Hanging out with friends is one of Lauren's favorite things to do. She loves the music, the atmosphere, the fact that she can just relax and spend time with her friends without having a teacher nagging her or one of her parents breathing down her neck. It's all so enticing to her. The one thing she doesn't like, is how Brad seems to get extra possessive whenever they're around other people.

Maybe Brad is simply insecure, but that doesn't make his possessiveness okay. Lauren used to think it was cute back when they first started dating. To her, it signified him really liking her and not wanting to lose her to anyone. Now, it's like she can't talk to anyone without him questioning her, the other person's motives, or if she's cheating on him.

Lauren's never done anything to break the boy's trust, so she hates that he acts like she's going to leave him at any moment.

"Lauren," Brad's voice causes Lauren to turn away from the painting she's looking at on the wall and she forces a smile towards her boyfriend. "C'mon, we're all going down to the basement. Shawn's dad left a ton of beer in the fridge downstairs."

Brad grabs her hand and nearly drags her down to the basement where a can of cold beer is shoved into her hand and she can't help but wrinkle her nose. Lauren loves her friends, but she doesn't want to get drunk around Brad, as he always tries to get her to have sex with him when she's sober, so drunk will be even worse.

The girl cracks open the can and decides she's only going to have one drink the entire party. She moves to sit beside Lucy and Veronica and Brad sits on the other side of her, a possessive hand on her leg. The feeling makes her skin crawl and she wants to move his hand off of her, but she knows he'll get upset at that.

Instead of saying anything, Lauren sits there, listening to everyone chat and joke around about school and the on-going trouble with the greasers. She doesn't care much for all of the shallow talk all the boys are discussing, but then Tristan brings up Camila and her crew and Lauren's ears perk up.

"He nearly gave you a pounding in the parking lot!" Tristan exclaims to Brad.

"Who?" Lauren whispers to Lucy.

Veronica responds more quickly than the other girl. "Harry Styles. He's part of Cabello's crew, he nearly fought Brad last night at the Shell on Danbury road."

Lauren's eyes widen and she looks at her boyfriend. "You didn't tell me that!"

Brad rolls his eyes at his girlfriend. "It's fine. He's just too much of a pussy-"

"He told me you were throwing slurs and threatening to slash Camila's tires," Shawn interrupts. The taller boy is looking at his teammate through narrow eyes and Lauren snickers. She loves Shawn, he never fails to put Brad in his place.

"She was touching Lauren!"

"Babe," Lauren says softly, so that only Brad can hear her, "don't blow a gasket. Nothing is going to happen because of her."

"Oh my God, Lauren. How dumb can you be? She's obviously trying to pull a fast one. It's bad enough she's a freak and we have to go to school with her, but now she's trying to steal what's mine. And you're too fucking stupid to see it!"

After his outburst, Brad stands up, slamming his beer can on the table. "I'm going on a walk."

Everyone in the room sits in silence momentarily, all of them absorbing the words from Brad's tantrum. Lauren sits with her hands in her lap and her head down, and Shawn sits with his jaw clenched.

He waits a few seconds longer before standing and walking over to where Lauren is seated. "C'mon, let's go take a walk." Lauren doesn't hesitate. Instead, she takes a long swig of her beer before setting it beside Brad's and taking Shawn's hand.

The two teenagers walk around Shawn's neighborhood, which happens to also be Lauren's. Their joined hands swing between their bodies, moving in tandem with each of their steps.

"He treats you like crap. He's always putting you down and getting frosted at you for nothing."

"I know."

"You deserve someone better."

"I know."

Shawn stops moving, causing Lauren to stop as well. The boy opens his arms, and Lauren instantly steps in to hug him.

The hug is gentle, soft, almost familial. It's like Shawn is another brother to her, always taking care of her and being sweet. She allows herself to just breathe in his comforting scent and feel at peace momentarily.

"So when are you gonna dump him?"

Lauren laughs. "He's not going to let me break up with him unless there's another guy who wants to date me who he's too afraid of."

The brunette boy looks at his friend, a sly smile creeping onto his lips. Lauren can see the gears in his brain turning, and she's wondering what he's thinking.

