A Little Love

Chapter 7

"I did want to stay with her but I need to spend some time nursing Dinah's ego," Lauren rolled her eyes.

She was having coffee with one of her closest friends, Ally, while Camila was taking a nap. She was the only person she had managed to get hold of to look after Camila.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Ally asked, taking the last sip of her coffee.

"Yeah, I found out she's been tonguing her meds," Lauren sighed. "And it's important she doesn't know that we know."

"Right, what's she on?"

"Adderall and ritalin, I have no idea why she's not taking them but it's a pretty sensitive issue," Lauren explained, taking both of their mugs to the sink. "It's time to go wake her up from her nap, she's going to be in a bit of a mood."

"Don't worry, but you know I can't do this for long, Laur," Ally explained, tucking her hair behind her ears.

"I know, and thank you," Lauren sighed, leading Ally upstairs. "Hopefully her good-for-nothing parents will make an appearance soon."

"Hey," Ally scolded, swatting her friend's arm. "She might hear."

"Camila?" Laurens said softly, opening the door to Camila's room which was dark, lit only by a small lamp. "This music helps get her to sleep when she's not ready to cooperate," Lauren explained, referring to the soft lullabies playing on Camila's iPad. 

Lauren turned off the music before reaching down to pick run her hand up and down Camila's arm.

"Mmm," Camila groaned, turning over.

"Open those pretty eyes for me, nena," Lauren hummed as Camila slowly woke up. "It's usually good to not turn the lights on immediately," Lauren said quietly. "Babe, this is Ally," Lauren said as Camila sat up, rubbing her eye.

"Up," Camila whined, reaching for Lauren to lift her up.

"I need you to be a good girl for me," Lauren said, immediately able to tell by Camila's behaviour that the bad mood she had been in since yesterday when she found out about her parents wasn't going anywhere.

"Out," Camila whined, banging on the crib bars impatiently.

"Okay, okay," Lauren said, picking Camila up and lifting her over the bars. "Do you want to show Ally how good you can be while I change you?"

"Nuh-uh, I wanna play," Camila said, jumping up and down.

"She has diapers but she only wears them to school and at night time, the rest of the time she wears pull-ups which need to be changed fairly often, and always after a nap," Lauren explained.

"I'm not wet," Camila insisted, trying to drag Lauren out the door. "Play time."

"Lie on your mat, Mila," Lauren said in a firm tone Camila knew not to mess with. "What are we going to do after this?" Lauren asked, trying to distract Camila as she took off her wet pull-up.

"Bounce on the trampoline and then play jumping on your bed with Milo and then hide and seek," Camila rambled, letting Lauren wipe her down and change her into a new pull-up.

"What's the first thing we do after a nap, Mila?" Lauren asked.

"Change my pullie," Camila asked, sitting up.

"And then what?" Lauren prompted.

"Baba?" Camila asked after a moment's thought.

"Good girl, we're going to have a snack," Lauren smiled, leading Camila out of her bedroom. "Ally's going to be watching you until Mummy and Daddy come back, so we need to show her how we do everything," Lauren explained, watching as Camila finally took notice of her friend.

"Hi," Ally said softly.

"No," Camila muttered, her demeanour changing completely.

"Ally's my friend, Camz, she's really nice," Lauren promised.

"I think a snack sounds like a good idea, don't you?" Ally asked encouragingly.

"Play," Camila pouted, standing up before starting to jump down the stairs.

"And she's really fast," Lauren chuckled nervously.

"Lauren?" Camila asked, sprinting back up the stairs. "You need to play with me."

"We're going to have some baba first and hopefully a snack, doll," Lauren said. "She usually has her milk in a sippycup, but when she's a bit crankier I put it in her bottle."

"I'm not cranky," Camila said, looking up at Lauren.

"Which is why I'm giving you a sippy," Lauren explained.

"Can you carry me?" Camila asked, tugging on Lauren's arm.

"Uh, why don't you ask Ally?" Lauren suggested, knowing she had to leave soon.

"But I want you to," Camila jutted out her bottom lip. 

"Angel, I need you to be a big girl, remember?" Lauren sighed, growing guiltier by the minute. "Alz, I'll show you how to make her sippy cup, Mila, can you go get your shoes and we'll help you put them on over here."

"We're going outside," Camila giggled excitedly before running off.

"You're going to need this for when I leave," Lauren said sadly, handing Ally the star-themed pacifier.

"It's not going to be easy, is it?" Ally asked.

"No, but I'm going to see her at school and I'll come check up on her whenever I can," Lauren said, taking the sippycup out of the microwave. "I should get going in a minute, but I'm hoping taking her out to the trampoline will be a good distraction."

"LoLo, help please," Camila said, running in with her shoes in her hand.

"Sweetheart, I need to go now," Lauren said gently, bending down in front of Camila. "But Ally's going to take you to play in the garden and bounce on the trampoline."

"No, d-don't leave me," Camila said nervously, clinging on to Lauren's arm tightly.

"Tell you what, how about I call Ally tonight at bedtime and I can sing for you, and then tomorrow Miss Epseley will bring you to see me at lunchtime like always," Lauren promised, squeezing Camila's hands reassuringly.

"No, I want you,"  Camila choked out through sobs.

"I'm sorry, my love," Lauren sighed, pulling Camila into a hug. "But I know you're going to be really good for Ally."

"Camila, should we go take this to the trampoline?" Ally suggested, holding up the sippycup of milk.

"No, LoLo," Camila sobbed, tears streaming down her face.

"Hey, look, what's this?" Ally said, pulling out the pacifier Lauren had given her earlier. 

Lauren took this as her cue to leave, glancing at the upset girl one last time before walking quickly out of the kitchen, doing her level best to avoid the sobs. She went to her room and grabbed her bags before walking out the door. The moment she was sat down in her car, she rested her head on the stirring wheel, trying to not feel guilty for leaving Camila.

"Hey, babe, I'm on my way," she said into her phone.

"Okay, see you soon," Dinah said before hanging up.

At last, Lauren had a night to herself. She could have a bit to drink and watch something other than Peppa Pig or Sofia the First. She didn't have to worry about diapers or sippycups of milk or disastrous bath times. 

So why didn't she want it?

***