Surreal Perfection (Camren)

Ch 30

[To Listen To While Reading:
'Old Money' by Lana Del Ray]

//

The taxi pulls away from the curb, and I roll down the window, letting the world blur past me, letting my conscience go along with it.

I don't even listen to whatever's being said to me right now.

Instead, I interrupt, and say, "I don't give a fuck about Lauren right now."

The words coming out of my mouth sound hollow.

But I finally find the numbness I seek, when I say, "Fuck me, instead, Shawn."

----

My thoughts are suddenly interrupted, by the faint sound of my apartment door slamming shut.

I sit up in the tub, startled, and I peer towards my open bathroom door.

I get up immediately, and wrap a towel around my soaking body.

I swear, I need to take my keys back from Dinah, because this whole just 'walk right into my house without warning' behaviour of hers, is starting to get old.

For tonight, it's fine though, because the first thing I was planning to do after my my bath, was to call her and apologize. Again.

"Dinah?" I call out.

I start walking through my bedroom towards the top of the stairs. I can feel the cold floor under my bare feet, and let my damp hair down.

Dinah still hasn't responded, so I head down the stairs, gripping my towel tightly in one hand, and the bannister on the other.

"For fucks sake, Di--"

My words slip out of my mouth, joining the drops on the floor.

The only thing I can hear, is the steady drip-drip, falling from the tips of my hair.

"Camz..."

----

"Camz..."

I keep my gaze averted, feeling totally exposed.

We're laying in my bunk in the tour bus, and the gentle rocking of the cabin, as we drive off from Ventura Theater, gives me something else to focus on.

I can feel the tension vibrating off my nerves, and a part of me almost wants to slide the curtain open to get some fresh air.

But then I remember that I'm in here with Lauren, and that I'd rather suffocate than give back the breath she keeps stealing from me.

I glance up to the screen briefly, but nothing really registers.

We had put a movie on, but since settling into the tiny bunk together, it's clear that neither one of us, is really paying attention to it.

"Camila?" She says again.

"Lauren?" I mimic.

She kinda scoffs at my cheekiness, and lays a lazy slap on my knee.