#inhibited

Camila is in her second year of college, and is shy, socially awkward and introverted, the complete opposite to her best friend Dinah, who is always trying to drag her to parties. Camila finally caves one night, and is thrown into something she’d been avoiding since her first day of freshman year; talking to her crush, Lauren Jauregui.

The rest of the weekend goes much slower than anticipated. Camila suspects it’s because she actually doesn’t mind the thought of her classes on Monday. She doesn’t really know why – in her mind, she knows nothing is going to change because of her conversation with Lauren at the party. She definitely won’t be the one to make a conversation; there’s still something in the back of Camila’s mind that Lauren doesn’t actually like her, and that whole talking to her thing was just to make her feel included.

It was probably just Lauren being a good host, that’s all.

She’s been staring at their small text conversation every so often, and is incredibly tempted to say something to Lauren that way, but she doesn’t want to be annoying, or to come on too strong. Dinah had assured her that it would be fine, but she really doesn’t think anything will come out of what happened. She’ll go back to being that nerdy, clumsy, awkward girl who nobody notices.

So, when Monday finally arrives, Camila goes about her usual routine and tries to keep her hopes down to a minimum. She has world literature and contemporary literature today; Lauren’s in both of those classes, and Camila’s hoping for at least an acknowledgement. Maybe a smile from across the room. That’d be nice. She doesn’t expect Lauren to actually talk to her, because she’s 99% sure that their conversation was just Lauren being a good host.

When she wakes up on Monday morning, throws on her clothes and heads downstairs, she meets Dinah in the kitchen. Her friend pulls her into a hug, and Camila’s a little confused by the sudden affection, but she doesn’t question it.

“Someone’s in a good mood.” She teases as she pulls away. “What’s up?”

“I’m just proud of you for talking to your lifelong crush.” Dinah laughs when Camila rolls her eyes. “What? You had an actual conversation with her, and you got her number. That’s admirable.”

“It’s not like it matters. She probably won’t talk to me today.” Dinah rolls her eyes at Camila’s pessimism. “It’s true, Dinah. She was just being polite. I know she probably thinks I’m weird.”

“You need to stop doubting yourself, Mila. You’re good enough for her.” Dinah says, almost as if she’s been reading Camila’s mind. “Just ask her out.”

Camila snorts. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Just… let me get over it, Dinah.”

Dinah sighs, and sends her a look that reads ‘you’re being difficult’. But, being the amazing friend she is, she doesn’t push the matter. “Fine.”

Camila checks the time on her phone and sighs. “I’m going to head to class. I’ll meet you for lunch, though. Your first class is at one today, right?”

“Right,” Dinah says with a grin, “Don’t get too distracted drooling over Jauregui.”

Camila snorts, but she knows she probably will, as usual. “Shut up. I’ll meet you by the English building at twelve. Don’t be late like you always are.”

“I am not always late.” Dinah scoffs, but squeezes her shoulder and sends her an encouraging smile. “See you later.”

Camila pulls her backpack over her shoulders and leaves the house, electing to pick up breakfast on the way. Since they’re in on-campus housing, it won’t take her long to grab something to eat and head to class. Keeping her head down as usual, she heads towards the little coffee shop close by.

She jumps when she feels someone grab onto her shoulder, but relaxes when she realises it’s probably only Dinah. “Dinah, I literally left you two seconds ago. Did you forget to mock me some more before I left?”

She turns around with a goofy smile on her face, but it’s soon wiped off completely when she comes face to face with Lauren. She really wasn’t expecting that.

“Hey,” Lauren smiles at her, “are you heading to world lit?”

Camila nods, unable to make any noise and fully aware of Lauren’s hand on her shoulder.

“Cool, I’ll walk with you.” Lauren lets go of her shoulder and Camila feels like she can finally breathe. “So, how was your weekend?”

Camila hums in thought and looks down at her feet. She really wasn’t expecting Lauren to publicly acknowledge her, walk her to class and ask her about her weekend. This was too much.

“It was… fine.” She carefully responds, making a mental effort not to stutter. “You?”

“It was okay. I didn’t do much, though. I hung out with Lucy and Vero on Saturday because they stayed over after the party and then Sunday was a Netflix day.” Lauren smiles at her. “The party wasn’t too traumatising for you, was it?”

