weak ➸ camren

chapter 22 ➸ resistance

Standing in the kitchen any longer would make her feel sick, so she slowly made her way upstairs. That's when her heart dropped in her chest.

Taking a tedious step forward, she peered into the room where she had nearly... ended things. She brought her hand up to her heart when she saw the note she had written torn to shreds on the floor. It looked as if Lauren had made no attempt to clean anything up. Instead, she'd just shut the door and forgotten about it. Out of sight, out of mind.

"Are you okay...?"

Camila whipped her head around when she heard the familiar voice behind her. Her stomach flipped when she saw how upset Lauren looked. She had been crying, it was obvious. But the green eyed girl had tried to hide it.

Not being able to keep her distance for any longer, Camila was compelled to run forward, wrapping her arms around the other girl and burying her head in her neck. She'd been looking forward to hugging her ever since she had been admitted to the hospital. Some days, it was the only vision that kept her going.

Lauren stood frozen, not making any attempt to return the hug. After a few seconds, she peeled the smaller girl off of her and took a step backwards.

"I asked you a question," she ran a hand through her hair and studied Camila. She had gained some weight back, her skin was practically glowing. She looked a lot younger, and a lot healthier.

"Oh... yeah, right," Camila bit her lip before shrugging. "Are you okay?"

Lauren's defenses immediately sprung back up. "Fine," she mumbled before turning to walk back into the bedroom. Panicking, Camila lunged forward and grabbed the taller girl's wrist.

"Wait," she blurted out. Lauren turned around and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why are you... why did you... are you mad at me?"

Lauren's face underwent a series of emotions before it went completely blank. Unsure of what to say, Lauren tugged out of Camila's grip and walked back into her bedroom, sitting down on the edge of her bed and sighing.

Camila stood tediously in the doorway, biting her nails and trying to figure out what she should say.

"I just... I never thought you'd be mad at me... I-I..."

"I'm not mad, Camila," Lauren finally spoke up, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground by her feet.

"Then what are you?"

"Confused."

Camila bit her lip. "Why?"

There was a long pause of silence and she heard Lauren sigh heavily. Just as she was about to leave and escape the awkward tension, Lauren stood up.

"Why would you even think about doing something like that?" her voice was laced with disbelief, not anger. Camila bit the inside of her cheek and hung her head down to the ground, feeling guilty for doing this to Lauren. If only she had known how this would have affected the green eyed girl, maybe she would have thought twice about it.

"I-I don't k—,"

"How could you? I was so... so..." Lauren let out a grunt of frustration and punched the door, sending it flying back against the wall. Camila flinched.

"I didn't, though," Camila came to her own defense after composing herself.

"But you wanted to?"

"I-I don't know, I just... I needed a way out," Camila huffed, bringing her hand to her face and shaking her head. "I don't know."

 Lauren just stared at her blankly.

"I stopped myself before I could..." Camila added quietly, looking down at the ground. Memories of the note came flooding back to Lauren and she bit her lip, remembering how firm in her decision Camila had sounded.