softly at his comment, peter wanted to take millions of pictures of you in this moment.

Your hair was messy and loose, you were wearing short short and oh my god if he doesn’t stop looking at you he’s gonna have to run. Your shirt made you look so cozy and you were wearing his jacket and holding flowers almost as beautiful as you.

Maybe he wanted to just risk it and ask you out now. Maybe he should. Actually, he will.

“y/n look what i meant-” he began, heart pounding before it was interrupted by his phone, he quickly pressed decline without checking who it was.

“what i wanted to tell you��� he began once more before getting another call, he sighed and checked the phone, Tony. His eyes widened, he quickly spoke a quick sorry and moved a bit away from you.

“hello?” Peter asked, worried something big had happened.

“hey Pete i just wanna know what’s so important that you’re missing training? You realize you have a mission this weekend right?” Tony was obviously upset, and peter was shocked, he totally forgot he had training.

“mr.stark I’m so sorry something came up with decathlon and i just completely forgot i promise I’ll get there right after school tomorrow!” He spoke quickly, apologizing a million times before tony let him off the hook and told him to be safe.

“Sorry it was for my internship” Peter spoke timidly, looking at you with a small smile.

“it’s okay it’s pretty late so i should probably get back inside and sleep” you spoke, looking at him as he stared at you almost in awe. “you definitely should go to sleep you have band in the morning you nerd” you smiled and he blushed, stuttering and just nodding his head.

“I mean if it meant being with you i wouldn’t sleep” he spoke, blushing even deeper when he realized what he said.

“I’m not sure you mean that parker” you replied, taunting him slightly, your voice just above a whisper.

“i can prove it to you if you want parks” he replied, voice just as soft as yours. Both of you were very close now, not even a foot in between you guys.

“maybe you should” you whispered, looking at him and searching his eyes for something, anything to show that he really liked you.

Just as you were leaning in the door down the hall slammed shut and you both jumped apart, coughing a little to hide your embarrassment.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Peter spoke after a moment of quiet. You nodded quickly and began to take his jacket off.

“You can give it to me later, i don’t want you to be cold” he winked before turning around to go to the elevator.

“text me when you’re home!” He called after he had taken a few steps. You furrowed your eyebrows and he gave you a bright smile.

“you text me when you’re home too” you spoke before heading back inside to your apartment quietly, quickly putting the roses in some water and sneaking back into your room.

that’s when it hit you.

text me when you’re home.

Spider-Man said the same thing, almost the same tone. No, surely peter couldn’t be him? Spider-Man knew where you loved peter didn’t. Maybe peter asked so he could cover up the fact that he knew?

Your thoughts were working over time when you got a text a few minutes later.

I’m home :)

Peter visited you tonight, Spider-Man didn’t. He usually even checks in every not and then, you usually give him some grapes or a snack.

You wanted to ask him but decided to just wait it out, gather more evidence and then present it when you were sure.

good now go to sleep :~) sweet dreams <3

Peter smiled at your text and quickly replied with a ‘sweet dreams’ locking his phone and setting it aside.

Things will work out. Everything will come in time. Both good and bad things.

part 5

taglist (let me know if you want to be added !):

if there’s a line in your name it means you couldn’t be tagged idk why :/

@savedbystark @teenageeggsneckpasta @hphmincorrectquotes @squirtsquirtjigglejiggle @sonicisnotsober @qrangr @ghostiinparker @acenright @ksmy-99 @mutuallynotmutual @holland-tingz @martinafigoli

[mendesnecessary]

Drinking it till you’re making it

A/n: So it's been a long since I didn’t post nothing, huh, but guess I’m back with a LatinBlack!Reader. I never give so many details about skin and hair in my pieces, cause I think it’s easy for all my readers to feel represented (at least this is how it works when I’m reading something here), but somehow I felt like I should this time, cause we’re always so so consumed by some stereotypes that even if the story doesn’t have details we imagine it like the cmon ones: skinny, blonde, north american etc. So I hope we can change that with time and create a place where everyone can feel home <3 

Word count: 1.873

‘Gotta raise a little hell’

The strong beat keeps going. It was a tough day for him at the studio, everything that Shawn wanted was to take a good bath and rest as much as possible in his king size bed.

Well, it sounded a little impossible once his neighbor started listening to loud music, he took his time, took also a bath waiting for by the time he ended she was done with songs, but it only got worse.

She went from Rihanna to some kind of rock bass that was eating his patience.

He checked his clock three or four times before giving up and putting a white shirt, walking to her door.

And don't get him wrong, Shawn is very very patient, but man all he wanted to do was rest. Does she know that there's someone besides her on this damn floor?

And there she was. Shawn remembered her name, but he didn't remember how beautiful she was without the black makeup.

Y/n was what Shawn would call soft gothic. She used to look cute into the ripped black jeans and oversized 90’s band shirt. Her curly hair sometimes on top of her head in a messy bum and sometimes all over her shoulders catching people’s attention.

She definitely didn't listen to his music. Does she know who I am?? That was the question hovering above his mind the first time they bump into each other in the elevator.

And somehow she knew or at least knew that he was famous.

They never really talked too much, she was always late and he was always busy. 

They were very distinct polos. Never on the same page of the book, if possible never even in the same book.

He rang the bell one, two, three, four times before she opened the door. An oversized shirt, just like always, but this time no ripped jeans.

Is she even wearing something underneath??

A glass of wine in hands and a tired look.

“Hey, y/n...” he smiles when she raises her brows. Somehow Shawn couldn't bring himself to just ask her to turn the music off. He wanted to stare a little more, see her curious and tired eyes studying his figure. “How you doing?”

“I’m doing hella bad, what about you, boy-next-door?” she takes a sip of the red drink and he can't take his eyes off of how her lips get wet and slightly pink.

“I’m ok, I guess..”

“Are you sure you're okay, cause it's like 3 am and you're at my door. I would say there's something going on”

“I was just curious about the song name...the song playing” he points to the inside of her house. She laughs, clearly seeing that it was nothing about the song title.

“It’s too loud, right?!” She shifts her weight to only one foot. “I am sooo sooo sorry, I thought you were traveling again, you always out. Plus, I had a really shit day...I mean, this guy that made pair with me in one of our calculus class he just took the project that I did all by myself and told the professor that it was his idea”

“Wow, what a dick” Shawn comments not knowing what he was really supposed to say.

“I know right?!! And then I went to work and somehow someone manages to spill coffee in my clothes, it was damn hard to keep the patient”

“Oh, you work at a coffee shop?”

“Something like that, it’s a library and a coffee shop altogether, I was going to try a place relates with engineer since I'm at the appropriate year of my studies, but this bastard just took it from me by saying that it was his own project”

She sights trying to keep cool, her right hand was already clenched into fists.

Did she beat him up?!

Oh, Shawn wishes she did.

“It’s the equivalent of you writing a really good song but there's this new singer and he took it all for himself, he got the credit, the fans and he even creates a fake story to seem real. Wouldn't you be pissed?!”

“One hundred percent” Shawn nods.

“I’m sorry, you came up to ask me to turn down the music and I'm rambling about my damn day”

“No, it's okay, it’s fine.”

She knew he was the typical educated Canadian, he wouldn't be rude or say something that could possibly sound like.

“I’m gonna turn it off, so you can sleep better. Sorry for the mess.” she apologizes and Shawn smiles with the way her eyes faced the ground like a puppy.

“’S okay”

“Good night, Mendes” he stops for some minutes appreciating the way she pronounced his last name. Men-diS. Shawn swears he could hear her accent slip like that for all day long.

“Good night, y/n, hope you have a better day when you wake up today.”

She nods and the last thing he sees is her lips parted in a smile before the door closes.

Shawn went back to his own door that night, the music turned off and the silent night taking his sleep.

After that day they would exchange more than a ”good morning” in the elevator and every time her sound was too loud he knew that it was a bad day, so he would knock her door and let her tell about, seeing how much she felt better just by putting all the bad events out.

Now they were more than just y/n and Shawn, they could call each other friends, not really close friends but still friends. The kind of who makes sure you feel better when they can.

It was a Friday night, probably around midnight when Killer queen started playing. Shawn instantly knowing it had been a harsh day for her. After all this time he manages to know that once she’s listening to Queen she really needs to rest, she had told about how it is her favorite band.

 So the Canadian decides that it wasn’t a door-talk day, he slips his feet in the flip flops and goes straight to his kitchen, looking for one of his favorite bottle of wine. Shawn then makes his way to her door, ringing the bell. Y/n answers after the fourth ring. 

‘Dynamite with a laser beam’

She shows up, just like the other nights wearing only an oversized shirt. The Queen symbol in the black fabric, her hair hanging curly in her shoulders making a perfect contrast with her dark skin. 

“One of those days?” he asks and she smiles before nodding her head in a negative response.

“No really, it’s just tiredness in a whole new level.” 

“I brought the wine” 

“I’ll only let you get inside because of that” she jokes before both explode in laughs.

Her apartment, for his surprise, looks a little like his, besides the paintings hanging on the wall. Very colorful paintings. And even tho he would put her in the ‘soft gothic’ box, the colors and the decoration looks like her.

