Black Converse (Camren AU)

Part 1

Lauren opened the creaky door as quietly as she could. This time she remembered to maintain her habit of making a lot of noise while getting in. Camila hated noise. Unless she was the one making it, Lauren figured. Before she could even step inside, the lungs-burning scent of cigarette smoke filled up her nostrils. It took no longer than a second for her to spot Camila sprawled on their shared mattress, a half finished cigarette hanging from her chapped lips and an almost empty pack laying on the floor, but reachable from Camila's position on the bed. The chocolate eyed didn't bother to give Lauren a glance, still staring blankly forward, so Lauren didn't bother to say hello. She knew it would probably anger the other, but ignored the muffled voice in her mind that told her the consequences as she paced towards the small window that was closed, unsurprisingly. Camila never bothers to open it when she smokes, but Lauren just bears with it, never asks why. "I thought you said you'll stop."

Camila released a breathy laugh, that faded and quit echoing in both's ears faster than Lauren's words to her. 

Here's a thing that Camila liked to do, Lauren learned, when the two girls were talking, (which wasn't a thing that tended to happen too often because Lauren normally tried to avoid conversations) Camila liked to listen to Lauren's words and then stay quiet. Not to reply until she made sure that Lauren lost any hope of getting a reply. Only then, she replied.

Three quiet minutes passed, in which Lauren once again lost the hope of ever getting a reply from the smoking girl, before Camila's raspy voice filled up the smoke-filled apartment. "I don't give a fuck about you trying to quit smoking." The brown eyed said, her voice laced with a laugh, but somehow still filled with venom, which made Lauren flinch slightly. "In fact," Camila continued, as if throughout those three quiet minutes, she'd crafted a whole speech in her mind. "I don't have to do anything you ask." She said through her teeth, releasing another huff of smoke. "Did you stop wearing those ruined converse when I asked you to?" Camila asked rhetorically, which made Lauren glance down at her shoes, black Converse that she's been wearing everyday for.. God knows how long. 

People didn't have to ask, or to see Lauren and Camila's tiny and lame one-room apartment to figure that the two girls were broke; all they really had to do was to cast a look down at Lauren's black Converse.

"We can't afford a new pair." The emerald eyed teen told the other as if it was the most obvious thing, and it really was. But Lauren knew that Camila hated when she spoke in that tone, as if she knew something that Camila didn't.

"Again, I don't give a fuck." Camila spat, getting up from the mattress and walking towards the other girl, who took an unsteady step back. Camila's brown orbs searched for Lauren's hand, grasping it harshly, her eyes running over Lauren's fingertips. "Did you stop biting on your nails when I asked you to?" She asked rhetorically once again, raising her voice as she teared up her gaze from Lauren's broken nails, that were covered with a very thin layer of dry blood, to look into the emerald eyes. "You started doing this after you quit smoking, out of the blue! Suddenly quitting and asking me to stop as well! Whatever, Lauren. Who do you even think you are? You're not in a position to tell me what to fucking do with my fucking life and I don't care if the way I choose to live my own life somehow damages the way you suddenly chose to live yours!" Camila shouted with such hatred in her voice that made Lauren want to crawl into the corner and die. 

Normally, cigarettes calm people down. But not Camila. Not much could calm the hot-headed girl down. 

"You think you can quit? You're too fucking weak, if you haven't realized." With these words, Camila turned back in the direction of the bed, her eyes searching the floor until she found exactly what she was looking for. She bent down, picking up the almost empty cigarette pack. She tossed the pack at Lauren, who caught it reflexively and looked down at the object with slight horror. "Stop torturing yourself." Camila added before throwing her finished cigarette on the floor and stepping on it, having lost the care for aesthetics.