"What if we date?"

That's definitely not what Lauren was expecting. "Um, Shawn... I love you, I really do, but you're like my bro-"

"No, I don't mean actually date. I mean we pretend, to get Brad off of your back and mine."

That piques Lauren's interest. "What is he on you for?"

Pink colors Shawn's cheeks. It looks like he's struggling to admit something and Lauren can't help but think about how he resembles a puppy. His eyes are shifting and his lips keep twitching as he attempts to verbalize something.

"I'm going to tell you this because I trust you, okay?"

Lauren nods her head. "Of course." The two of them have been friends since they were in diapers, there's nothing she wouldn't do for Shawn. She knows that regardless of what he says, she loves him.

"I'm... a bit funny..."

"What?" Lauren's not sure what he means, of course Shawn is funny, he's one of the only funny men she knows. She continues to stare at her friend until she sees something behind his eyes and it clicks. "Wait, do you mean you're gay?"

"Shhh!" Shawn covers his friend's mouth with his hand. "Not so loud! Someone might hear!"

Lauren doesn't hesitate to lick his palm and the boy nearly squeaks with disgust. He pulls his hand away and rubs it against his jeans. "You're disgusting."

The girl smiles cheekily. "I know. Now, what're we going to do with you? Are you seeing any boys?"

"You're... okay with this?"

Lauren can't help but look her friend dead in the eye with a blank stare. "Of course, poindexter. I love you and I want you happy."

Shawn smiles brightly at that. He brings Lauren in for another hug and spins her around. "Okay, now let's come up with a plan to get you away from Brad and next to me."

"Grody."

-

It's been days since Camila last interacted with Lauren, and it's making her antsy. All she wants to do is see the girl smile again because she always looks so miserable around Brad.

The greaser watches Lauren from her table with all her friends. Normani and Dinah are yelling at one another over who's a better musician Rosetta Tharpe, or Elvis Presley. Ashton and Luke are smoking a cigarette and Ariana is watching Camila watch Lauren.

"You gettin' soft for her?" Ariana asks suddenly, causing Camila to look away from the green-eyed girl and glare at her friend.

"You writing a novel or somethin' greaseball?" The question is good-humored, as Ariana and Camila are the only ones allowed to call each other that insult due to its targeting of Hispanic and Italian people. "She's just cute is all."

Ariana snickers, she knows her friend better than that. "Sure Cabello, just don't go being a bird-dog. Brad will kill us all if you take Lauren from him."

"I don't think she plays for my team Ari. She's nice to look at, though."

"And think about, and talk to, and try and impress. You haven't shut up about her all weekend, Mila." Ariana scoots closer to the Cuban. "Go talk to her."

"What? I can't just do that!"

"Why not? No one's stopping you!"

Camila groans. "Ari, I don't know how people do things in New York, but here, greasers and socs don't talk unless they want to fight."

"Whatever, Mila," Ariana tells her before doing something that Camila will probably kill her for later. She takes Camila's silver lighter out of her hands and launches it towards Lauren's table. She knows the greaser is going to go get it since the lighter was her father's, so this will be her in to talk to Lauren.

Camila shoots her friend a withering glare before standing up and stalking over to where Lauren is sat talking with all of her soc friends. The walk there feels like it takes forever, but it couldn't be more than 30 feet.

Just Camila's luck that the lighter ends up right under the portion of the bench that Lauren is sitting under. The brunette attempts to subdue the nerves coursing through her and she squats down to grab the lighter.

She can feel the conversation above her dying as she collects the metal object from the ground. Camila looks up from the dirt and she squints as the sun hits her eyes, casting shadows all over the soc girls Camila was so desperately trying to avoid.

"Hi." Lauren's gentle voice finally breaks the tense silence and Camila awkwardly stands up again, now towering over all of the other girls. "You need something?"

"M-my ligh-" Camila's voice cracks and she starts again, this time taking a deep breath and attempting to look cool. "My lighter ended up over here."

"How'd that happen? You're on the other side of the courtyard." Lauren looks somewhat amused at the whole situation. Camila doesn't need an excuse to talk to her, she didn't have to lie about her lighter.