You have no idea is what Camila wanted to say, but instead, she just shrugs, veering away when they reach the coffee shop. “It wasn’t.”

“You getting breakfast?” Lauren asks, and Camila nods in reply. “Well, I’ve already had some, but I haven’t caffeinated yet.”

Lauren follows her into the coffee shop, and Camila feels so totally overwhelmed that she forgets to get her money out when she orders, and when the girl behind the counter tells Camila her total, she freaks out and drops her wallet twice before managing to get the money out.

Camila finds a table and sits down with her croissant and latte, eating as quickly as she can – she doesn’t want Lauren to think she’s weird for being unable to eat a croissant without it flaking everywhere.

She’s nearly done when Lauren sits down opposite her, a smile on her face and an iced coffee in her left hand. “So, have you looked at that essay we’ve been set yet? I think we were given a good choice in topics.”

“Uh…” Camila looks down at her feet, because she doesn’t look at homework until the night before.

She quickly walks past Lauren and heads to her regular seat at the front of the room. She doesn’t expect the other girl to keep the conversation going – honestly, Camila feels like she’s a lot more awkward now than she was at the party – but Lauren sits down next to her and unzips her backpack, pulling out her notepad and the book they’re studying.

“What are you doing?” Camila blurts out, and turns as red as a tomato when Lauren looks up at her in surprise.

“I’m sitting down?” Lauren says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Why?”

Camila shakes her head. “Why are you – I don’t get why you’re here.”

“Nobody sits here usually, right?” Lauren asks, which makes Camila’s cheeks flush and she shakes her head. “Exactly. And I sit at the back with Vero and Alexa, usually. This way we both have a partner we can talk to if we need to do paired discussions. Or, well… kind of talk to, in your case.”

Camila turns even redder and looks down. Lauren wants to sit next to her? “Thanks.”

“You don’t need to thank me.” Lauren is quick to reply. “I like your company. I don’t get why that’s so surprising. Just… try to chill out. I get that it’s hard for you, but I’m not scary. You can talk to me. Especially since I don’t think we’ll get away with texting each other in class.”

Camila laughs. “Okay.”

Lauren looks down to her phone, and Camila catches a glimpse of her texts before she quickly looks away. She doesn’t want to invade Lauren’s privacy, but what she reads is enough to make her heart flutter.

Mani (8:54AM): where are u at???

Lauren (8:54AM): I’m in lit class with Camila. Decided to go early.

Mani (8:55AM): i forgot tell u that dinah told me that you need to be careful with her. apparently she has anxiety and it really messes her up socially and stuff because she reads into things and thinks she’s annoying the person she’s talking to

Lauren (8:55AM): I kind of figured. You don’t need to worry though.

While Camila’s a little annoyed that Dinah told Normani about her anxiety, she doesn’t think it’ll get out to everyone else. Even if it did, people would just wonder who Camila Cabello was and move on. At least it saved her from telling Lauren herself. That conversation never goes well. She’d cried while telling Dinah.

Camila occupies herself by opening her notebook to the back page and picking up her pencil to doodle, but her eyes widen when she notices Lauren’s name written in her messy script at the bottom of the page. She feels a little childish when she looks at it and quickly shuts her notebook. She doesn’t need Lauren seeing that and thinking she’s weird.

Camila clears her throat and hears a few more of her classmates enter the room, and directs her gaze to the floor to avoid eye contact. She absentmindedly doodles random shapes on her notebook with her pencil and tries to make herself a bit less tense.

She fails.

Lauren seems to sense that something is wrong and sends her a soft smile. The intrusive thoughts of ‘oh god she thinks I’m weird’ and ‘I’m embarrassing myself’ are replaced by ‘she’s so beautiful’ and oh my god, she’s actually smiling at me’.

“Are you good?” Lauren asks her. She looks like she’s about to put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her, and Camila quickly moves away and shakes her head. “What do you need?”

“Space.” Camila murmurs. She really isn’t used to this. Having her crush’s attention is something she really needed hours of mental preparation for.

Immediately, Lauren backs off. “Sorry.”

