Til Death Do us Part (Camren)

Chapter 22

Lauren's POV

It's been another uneventful few days in the office. We were able to put the Robertson case behind us, so all I did for the second part of the day was a lot of paperwork. I told Camila that I would be home late tonight, but since the case is done, I'm able to get off a bit earlier than I thought. I decide to instead surprise her.

When I walk in the door, the entire apartment is silent. "Camz?" I say, hoping for a response.

When I don't get one, I go room to room, looking for her. When I get to the bedroom, I find her sitting down on the floor, facing the opposite wall. I slowly walk in, careful not to make my presence known.

Her headphones are on, blasting music and I can hear her tiny voice, humming along. I stand just outside the doorway with my head peeking into the room. She occasionally hums something before shaking her head and reaching down in front of her, completing a task I can't see from here. Just as I'm about to step closer to take a look, she huffs in frustration and slams something in front of her before tossing it to the side - a notebook.

She runs her hands through her hair before picking up her phone and scrolling through it. I can now make out a familiar beat emitting through the headphones as Camila shifts her weight onto her knees and lays down on her stomach, now singing with much less hesitation

Downtown we let it go

Sunset high and our bodies low

Blood rush in the hazy glow

My hands, your bones

Loose up we break the scene

One step deep as you fall to me

Heart clap, we skip a beat

Count one two three

I watch in awe. I've known that Camila used to be in plays in high school, but I had no idea how much of a talented singer she is. After the song ends, and she scrolls on her phone to pick another, and I slowly approach her, careful not to scare her.

"Baby?" I say, kneeling down and wrapping my arms around her torso. She takes her headphones off and bows her head in embarrassment. "Aw babe no, you sounded amazing. Where did you even learn to sing like that?" I kiss her pink cheeks over and over until I feel them perk up in a smile.

Her face is still bright red, and she quickly turns the music off on her phone. "I'm not very good, but I used to love singing-"

"If you call that 'not very good' I would love to hear you at your best," I say, honestly.

"I used to love singing. When I was little I had these delusional dreams of being on stage somewhere singing my own songs. I used to write songs about anything... I'm pretty sure the first song I ever wrote was about spaghetti when I was five - except it was called 'Psgetty' because I couldn't pronounce it." Her eyes lose focus at this memory while I chuckle thinking of a tiny Camila singing about 'psgetty.'

"When did you stop?" I ask.

"I don't know. Somewhere along the line I lost the motivation, I guess." She shrugs, pulling herself into a seated position in front of me.

"Why?"

"Life happened, ya know? I unfortunately was forced to grow up when my parents kicked me out. I guess I left all my childhood dreams in that house and needed to learn what 'stability' was far too quickly." My heart breaks for the beautiful girl in front of me.

"I haven't felt inspired in a while, so I just kinda got back into in the last few days. I was talking with Sam and it really made me want to try and get into music again. I was so jealous that he had pursued his dream of working with art and I kinda let my love for music fall to the side."