“You seem really tired too” she comments plotting her body in the sofa and pointing to the kitchen, so he could take a new glass for him.

“I am, in fact” he answers once he comes back from the room with the glass already full of red wine. 

He fills y/n’s cup before letting the bottle in the coffee table. She hugs a pillow in from of her body giving him a long stare.

“And whys that?” 

“My best friend broke his arm so I was with him in the hospital all day and night long.” 

“Damn, is he alright now?” 

“Yup, he will get better soon, hopefully,” Shawn sips his drink facing the fireplace and how it brings a comfortable atmosphere to the room. “and what about you? Are you tired because of the university?” 

“Yeah, sometimes I wish to be a rockstar just like you, bro” she sighs making her best drama face, Shawn laughs.

“Woman, it’s not that easy. Some days I wish to be a college student just like you” he repeats her sentence using it for his own.

“We can change life whenever you’re cool with it, do you think you fans would be okay with me on the stage? Would they like me?” 

“Who doesn’t?” He asks in a moment of slip. Her brows furrowing and her lips curving a little after processing what he just said.

“Well, sometimes I can’t even handle myself”

“I know, these are the days that I knock in your door and we talk and talk till you feel tired enough and go to sleep” 

She smiles with the memories. Tiredness and sadness have never been healed in a better way. Y/n sits up, taking her glass in hands and sipping the red wine. It’s a new kind of sweet for her palate. 

“Damn, Mendes, this is a whole new level. Where did you take these?”

“I know right?! It was from one of my travels to Italy,” he responds, happier than ever about how she was so comfy around him. 

“What do you have from my home country?” she lets the glass in the coffee table and takes the popcorn bowl in hands, walking to his side on the sofa. 

Shawn gazes at her naked legs, the skin there seemed so soft.

“I- uh...I have this book, it’s called ‘Love in times of cholera’ I bought it even tho I’m not too much into reading, but it seemed a nice name and when I googled it I saw that it was from an important Colombian author.”

“El amor em los tiempos del cólera” she sits by his side with a tooth grim. “It’s from Gabriel Garcia Marquez, such a damn well-written piece” 

Y/n extends the popcorn bowl to Shawn and he takes some in his big hands.

“Fuck I love when you speak something in Spanish, it’s so cute” 

“Oh, gracias, mi amigo”

“Amigo” he repeats slowly and she nods, holding back a smile. “It means friend, right?” 

“Sí” she keeps teasing with that amused look on her face. 

“So you just friend zoned me?” 

“What?! No, bro” 

“Oh, so now you just ‘bro’ me”

They exchange glances at each other and start laughing. 

“We’ve been having these wine drunk talks, that’s the kind of thing that I imagined to do with a lover, not a friend if you want to be a friend that’s okay for me, bu...” Shawn stops her rambling by placing his lips on hers.

Y/n smiles between that touch before deepening the kiss, feeling his soft and wine taste lips. Shawn’s hands hold her body close, practically molding her into his hands, but once the song changes y/n departs.

“This playlist is from my Spotify suggestion, is that your voice singing Under pressure?” She looks at him with wide eyes and this curve in her lips, almost a smile. 

“That’s what I was going to tell you”

“You’re definitely in my lover zone”

“Hope I’m the only one” he teases approaching again, she grins. 

“Since the first knock on my door” She kisses his lips again, not ready to let go of the feeling that he brought to her whole body. 

Like and reblog if you guys like it!! 

MY MASTERLIST

[5hfanfiction]

love made in the lab

A/N:

*DJ Khaled voice* another one.

Hit me up on wattpad or ao3 at jaureguicabello5eva

–

Camila has never really appreciated why windows in tall buildings are always sealed. Like, maybe she just wants to crack a window open every once in a while, get some fresh air or something.

Well, she never appreciated sealed windows until now that is. Right now, she’s two seconds away from jumping out of their seventh floor research lab and she honestly, probably would have, had the windows not been sealed. So she has whoever invented sealed windows to thank for saving her life.

It’s almost nine at night and she’s still at the lab running this stupid experiment. She’s been working since eight in the morning and she’s exhausted. Camila is spending her gap year between graduating college and matriculating into medical school working in a research laboratory in Columbia University. She’d already gotten accepted to a few schools, but her heart is pretty much set on Columbia. It’s where she went to college and has spent the last three years getting involved in their neurology department’s research on neurodegenerative diseases, so she really can’t think of anywhere else she’d rather go.

Camila has also fallen in love with New York so that all but seals the deal. Right now, however, she’s anything but pleased about working in this lab. Their lab is getting ready to submit a grant proposal and so everyone is working hard to generate as much clear and concrete data for their preliminary results. This means late nights and early mornings in the lab and Camila just misses her bed and her cat and now the centrifuge machine isn’t working.

She was on her last run on this dumb centrifuge when it just stopped working. She’s called some people that work in the same lab and they advised that she turn it off and wait another 30 minutes?! and just try again, so that’s what she’s doing: waiting and contemplating about jumping out the window.

–

Lauren is mopping the floor on the seventh floor of Columbia’s Center for Neurological Research lab while trying to read her notes for her Torts class the next morning. She took a full-time job as a custodian in the building because it’s the only full-time job she could secure while still attending law school. As a first year J.D. student at Columbia, there isn’t much flexibility in her schedule. Her parents cut her off right before she started undergrad when she came out to them, so she’s been fending for herself for a while. A full ride to Columbia for pre-law meant she was able to work and save money to be able to continue living in New York and attend law school. Student loans is covering the rest of her tuition.

Lauren doesn’t care much about spending the rest of her life paying off student loans if she can have her dream career. She’d wanted to be a lawyer since she can remember hanging out in her dad’s office at the age of six, marveling at how her dad worked tirelessly for other people. She’s sad that her hero won’t see her achieve her dreams, but she likes to imagine her dad is somewhat still proud of her. So now, she’s taking classes during the day, and working as a custodian from 5 pm to about 1 in the morning. She doesn’t get much sleep or rest in between school and work and studying, but her eyes are on the prize so she makes it work. Unfortunately, however, that doesn’t give her much time to build real relationships, so casual, no-strings attached hook-ups will have to do. Her many one-night stands and lack of commitment may also have everything to do with abandonment issues she’s brushed to the back of her mind.

She’s looking at the different examples of non-contractual wrongs most frequently covered in tort cases when she hears a very frustrated “Ughh!” coming from one of the labs on the floor. She immediately goes over to the source and figures it’s the brunette that she always sees working late as of recently.

Lauren and the girl has this sort of implicit acquaintance kind of relationship where they don’t really know each other’s names, but they’ve seen each other so much the last few weeks that they’re on a wave-and-smile-at-each-other basis now. The brunette works on both the sixth and seventh floors and uses multiple lab rooms for her experiments, depending on what equipment she needs.

This doesn’t usually pose a problem because during the day, all the labs are unlocked. As people leave, however, and they lock their respective lab rooms, Camila has to deal with going up to the seventh floor, only to go back down to her main lab and retrieve her keys because she never has them with her.

Lauren has picked up on the girl’s tendency to leave her keys as she’s seen the brunette stomping through the floor, muttering profanities and stupid keys under her breath as she tries to walk quickly without spilling the samples in her hands on multiple occasions.

As amused as Lauren is watching the girl, however, she does feel bad for her. So, she got in the habit of unlocking all the lab doors in both floors when she first comes in for her shift. Camila doesn’t really know about it but it always makes Lauren smile when she sees the other girl whisper-yell Bless! when she finds out the doors are unlocked.

Up until this moment, they haven’t really said a word to one another. Lauren rushes into the lab where she figures the other girl is and cautiously steps in,

“Um, is everything okay in here? Are you all right?” Lauren asks.

Camila turns around and blushes in embarrassment at attracting attention to her meltdown. She forgot Green Eyes works on this floor too. “Oh yeah, um –,” Camila responds. “Everything is fine,” she says hurriedly, then pauses to think. “Actually, I’m contemplating about the possible the consequences of breaking the window and jumping through it, but other than that, everything is absolutely fine,” she says with a pained smile.

Lauren rubs the back of her neck unsurely and says, “Is there any way I can help?” she asks. “Coz I mean, I’d probably have to clean up the shards of glass if you do that and I still have this floor and a few floors to get through,” she says with a smile.

Camila, for the first time that night, cracks a small smile, “Well I don’t know if you know much about equipment stuff, but this centrifuge,” she gestures as she sends the machine a cold glare, “just stopped working for no reason.”

“Did you try turning it off and on again?” Lauren asks with a hint of a smile.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” Camila says seriously, “it’s still not working.”

Lauren takes a look at the machine and says, “Well, I’ve seen this machine in a few other floors. There’s one on the tenth floor, I think?” she says as she scratches her head. “I can get you access to one of the rooms if you want. Just make sure you don’t break that too,” Lauren offers.

Camila’s eyes brighten at that, “Can you really do that?” she says with excitement. “I promise I’ll be quick, I just want to go home,” she pouts.

“For sure,” Lauren says, “Come on, I’ll show you there. I’m Lauren, by the way,” she introduces herself as they get into the elevator.

“Camila,” the brunette responds. “Thanks for saving my experiment.”