“It’s not…” Camila shakes her head, “It isn’t your fault. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

Lauren doesn’t look like she believes her. “I can go, if you want.”

“No,” Camila is quick to reply. That’s the last thing she wants. “Just- please don’t do that.”

“Okay,” Lauren’s mouth curves into a soft smile and hums in thought, “tell me about yourself. What’s your favourite colour?”

Normally, if someone asked her that question, she’d roll her eyes and make some quip about how uncreative they were being. But this was Lauren.

Camila doesn’t even have to think about her response. “White.”

Lauren speaks before Camila can ask her back. “What do you like about it?”

Camila blinks. She wasn’t expecting that. “Um… it’s – uh – bright?”

“That can’t be the only thing you like about it.” Lauren replies. “Describe it. How does it make you feel?”

Camila frowns and shakes her head. Maybe if it was Dinah talking to her, she’d be able to explain why. But Lauren? Nope. No way was that happening.

“I can’t.” Camila sighs and looks down at the ground. She can’t help but feel like she’s making a complete fool of herself, but she can’t even voice that to Lauren.

She almost jumps out of her skin when she feels a warm hand rest on top of hers, which she didn’t even realise was clenched tightly on top of the desk. Camila stares down at their hands when Lauren gives it a soft squeeze.

“That’s okay.” Lauren murmurs, and lets go of her hand when the professor starts the lecture.

Camila finds it hard to believe that she feels so much just because of a small, barely even five second long touch. But she does. It’s like Lauren knows of some magic switch that activates 1000 more nerve endings in her hand that Camila didn’t know existed. Her chest feels warm and light when Lauren pulls away and looks towards the front, smiling at Alexa and Vero when they walk into the room late. Usually, Lauren would be with them, and Camila would try her best not to stare as the other girl walked to her desk.

But today, Lauren’s sat next to her, making her stomach do backflips.

Normally, Camila is incredibly good at concentrating in her classes, but with the soft scent of Lauren’s lavender perfume next to her, it’s kind of hard to focus on metaphors and similes. She spends the majority of the lesson looking over at Lauren at any chance she gets, and manages to get herself caught a few times. But, when she looks down in embarrassment, Lauren just smiles at her.

When the teacher dismisses them, Lauren stands up and smiles at her. “What class have you got next?”

“I have a- a little break. Then a history elective.” Camila packs her notebook away and pulls her backpack onto her shoulders. “Uh… you?”

“I’m free until later.” Lauren replies. “Normally I go home and take a nap. That is, if Lucy and Mani aren’t being too loud arguing over who gets to use the shower first.”

Camila laughs and walks out of the lecture hall with Lauren by her side. She smiles at her, knowing that Lauren’s house is back the way they came in, and Camila is going to the library the opposite way, and expects Lauren to turn off without a goodbye. She’s surprised when the other girl turns to her.

“I’ll see you in contemporary lit later.” Lauren announces. Apparently she’s full of surprises today. “Unless you want company in your break. Also, I might be in the café near the gym later, since that’s usually where I grab lunch with Lucy, if you want to join.”

Generally, Camila avoids the cafes on campus like the plague when it gets to around eleven o’clock. That’s when people start going in. Loud, crowded environments are her nemesis and Dinah’s sweet enough to get her a banana and a bottle of water when they’re on campus at the same time, so she never has any reason to go in there.

“Yeah.” Camila makes a mental note to accompany Dinah to the café. If Lauren is going to be there, she’d be willing to try. “And, uh… I kinda need to study, so…”

“I won’t distract you, then,” Lauren flashes her a smile. “Later, Camz.”

Lauren turns on her heels and heads in the direction of the art room, leaving Camila behind with her jaw dropped open and her eyes widened in shock.

Camz. Lauren had called her Camz. Not Camila.

What the hell did that mean?

-

“It was so weird, Dinah.” Camila sighs as she sits down on a bench outside the campus gym. “She called me Camz. Nobody’s ever called me that. Does that mean something?”

“It means she likes you.” Dinah rolls her eyes as if it’s obvious and drops her bag in the space next to Camila. “She sat next to you in class and she gave you a nickname. It’s obvious, Walz.”

Camila sighs. “What if she’s just being nice?”

