The Tutor

Part 6

We're here

Lauren looked up from her phone beaming. Camila arrived. She caught the attention of Alexa who was talking to her boyfriend, Marcello, "Camila's here - I'm gonna go and let her in." Alexa just nodded and waved her off before she went back to talking to her boyfriend.

Lauren weaved her way through the crowd until she was finally at the front door. When she opened it, Camila and her friends were still walking up the steps. Lauren was greeted by a chorus of 'hellos' and 'what's ups'.

"You guys wanna go downstairs? They're playing Wii bowling."

"That's my game!" Dinah and Ally raced downstairs with Normani silently following behind them.

Camila turned to her, "Wii?"

Lauren nodded her head, "Wii."

They walked down to the basement together, side by side. It was loud and there was a light mist of smoke in the air. Smack dab in the middle of the basement was the game of bowling. Alexa's brother, Stephan, and Lauren's friend, Lucy, were playing against each other. The game was heated and the two were screaming at each other.

Everyone seemed to find a seat on the couch in the basement. Lauren and Camila sat in the loveseat sitting nearby.

"Are these what all the wild parties at Alexa Ferrer's house are like?" Ally joked. She, along with Dinah and Normani, found the alcohol and they were all drinking contently.

"Honestly, yeah," Lauren laughed, "But last time it was golf."

"Golf?" Camila asked in disbelief.

"Golf can get pretty heated," Normani shrugged, taking a sip of her beer.

Camila got up, "I'm gonna get one. You want?" She looked at Lauren, expectedly.

Lauren shook her head, "No thanks, I'm good." Camila nodded before padding over to the frozen cooler in the corner of the room.

As Camila was walking back over to the group, the game of bowling ended and Lucy made her way over to Lauren. The two of them reached Lauren at the same time and they both stood there awkwardly, unsure of who should speak first. Lucy decided to speak up.

"Hey, Lauren, I didn't realize you were down here," She looked around at Camila and her friends, "What're you doing over here?"

"Just hanging out," Lauren stood up, "Did you need something?"

"Did you see the group chat? They're about to sing Happy Birthday upstairs! We gotta go!" Lucy grabbed Laurens's hand and dragged her upstairs.

Everyone was outside and gathered around Alexa. She was sitting on her favorite lounge chair with Marcello and Stephan holding her birthday cake in front of her. Alexa saw Lauren and Lucy in the crowd and waved them closer. The two of them joined Bethany, Emma and Tracy who were already standing around Alexa. However, Alexa pulled Lauren down so she was sitting next to her on the lounge chair.

Marcello began to count down, "One . . . Two . . . Three . . . " and everyone began to sing Happy Birthday. Alexa was beaming and Lauren felt happy for her. She was finally eighteen.

Alexa blew out her candles and everyone took a slice of cake. Rather, it was more first come first serve. There was only about thirty slices of cake available, so anyone who couldn't get a slice was told to grab a cupcake in the back.

"Picture time!" Alexa shot up from her seat and handed her phone over to Marcello, "Lauren, us first!" They took a few pictures, some funny and some a bit suggestive ones for fun. After they were done, Lauren looked around for Camila but she was nowhere to be found. Lauren decided to text her.

While they were taking group pictures, Camila responded. She was in the bathroom upstairs, so that's where Lauren went. When she got there, Camila was looking at the pictures hung up in the hall.

"Hey," Lauren said as she approached, "Where is everybody?"

"Downstairs," She pointed to a picture hanging on the wall, "Is that you?" The picture she was pointing at was a photo of Lauren and Alexa from middle school when their families took a trip to Los Angeles. That was a really nice vacation. Camila's eyes softened, "Aw, you have pigtails."

"Yeah," Lauren laughed, "We're really young there."

"I can't believe they have pictures of you in their house."

"We're close," Lauren shrugged, "There are more pictures if you want to see." Camila nodded. Lauren led her to Alexa's room which was full of pictures of them. Her favorite picture of them was sitting on Alexa's dresser. It was one of the first photos of them together. They were about two years' old and taking pictures for their Christmas card. Lauren had a big smile on her face and Alexa was sucking her thumb.

Camila picked up the photo to examine it closely, "You look so cute."

Camila had one hand resting on the dresser. Before she could think, Lauren had her hand sitting on top of hers, "Thanks." Shocked, Camila looked up from the picture. Lauren quickly removed her hand, "I'm so sorry! I don't know why I even did that!"

Camila put the photo down and turned to face Lauren. She cupped her hands gently around her face and looked her deeply in the eyes, "It's okay." She smiled and slowly moved her face closer until her lips were touching Lauren's.

Lauren was shocked. This was her first kiss. She was having her first kiss - and it was with a girl. She was having her first kiss with Camila. Though she struggled to admit it, Lauren really wanted this. She melted under Camila's touch.

The kiss was only a short peck, and it left Lauren wanting more. She still had her eyes closed when Camila pulled away. When she opened her eyes, Camila was smiling a shy smile.

"Was that okay?" Camila was looking her in the eye, but she was fiddling with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Yeah, it was really okay," Lauren smiled back, and she could feel her face heating up.

Camila let out a deep breath, "Should we head back down?"

"One second," Lauren reached up to kiss Camila's lips one last time. Camila shrieked in surprise. When Lauren tried to pull away, Camila grabbed her by the hips to keep her close. In response, Lauren wrapped her arms around Camila's neck to pull her closer.

This kiss was different. Unlike the last one, there was tongue. Lauren wasn't sure how to navigate a kiss with tongue, but Camila was leading the way. Lauren had never felt safer than in Camila's arms. She never wanted to be anywhere else.

Camila pulled away slowly, a smile on her face, "I think we should head back downstairs." Lauren was disappointed, but agreed.