“No big deal,” Lauren says. “Just gotta give me credit now when you guys get published,” she says with a smirk.

Camila laughs and thinks the night’s not so bad after all.

–

After the centrifuge incident, Camila and Lauren’s relationship has progressed to short, friendly conversations, asking each other about things like Camila’s project and Lauren’s Legal Procedures class and Camila’s cat and so on. One Friday night, Camila doesn’t come into the lab until around five. She’s spent the day attending meetings after meetings and conferences about upcoming conferences and afterwards, she had to meet with her mentor about revisions to her grant, so, long story short, it’s been a long day. And she still has to come in the lab because the experiment she started yesterday had a two-day time course. Despite her exhaustion, she doesn’t really dread coming into lab like she would have before meeting the green-eyed girl, however. In the few times she’d been able to talk to the other girl, she’d found out how Lauren was juggling school and work and she can’t help but admire her. Camila knows she herself works hard, it’s no small feat to get into Columbia Med, but she had also lived a very privileged life. Both her parents are doctors and they attended Ivy League schools for both undergrad and med school. Camila never had to worry about working for tuition or running out of resources when studying for standardized tests. Lauren, on the other hand, is pursuing her dreams without any support from her family. Camila discovered that Lauren is very intelligent, but can be very silly too. She puts out this bad girl image but is an actual puppy once you get to know her. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s hot as fuck. Lauren has midnight black hair that plunges down her shoulders in semi-short, wavy locks. The way the strands flows through Lauren’s fingers when she flips her hair to achieve a careless-but-gorgeous messy hair look sends Camila’s heart racing and mouth watering. Her lips are almost always chapped but they still look like they could be softer than lilac and Camila sometimes wonders how those lips would feel against her own, or her neck, or other places. Camila’s not even going to get into details about Lauren’s eyes. They’re vibrant and tantalizing and lets Camila know every emotion Lauren might be trying to hide otherwise in her attempt to have a mysterious girl persona. Thick eyebrows provide a perfect complement to the way her velvety lashes fall over her forest green eyes. Her body looks soft and toned at the same time and Camila imagines the many different ways she could worship her silky, creamy skin that envelopes her voluptuous curves [A/N: Can you tell I’m a Lauren girl or what].

So, yeah, she’s tired but excited to see the other girl. She also brought some Pad Thai for them to share over dinner. She noticed Lauren rarely had more than a mere sandwich for dinner and she figures meals take a back seat when she goes to school all day and works all night. “Hi Lauren,” she greets happily. “Hi Camila,” Lauren says as she’s pulling her cart out of the supplies closet. She can’t help but feel lighter at the other girl’s presence. Camila, she found out early on, is a very cheerful person. She might a have a mental breakdown or two every once in a while, but Lauren figures that’s probably normal for aspiring doctors. She’s also very smart, and nothing turns Lauren on like a sexy mind. Lauren really appreciates her company. The older girl can be very closed off and that’s mostly because she’s been alone for a long time, and although that’s mainly her choice, she hasn’t realized how much she missed genuine companionship until Camila. At around half past seven, Camila calls Lauren over to the lounge. “What’s up,” Lauren says, walking into the lounge and finding Camila pulling out two Styrofoam boxes. “Eat dinner with me,” she says with a wide smile. That smile is really going to cause problems for Lauren in the long run. “And don’t even try to say you’ve eaten already as an excuse, I know you don’t usually eat till like eight,” she says as she continues to unpack their utensils and napkin. Lauren walks in and sits across from Camila, “Well since I’m being coerced, I guess so,” she says with fake annoyance. Camila smiles so widely Lauren’s scared she might split her face in half. “Ooh, my favorite,” Lauren says excitedly as she opens the box. “Yeah, I remember you mentioned it once,” Camila says as she stuffs her mouth with a forkful of noodles. Lauren watches with something in her eyes but Camila is too busy trying to poke her shrimp with her chopstick to notice. Lauren just shakes her head fondly and is glad to eat a real meal for once. Camila doesn’t finish her experiment until around midnight and it’s not until she’s locking up that she realizes the city circulator only runs until midnight and now she’s either gonna have to pay the outrageous Friday night prices for Uber or take an equally pricey cab home or risk New York subway at this time of night.

“Fuck,” Camila whispers as she takes her phone out to check Uber.

“What’s wrong?” Lauren asks as she slings her backpack over her shoulder, approaching Camila with her keys in her hand, ready to lock the building up. Camila looks up and briefly wonders how someone can look good in a blue and white striped button-up polo shirt and gray pants (their lab’s custodian uniform).

“I missed the last run of the circulator,” Camila sighs. “I’m gonna have to get Uber with this crazy price surge or risk the subway,” she pouts and proceeds to take her bottom lip between her teeth, a nervous tick Lauren has learned to recognize. A very tempting and distracting nervous tick, might she add.

“Well I can give you a ride,” Lauren offers. “I’m clocking out early anyway since I finished the floors quicker than I thought I would,” she says with a shrug.

Camila lets out a sigh of relief and with an exaggerated bat of her eyelashes coupled with her hands clasped tightly in front of her, “Please, if you would be so kind. That would be much appreciated,” she pleads comically.

“You sure you don’t want to be an actress instead?” she quips while lightly shoving her. Lightly is a relative word however and with Camila’s (lack of) coordination, she nearly takes a fall face-first and sees her life flash before her eyes before she feels strong arms wrap around her and the rush of sweet-smelling vanilla invade her senses. “Whoa, Camila,” Lauren says still holding onto the other girl. “I didn’t even push you that hard,” she ends up laughing at the other girl as she steadies her and finally lets go.

Camila just pouts and crosses her arms, “I could have died, Lauren! My coordination is like that of a baby deer, you can’t just mess with me like that.”

“Okay, princess,” Lauren says holding the door open for Camila, “Noted: Camila Cabello is fragile. Please handle with care,” she chuckles as Camila wills the blush that creeps up her cheeks at Lauren’s words away.

–

Camila knows she’s a pretty smart girl. Again, Columbia Med is the real deal. She can be very forgetful about things that doesn’t concern cells and biological pathways, however. Things like remembering to bring her house keys before she leaves the house. She shares a town house with her roommate, Dinah, who just so happens to be out of town and won’t be coming back until that Saturday evening.

So now, she’s standing in front of her door, with her forehead leaning against it, praying to the heavens above that it could magically open for her. It’s nearing one in the morning and she’s been up since seven yesterday and she just wants to lay her overworked body down.

Lauren is sitting in her car watching Camila as she bangs her head against her front door. She gets out of the car when she figures Camila has probably done enough damage to her head and walks up to the brunette, “I don’t think that’s how doors work.”

“Shit,” Camila turns around with her hand on her heart. “You scared me, what the hell, Lauren. I thought you left.”

“Well I wanted to make sure you got in your house safely first,” she explains and Camila’s gaze softens. Lauren makes it obvious that she looks at the locked door and then back to Camila’s defeated expression and says, “And it looks like that was a good decision on my part. Did you lock yourself out?”

Camila just bows her head and mutters a low, “yes.”

Lauren’s mouth curves into a small smile and says, “Would you like to stay over at my place for the night? We can work this out tomorrow morning, when we’re both not running on six hours of sleep combined.”

Camila thinks about it and well, she discovers there’s not much she’d say no to when it comes to Lauren.

–

Lauren’s place is a single-person loft that has an open floor plan so the bedroom/living room is basically in the same area as the kitchen. It’s essentially an only-slightly bigger room than a bedroom in a normal-sized house with its own bathroom. She lives in New York so to have her own place like this feels like she’s living in a mansion. She just hopes Camila doesn’t mind the tight space.

“So um-,” Lauren starts. “I live by myself and I only really use this place to sleep so I don’t have like a separate couch or anything, but if you feel uncomfortable sharing a bed, you can stay in mine and I can lay down a few blankets on the floo-” she starts to ramble self-consciously once Camila has gotten a good look around the place.

“Don’t be silly, Laur” Camila says while still admiring the place. It’s very small but it’s also very cozy and she noticed that the little decorations and posters are very Lauren and she can’t help but think she’s been given a rare chance to see another side to Lauren. “Of course I’ll share a bed with you. You’ve already helped me out so much this evening, I’m not really in a position to be demanding,” she chuckles.

“Okay,” Lauren says relieved, she really didn’t want to sleep on the floor. “Well, the bathroom is that way,” she gestures to the far side of the room “And I have some clothes you can borrow in the bottom drawer of my dresser.”

“Sweet,” Camila says as she heads to the dresser.

–

Lauren finds out the painful way that she might have been better off on the floor. She wakes up a few times during the night only to find one of Camila’s limbs haphazardly strewn across her face, or her stomach, and every once in a while, she wakes up with half of Camila’s body on top of her. Lauren, in her tired and sleepy state, goes only short of throwing Camila’s body off of her own and she learns that the brunette is a very heavy sleeper.

When she wakes up thirty minutes before her alarm with Camila wrapped around her like a koala, she decides it’s not worth trying to go back to sleep. She carefully pries Camila’s arms and legs from her and moves on to the bathroom to get ready for her day. When she gets out of the bathroom, she’s met with the smell of brewing coffee and a sleepy Camila sat on one of her dining chairs, rubbing her eyes with her hands.