“She’s being nice because she likes you.” Dinah emphasises and lightly smacks Camila upside the head for good measure. “What am I getting you from the café?”

Camila stands up. “I’m coming with you.”

Dinah blinks in surprise. “I’m sorry… what? You hate it in there.”

“Lauren said something about being in there. And I want to see her. The more I’m around her the more I’m going to be able to talk to her.” Camila reasons. She pulls her backpack onto her shoulders. “Let’s go.”

Dinah eyes her as if she’s playing some sort of practical joke, but follows her in the direction of the cafeteria. “Are you sure about this?”

Camila nods, but she’s really not sure at all. All she knows is that she wants to see Lauren. “Yeah.”

“Well… okay.” Dinah holds open the door to the café for her. “Whatever you say, Walz.”

It’s a lot louder than anticipated, and admittedly Camila’s a little stunned by the amount of people in there. She immediately diverts her gaze to the ground and follows behind Dinah, feeling a little overwhelmed. Her friend seems to sense that something is wrong and sends her a pointed look.

“Mila, go back to literature. I’ll get everything.” Dinah sends her a warm smile.

Camila takes a quick look around for Lauren, but doesn’t see her. So, she sends a thankful smile Dinah’s way and makes her way out of the cafeteria. It doesn’t take her long to get back to their bench, and she pulls her book out of her bag so she can read until Dinah comes back.

It doesn’t take Dinah long to get their food, and she comes back to the classroom and drops Camila’s banana in front of her. “Lauren was there.”

Camila frowns. “I didn’t see her.”

Dinah shrugs. “She came over after you left. She saw me and asked where you were.”

Camila is a little bit thrown off by that. Why would Lauren want to know where she was? “What did you say?”

“I told her the truth.” Dinah replies, unwrapping her sandwich. “I told her that you were out here, and that this is where we sit. She said ‘thanks’ and left.”

Camila frowns. “Left to where?”

“She went and sat down with her friends. Normani and everyone.” Dinah sends her a smirk. “Why? Do you want your girlfriend to pay you a visit?”

“She’s not my girlfriend. I like her, but it won’t happen.” Camila reassures her friend. “But, there’s a chance we could be friends, and I’m going to take that.”

“She’s already given you a nickname, Camz,” Dinah teases, “that’s true love.”

Camila blushes and looks down at her feet. “Shut up, Cheechee.”

Dinah shrugs. “What? I think you guys are cute. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve been shipping Camren since you mentioned you liked her.”

Camila cringes. “Camren? Really? You’ve giving us a name?”

“Duh,” Dinah rolls her eyes, “anything as cute as that deserves a name. Besides, technically it’s because of me that Camren is starting to sail. I was the one who got you to that party on Friday. Now I’ve just got to hook you guys up.”

Camila snorts with laughter. “Yeah, that’ll happen. I’m content with friendship if that’s all she wants. I just- I really like her and I don’t know how to take this sudden attention. A week ago she didn’t know I existed. Now she’s sitting with me in lit class and calling me Camz.”

“You’re welcome.” Dinah teases. “You’re lucky that I approve of her, you know. Otherwise you’d be on your own and you wouldn’t get my amazing flirting advice.”

“I’m not going to flirt with her, Dinah.” The thought sends Camila into a fit of giggles. “Me? Flirting? No way. I can barely talk to her normally, let alone flirt. God. Even with your advice, flirting with her would be a disaster.”

“Flirting with who?”

Camila freezes and looks in the direction of the voice, her eyes widening when she sees Lauren standing there. That’s the last thing she expected.

Dinah quickly covers for her. “Walz is just hung up on some girl. She won’t tell me who.”

Camila shuffles uncomfortably. She isn’t exactly out – her family and Dinah know, but with everyone else she generally keeps quiet about it – and as far as she knows, Lauren is straight. She could have a bad reaction.

Lauren pulls up a chair from a different desk and sits down next to Camila. “That’s cute. I bet she’ll love you.”

Camila breathes a small sigh of relief. “Don’t… tell anyone.”

Lauren frowns. “Tell anyone you have a crush?”

Thankfully, Dinah answers that for her. Sometimes Camila really does appreciate her best friend’s ability to read her. “Mila doesn’t want you to tell anyone she’s gay. Her family know and stuff, but she isn’t sure about being out to everyone else yet.”