The Cuban doesn't speak for a second, it seems like she's searching Lauren's entire face for something. "Um, Ariana. She was messin' with me. She doesn't like me smoking near her because the smell makes her flip her lid." She sticks her hands in her jacket pockets and finally looks away from Lauren and towards all of the girl's friends.

She knows all of the girls Lauren tends to hang out with, as some of them have gone on dates with Ashton, Luke, and Zayn. There's Keana, who's the smartest girl in the grade; she tutored Camila in math the year before in exchange for free cigarettes and snacks at the convenience store. Then there's Alexa, who Camila doesn't get along with at all. She may be nice to her friends, but she's just as cruel towards greasers as Brad is. Lucy is sat beside Lauren.

Camila and Lucy have a lot of history that no one knows about besides Normani and Dinah. Lucy is the most forward thinking and outspoken of her friends. She's extremely passionate about current social issues and has been keeping up with Browder v Gayle religiously in support of desegregating public transportation, which is actually how she and Camila met.

Camila and Dinah had been with Normani at a transportation protest as a way to make sure she stayed safe and Lucy had been there as well. The four girls had spent the entire protest together and that had spurred a lot of bonding between Camila and Lucy.

Lucy, knowing Camila is queer, had confided in her about her recent attraction to women. The two then quickly fell into a pattern of smoking, sex, and listening to music. Neither of them felt any romantic attraction towards one another, but simply enjoyed their ability to be authentically themselves in each other's presence.

Once the summer ended though, both girls agreed to end their meetings and have now only been meeting when there are protests or events they're both interested in.

So, when she makes eye contact with Lucy, Camila pretends to hardly know her.

Finally, Camila locks eyes with Veronica Iglesias. She knows the girl's father is one of the leaders of the Coca-Cola company, and Camila can't help but feel resentment towards her and all of the other girls. They're similar to her, all of them Latinx in some way, but since Camila has darker skin and features, she's the only one who lives in poverty and has to work to support her family.

She knows that all of these girls are going to make it out of this town while she's stuck working in the same convenience store or auto shop for the rest of her life. They'll all have kids who live similar lives to how they did, and she'll be stuck living alone and miserable trying to fund her little sister's college.

"Shouldn't you be heading back to your friends, wetback?" Brad's voice grates against Camila's ears and she clenches her fists at the name. Insults don't usually get to her, but wetback is one that angers her particularly intensely.

Camila tears her eyes away from all of the girls and to Brad, who's standing there in his perfectly pressed sweater vest and stain free khakis. Camila hates how easy he must have it, king of the school, captain of the football team, loved by both of his parents, the most gorgeous girl in school on his arm.

"Shouldn't you be looking for your upper lip in the mirror, Simpson?"

"Oh drop dead twice."

"What, and look like you?"

Camila's response causes the entire lunch table to audibly gasp. She can't help but feel a bit of pride when she sees Lauren hiding a giggle with her hand. Brad looks furious at being talked to like that by a greaser, and by a girl no less. Camila just crosses her arms and looks at him smugly.

"You can't control who I talk to Simpson."

"You're talking to my girl. I might not be able to get you arrested or kicked out of school for your sick perversions but that doesn't mean I can't stop you from coming onto my girl." He steps closer to Camila until he's just a few inches away and shoves his pointer finger into her chest.

Camila swats his hand away and glares. "First of all, keep your hands off of me unless you're itchin' for a knuckle sandwich. Second of all, I'm a girl, I'm allowed to talk to other girls. Thirdly, those are suspected perversions, you can't prove nothin'." The brunette shoves the football player away and moves closer towards the girls again.

"Anyway ladies, my friend Ashton is having a bash on Friday night after the football game if you wanna come. Invite your friends."

"You really think we're gonna go to a party with a ton of greaseballs?" Alexa asks mockingly. "You must be going ape."

All of the other girls furrow their brows at Alexa. "I'm going, I don't have anything better to do," Keana says.

The other girls quickly agree and Lauren turns back to the greaser girl. "You gonna be there Cabello?"