“Good morning,” Lauren says walking to sit across from Camila. “I didn’t think you’d be up for a while. You’re the heaviest sleeper I’ve ever seen, I had to make sure you were still alive before I got up,” she laughs lightly while pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Camila frowns a little and furrows her brow, scrunching up her nose when she says, “It got cold,” she rasps, voice still thick with sleep. Lauren smiles at how sleepy and confused Camila looks. After a few minutes of eating some light breakfast in comfortable silence, Camila finally notices that Lauren is dressed like she’s going somewhere. It’s only seven-thirty in the morning. And it’s a Saturday.

“Do you go to work on the weekends too or…” Camila trails.

Lauren cleans up their dishes and says, “Um no, I go to this thing on Saturday mornings. You can stay here and sleep or rest or whatever, I know you’ve had many long nights these last few weeks. We’ll sort out your key situation when I get back around noon.” Lauren wipes her hands on a kitchen towel and is getting her stuff ready to go when Camila says,

“Wait, ‘this thing,” Camila says, making air quotes with her fingers. “That’s suspiciously vague, Lo” she smiles teasingly.

Lauren is caught off guard with the warm feeling that spreads through her with the nickname. She feels the words leave Camila’s mouth and permeate her being like an all-encompassing fog that muddles her brain. She shakes her thoughts away and says, “Yeah, it’s no big deal. It’s just this place I help out with when I can.”

“Okay, if you secretly run a drug cartel, I won’t judge you. I promise, I know times are hard,” Camila says with a smirk putting her hands up as if to say she’s surrendering in probing about this thing that Lauren does on Saturdays.

“Not a drug cartel, just a small prostitution business thing to help out with the bills, you know” Lauren says with a straight face.

After a few seconds of looking at each other seriously, they both burst out laughing. “Okay, seriously,” Camila manages to get out when her laughter subsides, “Is it like personal, because if it is, I totally get it. I won’t ask any more. But if it’s nothing like that, I’m just curious” she shrugs.

“Okay, um-” Lauren shuffles in her place a little, running her hand through her hair and flipping it to one side as a sign that she’s getting a little nervous. “I volunteer at this homeless shelter,” she finishes in a quiet voice as if she just confessed to being a serial killer.

Of course she volunteers at a homeless shelter. Because she doesn’t have enough going for her. So apparently, she’s not only incredibly smart and hot as fuck and pretty and adorable, she also part-times as Mother Theresa on the weekends, because why the fuck not. Camila is really close to doing something reckless, like kissing Lauren, or burying her hands in her hair - or somewhere else.

“Oookay,” Camila drags out. “Well, I don’t have anything else to do, so if you don’t mind, can I come with you?”

Lauren looks up surprised, “Yeah, sure. They’re always looking for volunteers,” she says with a wide smile.

–

Lauren walks in the shelter and is immediately brought into an elderly Hispanic woman’s arms, “Lauren, mija, I’m so glad you could stop by,” she says. The woman looks to be in her fifties and she has a full head of powder-white hair neatly contained in a bun. The jaded crow lines around her eyes lets Camila know she’d lived a life not without worries but filled with laughter nonetheless. She has an amiable smile and her bright hazel eyes twinkle with years of wisdom.

They pull apart and Camila approaches Lauren, standing to the older girl’s side while fiddling with her fingers, not really sure how to act. “Mima, this is my friend, Camila,” Lauren says with a slight Cuban accent and wow it’s suddenly hot in the room Camila thinks.

Camila goes in for a handshake but gets taken in for a hug instead. She sees Lauren looking at her with a soft smile over the woman’s shoulders and she feels inexplicable affection course through her veins. Lauren’s gaze is unwavering and gentle and just so soft that Camila feels like she’s suffocating in the best way.

The woman finally lets her go and coos, “Oh, mija, you’re absolutely beautiful.” Camila blushes and Lauren just looks at the pair completely endeared. The woman looks back at Lauren and winks, “You did a good job with this one.”

Camila blushes even more, she’s sure everyone in the room can feel the heat radiating off her face by now. “Mima,” Lauren says exasperatedly, “I just said she’s a friend.”

“Right, friend’” the woman says, “Is that what the kids call it these days?” She pretends to think and snaps her fingers, trying to remember something, “It’s like a – oh what did that show call it – friends with strings? Or strings benefits?” she says with a confused face.

“Oh my gosh, Mima,” Lauren says, now blushing herself, “Can we not do this today, please?”

“Oh I’m just messing with you, Lauren,” the woman says with a light laugh. “Anyway, you can call me Ms. Maria, or if you’re comfortable enough, call me Mima,” she addresses Camila with a squeeze of her shoulder.

–

Camila and Lauren are working side by side preparing the food that is about to be served for breakfast when Camila nudges Lauren, “So what else do you do on your day off,” she asks the green-eyed girl with a hint of teasing in her voice.

“Save kittens? Secretly work on the cure for cancer?” the brunette asks as she cracks some hard-boiled eggs.

Lauren shakes her head and flicks some water on Camila. “Hey!” Camila says and retaliates by flicking some of the bread crumbs by the table at Lauren. “Camz!” Lauren says while laughing and holding her hands up, catching Camila’s wrists when she tries to smear some on the dark-haired girl’s face.

“Alright lovebirds, save the foreplay for when you’re alone please,” Ms. Maria casually says as she walks past them to set a tray of food by the far end of the table. Both girls flush red and immediately go back to work.

Lauren clears her throat and says, “This place is really important to me.” Camila’s attention is immediately taken by Lauren when she hears the seriousness in her voice.

“I made the mistake of thinking my parents were going to be accepting of me and came out to them in the beginning of the summer before college. They immediately kicked me out and essentially ostracized me from our community and the rest of our family friends so I was practically homeless for a period of time, basically from the start of the summer to the beginning of the semester, during which I could live on campus because I secured a full ride” Lauren explains with a small crack in her voice.

Camila looks at her with a mix of rage and sympathy bubbling inside her, but most of all, she feels her heart clench at hearing about what Lauren has gone through.

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go so I used some of my savings for a trip to New York and thought I’d make it work here and just wait it out until I could start school. Mima took me in the shelter and basically helped me survive those couple months. So now, I try to do my best to help out here,” she looks up at Camila with a shrug and a weak smile.

Without even thinking about it, Camila takes off the plastic gloves on her hands and reaches one hand up to delicately wipe a tear that has escaped Lauren’s watery green eyes with her thumb and whispers so only Lauren can hear, “I’m so sorry about your parents,” she says sincerely. “I want you to know that you’re not alone, fuck them, alright? I’m here for you.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Lauren assures her, wiping some of Camila’s tears that she hadn’t even realized were falling too. “I’m okay now and I’m happy. Thank you for being…” Lauren trails off and swallows hard. Her smile is full of tenderness when she finishes, “Thank you for being you.”

–

They’re cleaning up the place after breakfast when Camila looks up at the sound of booming laughter. Lauren is surrounded by some of the patrons that are yet to leave and laughing at something she’s saying. She’s gesticulating wildly with her arms and has got everyone’s attention on her. There’s a diversity to her audience in that there are men who are dressed with tattered clothing while holding onto trash bags that hold whatever belongings they may have, while others are dressed with slightly better clothes and have tattoos on their arms and faces, a few of which Camila notices, are sporting teardrop tattoos by their eyes.

As tough as these men look, they’re all looking at Lauren like kindergarteners during story time.

Lauren’s skin is bright and glowing under the harsh fluorescent lights and Camila can hear faint police sirens in the background, a subtle reminder to Camila that despite the warm and comforting environment Lauren has made with her presence and her smile and her stories, they are still in the dangerous part of the neighborhood.

Camila watches them and can’t help but smile.

“She’s a keeper, no?” Ms. Maria sneaks up on Camila and it’s like the brunette has to forcibly turn her attention away from Lauren before she’s able to answer,

“Huh?”

Ms. Maria just shakes her head and says, “Lauren can be very closed off, I’m glad she has you.” Camila is about to respond when the older woman says, “As a friend, of course,” she adds with a wink. Camila looks down with a hint of a smile and says,

“I’m glad I have her too.”

“As you probably know, she’s had a pretty rough time since getting disowned by her parents. She’s gone through so much and still loves like she’s never going to get hurt,” Ms. Maria says while fondly watching Lauren.

“She cares so much about the people around her that I worry who is there to take care of her, you know?” Ms. Maria continues while turning to Camila, “She might be hard to crack at first, but once you’re in, she loves with all of her heart.” She takes a pause before saying,

“Take care of her, okay mija?” the older woman asks Camila with nothing but genuine sincerity in her eyes.

Camila wants to say, of course, she’ll take care of her. She’s her friend. That’s what friends do. She wants to clarify that despite the insinuations throughout the morning and the subtle flirting between them, they’re just friends. Instead, her thoughts come out as,

“I’ll take care of her with all of my being, Ms. Maria. I know she deserves so much more,” she says sincerely. There’s a glint to Ms. Maria’s eyes like she had gotten what she wanted from Camila and they continue to work to get the shelter ready for new group of people coming in for the lunch hour.