Lauren sends Camila a supportive smile. “Of course I won’t tell. I wouldn’t out you. But if it makes you feel any better, people are pretty chill about me, so I’m sure nobody will have anything bad to say to you.”

Camila blinks. “You’re…?”

“I’m bisexual.” Lauren easily replies. “I thought you already knew, honestly. Pretty much everyone does.”

That makes Camila both relax and worry, something she didn’t know was possible. Mostly because it’s comforting to be around someone else who identifies as queer, but she doesn’t want to get her hopes up. Just because Lauren likes girls, that doesn’t mean she’d date Camila.

Shaking her head, Camila smiles at Lauren and tries not to look as awkward as she feels. “I didn’t know.”

Dinah smirks. “At least we know if your crush doesn’t work out, you’ve got an option right in front of you, Chancho.”

As if it’s an automatic response, Camila’s face turns an angry red colour and she looks down at the ground in embarrassment. She knows it sounds like a joke, but she doesn’t want to get rejected by the girl she likes in that way. She doesn’t want Lauren to know about her feelings at all.

Instead of acting repulsed as Camila had assumed she would, Lauren just laughs. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that.”

Camila’s heart overcompensates and she sucks in a deep breath in an effort to calm herself down. She knows it’s a joke – Lauren would never go out with her – but it still gets her hopes up, and she hates that. Realistically, it’d never happen. Lauren’s probably only talking to her right now because she pities her or something. She wouldn’t be surprised.

Still, Camila manages to choke out a stunned, “Really?”

Lauren shrugs. “Sure.”

Before Camila can press her for more answers, Dinah speaks up and sends Camila a teasing look. She throws an arm around Camila’s shoulder and smiles. “Mila doesn’t get why anyone likes spending time with her. And yes, while she’s boring and reads books on a Friday night, she’s a hella awesome chef.”

“You cook?”

Camila really doesn’t know how to respond to Lauren’s question. She doesn’t really cook; she mostly just makes turkey sandwiches and random little inventions with her favourite foods when she gets bored.

She elects to ignore the question all together and blurts out, “Why are you here?”

Lauren looks a little surprised, and Camila feels guilt hit her in the chest. The last thing she wants to do is make Lauren think she doesn’t like her, but she needs to know the other girl’s motives if she’s going to relax around her. For all she knows, Lauren could be befriending her for help on her literature work, because it’s not a secret that Camila is the best in that class.

“What do you mean?” Lauren carefully asks. When Camila doesn’t respond and Dinah doesn’t elaborate for her, she explains. “I saw it was fifteen minutes until next period, and Dinah told me where you sit, so I figured I’d come and we’d walk to contemporary lit together. I can go, if you want.”

Camila shakes her head. That’s definitely not what she wants. “I mean… in general.”

Lauren’s face twists into a frown. “Okay, now you’ve lost me.”

Camila takes one look at Lauren’s face and feels worry trickling down her spine like ice water. She’s done it. She’s ruined everything. Lauren’s looking at her like she’s insane and Camila knows she’s messed up. There’s no coming back from this.

Instead of replying, Camila blurts out an excuse and jumps up, grabbing her back, running away from her best friend and the beautiful girl she’s sure she’s creeped out.

She slumps down in the comfiest chair in the old library; this is where she comes when she needs to calm herself down. It’s quiet, since everyone goes to the newer one, and it’s nice to be able to be somewhere quiet. Whenever she feels trapped, it’s always good to be surrounded by books. It’s like she’s sitting in a million different worlds at once.

She feels her phone buzz in her pocket and knows it’s probably Dinah trying to reassure her. She pulls it out and her eyes widen at the messages on the screen.

Lauren (1:51PM): Are you okay?

Lauren (1:51PM): I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out. Would it be good if I backed off? I don’t really know what I did to upset you but the last thing I want to do is make you feel bad.

Camila chews on her bottom lip and tries to think of a good response in her head. Everything she thinks of comes out forced and awkward, so she decides to reply with whatever and hopes Lauren won’t be upset.

Camila (1:52PM): it’s okay. it wasn’t your fault.