Camila tries not to let the butterflies in her stomach overpower her and she tries to keep her cool. "I'll be there if you come. I can show you my new flip-top."

Red slowly creeps onto Lauren's face and she suddenly averts her eyes. "That'd be nice. Did you buy it yourself?"

The greaser is about to answer but the bell rings, signaling the end of the lunch period. She sticks her lighter in her pocket and looks towards all of the girls. "So you'll be there? It'd make Luke's day if you came Keana."

The words make Keana smile and she averts her eyes to watch Luke as he walks back into the school. "We'll be there. Tell Luke to save a beer for me."

Camila nods her head and backs away from the girls. "Bye ladies, see ya' Friday."

-

Lauren has to stop herself from rolling her eyes as Brad goes on a rant about Camila and the other greasers for the fifth time that day. He's so angry at the girl, calling her slurs and insults left and right and Lauren is getting tired of it.

"Babe, please don't have a cow over this. She's harmless. You have to trust me." Lauren places her hand on his arm to placate him and he sinks into the driver's side seat. It's as if all of his anger has dissipated.

The boy nods his head and his curls bounce all over. "You're right. I'm sorry Laur, I just, I hate that homo so much. I can't even consider her a girl because of how disgusting and perverted she is."

Those words cause bile to rise in Lauren's throat. She knows she'll never tell anyone about these thoughts she's been having, but hearing Brad's hatred for people like Camila and maybe like her makes her feel nauseous.

Finally, Brad pulls up in front of Lauren's house and she feels like she can breathe again. "I'll see you, tomorrow?"

Brad grins at Lauren before giving her a soft peck. "Of course you will sweetcheeks."

Lauren steps out of the car and skips towards the front door. She waves goodbye to Brad and steps inside. She finally feels like she isn't being suffocated by him.

The girl knows she needs to break up with him, but Brad has a horrible temper, and she doesn't want to do it anywhere where he could lash out at her. Even though he's never once laid a hand on her, doesn't mean he doesn't have the potential to.

At half past 4, Lauren's mother arrives home from her weekly book club meeting. All the mothers of the children in her grade that live on the north side of the town gather every Monday to gossip and talk amongst themselves without the intrusion of their children or husbands. Lauren's heard from Keana that all the moms really do is drink wine, complain about their husbands' infidelities, and gossip about whatever woman isn't there during the meetings.

"Lauren, Chris, Taylor, come down to the kitchen please!" Clara's voice calls to all three of the Jauregui children.

The green-eyed girl groans, all she wants to do is finish her homework so that she can meet her friends at the diner in half an hour.

Lauren closes the textbook and runs down the stairs to see her mother putting away some leftover snacks and finger-foods that she took to the book club meeting. The woman's body is turned into the fridge and for half a second, Lauren considers blurting out that she's going to break up with Brad.

"Hi, mom, what's shakin'?" Chris seems to materialize beside his sister and Lauren swallows the words she was going to say. Taylor shows up right behind their brother, and now all three Jauregui kids are facing their mother.

"Well, I just got back from book club, and I heard some distressing news and I wanted to know if it was true."

All three kids look at their mom curiously, and Lauren feels her anxiety spike. Is it about her? Or Brad? Or maybe somehow someone heard her and Shawn's conversation and now they know he's gay.

"Is there a homosexual in Lauren's grade? Carmello or something?"

Chris' smile instantly drops into a scowl. "Yeah, her name's Camila Cabello. She's a freak."

"So it's true?" Clara asks, genuine fear and concern in her voice. "If it is, I don't want you going anywhere near her Lauren."

The girl's throat is dry and she's trying everything to manage to formulate a response. "I-it's just a theory. Mom, you know that's a very serious thing to accuse someone of."

Clara nods her head sadly. "I know, that's why I wanted to see what you three have to say about it since you're the ones at school."

"It's just a rumor the football team started about her because none of the guys could get her to go steady with them," Lauren lies through her teeth.

"They wanna go steady with a greaser?" Taylor sounds disgusted at the thought of that.