–

Ever since their time at the shelter, there has been a noticeable amount of increased tension between Lauren and Camila. It’s making the air thick around Camila and the heat between her thighs uncomfortable.

It’s like this constant heavy wave of sexual tension that rises and ebbs within Camila whenever she’s around Lauren. The older girl’s eyes pull her into a trance that seems to keep the rest of her body’s fibers anchored towards the green-eyed girl. The taut atmosphere is pulling at Camila’s nerves in every direction and she wonders how much longer her body can take being strained without snapping.

She’s being suffocated and she doesn’t think she minds, especially if it’s going to be by Lauren’s thighs. Lauren, for her part, is either a fantastic actress or is completely oblivious to the smothering air.

It doesn’t help that Lauren makes the most mundane things look so sensual. Camila finds herself staring at Lauren’s mouth when the other girl’s talking and the way her pink tongue glides along her luscious lips when she’s trying to keep them moist completely captivates the brunette. Sometimes, they’ll hang out in the lounge during Lauren’s break and the green-eyed girl will play with Camila’s pens and the brunette finds herself entranced in the way Lauren’s long, slender fingers will slide along the pen, back and forth. Camila learns Lauren can get really restless with her fingers. She thinks of a few ways she can help Lauren with that.

So, yeah, Camila is feeling taut and frustrated and she’s not a hundred percent sure she’s not going to jump Lauren anytime soon.

She figures some completely platonic time with Lauren in a setting where she’s not alone with the dark-haired girl can help dampen down her frustration a bit. She decides to invite Lauren to a small symposium event where she has a brief presentation about her research. While they’re walking out of the event, with Camila holding her poster tube in one hand and a box of take out Lauren had ordered for them to eat back in the younger girl’s place, they run into someone.

“Lauren, hey!” the girl says as she engulfs Lauren in a hug that’s a little too long and a little too tight for Camila’s liking. “It’s so good to see you,” the girl, who’s keeping both hands on Lauren’s arms, says with a megawatt smile.

“Hey, Tanya,” Lauren greets with a wide smile of her own. “How’ve you been,” she asks. And, okay, is Camila like chopped liver or what?

“I’ve been good,” girl with the perfect teeth says. She’s got beautiful, flawless ebony skin and her body is banging, Camila notes. “Though, I have missed you,” she says with a flirty smile and a brush of her slim fingers down Lauren arms and Camila finds herself imagining swinging the tube in her hand and hitting this girl who is shamelessly touching her Lauren. Not really her Lauren, but who cares about semantics?

Camila clears her throat and Lauren startles, as if she’d just remembered she wasn’t alone. “Oh yeah, Tanya, this is my friend, Camila,” the green-eyed girl gestures to the brunette, whose quiet seething seems to be unnoticed. Tanya subtly rakes her eyes up and down Camila’s body with a kinked eyebrow and says with a tight-lipped smile, “Hey.”

“Hi, it’s nice to mee-,” Camila tries to say.

“So, who’s keeping you busy these days, huh?” Tanya interrupts, turning her attention to Lauren once again.

Lauren rubs the back of her neck and throws a subtle glance in Camila’s direction that goes unseen by the brunette because she’s too busy staring holes into Tanya’s head. “Um, no one really,” Lauren finally says.

Tanya’s phone rings and she looks at it briefly before she sighs out, “Ugh, gotta take this. But keep in touch, Laur. You know where to find me if you ever wanna relive the good times,” she winks and finally walks away.

Camila stays quiet on their way to her place and Lauren breaks the silence hesitantly, “So um- are you still good for Saturday this week?” Lauren asks unsurely, her eyes trying to gauge Camila’s reaction.

“Um, you know what, I actually don’t think I can come this week, something came up,” Camila says, her tone cold and too aloof for Lauren’s taste.

“Oh, that sucks. The boys were kind of looking for-” Lauren tries to say, but Camila’s bad mood is getting to her and she snaps,

“It’s one time, Laur. I said I was busy. Why do you have to make me feel guilty?”

“I- I’m sorry,” Lauren says with her head down. “I wasn’t trying to make you-”

“Why don’t you ask Tanya? I’m sure she’d love to go” Camila says, her voice dripping with irritation. “You guys are close, right?”

“I wouldn’t say close,” Lauren says weakly. She looks at the other girl’s demeanor and furrows her brows. “We had this thing, but it was never serious.”

“Of course,” Camila scoffs.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Lauren asks with a flash of hurt in her voice.

“Oh come on, Lo,” Camila insists, still unaware that she’s touching on a sensitive topic for Lauren. “You’ve told me stories about these girls, they practically come in and out of your place and you go through them like a merry-go-round, right?” she says, finally looking at Lauren and seeing that she’s stopped walking. Instead, she’s standing with her fists closed and her jaw clenched.

Camila quickly tries to backtrack and says, “I didn’t mean it like-“

“No, you’re right,” Lauren says with a curt tone. “You know what, I don’t think I can come to your place today after all, I just remembered something.”

“Lo” Camila says dejectedly, her actions and words finally catching up to her.

“No it’s fine,” Lauren says with a derisive laugh. “I forgot I had an appointment with one of the hundreds of girls I sleep with on a daily basis. It’s cool, maybe I can pencil you in some time when you’re free,” she says with a quiet but steady tone that send shivers down Camila’s back.

Lauren walks away before Camila can say anything and the brunette’s heart aches at seeing Lauren’s retreating figure.

The next day, when Camila has to stay late in the lab again, she notices Lauren making an extra effort to avoid her throughout her shift, only cleaning the labs she’s using when the green-eyed girl knows she’s done with the room. Camila also doesn’t appreciate how every lab room she needed to use that day was locked.

So now, she’s standing in front of Lauren’s apartment door on Saturday night, holding a bag of take-out Pad Thai. She’d contemplated on surprising Lauren at the shelter, but she figured Lauren wouldn’t appreciate her showing up when she knows the other girl is pissed at her and she didn’t want Lauren to talk to her only because she felt pressured.

She’s been standing for about ten minutes, trying to gather her words and rehearsing her apology when the door swings open and Lauren comes out, nearly bumping into Camila.

“Camila,” she says confusedly. “What are you doing here?”

Camila looks down and fiddles with the bag in her hands while biting her bottom lip. After a few seconds, she finally looks up and Lauren is looking at her with an expectant look and arms crossed against her chest.

The brunette takes a deep breath and starts with, “I’m sorry. I hope you believe me when I say I don’t think any less of you because of – of you know, how many people you date, or you’ve been with, or whatever -  I – just, um,” Camila lets out a frustrated breath, running her hand through her hair while shutting her eyes closed.

“I’m just sorry. I didn’t mean to be so insensitive. I have this bad habit of not thinking about what I’m saying and trying to hurt the other person when I’m angry, and I was just being moody and stupid, and I hope you can let me make it up you” Camila finally sighs out dejectedly.

Lauren looks at her and her gaze softens at the way Camila seems to be really beating herself up over their fight. Truth be told, she’d forgiven Camila the moment she opened the door and saw the brunette standing right outside her place. She had missed Camila so much in the last few days that they hadn’t talked that she finds herself feeling like she’d just lifted a ton of weight off her shoulders now that they’re talking again.

“It’s okay,” she finally says with a small smile. “We all says things we don’t mean every once in a while.”

“It’s actually not okay, but I’m not gonna pass up the opportunity to make this right again,” Camila says with a small smile. She looks at how Lauren is dressed to go and asks, “Were you on your way somewhere or…?”

“Yeah, I was just about to grab dinner,” Lauren responds.

“Perfect timing,” Camila says with a smile. “I brought Pad Thai. It was going to be a last ditch effort for your forgiveness if my speech hadn’t worked,” Camila says with a cheeky smile while holding up the bag like it’s a prize on The Price is Right. Lauren looks at her and shakes her head,

“Damn Cabello, you already know my weakness,” Lauren quips while re-opening her door and moving aside to let the other girl in.

“Comes in pretty handy,” Camila replies as she moves past Lauren after throwing her a wink.

–

After making up, the tension between the two picks right where it left off. Truth be told, Camila’s not really sure why she hadn’t made a move yet. She knows Lauren is bi (she got kicked out of her house for it). But for some reason, Camila is scared that she’s just reading into this whole thing completely wrong.

Then she thinks about the fact that ever since making up, Lauren seems to be clingier and generally touchier than usual. There’s always a hand on her lower back when they’re walking out of doors, lingering hugs and touches, and a lot of staring. Like, Lauren stares at her a lot and most of the time, the green-eyed girl doesn’t know that Camila knows she’s staring because Lauren’s eyes are locked on her lips. And maybe that’s what scares Camila the most. What if Lauren does like her back? She doesn’t know if she’d be able to handle all of that.

“So what are you doing for the holidays?” Camila says one night while they’re hanging out at the lounge.

“Um-,” Lauren starts, scrunching her brows and thinks about her plans. “I usually don’t have plans for the holidays. I mean, it’s not like I have family. So I just work, you know, get that holiday pay,” she says with a weak smile. “But since Christmas falls on the weekend this year, I’ll probably just catch up on some sleep.”

