This Isn't Love ➳ Camila/You

Chapter Fourteen

A crash from the dining room made Lauren groan. She counted to ten in her head as she made her way to the kitchen.

There Camila stood, trafficked between the slop of food and broken plates.

"I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz." Camila scolded herself.

Lauren inhaled sharply, she tapped her hand against her thigh. Camila had burnt dessert and dropped the main meal, what were her guests going to eat?

She remembered her countless days at the center, she'd learned to think objectively before residing to her emotions.

The food was ruined, there was nothing she could do about it. Yelling at her wife wouldn't magically make their meal reappear.

"Don't say that babe, it was an accident." Lauren whisked Camila away from the middle of the mess. She planted a gentle kiss on the side of her wife's head.

"It was my fault, love, I'll help clean up." Louis apologized, bending over to help clean the splatter. As the trio cleaned, Y/N and the rest of her brothers shared glances.

None of them had expected Lauren to react so....gently.

Not even the slight clench of a fist or raise of voice.

"Good thing Harry made brownies." Lauren brought the tray over to the dinner table. It was the only idea to pop in her head for her guests not to leave on empty stomachs.

Y/N and her brothers had no problem with skipping straight to dessert, they devoured half of the tray amongst themselves.

As time went on, Camila and Lauren shared displays of affection. A simple nudge or touch of the arm made Y/N's heart hurt, and once they kissed, she decided she'd had enough of dinner.

She needed to get a message across to her brothers without alerting Lauren.

Y/N giggled audibly, tapping her foot across the table to reach Niall's. He raised his head to look at her, confused about what she was getting at. She laughed once more, squinting her eyes to make them appear tired.

Lauren turned to her, and Y/N shot her a goofy smile. Lauren shook her head disapprovingly, she hadn't seen Y/N this high since the day Dinah accidentally fed them a batch of edibles.

Catching onto the act, Zayn raised his eyebrows and gasped.

"Y/N, did you eat the sour candy I left on the table!?"

Y/N nodded hesitantly. Zayn continued, "They had THC in them!"

Lauren reached over to lift Y/N's chin, the girl flashed her a toothy grin.

"What are you doing?" She asked, giggling lightly.

"I've never seen you this high, it's funny."

"Y'know what's funny?" Y/N moved closer to Lauren, "Your face."

Camila cackled at Y/N's joke and Lauren light-heartedly flicked Y/N's forehead. Picking up on the act, Louis tossed his sister over his shoulder.

"I think it's time to go."

On their way out, Y/N pointed to Louis' butt, "Yours is bigger than mine."

Camila laughed even harder and Y/N had to keep herself from acting giddy. She loved hearing Camila laugh. Louis carried his sister across the yard and into their house, flipping her over his shoulder onto the couch. Harry remained skeptical over Lauren, he slammed the door shut and made his thoughts known.

"Did anyone buy that shit?" Harry scoffed, drawing the curtains to a close.

Y/N thought the situation over. Three months ago, Lauren would've dragged Camila aside to shout at her for any little mistake. But this time, she kept calm, and Y/N couldn't deny Lauren had made progress.

"You can't expect her to change completely! She needs more time." Y/N defended her friend, Louis sided with Harry.

"Exactly!" He raised his voice, "Our presence could've affected her reaction."

Louis was certain Lauren had stuck with her bad habits. In his mind, Lauren hadn't hit Camila due to the pressure they'd put on her.

Liam stood by his sister, "Lauren stayed an extra month in rehab when she didn't need to."

Niall agreed, Lauren had chosen to extend her stay. He couldn't rule out her determination for wanting to improve herself.

Five heads turned to Zayn, awaiting his choice on who to side with during the argument. He exhaled roughly, bringing his hands up to his temples. He didn't find the need to pick a side. Zayn didn't care about whether Lauren changed or not. He simply focused on Camila's safety and more importantly, his own well-being. The first time being put in a situation like this, he'd become unhappy with his lifestyle.

He had lost an enormous amount of weight and his anxiety had become overwhelming. As his siblings continued to stare at him, Zayn felt physically ill.

"I want to live my life without worrying about someone for once!" Zayn stood at the center of the room, "First mom and now Camila?"

He'd spent his whole childhood on edge, worrying about his mother's safety. He refused to spend his adulthood worrying about Camila's. It was emotionally exhausting, he couldn't do it anymore.

"We can't help people who don't want our help!" Zayn continued to shout. It was the reason he left in the first place - to get out of his mother's situation. Now all he could think about was leaving. It worked for him the first time, it wouldn't hurt to try again.

"Leaving again?" Louis spoke through gritted teeth as Zayn grabbed his keys.

"Zayn, please, wait!" Y/N followed behind her exasperated brother. He stood at the doorway to give her a chance to speak.

"You need to leave because you want to feel normal, I understand!" Y/N began her speech, Zayn kept his back to her.

"Mom and dad put us through hell, we didn't deserve that."

They didn't deserve it, nobody did. But it happened, there was no changing that.

"But I need you to be here for me! I need you to understand me!" Y/N needed Zayn's support. She was trying to help Camila, the girl she loved deeply, to escape the situation they'd once been in.

Zayn stood strong, he picked up on every word Y/N spoke but he needed fresh air and time for himself.

"I love you, you're my big brother."

Y/N made a play on his past words. Zayn choked up at hearing her quote his old note, the one he'd left specifically for her. Just as Y/N thought she'd gotten through to Zayn, he made a beeline for his car.

"All he does is run." Harry slammed the door shut. He was fuming. Zayn had chosen to leave them all for the second time, like they were expendable.

The night continued,

Y/N spammed Zayn with calls and texts but received no reply.

Apart from Zayn, she continued to worry about the girl next door. Liam caught his sister peering through the windows to try and look into their neighbor's house. He sighed, slightly shoving her aside to open the curtains. His eyes bounced around from window to window until he focused on the couple's bedroom. Liam held back a gasp as he followed the shadows undressing one another.

He pulled the curtains to a close and turned to his sister with a stony expression, "She's fine."

Y/N offered a tight-lipped smile. From Liam's quickness to shut the curtains, it was clear she didn't need to worry about Camila for the night. So she flung herself into bed, putting her headphones in and turning them up to max volume. Y/N dug her head into her pillows, she pushed her worry for Zayn to the back of her head.

As she started to drift off to sleep, a body caused her mattress to sink beside her. Y/N slipped off her headphones and cranked her neck to the side. She blinked furiously, trying to get an image through the dark.

"I love you, you're my little sister."

At hearing Zayn's endearing whisper, Y/N tackled him into a hug.

Her brother was here to stay.