"They wanna go steady with anything that breathes, Tay." Lauren responds, which causes Clara to hold back a laugh and Chris to scoff.

After a few moments, Clara speaks again. "Well regardless of if she is... odd or not, none of you should go around her or any other of this filthy, little thugs." The woman smoothes out her dress and pats at her hair. "Now, Chris go back upstairs, Taylor help me make dinner, Lauren, don't you have to get to the diner?"

Lauren fakes a smile and nods her head. "Yeah, I'm meeting Shawn and Ally there. I'll see you guys later tonight. I love you."

"Bye, be careful please!"

The moment she closes the front door, Lauren breathes out a heavy sigh. Her parents don't want her around Camila, but what they don't know won't hurt them, right?

-

Camila is tapping her fingers against the counter while she watches a man shop for chips and pop. She makes up a story for him in her head as he shops and mutters to himself.

This is a habit she's developed ever since she started her job at the store when she was 14. It can get boring in the store, waiting for people to come in to either ask her to pump their gas or to wipe their windshields or buy a quick snack. She gets increasingly bored as the hours go by so the later it is the more stories she creates for every patron that comes in.

The girl is in the middle of coming up with a tragic backstory for the man who's trying to choose between salt and vinegar chips or sea salt ones when the bell above the door chimes again. Camila turns her head away from the man to lock onto bright emeralds. The breath in Camila's lungs instantly disappears and she quickly attempts to straighten up all of the knick-knacks and junk on the counter.

"I didn't know you work here," Lauren's soft voice is the only sound in the store apart from the gentle music coming from the jukebox behind the counter.

"Every day from 3 'till 7 on weekdays. Longer on the weekends." Camila truly is trying to keep her cool, but ever since the roof on Friday, she gets nervous around the soc.

Lauren nods her head before moving closer to the counter, her eyes on all of the toys and random objects for sale in front of her. Her eyes turn towards the box of lighters and she rifles through them.

Camila raises a brow at this. "Since when do you smoke?"

The other girl's head shoots up and there's a warmth to her face. "I-I uh... I'm looking for a gift for my dad?"

"Then you might not want to give him a 10 cent lighter. He'd probably prefer a tobacco pipe or somethin'." Without thinking, Camila takes out her own lighter and sets it on the counter, as if the mere mention of the word caused her to want to show off her own.

Lauren's focus shifts from Camila, to the metal gadget in front of her. It's a bit tarnished from use and lack of maintenance but it's still beautiful. Lauren can make out all of the designs on the front and the engraving on it as well. "Who's A.C.?"

"Huh?" Camila turns around from where she's organizing the magazines and looks at Lauren holding the lighter in her hands.

"A.C., it's written on the lighter, right next to the axe emblem." Lauren's finger traces the letters and it makes Camila's heartache.

The greaser clears her throat to push back the burning sensation. "It was my dad's. One of his buddies gave one to every member of his division during the war. The letters are his initials and the axe is because they were called the trailblazers."

"Oh... is he okay with you smoking?"

Camila chuckles. "He always told me it was a bad habit, he never even used it when he was alive besides to light the stove or some candles."

Lauren watches Camila's eyes glimmer with happiness as she seems to recall some childhood memories. "I-I'm sorry. How long ago did he pass away?"

"It'll be three years in March. He was in an accident. Funny how he managed to survive the Nazis and fighting in the war so many of his friends died in but ended up as roadkill."

Without thinking, Lauren takes Camila's hand in hers and holds it tightly, as if to tell the girl she feels for her. It's the first time she's initiated any contact with Camila, but it feels right. Camila's hand is calloused and scarred, but still so feminine and beautiful. Of course, Lauren can appreciate Brad's hands as well, but they're nothing like Camila's.

The two girls are pulled out of their moment when the other customer in the store comes up to the counter with a couple of bags of chips and some pop.

Camila reluctantly pulls her hand away and gives the man a fake smile. "Find everything you need, sir?"

The man grunts in satisfaction before throwing a couple of coins towards Camila and heading out the door. Lauren recognizes the man as her neighbor, Mr. Silver, and she narrows her eyes at him for being so rude.