Camila’s heart tightens at the reminder that despite the fact that she gets to see a happy and carefree Lauren most of the time, the older girl is actually dealing with a lot more than just school and work. She clears her throat and keeps her eyes on her fingers when she asks,

“Well, this is completely up to you and you can say no, I promise it won’t hurt my feelings,” Camila starts to say nervously. “But if you want, and like I said, if you think it’s too much or too soon, or we aren’t there yet in our friendship, I just wanted you to know it’s compl-”

“Camz,” Lauren laughs a little. “Just ask me already.”

“Um, well I usually drive down to Miami for the holidays, you know, to come home,” Camila explains. “I know it’s a long drive, but I don’t really like driving anyone else’s car when I’m home so the drive doesn’t really bother me. But, if you don’t have plans and you can take a few days off for the holidays, you can come with me? I definitely won’t mind the company,” she finishes as she looks up with a smile and hopeful brown eyes. She really doesn’t want Lauren to be alone, she’d meant it more than she thought when she said she would take care of the other girl.

Lauren is looking at her with an unreadable expression. The green-eyed girl doesn’t know what she did to deserve someone that always looks out for her like Camila does and although her first instinct is to decline, she finds herself saying,

“If it truly isn’t a bother…” Lauren responds with a bashful smile that just tugs at Camila’s heart strings.

“No of course it’s not,” Camila says happily. “Oh my gosh, this is so exciting. I’m gonna make you listen to every boy band to ever exist in history for twenty whole hours!” Camila exclaims with a cheeky smile while raising both hands in the air.

–

Camila finds herself wide awake in her childhood bedroom while Lauren is snoring softly next to her. It had been a very long and tiring, but cheerful and exciting last few days in Miami. They arrived in Miami around midnight and got about six hours of sleep before the entire Cabello household was up and about. The Cabellos host the Christmas holidays every year and so just about every nook and cranny of their home was filled with several generations of Cuban and Mexican heritage: from bisabuelo/as to abuelo/as to papás and mamas, to tío/as, and sobrina/os, and so on and so on. It was a full house.

Camila’s family has always been welcoming and never really been hard to please. Still, seeing Lauren interact effortlessly as if she had grown up with Camila’s cousins and it was her who is Camila’s abuela’s favorite, well it clarified one thing to Camila. She is not only attracted to the older girl, she’s undoubtedly falling for her too.

“Mija! You’re finally home!” Camila drops her bags and runs straight into the arms of who Lauren assumes is her mother, as she carries both of their bags towards the front of the house. She smiles softly at the younger girl and the brunette’s mom catches her eye as she keeps Camila in her arms.

“Oh hi, you must be Lauren,” Camila’s mom says as she brings the other girl into a hug as well. Lauren returns the hug and smiles unsurely over the older woman’s shoulder while Camila just grins widely and brings her two thumbs up.

“We’ve heard so much about you. I’m glad Camila is finally bringing someone home,” the woman says with smile and a glimmer in her eye.

“Mami,” Camila stresses while her mom just waves her off. “Oh I just mean I’m glad you’re not all alone in that big ole city, mija” she quips.

“Well, I hope I’m not intruding Mrs. Cabello and you have a lovely home,” Lauren says as they walk in through the threshold, Lauren still the only one carrying their bags.

“Oh don’t be silly, call me Sinu” the woman smiles warmly.

“Kaki!” a mini Camila comes running down from upstairs, jumping from the second to the last step to wrap actual Camila into a koala hug.

“Sofi, it’s almost midnight,” Sinu tuts. “I told you to go to bed hours ago, mija,” she says sternly.

Sofi clings onto her sister and pouts dramatically, “But I miss Kaki.”

“Oh, it’s okay Sof, I missed you too,” Camila says as she hugs her tightly and then says, “I promise we’ll play all day tomorrow, okay? Go to bed,” she finishes while hugging her once more and sending her off. Before going up the stairs however, Sofi goes up to Lauren and says with a wide smile,

“You must be Ms. Pretty Green Eyes. Kaki talks about you a lot. She says-”

“Ookay, Sof, that’s enough,” Camila laughs awkwardly while clamping both her hands around Sofi’s mouth. She throws her mom a glare when she hears her snicker to the side and Lauren is just looking at her with a kinked eyebrow and an amused smile.

Throughout the last few days, Camila couldn’t help but watch Lauren and how the dark-haired girl wove her way into the hearts of the most important people in Camila’s life with absolute ease and grace. People naturally gravitated towards her and constantly surrounded her all day, listening with eager ears and bright eyes. She looked especially at home among the kids, playing with them and teaching them how to play the piano while dressed in a reindeer sweater and a bright red Santa hat and Camila knows she’s falling.

“Well you’re definitely smitten,” Camila’s abuela on her mom’s side takes a seat next to her on the couch as she sips on her tea. “I don’t blame you though, your girlfriend is very pretty.”

Camila’s eyes widen and she struggles to say, “Um, ‘buela, no,” she laughs nervously while running a hand through her hair. “We’re not, um-, she’s just, we’re like-”

“Oh Camilita,” her grandma says as she reaches out a hand to rub her back and calm her down, “I may be old but I know the look of love if I ever see one,” she smiles. “It’s how your abuelo used to look at me everyday of his life before he passed.”

Love?

She’s not – she’s falling, yes. But does she love Lauren? She can’t yet, right? They’re not even together.

Lauren impressed the mothers with her skills in the kitchen, earning several Oh you’ll make such a good wife, mija type of comments throughout the day and Camila swears she sees Lauren blush and throw her a quick look. She also managed to get into the exclusive club of Camila’s tíos, easily baiting them with her knowledge on various sports, speaking on touchdowns and batting averages and whatever it is sports people talk about. Camila can’t help but imagine coming back to Miami with Lauren under different circumstances.

She looks over to her left and smiles when she sees Lauren move closer. Lauren is on her stomach and snuggles close to Camila so her face is tucked in between Camila’s shoulder and neck while the rest of their bodies are kept mostly apart. They’re barely touching and Camila already finds it hard to breathe.

After a tearful goodbye filled with hugs and her mom begging her to Please come visit again soon, mija and Sofi sending her off with an I’m gonna miss you so much, Kaki. Can we keep Lauren forever? She’s more fun than you sometimes, they’re finally on the road again.

They’re in the middle of rural Pennsylvania when a strong storm leads them to get stranded behind a closed-off back road after several trees and telephone lines block the roadway as a result of a landslide from the surrounding hills. The severe flood warning blowing up their phones pushes them to take a detour in a side road and stop by the closest inn they come across.

“Fuck,” Camila says frantically searching her bag as Lauren pulls in to park at one of the spots in the inn’s parking lot. She notes that they have a full house and she hopes there’s room for them still.

“What’s wrong?” Lauren asks.

“Ugh,” Camila says as she leans back and hits her head in the head rest repeatedly in frustration.

“Okay, you really gotta stop abusing your head like that,” Lauren says as she reaches out and puts her hand in between Camila’s head and the head rest. “You need that for medical school, you know,” she chuckles while subconsciously wrapping her hand around the back of Camila’s neck lightly and rubbing soothing circles on the skin just above the brunette’s shirt with her thumb.

Camila relaxes immediately and looks at Lauren. The world around them sounds like it’s falling apart and Camila has never felt safer. The downpour is relentlessly thrumming against the roof, the winds are howling around them, and the rain is steadily drumming against the windows of the car, but she feels absolutely secure. She thinks it may have something to do with the way Lauren is holding her gaze and the way her touch is keeping her grounded.

Lauren’s eyes look luminous under the single light bulb pouring in through the front from the inn’s porch and the reflection of the water gliding down the windshield is casting mesmeric patterns on Lauren’s face, making her look absolutely ethereal. In Camila’s world of stressful and rainy days, Lauren is her constant source of peace, her own personal serenity in the midst of storms.

Camila smiles lightly at Lauren then looks down at her hands, “I’m like ninety-nine percent sure I left my purse at Mami’s house,” she pouts.

Lauren laughs lightly, “Oh Cabello, you and your forgetful self. It’s okay, I’ll spot you this one time,” she says easily. “You can pay me later. I know you’re good for it,” she winks and wow the tension is back full force. God damn Lauren and her stupid, beautiful self.

Lauren then grabs her jacket from the back seat and runs out of the car without putting it on, confusing Camila until the older girl runs to her side of the car and opens her door, both hands holding up her jacket where Camila can step out under it. Camila quickly grabs their stuff and gets out of the car, huddling close to Lauren as the green-eyed girl holds the jacket over both of them, most of it over Camila, if Lauren’s soaked hair and clothes are any indication.

They rush inside and see that there’s a line at the desk. Lauren grabs Camila’s hand and brings them both to the end of the line, not letting go even after they’re stood in line. Camila is smiling at how perfectly their hands fit together when Lauren mutters under her breath, “Shit.”

Camila looks at her and raises her eyebrow. “Look over there,” Lauren says as she raises their intertwined hands to gesture towards a bulletin board behind the lady in the front desk, her other hand holding the bags she’d taken from Camila the moment they were inside. “Those rates are crazy, I don’t think I have enough money.” Lauren has been cutting it close on her finances in the last week because she took a few days off and she had to recently pay for the books she’ll need for the upcoming semester.

