green ➸ camren

twenty two

"And I guess they like to say that everything happens for a reason. It's hard to believe sometimes," she nodded softly. "But I mean... look at us, you know? I never thought I'd be here with you. Especially when all that shit happened in high school. So maybe all this bad is just here to make us appreciate the good a bit more."

Camila turned in her seat slightly and nodded. For now, that was enough for Lauren. She squeezed the smaller girl's hand as they pulled into their driveway.

"Do you wanna try and sleep?" Lauren asked, holding the door open and watching as Wolf scurried over to rub against Camila's legs. The smaller girl bent down to cradle him in her arms before turning to Lauren and tilting her head to the side.

"You haven't slept for like two days now, aren't you tired?" Lauren asked. Camila looked down at Wolf before shrugging.

Sighing, Lauren nodded. "Well, you should at least lay down for a little bit." She saw hesitation in Camila's face and quickly held up a finger. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

Camila sighed, following the older girl into the bedroom and setting Wolf down on the bed. The white cat immediately found his perch atop one of the pillows, yawning and stretching out.

"I'm just gonna be right in the living room, okay? I have some work to get done," Lauren reached out to smooth out Camila's hair, giving her a soft smile.

With a soft nod, Camila crawled onto the bed and immediately burrowed under the covers. Wolf tilted his head to the side and pawed at her arm, but Camila sighed and gently pushed him away.

Biting her lip, Lauren forced herself to turn off the lights and leave the smaller girl alone. Spotting her phone on the counter, she quickly grabbed it and snuck back into the room, turning on her music softly and placing it beside the bed before exiting the room for the second time.

With a heavy sigh, the green eyed girl retrieved her laptop and sat down on the couch, keeping an eye on the bedroom door just in case.

Realizing she didn't have her phone, she quickly searched around until she found Camila's. She dialed Toby's number, putting the phone on speaker and hurrying to check her emails. Her inbox was overflowing, seeing as to she hadn't done any work in a few days.

"You've reached Tobias the single father of one, how may I help you?"

Lauren rolled her eyes, leaning back in the couch and scrolling through her emails. "Where's Maia?"

"She went to visit her parents and left me with the kid for two days," Toby feigned annoyance. Lucas was making noises in the background, which caused Lauren to laugh softly. "Where have you been?"

"Oh right..." Lauren breathed out slowly and bit her lip. "Did you hear about the... you know...?"

"What?"

"The shooting," Lauren sighed, wincing at her words. There was silence on the other end of the line.

"Don't tell me it w-,"

"It was," Lauren interrupted him, wanting to get the conversation over with as quickly as possible. "She's not hurt. Just a little shaken up. Well, more than a little, but... yeah," she exhaled slowly.

"Well if you ever need something to do, you two can come over and entertain the devil baby," Toby joked, understanding that Lauren didn't want to talk about it much.

"I'll keep that in mind," Lauren laughed half-heartedly, scanning her emails once more. "So...."

"So..." Toby mimicked her, making Lucas laugh in the background.

"I was thinking for the Gagery project that we could get H-," Lauren began, but was interrupted.

"Woah, woah, woah, we're working?" Toby laughed. Lauren raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Dude, don't stress yourself out."

"It needs to be done," Lauren shook her head. "It's fine."

"No it's not," Toby rebutted. "Take a break, Laur. I can handle it from here. The Gagery project isn't even due for another month."

"But-,"

"I'm serious. Otherwise I'm gonna send Lucas over to slobber all over you," Toby laughed. Sighing, Lauren shut her laptop.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I can handle it for now, I promise," Toby laughed at Lauren's hesitancy. "Go... take a nap or something. Just give yourself a break."

"Thanks," Lauren laughed softly. After saying their goodbyes, the green eyed girl sighed, bringing her hands up to her forehead and rubbing at her temple. She, too, was exhausted.

Quietly, the green eyed girl tiptoed down the hallway and back into the bedroom. She silently celebrated when she found Camila asleep, one of her legs dangling off the bed. Wolf sat beside the smaller girl protectively, tilting his head to the side when he heard the door creak open.

Lauren remained silent, sitting down on her side of the bed and letting out the breath she'd been holding. Wolf padded over to her, sniffing her hand tentatively. Once he confirmed it was Lauren, he hopped off the bed and headed into the hallway, content that he had left Camila with someone trustworthy.

Sighing, the green eyed girl ran a hand through her hair. She felt the bed move behind her, but just as she was about to turn around, a pair of arms snaked around her waist.

The smaller girl scooted forward behind Lauren, resting her chin on the older girl's shoulder and sighing softly. Lauren was frozen for a few seconds, shocked by Camila's actions.

"Did I wake you up?" Lauren asked softly, turning her head slightly to try and look at the girl. Camila just shrugged, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the older girl's.

"I love you," Lauren whispered, letting out a tired sigh when Camila didn't respond. She caught sight of their reflection in the mirror and bit her lip.

Gently, Camila moved one of her hands to find Lauren's, slowly tracing a heart on the back of her palm. She lifted her head to see if the older girl understood.

Lauren glanced down at their hands and then over at Camila, smiling softly. She took the younger girl's hand in hers, repeating the action by tracing a heart on her palm before kissing it, gently curling Camila's fingers into a fist.

Yeah, things would get better.

--

a/n: there's hopeeeeeee

also, quick reminder that there won't be an update tomorrow bc i'm spending part of the weekend at my friend's house. (with her weird cousin who thinks flirting consists of making fun of something god help me) but anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up

as always, have a wonderful wonderful day and be nice to yourselves

- lena (lenajfc on twitter, tendermoonlight on tumblr)