Lauren (1:52PM): It feels like it was. What freaked you out so much?

Camila finds it hard not to reply with ‘you’, because she knows that all that will do is make Lauren think it’s her fault, which it really wasn’t. It was Camila’s. More specifically, it was the anxiety.

Camila (1:52PM): you freaked me out, but it wasn’t your fault. i thought i’d messed up and freaked you out because i like you and i want to be friends but it’s so hard

Lauren (1:53PM): Why is it hard? You seem to be really comfortable around Dinah.

Camila (1:53PM): that took at least two months before i was fully comfortable and most people tend to give up before i can assure myself that they’re not just playing some huge practical joke by pretending to be my friend or something

“I’m not pretending to be your friend.”

Camila jumps and looks up to see Lauren standing in front of her. She’s surprised; she doesn’t know how she found her, but she figures that Dinah probably told her.

“Can I sit?” Lauren points to the chair next to her and waits until Camila nods to sit down. “Dinah told me where you were. I figured it’d be best to kind of… explain my motives? That’s what she told me you were asking.”

Camila bites down on her lip and nods. “Okay.”

“Well… I want to be your friend.” Lauren pauses and laughs. “That sounds really lame. I think you’re interesting and I want to get to know you. I had fun with you at the party and you seem like you’d be a cool friend to have.”

Camila looks down at her lap. “Why?”

“I don’t know. You just do.” Lauren bumps against her reassuringly. “I can back off if you want.”

“No.” Camila answers embarrassingly quickly. “Don’t.”

“Okay. I won’t.” Lauren stands up and holds out a hand for her. “We should probably head to world lit, anyway. We have five minutes until class starts.”

Camila lets Lauren pull her up, and it has the same effect as the hand holding from earlier. Her final conclusion is that obviously Lauren Jauregui is some sort of magical being.

“Can I- uh,” Camila freezes when Lauren looks at her, but she takes in the other girl’s reassuring smile and tries to relax. “Can I ask you something?”

Lauren nods. “Go for it.”

“You… um. You called me Camz earlier.” Camila feels her heart beating rapidly and tries to calm herself down. “Why did you?”

Lauren shrugs. “Nicknames are a friend thing, right? Dinah has like ten different nicknames for you, and I figured I’d be creative and make my own.”

Camila beams as Lauren holds the door open for her to exit the library. “Okay. I was just- uh, wondering.”

Lauren smiles, and Camila is unbelievably thankful when she changes the subject. “So, are you better at world lit, or contemporary?”

Camila shrugs. “I like both. World… world is more interesting.”

“Yeah,” Lauren nods, “it’s cool to learn about what’s popular in different countries and how the implications behind the words differ. I like that.”

When Lauren holds the door to the contemporary literature classroom open for her, Camila is a little nervous to go inside. She generally shows up to classes ten minutes early so she can avoid her classmates stares – but with Lauren, she sucks it up and walks in. She sends Lauren an awkward smile as she walks over to her usual seat, which is across the room from the other girl’s, and silently pulls out her notepad and pen. She opens her notebook to the page they were working on in their last class to go over her notes.

Another reason why she prefers world literature is because Dinah wasn’t in her contemporary; having no friends in a class that involved a lot of discussion sucked.

Naturally, when her professor announces that they’re going over the material in chapter seven in pairs, Camila waits in her seat. Usually her professor puts her with whoever is left, or she’s allowed to do it by herself if she wants. Generally she chooses the latter.

She has to admit that she’s surprised when she feels someone tap her on the shoulder.

“Want to work with me?”

At the sound of Lauren’s raspy voice, Camila nods, and stands up, following the other girl back to her usual seat.

Camila looks over to Lauren’s friends. She’s met Ally briefly, but the shorter girl was drunk. She’s only ever spoken to Veronica Iglesias once, when she bumped into her in the hallway and quickly apologised before she’d scurried away.

Lauren flips open her textbook and murmurs a little ‘just gotta show Vero something’. She turns to Vero and talks through something with her, and Camila watches in awe as she talks with her hands, a soft smile tugging at her lips.

She’s distracted by Ally sitting in the chair on her other side.

“Hi,” The shorter girl smiles, “I’m Ally. You’re Karla, right?”