Lauren’s eyes scan the board and comes across a note that says Discount for Newlyweds. Bingo. She looks around and realizes the décor of the inn is very homey and gives off a vibe of a getaway house and she realizes she’s surrounded by all kinds of couples.

“Next,” the old lady at the front calls out.

“Alright, follow my lead,” Lauren whispers in Camila’s ear, the proximity of Lauren’s mouth to her face distracting the brunette for a few seconds and before she realizes it, she’s being dragged to the front.

“Hello, welcome to The Lovers’ Lodge, how may I help you?” the old lady smiles.

Lauren squints at the woman’s nametag and says sweetly, “Martha, what a lovely name! Just one room, with one bed,” she adds conspiratorially, “for my new wife and I.” Camila looks at her with wide eyes. Lauren’s words fall from her lips with ease as they travel through the air and dives right into Camila’s heart, pulling at her heart strings and her lungs and literally taking her breath away. She’s brought back when Lauren squeezes her hand. The brunette takes a while to catch up, but when she does, she takes a deep breath before gently leaning over to rest her head on Lauren’s shoulder and smiling at the lady at the front.

“You guys are married?” an older man comes up behind Martha and squints his eyes at the couple. “How?”

Lauren is about to answer when Martha cuts in with “Harold, they’re lesbians” she says with an eye roll.

Harold crosses his arms and says curtly, “Well, we need proof that you guys are married for you to get the discount. Usually, matching rings are enough for us.”

“Um, well actually,” Lauren says trying to think on her feet. “We just sent our rings back to be re-sized. They sort of messed up our orders, but I can assure you, sir, I love my wife very much,” she says, looking into Camila’s eyes sincerely and placing a tender kiss on her forehead, causing Camila to close her eyes and her cheeks to blush.

“Oh Harold, they’re obviously in love,” Martha says happily, “You ladies can have the discount,” she winks at them. The comment throws Lauren off guard but she recovers quickly and smiles, “Thank you Martha. You’re such a sweetheart.”

The inn is designed to look more like a house than a hotel and since the owners are old-fashioned and very traditional, they invited the couples who are staying in the lodge for a huge home-cooked dinner. Lauren and Camila find themselves sitting around a large dining table, just talking with other couples in the inn while having dessert.

There’s a variety of different couples that range from young newlyweds to couples who have recently celebrated or are nearing their golden anniversary. Lauren’s eyes marvel at the amount of love that surrounds her and she can’t help sending Camila a fond smile.

“So, what’s everyone’s story? I mean, how did y’all meet,” a man who looks to be in his mid twenties asks the table with a Southern accent, breaking Camila and Lauren’s staring contest. Lauren listens in carefully as she hears couples talk about how they were high school sweethearts, or how another couple met while the woman was working as an army nurse and her husband was sent to their station when his troops got caught in an ambush, or how this very young couple said they defied their parents and decided to elope.

She’s enjoying the stories so much she doesn’t realize everyone is now looking at her expectantly. “Lo,” Camila nudges her arm and she realizes it’s their turn.

When she just looks at Camila helplessly, the brunette takes the lead and says, “Well, the first time I met Lo officially, aside from just seeing her in passing in the building where we work, was when she saved me. I’m basically her damsel in distress,” she says dramatically with a hand to her forehead, eliciting a round of chuckles around the table. Camila looks at her and winks. “From then on, I got the impression she’d be important to me,” she finishes genuinely.

“What about you, Lauren” Martha asks. “What was your first impression of Camila when you so-called saved her,” she chuckles.

“Actually, the first time I got an impression of Camila was way before we had spoken,” she says candidly while Camila turns to her with furrowed eyebrows. Lauren casually drapes her arm around the back of Camila’s chair and continues.

“I was walking on my way to work when I saw Camila coming out of the building to head home. My first thought was, as I assume is everyone’s first thought when they see her, is that ‘wow, that girl is really beautiful,’” Lauren says with a fond smile. “Then, I see her read something from her phone and she does this stupid little dance that looks more awkward than anything,” she says as Camila lightly pushes her face away while muttering Oh my gosh, Lo. “And I was completely smitten. From then on, and she doesn’t know this,” Lauren says with a pause while looking at Camila, “but I made sure to look out for her whenever she worked late. And when she needed my help that one night, I knew that was my chance,’” she says finally looking back out to the rest of the guests. “So I took that opportunity and the rest is history. Seeing how happy I made her while helping her out made me realize there’s not much I wouldn’t do to see that smile,” she concludes.

While everyone in the table coos at the story, Camila is looking at her, stunned and completely captivated. This is fake, she tells herself. Lauren is embellishing to cover for their whole married act. This is all for the discount. The hammering in her chest and the fiery feeling that starts in her stomach and courses through veins and blazes in her nerves tell her otherwise.

She’s jolted out of her thoughts when Scott, the man who’d started the whole story-telling thing in the first place says, “Well that’s gotta deserve a kiss,” he smiles cheekily. The request is immediately picked up by the rest of the table and they all start cheering for a kiss.

Both girls immediately flush and Lauren turns away from Camila, looking at the people around her when she says, “Oh come on, guys. Are we in fifth grade?” she rolls her eyes.

The cheers continue and Lauren thinks she has to do something to satisfy them somehow so she turns to Camila and places a lingering kiss on her cheek.

“Boooo!” the boys on the table yell out lightheartedly. “Giver her a real kiss!”

Soon, the whole table is chanting “KISS! KISS! KISS!” and Lauren feels overwhelmed and she doesn’t mind kissing Camila to keep up their act but she also doesn’t want to overstep any lin-

Her thoughts are cut off by slender fingers softly holding her jaw to face towards Camila and she isn’t prepared for the softest lips she’s ever felt move along her own. It takes her no time to reciprocate and she’s lost in Camila’s velvety lips when the brunette pulls away, looking as dazed as Lauren feels. She really didn’t have a say when her body instinctively leans forward to capture Camila’s lips again. This time, more forcefully, with more passion and Camila gasps into her mouth as Lauren’s hold on the back of her neck tightens. Lauren probes Camila’s swollen lips with her tongue and quickly swipes the inside of her mouth once she’s granted access.

The table had erupted into loud cheers and obnoxious celebrations since Camila first grabbed Lauren’s face and it’s when the laughter dies down and Martha says, “Alright, let’s save that for the bedroom, yeah?” that they finally pull apart. Lauren looks at Camila’s swollen lips and dark, dazed eyes and she feels a fire at the pit of her stomach, every nerve and particle of her body thrumming inside her to drag Camila to their room and take her all night.

–

After dinner, Lauren and Camila wordlessly go back to their room, both still a little flushed from trying to assault each other’s mouths earlier. The air is thicker than ever and Camila makes a beeline for the shower without so much as a glance to Lauren.

Lauren, on the other hand, keeps her gaze at the closed bathroom door as if it would open on her silent command if she tried hard enough. She takes a few calming breaths to slow her heart and her libido down and takes a seat on the bed. She doesn’t realize how long she’d been replaying the kiss in her head when she hears the shower getting shut off.

She immediately goes to the door and knocks hesitantly, “Hey Camz, are you done? Can I come in? I just need to do something real quick.” The door opens and she enters. And she swears she really didn’t come in with the intention of making a move or anything. She came in to – actually, she’s not sure. She just wanted to be in close proximity to the brunette. Any lingering innocent thoughts fly out the window though when she gets a proper look at the brunette.

Camila is in front of the mirror setting up everything she needs for her nightly routine with one hand while the other is haphazardly holding her towel up. She’s dressed in nothing but a very short towel that is only loosely wrapped around her lithe body because Lauren can very clearly see the way Camila’s tan back dips invitingly down her spine as the edge of the towel lies carelessly just above the brunette’s ass. She really didn’t do a good job of drying her hair at all because clear beads of water are cascading down her skin, her auburn hair flowing down her back in wet, wavy locks, making her back glisten and inviting Lauren towards her even more.

Lauren doesn’t stand a chance against her body’s reactions as she suddenly finds herself taking steps towards Camila and standing a little bit to her left but still right behind her that there’s barely any space between their bodies. She steels her gaze against Camila’s through the mirror as she trails the tips of her fingers down Camila’s arm, watching as her movement leaves a trail of goose bumps and the brunette’s breath hitches at the back of her throat and she stutters out,

“L-Laur, what are you doing?” Camila whispers and she can’t find the willpower to look away from Lauren’s gaze.

Lauren keeps her eyes on Camila’s as she continues to move her fingers along the brunette’s arm holding her towel. She grasps Camila’s hand tightly and pulls both of their hands down, stripping Camila naked as she holds her gaze while Camila gasps, but doing nothing otherwise to stop whatever is happening. The dark-haired girl rests one hand on Camila’s hip and uses the other to gently move Camila’s hair to the side and over her shoulder. Lauren turns her head and sucks on Camila’s neck as the brunette keels forward and grabs onto the counter to steady herself. Her eyes shut in pleasure as Lauren grazes her tongue over Camila’s silky skin after biting it and the older girl moans as if she’s getting off of pleasuring Camila.

