ashes to ashes ➵ camren

3. staying up

"Live in a shack?" Camila cuts in, turning around with an amused expression on her face.

"I-I didn't say that," Lauren shakes her head, biting her lip. "That's not what I-,"

"I get it," Camila laughs, shaking her head. "You expected us to be all rich and living in these marble houses, and you get here and we're gutting fish."

"I... yeah," Lauren sighs, offering the girl a nervous smile. Camila simply shrugs, sprinkling some sort of spice onto the food and turning back around to face her.

"The government has money," Camila nods. "We don't. That's the difference. The people have no say in anything. We serve them. They get what they want and do whatever they want... whenever they want."

"That's so messed up," Lauren whispers, shaking her head and looking down at the floor.

"What's it like over there?" Camila asks, turning down the heat on the oven slightly and leaning against the counter. "Isn't your government the same way?"

"If you could even call it a government," Lauren sighs, shaking her head. "It's very... loosely ruled. There's a group of people in charge but they're always outnumbered. And now with the war going on... it's basically every man for himself."

"That sounds amazing," Camila's eyes widen. "What's it like?"

"Amazing?" Lauren almost snorts at the girl's reaction. "It's not as good as you think. No government means no rules."

"Which means no curfew," Camila cuts in, nodding slowly.

"Which also means no punishment. Which leads to crime. Lots of it," Lauren explains. "You guys stay inside at night because you're forced to... we stayed inside at night because we risked getting mugged or kidnapped if we didn't."

"There's no perfect solution," Camila sighs, turning back to the oven and retrieving three plates from the cabinets. She shovels equal amounts of fish onto them, handing one to Lauren and carrying the other two over to the table. "If only people weren't crazy and power hungry."

"Or stupid," Lauren scoffs, making the smaller girl laugh. She can't help but smile to herself, realizing that making someone else laugh is a pretty good feeling.

"Dinner!" Camila calls down the hallway. Moments later, Sofi comes running into the room, jumping into her chair and almost immediately digging into her plate. Camila scolds her for acting like a caveman, but Lauren can't help but laugh.

"I'm heading out, girls," a masculine voice appears in the doorway. Lauren turns, biting her lip when Camila's father enters the room, cane in one hand, hat in the other. "Be safe, yeah?"

He pulls Camila into a hug, kissing the top of her head and doing the same to Sofi. Lauren stays frozen when he approaches her and pulls her into a hug.

"Good to have you here, Ariana," he gives her a polite nod. Camila and Lauren exchange glances, and just as Sofi opens her mouth to correct him, Camila glares at her younger sister and makes a cutting motion across her neck. Luckily, the girl gets the message, and she quickly clamps her mouth shut.

"Be safe!" Camila calls after him before the door is pulled shut. She turns back to Lauren, who is utterly confused.

"He works nights," Camila explains, sitting down and motioning for Lauren to do the same. "He sits up in the lighthouse and makes sure it stays on, basically. Like a maintenance guy."

Lauren sits down, looking down at the food on her plate and raising an eyebrow. Camila notices.

"I try my best," the brown eyed girl laughs nervously, looking down at her own plate. "It's not much, I know, but-,"