“I, uh, prefer Camila,” Camila quickly replies, and then realises that she didn’t exactly answer Ally’s question. “I mean, I am Karla, but- uh,”

“Camila is her middle name.” Lauren leans around her and explains to Ally. “You don’t like Karla, do you?”

Camila shrugs, because she doesn’t really mind it, she just prefers Camila. Plus, Karla is what her mom calls her when she’s mad at her, and naturally, every time someone addresses her as it, she jumps about ten feet into the air. Dinah enjoys doing it to prank her.

She sends Lauren a grateful smile, murmuring a soft, “Thank you,” before she looks back down at her textbook.

“So, Camila, Lauren mentioned that you guys were friends.” Ally seems like she’s trying to make small talk, and Camila tenses. She’s really not good at small talk. “How did you meet?”

Thankfully, Lauren saves her. “We met at the party last week. You guys talked, actually.”

“We did?” Ally laughs. “I was probably too drunk to remember. I don’t usually get like that, but for the first time in forever I actually wasn’t the designated driver. Probably because the party was at Lauren and her roommates, so we knew she’d be at least a little sober.”

Before Camila can hum in acknowledgement or something along those lines, Vero leans forward and smiles at her. “Hey. I’m Vero.”

“Hi.” Camila nervously responds. Before anymore small talk can happen, she gestures over to her usual spot. “I’m – um – going to go and… get my stuff. Yeah.”

She stands up and makes her way over to her usual seat and busies herself with her backpack, pretending to look around for something. She notes how shaky her hands are. She tries to steady them, thinking about other things. While she’s glad that Lauren wants to work with her, she’s terrified by her friends.

“Are you alright?”

The sound of Lauren’s husky voice stuns her for a moment, and she turns and shakes her head. But, not wanting to worry her, she says, “I will be.”

“My friends are kinda talkative. Sorry if you feel a little awkward,” Lauren assures her. “But once they get down to working, we’ll be left alone. And next time, maybe we can sit at your desk instead.”

That proposal is enough to perk her up. Next time. Lauren wants to keep working with her. “Yeah. I’d- uh, like that.”

Camila plans on holding her to that.

—-

It took me a while to get around to updating this. Sorry about that. I also remembered that I forgot to put my wattpad link on the last chapter, so that’s here if anyone is interested.

Image Source: Alfonso Scarpa on Unsplash Inhibited children Uninhibited children What this means Genetics and personality What defines personality What does this all mean? When you were a child, how did you family describe you? I was always told I was shy growing up. I always sat quietly by myself playing or watching others. I didn’t like new trying new things, and was rather reserved…

The Darkness Is Coming.

When Alice was captured her life ended.

Tortured and broken for thirteen years left her small and afraid. But when the guard assigned to her torture helped her escape, she was given a brief glimpse of hope.

Until she forgot.

Now hiding in a city full of its own secrets, Alice must work hard to remember why she came here.

Before it's too late.

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The Darkness Is Coming.

When Alice was captured her life ended.

Tortured and broken for thirteen years left her small and afraid. But when the guard assigned to her torture helped her escape, she was given a brief glimpse of hope.

Until she forgot.

Now hiding in a city full of its own secrets, Alice must work hard to remember why she came here.

Before it's too late.

https://books2read.com/u/boY87a

#cerynnmccain #inhibited #abandonedcrownseries #completedseries #darkfantasy #forbiddenlove #uniquemagic #stalkervillian #mentalhealthrep

The Darkness Is Coming.

When Alice was captured her life ended.

Tortured and broken for thirteen years left her small and afraid. But when the guard assigned to her torture helped her escape, she was given a brief glimpse of hope.

Until she forgot.

Now hiding in a city full of its own secrets, Alice must work hard to remember why she came here.

Before it's too late.

In honor of the release of Book Five in the Abandoned Crown Series, you can now get Book One at NO COST for a limited time. Offer only lasts a week though so make sure to get yours today!

🔥 https://BookHip.com/HHFMJWH 🔥

#cerynnmccain #inhibited #abandonedcrownseries #completedseries #darkfantasy #forbiddenlove #uniquemagic #stalkervillian #mentalhealthrep #sale