“I think it’s time we address this tension, don’t you?” Lauren husks out in her ear. The younger girl forces her eyes open and manages to barely get out,

“Are you su-,” she struggles to find her words when she feels Lauren’s hands roam her body as she buries her face in Camila’s neck and continues to absolutely devour her. “Is this what you really want?”

Lauren laughs, almost disbelievingly, then she turns her head back to the mirror and transfixes Camila’s gaze on her through the mirror,

“Eres divina, Camila,” she rasps while moving her hands to the underside of Camila’s boobs, lingering there with almost feathery-light touches before she moves them up and kneads the other girl’s breasts, causing Camila to inhale sharply and close her eyes. Lauren pinches her stiffening buds and says in a low voice, “Look at me, Camila.”

Camila’s whole body is aching and yearning for more of Lauren’s touch and she forces her eyes to meet Lauren’s again,

“Te deseo como no te imaginas,” Lauren whispers as she uses her hips to press herself into Camila, pushing the girl’s bare sex onto the cold counter, setting Camila’s nerves alight. Lauren’s hot breath in her ear and the girl’s warm hands on her body and everything that has led to this moment are almost enough to send Camila over the edge and she spins around abruptly, grabbing Lauren’s face and kissing her harshly as Lauren catches up and moves her hands around the younger girl’s waist, hoisting her on the counter while their eager tongues tousle with one another. They ravage each other’s mouths as their tongues swipe and delve into one another, while they exchange hot breaths, neither one wanting to pull away.

Camila’s hold on Lauren’s hair tightens as she feels the girl trap her bottom lip between her teeth and drag it out, the dark-haired girl immediately diving into her neck once she lets Camila’s lip go. Camila’s nerves are on overdrive and she’s breathing heavily as she leans backwards on her hands and tosses her head back in pleasure as Lauren puts her mouth around her left breast and sucks hard, hollowing her mouth and proceeding to nip on her hardened nipple. Lauren pulls back and marvels at the sight in front of her.

There is something so erotic about the fact that Lauren is still fully clothed while Camila is baring her stark naked body with her legs spread wide for Lauren to ravage. Camila’s eyes are shut tight, her swollen bottom lip, which has bite marks from both Lauren and Camila, are caught in between her teeth. She’s leaning on her hands with her chest heaving heavily as she arches her back so her perky boobs are splayed out in front of Lauren as a deep blush reddens Camila’s cheeks, neck, and chest. She looks absolutely wrecked in the most delicious way.

That night, Lauren gets what she’s been craving since seeing Camila for the first time and takes Camila over and over again until they’re too spent to move and Lauren is laying on top of the brunette, head in the crook of the younger girl’s neck, while Camila is rubbing her back soothingly and holding their sweat-slicked bodies together.

“That was like the best sex I’ve had in a while,” Lauren chuckles into Camila’s neck.

“You the best I ever had,” Camila starts singing Drake’s Best I Ever Had softly and Lauren lets out an endeared light laugh.

“You’re ridiculous,” Lauren says as she props herself on her elbows and hovers over Camila. They look into each other’s eyes softly and they know this is the start of something different for the both of them.

–

After they burst the bubble of tension that seems to have taken over every moment they spent together, Lauren and Camila seamlessly move into a relationship filled with easy smiles and good times and just pure, genuine feeling of being content with finally being together.

Things don’t get weird until three months later when Camila is getting ready to leave for work.

Lauren had moved into Camila’s place a week before when her lease ended. Paying half the rent of Camila’s apartment was about the same amount of money Lauren was spending at her own single apartment and she’s essentially moved into the brunette’s place anyway, her clothes already taking up half of the other girl’s closet.

Lauren’s morning class has been cancelled so she doesn’t need to leave the apartment until later, but Camila has to come in early to start on an experiment that will take her all day (and probably into the night) to finish.

Camila stuffs her mouth with a granola bar while rushing around the apartment, picking up her coat, keys, and bag as Lauren just watches her fondly from where she’s sat at the breakfast table. Camila is almost ready to go when she realizes she doesn’t see her glasses anywhere.

“Fuck,” Camila mutters as she looks around, “Where did I put my glasses?”

“On top of your head, love,” Lauren says without even looking up from where she’d dipped her head to drink the milk from her cereal bowl.

Camila rolls her eyes and pulls hers glasses down as she approaches Lauren.

“Thanks, baby,” Camila says as she grabs Lauren’s face with both of her hands and plants a deep kiss on her lips, “I love you, bye!”

Camila pulls back with wide eyes and sees that Lauren is mirroring her expression. She’s still holding Lauren’s face when she says “Um-, I mean,” Camila stutters. This is the first time either of them had said those words, even though Camila’s known for a while now that she does love Lauren. She just isn’t sure how deep Lauren’s feelings are for her so she had been keeping it to herself. Until now that is.

Then she lets go of Lauren’s face and makes a beeline for the door but the green-eyed girl grabs her arm lightly, “What did you just say,” she asks with an unreadable expression on her face.

“Um,” Camila says in a panicked voice, her eyes anywhere but on Lauren’s. “I said, ‘thank you!” and that’s it, I didn’t say anything after that,” she chuckles nervously. “I think you’re hearing things, you should get that checked out, Lo,” Camila says while pulling her arm away gently. “Well, would you look at the time!” she exclaims while examining her arm that does not have her watch, “I really gotta go, bye!”

Lauren watches her go with a confused but amused look in her eyes. She shakes her head and continues with her breakfast.

–

When Lauren comes in the lab later that day, she sees Camila for all of two seconds before the brunette not so subtly makes an abrupt turn and takes the far stairwell instead in an attempt to avoid the other girl. Lauren smiles to herself and proceeds to get her cleaning supplies ready.

About two hours later, Lauren is patiently waiting inside the lab room she knows Camila is working in while the other girl is in the bathroom. She sees Camila quietly enter the lab while looking behind her to see if the green-eyed girl is in the vicinity.

“Hey, baby,” Lauren says with a smirk.

“Shit!” Camila turns around with her hand on her heart, “You scared me, Lo! Why do you enjoy sneaking up on me?”

Lauren smiles and raises a perfectly-shaped her eyebrow, “Did you forget we work in the same place or something?”

Camila then realizes what’s happening and hurriedly says, “Oh well you know what, I actually have to go start this thing soon um-,”

“I can see that you’ve set a timer for an hour, Camz,” Lauren says, pointing to the timer attached to the bench top that currently has about 50 minutes left on it. “You have nothing to do for another hour.”

Camila crosses her arms and gives up her efforts to avoid the other girl, “Okay, fine. What do you want?” she asks, keeping her gaze on the floor while shuffling on her feet slightly.

Lauren approaches her so she’s right in front of Camila and ducks her head to try to get Camila to look at her, “You know what I want” she says straightening up when Camila briefly meets her gaze.

Camila sighs resignedly and says,

“I’m sorry,” in the same instant Lauren lets out an “I love you too.”

“Wait, what?!” they exclaim at the same time.

“What are you sorry for?” Lauren asks hesitantly.

“Um, for saying ‘I love you?’” Camila says unsurely, scratching the back of her neck.

“Did you not mean it?” Lauren probes with a hint of sadness in her voice and her eyes scanning Camila’s face worriedly.

“NO!” Camila exclaims loudly. “I mean yes. I mean - ugh!” she says exasperatedly. “It’s not that, of course I mean it,” she says more quietly. “I just wasn’t sure if you were ready to hear that yet, but yeah, I do love you,” Camila finishes, finally meeting Lauren’s eyes with sincerity and adoration and love pouring out of her brown eyes.

Lauren further closes the distance between them and places her arms around Camila’s waist while the brunette instinctively wraps her own arms around Lauren’s neck, instantly playing with the small hairs on the nape of her neck.

“Oh baby, never apologize for letting me know you love me ever again,” Lauren whispers against the other girl’s mouth.

Camila smiles widely, her eyes crinkling and her tongue barely poking out between her teeth, “Sooo, you love me too, huh?” she says, eyes expectant and heart hammering against her chest. She’s pretty sure she can feel Lauren’s own heart trying to jump out of her chest, letting her know that despite Lauren’s ever calm and collected façade, she has the same effect on the green-eyed girl.

“Well if you hadn’t run like your life depended on it this morning and then proceeded to avoid me all night, you would have known much earlier,” Lauren teases her.

“I love you,” Camila says while keeping her gaze on Lauren’s eyes.

“I love you too, baby,” Lauren returns with a smile. She leans her head forward and captures Camila’s bottom lip in between her own and their kiss turns heated in no time.

Lauren pulls back with dark eyes and swollen lips and looks behind Camila at the bench top before she brings her gaze back to Camila’s lips and rasps out, “There’s about 40 minutes left on your timer. What do you suppose we could do to fill that time?”

There’s a glimmer in Camila’s eye when she leans forward and whispers, her breath hot against Lauren’s ear, “I can think of a few things.”

–

The End.

–

A/N:

Hey everyone,

Hope you guys liked this one.

As always, leave a vote/comment/etc. and have a great day!

-Maddox