BLACK CRESCENT

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

TW : Mention of Miscarriage and suicide attempt

LAUREN

I'm an idiot.

My Camila, God bless her, was a runner by nature (although a clumsy one but still). The moment she got spooked, she had a tendency of throwing up walls, and last night I must have scared the hell out of her. I hadn't meant to tell her that I loved her out loud. I couldn't help but think it, and before I could stop myself, it was spilling out of my mouth... we made love, but she never once said it back, and she didn't bring it up again.

"This is a bad idea," Taylor said in a panic, as Zayn held her back from taking their daughter out of Camila's arms.

"What if she wakes up at night and she doesn't see me?"

"She will cry, go back to sleep, and see you again in the morning," Zayn sighed, placing Bellamy's bags on the floor. "She has everything she could possibly need. It's just one night, she'll be okay sweetheart," he reassured Taylor.

She shook her head, and took Bellamy back into her arms. Zayn groaned, shaking his head at her. "I'll be in the car."

I understood his frustration. Since Bellamy's birth, Taylor had never let her out of her sight for more than a few hours. She had kind of put everyone else on the back burner. But I also understood Tay's reasons; they had tried for years to have a child of their own and had suffered numerous miscarriages. While pregnant, she didn't want to get her hopes up and she had often complained or ignored the life growing inside her because she was worried about losing it. Now that she had a healthy little girl right in front of her, being apart was almost more than she could bear.

"Tay," I said, but I wasn't sure what to say to her.

"Taylor," Camila said softly, moving closer to them both, "I basically raised my baby sister. I never went anywhere without her. I went to a high school right across the street from her elementary school. I get it, and I promise to send you pictures during the night. But I think you both need a break before you crack."

She sighed, kissing Bellamy's head before handing her over to Camila.

"Thank you."

"No problem, she's so quiet, we'll be fine," Camila said as she rocked her.

"I'll be here as well, so go before Zayn writes a big speech in the car," I said, taking her hand and leading her to the door.

"Okay, if you—"

"We got it, we'll be fine. Goodbye," I cut her off, as I ushered her though the front door.

Zayn mouthed thank you, as he held open the passenger side door for her. Waving at them, I closed the door before leaning back against it. Inside, Camila sat on the floor, and placed Bellamy in her bright pink princess bouncy chair.

"You always know what to say," I said to her, as I crouched down beside them.

She smiled, still staring at Bellamy, "Most moms— good moms— just want to know that their kids are safe. It makes me happy to see how much Taylor loves her. After we were born, my mother kind of just left us in the care of our father. He was writer, so he stayed at home while she was out making a name for herself... sorry, that was depressing—"

"Don't be, you can talk to me about anything." I kissed the side of her head and stood back up again. "What do you want to eat?"

"I'm fine right now. I need to study anyway, but thank you," she said, grabbing a few books out of her bag and dropping onto the couch. I noticed that she didn't look at me once.

"Oh, right, you have other classes. How are they?"

I'm so lame. I'm trying to start conversation with my girlfriend, because I said the damn "L" word.

"Compared to yours? Not nearly as stressful."

Still no eye contact.

"Even Professor Noland? She gives out papers like Christmas gifts."

She shrugged. "Yeah, but honestly if you regurgitate everything she says in class in your paper, you'll be fine. It's like she doesn't even notice it's her own words."

I wanted to shake the living daylights out of her. I could accept the fact that she wasn't ready. What I couldn't accept was the wall she was rebuilding right before my eyes. Bellamy threw her toy across the floor, and only then did I see her face as she handed it back to her.

"I thought you wanted to eat?" she asked, flipping through her book again.

"Yeah, I'm going to."

Walking into the kitchen, I dialed the one person in the world who I knew would understand this.

"Sofia?" I said softly.

"What's up Lauren, how's my sister?"

"I think I broke her," I half joked, pulling the jar of jelly out from the fridge.

"Eww..."

"Not like that! I told her I loved her last night."

"No. No. No," she repeated.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. And now I can't even get her to look me in the eyes."

"There are only three people in this world who have ever said that to her... actually two since I don't know about the first one; but still... only our grandmother and me. And in all these years, she's never said it back to either of us. The best I've ever gotten was a 'me too.' "

Well at least it wasn't just me.

"So basically, I'm screwed?"

"Pretty much. But I'm glad you said it. Just give her a while, she'll reset herself. And it will be like it never happened .oh crap. I have to go Laur, I'm grounded, and if my grandmother sees me on the phone..."

"What did you do?" I asked as I cut my sandwich in half and turned around to wash out a plate.

"I snuck out to see my boyfriend. Don't tell Mila! Promise me you won't, you owe me for all the free sister advice."

"Fine, I won't tell her—"

Turning around, I found Camila standing in the kitchen with Bellamy on her hip hiccupping as she rubbed her back.

"Okay, bye," Sofia said before the line went dead.

I said bye back, even though the line was dead.

"She has a bottle of gripe water in her bag, can you hand it to me. It's the clear one," she pointed.

Nodding, I dug through it for a moment before turning around and handing it back to her.

"How do you know how to do all of this? Most people of your age would hate spending their weekends like this."

Finally, she looked to me and smiled. "My grandmother says I was born at forty and by the time I was ten, I could play bridge with the best of them."

"So that would make you the cougar in this relationship?"

"Is that what I am now?" she asked, holding up Bellamy's bottle, "I can work with it. But can you really keep your body looking young at fit with all of that?"

Her eyes glanced at the chips, beer and sandwich combo I had going on my plate.

"Don't even go there."

She laughed, causing Bellamy to wave her tiny hands in excitement. Shaking her hand, Camila looked up at me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

CAMILA

BUZZ

BUZZ

"Camz, your phone," Lauren muttered beside me as she rolled over.

"I'm too tired to move," I groaned.

Bellamy had just went down for the night after refusing to eat. It had taken her a good two hours to realize that her parents weren't around her anymore, and once she did, she lost it and began screaming as loud as her little lungs would let her, for as long as they would let her. I just wanted to sleep, but my phone wouldn't stop vibrating against the bedside table.

BUZZ

BUZZ

"Camz..."

"ugh yes Lauren...I'm getting it" I grumbled, as I sat up and reached for it. The time was 1:53am, which meant it was too late for anyone to be calling for anything.

"What?"

There was silence.

"Sofia?" I looked at the caller ID.

"Turn on the news."

"Sofia it's two in the morning why are—"

"CAMILA! Turn on the damn news!"

What the hell is wrong with her?

"Okay, hold on." I got up out of bed, trying not to wake up Bellamy who slept in a makeshift crib next to us.

When I turned on the television I didn't see anything.

"Sofi are you sure this isn't local news for you? I don't see anything—"

"They aren't talking about it, but look at the bottom banner, under the Twitter feed."

I searched, watching as the sentence rolled by, still not seeing it anything...

"Sofi..." I stopped, and so did every other part of me. I couldn't breathe and soon even standing was too hard. I collapsed onto the ground.

"Camz?" Lauren called out to me.

"CAMILA?"

I heard her, but I didn't see her until she was right in front of my face.

"What's wrong?"

Everything.

"My father tried to commit suicide." I said the words, but I found myself unable to believe them.

My mind was spinning, and all I could think about was getting him out before it was too late.

"I need to get him out. Lauren, please, help me get him out."

Collapsing into her lap, I cried, I sobbed, I begged her... and part of me knew that this was going to destroy us. This was the other shoe that had been waiting to drop. And as it fell, it landed on the back of my neck.