you make me sick (for being so perfect)

Fifty Eight.

When Lauren wakes up to fifteen text messages and seven missed calls, she's a little confused, because she never gets that many messages. But then her fight with Camila comes back to her, and she bites down on her lip, shaking her head and trying to get the tears to go away. Her heart hurts and she feels sick, because she's never fought with Camila before, not like that, and she's not sure if they're even still together.

(After that fight, she decides probably not.)

She unlocks her phone and checks through her messages, ignoring the ones from Camila because she thinks they're probably going to be negative and the last thing she wants is to start her day off worse than it already is.

She reads the texts from Dinah, that are mostly just telling her she needs to speak with Camila, but she's pulled out of her bad mood straight away when the last two messages aren't about Camila at all.

Ashley (11:12AM): hey, sorry if this is really out of the blue but i figured if youre free today we could get coffee and talk about hooking keana and lucy up

Ashley (11:12AM): this is Ashley by the way in case you didn't keep my number

After a few minutes of contemplation, Lauren decides to text back, because she thinks that her plans with Camila for today are probably cancelled because of their fight, and she wants to take her mind off things as best as she can.

Lauren (11:37AM): Hello, I am glad you texted, actually. I will meet you at half past twelve at the Starbucks near the park, if you are interested in getting coffee. And yes, I did keep your number. :)

Ashley (11:38AM): okay, see you at 12:30

Satisfied that she has plans for the day, Lauren puts her phone on her bedside table and heads downstairs, deciding to get herself a bowl of Cheerios before she goes to get ready. She smiles at her mom when she arrives in the kitchen, and as she's digging through the cupboards, Clara speaks to her.

"Are you alright?" She asks, and Lauren spins around to look at her in surprise. "You wouldn't tell me why you were crying last night when you got home, but is everything okay now?"

"I think..." Lauren bites down on her lip and shrugs, "Camz shouted at me and I don't know if we're still... if we're still together. She didn't say we weren't, but after that fight..."

"You had a fight?" Clara pats the seat next to her. "Come sit down and talk to me about it."

"Well," Lauren grabs her bowl of Cheerios and sits down, absently munching on them between words, "Dinah told me that Camila was upset because she didn't get into Stanford and I went to comfort her but then she kept telling me to leave her alone but I know that she hates being alone when she's upset but she kept telling me to go away and I wouldn't and then she shouted and I got frightened and left."

Clara squeezes her hand. "I think you two need to talk it out now that you've both calmed down. Obviously it's hard to accept when you don't get into a school you want to go to, but she shouldn't have taken it out on you when you were trying to help. But, you love each other. Anyone can see that. So if you talk about what happened, you can resolve it properly."

Lauren taps on her leg and shrugs. "I don't want to see her yet. It- it really upset me that she shouted and... if she comes over, please don't let her in. Not until I'm ready."

"Alright," Clara promises, "are you staying in today? We could watch The Lion King if you'd like."

"Oh, yes, we'll do that when I get back." Lauren smiles, because her mom never offers to watch it. She usually just waits until Lauren asks. "I'm going out to get coffee with a friend at half past twelve, but I will be back home not too long after that, so we can watch The Lion King together."