The Girl Nextdoor

Chapter 56

Lauren's POV

I held out my hand for Camila to hold. She looked at me as if I was crazy. And I didn't blame her, I mean the cliff was pretty steep. Almost unclimbable. But a little risk never hurt anybody.

"You're not serious are you?"

"I've never been more serious in my life." I said, my heart practically leaping out of my chest.

Camila stifled a chuckle before ran her hand through her hair, and gave in, "I can't believe I'm doing this." She said placing her hand in mine.

"Me either."

Camila's eyes practically jumped out of their sockets, "Wait what?"

"You'll see. But you gotta trust me. Are you ready?"

Camila gulped.

"I'll take that as a yes." I said before pulling her up towards the rocky terrain.

As clumsy as she was, she almost fell a few times but I was sure to keep a good hold on her. Afterall, the trail up the cliff wasn't even as bad as I made it seem. It was just a little steep with a few loose rocks here and there but it was pretty manageable. But even so, it was really cute watching Camila's uncoordinated figure struggle up. I guided her most of the way and we made it up in as little as 10 minutes.

Worst part of it all was that she was having an some type of an asthma attack by the time we reached the top and I felt a little guilty. I directed her towards a safe spot near the edge to sit. I crouched down at her heaving figure and removed a loose strand from her face and tucked it behind her ear. I found myself caressing her cheek afterwords. Camila's eyes closed as she trapped the sensation of my fingertips against her skin.

"That wasn't too bad, was it?"

Camila shook her head and tried to counter but she couldn't gather enough air to do so.

"Hey, just sit down and relax. I don't want you to pass out on me."

She nodded and continued to control her breathing. I stayed there until she didn't seem like she was dying anymore. It took a minute or two, but eventually she was able to catch her breath again.

I smiled and kissed her temple once she was situated. She smiled back in response.

"Do you want me to continue the story?"

"Please." Camila's raspy voice said.

I half smiled and sat next to her, "Alright well, after I made it up here, I fell to my knees when my eyes saw this view. At the time, I felt like I was on top of the world. Like the glistening blue ocean and the beautiful red sky was mine. I was even convinced that the blazing sun was mine. I felt that I had something. And the fact that I was able to have something so beautiful, broke me. It was too good to be true and before I knew it, I started to cry. I know it's stupid but-"

"It's not stupid." Camila interrupted, "It's beautiful."

You're beautiful. Oh my god Lauren shut up and continue.

I half smiled at her, "Well, yeah I could help it. I was really overwhelmed by a feeling of comfort and safety when I set foot on this place. It just felt as if all my problems had been drained away. But in the end, they're always there, but I like to come here to forget about them for a while."

"How long have you been coming here?"

"Here, 14. Akela's food truck, 13."

"And...what do you think about when you're up here?"

I sighed and stifled a chuckle, "A lot of shit Camz."

"Like your dad?"

I furrowed my brows because the thought of him struck my heart like a sword, "Yeah, him. Sometimes cara, sometimes you, sometimes life in general. It depends."