The dragonfly tattoo artist

20

The knot in Camila's throat became increasingly unbearable.

"Dad's at home with the others, but he doesn't stop calling. He is very worried" Dinah told her. Dinah tried to hold back her tears, but every second a rebellious drop of sadness slipped down her cheek.

"Jamie's car is a mess, Mila. You should see it... It's horrible."

But Camila didn't want to see it, or imagine it, or think about it. All she wanted was for her sister to be okay.

Unable to hold back her tears, she let herself be wrapped in the arms of her girlfriend, who silently tried to comfort her. Clara stroked her back before she spoke.

"I'll go buy a coffee. I think I'm left here" The woman announced subtly "I'll be waiting for you, Lauren."

"I'll be there."

When Clara left, Dinah took courage to present a false smile to the painter.

"Hello, idiot. That dress looks terrible on you."

"Thank you, Dinah. I didn't expect anything more from you."

But in the midst of all this, Lauren reached out to the tallest girl to make her understand that she wasn't going to leave her alone.

"From the way Dinah talked about you I thought you'd be more... intimidating" It was Normani, who, like her foster sister, was trying to keep her feelings inside.

"I am, I swear. This is just my worried girlfriend phase."

Normani, in tears, laughed at her.

"She's adorable, Dinah."

"Thank you. I guess you're Camila's only foster sister who doesn't behave like an idiot."

Camila smiled in her arms. Lauren knew how to liven up a heavy atmosphere like that without turning it into a party.

"I would stay longer, but I have to go" The painter announced with a certain melancholy while holding Camila's hands to take them away from her body. Her grip felt like the last effort of two opposing poles of a magnet not to separate, and her eyes looked at Lauren as they asked silently if everything would be okay. "Call me if anything happens, Camz."

"I will."

"Okay. You can also text to me, which would be much better. My phone makes a funny sound when I get written and a lot of people get upset. It's a show."

"Then I will text to you."

Lauren simply kissed her before hugging her tightly, just as the tattoo artist had done every time her heart broke.

"I hope everything goes well."

But the phrase didn't seem to be addressed only to the tattoo artist.

***

The tattoo artist approached Troy gently. All of her foster siblings, who had arrived shortly after her, comforted each other.

Troy, on the other hand, had no one.

Camila hugged him without asking if she could do it, and Troy received this gesture as if he really needed it. She pulled back to look into his eyes, those that were covered by a blue curtain full of contained pain, and discovered how heartbreaking the eyes of one who suffers for love can be.

"Are you all right, Troy?"

He thought about it before he answered.

"I don't think so" The tall boy replied as he crossed his arms.