"Are customers always that rude to you?"

Camila doesn't even look up as she's counting the coins and putting them in the register. "Depends. If they're from my side of town they're nice, if they're from yours though... not usually." The girl takes the few extra pennies and puts them into the tip jar. "The rude ones always leave some change though, so I get better tips."

"You usually get a lot of tips then? You are on my side of town after all," Lauren says with a little bit of teasing in her voice.

The greaser smirks. "How do you think I bought my new ride?"

Lauren can't help the thoughts that come into her mind after that. Her and Camila in her car at the drive-in, both of them panting and pawing at each other's clothes as they kiss. The idea makes Lauren's insides feel warm and she has to bite her lip to bring her focus back to the greaser.

"So what're you here for? Some snacks? Pop?"

"Actually, I just came in to see you. I was walking over to Lou's to get an egg-cream with Shawn and Ally when I saw you were working."

Camila feels genuinely excited about that fact. Lauren hadn't needed anything, she'd just wanted to say hi to her. "Well, whenever you wanna see me, I'm either here, at my house, or by the train tracks."

A grin creeps onto Lauren's lips. "I will definitely be putting that information to good use. Bye Camila."

The soc girl leaves the store and Camila watches dreamily as Lauren walks away. Her eyes are trained on Lauren's curled ponytail and the way her long, green skirt shows off her butt. Camila can't help but drool over the beautiful girl, and she knows Lauren will be the death of her.

-

"So Mila..." Luke's voice sounds so smug and Camila just knows her friend is going to give her a hard time. "You and Simpson's girl, huh?"

Camila doesn't even look at him as she sits on the hood of her car and cleans her nails with her switchblade. Ashton is doing the same while Luke, Ariana, Normani, and Dinah all sit on the bed of Ashton's truck passing a ball between each other.

All of the friends know about Camila's inclination towards women, and none of them seem to care. They'd found out when they'd seen Camila kissing another girl under the bleachers during a football game their freshman year. Of course, they were shocked, but since it didn't affect them they didn't care.

"You mean Lauren? She's not Simpson's girl, she's her own person."

"Oooh someone's defensive," Ashton murmurs. Camila shoves him off of her car good-naturedly but she refuses to look at him. "It's okay if you like her Mila. I heard a rumor she's planning on ending it with him tomorrow at the bash."

Normani snickers. "She probably wants to show Mila around that classy chassis of hers."

"Hey, cut the gas," Camila calls out with a glare. "She's not some object and shouldn't be talked about like that."

The brunette runs a hand through her hair before sighing. "You guys are right though, I'm hooked on her. Like, I thought she was cute, but ever since that day on the roof I can't stop thinking about her."

Ashton ruffles the brunette's hair and wraps an arm around her. "Listen to me daddy-o, do you actually like her or do you just wanna play some back seat bingo and drop her."

"No no no. This isn't like what I've had with those other girls. I actually like her, you know? I wanna take her to a flick, go bowling, get a milkshake at Lou's, all that stuff. I want to go steady with her."

The greaser boy gives his friend a tight hug. "You've got it bad, huh?"

"So bad."

-

Lauren arrives at Ashton's house fashionably late. Ally had picked all of the girls up in her dad's car but they'd had to stop to buy some beer and snacks on the way there so of course, they'd ended up getting distracted and arriving an hour later than everyone else.

When they pull up in front of the house, Lauren feels her stomach churn anxiously. She told Brad she'd meet him here but now she doesn't even want to see her boyfriend, all she wants is to talk to Camila and hang around her.

Brad only bring anxiety, stress, and resentment, whereas Camila always helps calm Lauren down and make her laugh. It's like she's two different people depending on which one she's with.

"So Laur, are you gonna cut it with Brad tonight?" Lucy looks at her best friend with curiosity. Lauren knows that Lucy isn't the boy's biggest fan and that she's been waiting for them to break up ever since the first time Brad made Lauren cry.

"I think so. I don't like who I am when I'm with him."

All of the girls give Lauren a sympathetic look before they all leave the car and walk to the backyard where everyone else is.

