weak ➸ camren

chapter 21 ➸ exit wounds

"Are we going or what?" Lauren sighed, tossing the half eaten apple into the trash can.

"Yeah," Dinah nodded and grabbed her keys from the counter, ushering Lauren outside and towards her car. "Mani wanted pizza, so we're meeting them at Laurienzo's."

Lauren's teeth clenched. Camila liked pizza. Well, she had before. Lauren doubted Camila had a favorite food. Dinah noticed the girl tense up and immediately realized the cause of her frustration.

"Hey, c'mon, let's just try and forget about it for now," Dinah said, placing a hand on Lauren's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Lauren sighed and shrugged softly.

"Yeah, whatever," she slid into the passenger seat of Dinah's car and lay her head against the window as they drove.

Ten minutes later, they were sliding into the booth in the back of the restaurant, where her two other bandmates were already sitting. Ally smiled softly at Lauren, who attempted to return the gesture but ended up just nodding in acknowledgement.

"How are you, Lo?" Normani asked, reaching across the table and laying her hand atop the green eyed girl's. Lauren looked up and shrugged.

"Fine," she sighed, looking down at her menu to try and appear as if she were doing something.

"That's a lie," Dinah said from beside her. Lauren glared at her, rolling her eyes.

"There's nothing I can do about it anyway, so I might as well just forget about it and get over it," Lauren huffed, grabbing her glass of water and sliding it closer, taking a sip and running a hand through her hair. She didn't know losing someone could be physically painful, but her whole body ached.

Her other bandmates were unsure of how to respond. Ever since Camila had left, Lauren had been like a ticking time bomb. One wrong move, and you'd set her off. They all had to be extremely careful of what they said around her.

"Laur," Ally sighed. "We know she's your best friend, she's our friend too, but you... you can't keep being so hard on yourself. It's doing you no good."

"She's not just my best friend," Lauren growled, pressing her palms onto the table and pushing herself up. Confused, the other girls all exchanged glances. Before they could question Lauren any further, the green eyed girl had already slipped out of the booth and was storming off towards the bathroom.

The second she was alone, Lauren's fist whirled around and connected with the wall. She yelped when she realized the wall was solid tile, and pain shot up her arm. Cursing herself for being so stupid, she slid down with her back to the wall and sat on the floor, trying to breathe normally.

Trying to calm herself down, she began scrolling through tumblr to get her mind off of things. A picture caught her eye and she tapped on it so she could read it. Blue, scrawled pen was written on a torn piece of paper.

"That is the problem. If she wanted to dance I would let her wreck the furniture. If she wanted to cook I would let her burn down the house. And if she wanted to scream I would let her deafen me. I've never loved anyone enough to let them destroy me but God, she could take me by the throat and my eyes would sparkle at the mere inches between us."

Lauren bit her lip at how much this post reminded her of Camila. She reblogged it, glancing up at the username of the person who'd caused it to appear on her dashboard. Her phone nearly fell out of her hands.

waakeme-up

Camila.

Lauren quickly went to her blog, realizing the picture had been reblogged within the last hour. Her breathing quickened and she felt as if she was going to pass out. Immediately, her shaking hands dialed Camila's number and pressed the phone to her ear, praying for an answer.