Surreal Perfection (Camren)

Ch 25

//

"Camila, wait, what's wrong?"

I turn to her, and my gaze drifts down to her hand.

Right now, her touch doesn't feel sweet, it feels like betrayal.

She lets me go, but her eyes are now holding on to mine, tighter than her grip did.

My jaw tightens, and I answer, "Us, Lo, that's what's wrong..."

I can see my words cut her like a knife to the face, but she bravely lifts up her chin, and responds, "Y-you don't mean that, Camz."

She's right, but not completely.

I decide not to reply, and instead, I turn my back on her, nodding over to Ally, who's standing awkwardly to the side, with Dinah.

When we get into the car, Ally gives me some space, and I stay silent for the entire ride home.

I know she's worried about me, but I just don't have the energy to take care of anyone else's feelings right now, especially when I'm having enough trouble, sorting out my own.

We get to my building, and we say our goodbyes with a hug, and a promise to hang out this week.

Later that night, as I'm settling into bed with a heavy feeling in my chest, I look over to my night stand, and I reach for the second envelope.

For some reason, I'm treating these letters like an old bandaid.

Except, instead of ripping it off, and just opening all of them at once, I'm peeling them off slowly, exposing my wounds in tiny little scraps.

I brace myself, and when I open it, I immediately recognize the words she's written, because I'm the one who wrote them.

"It's funny how before we even knew how important we were going to be to each other, something in us knew, and something in us will always know."

----

"Hey, is everything okay?"

I don't really know what it is, that brings me to ask her this, but Lauren's been acting really weird lately since we all came back together after the X Factor finale aired.

We just finished recording the first couple of covers for our YouTube channel, and after tonight's TwitCam, I can tell something's a bit off with her, but I can't really put my finger on it.

Lauren peeks out at me from the hotel bathroom, toothbrush in hand. "Yeah, of course, why do you ask?"

She just finished getting changed for bed, and she's wearing an oversized t-shirt, foregoing any pyjama bottoms.

My eyes linger over her exposed legs for a second or two, and I make myself look away.

They're just legs, Camila, you have them too.

I proceed to scroll through random photos on my laptop, and mumble back, "Oh, n-nothing..."

I hear the sound of the faucet running, but there's no splashing happening, so it makes me think that Lauren's just standing there, in front of the mirror.