Music is blasting from a radio and the air is thick with cigarette smoke. Beer cans litter the ground and the chatter of thirty different conversations buzz in Lauren's ears. She likes the environment though.

Ashton may be a greaser, but everyone at school loves him regardless of social status. He's the guy who gets invited to football team dinner nights as well greaser drag races. He's a greaser through and through, but for some reason, everyone loves him. Because of this, his parties are the only time greasers and socs mingle with one another rather than glare and scowl.

Lauren's eyes travel around the area and she can make out a few faces she feels comfortable around. Shawn is talking to Dinah and Normani by the firepit, they all look engaged in conversation and like they're having a good time. Keana is cuddled up to Luke and taking sips of his beer as he talks to some greaser kids. The girl shoots Lauren a wink and it makes Lauren excited. One of her friends is finally getting with the guy of her dreams, that's more than what can be said for Alexa, Lauren, Lucy, and Veronica.

For the next five minutes or so, Lauren just admires her surroundings and how everyone seems so relaxed. There's no stress about school, or jobs, or sports, they're all just carefree teenagers who are having fun and getting drunk.

Lauren manages to find Camila sitting on a busted old lawn chair talking to a few other people from their chemistry class and she walks over. She sits besides Camila on the lawn chair and allows the girl to stop talking before saying hello to her.

"You came..." Camila says almost breathlessly. The smile on her face flickers in the light of the fire and Lauren can see excitement glimmering in her eyes. She knows Camila likes her, it's not hard to tell, and she thinks she really likes Camila too, but she's also so scared of what could happen.

Lauren loops an arm through Camila's and rests her head on the greaser's shoulder. "Of course I came, you promised to show me your new chariot, remember?"

The green-eyed girl can feel the heat of Camila's cheeks radiating onto her own skin. "Wanna go see it right now? It's in Ash's garage."

Lauren nods and soon enough, Camila's shooting up from the seat and offering Lauren her hand. Just that action is so chivalrous and something Brad would never do, so Lauren takes the girl's hand and walks across the yard with her.

"Your hands are cold. Do you want my jacket again?" Camila's already stripping off her jacket and Lauren's gulping as she takes in the girl's strong, lean arms. The muscles ripple with every movement and Lauren's brain goes blank as she tries to formulate a reply.

"Lo..."

Lauren's eyes dart away from Camila's biceps and she looks into the brunette's eyes. "Um yeah, I'll wear it if you're offering."

The smile on Camila's face makes all the embarrassment of being caught staring worth it. The girl slides the jacket onto Lauren's shoulders and Lauren instantly hugs the soft leather to her body. She loves the way the piece of clothing feels on her body and how warm and safe it makes her feel.

She plays with the sleeves of the jacket as they continue to walk and Lauren tries to not look at Camila's arms again. Lauren knows it's not good to look, especially since she's been going steady with Brad for almost a year, but she just thinks Camila is so amazing.

"So here we are," Camila announces as she lifts the handle of the garage door with ease. As the door slides up, Lauren squints at the bright lights that were hidden behind it.

When her eyes can open again, her eyes fix themselves on the bright red Cadillac Eldorado in front of her. She knows for a fact that this car is more expensive than anything someone in Camila's situation can afford, so she's curious as to how she got it.

"I didn't jack it if that's what you're worried about," Camila says moments later. She sounds so excited, like a little kid, and it warms Lauren's heart. She watches the brunette trace the body of the car and jump into the driver's side seat. "A guy left it at the shop because he thought it was too badly damaged to even fix it. Luke, Harry, Ash, and I have been fixing it up because they knew I needed a new car after some assholes wrecked my old one."

Lauren's fingers trace the leather of the steering wheel; she admires the hard leather and how it feels good against her skin. Her eyes just gaze at the wheel and rest of the dashboard, her mind wandering to ideas of what she and Camila could get up to in her new ride. That is, until her fingers land against Camila's.

The greaser intertwines their fingers. "Wanna go tear ass?"

"I-I really shouldn't, Brad could be looking for me."

Camila's face instantly falls but she nods her head. "Oh... Yeah..."

"But who cares about him, let's burn some rubber."