Not Just One Night

Chapter 52: LAST CHAPTER

Camila's POV

I haven't quite processed how things have worked out. At least for the first few hours, I hadn't wrapped my head fully around the trial being over after Dinah's confession. Simon said I'd have to appear before the judge once the evidence is evaluated but as it seems now, the trial is over.

Six months spent in panic that the night that Ariana died, would eventually catch up with me and ruin everything that I had started in New York, and then on a Thursday, at 10:47 a.m., it's all over. For the first time, I felt like I could breathe even though I was too much in shock, to even take a breath but it was like a weight had been pulled from my shoulders and the first person I thought of was Lauren and how I wanted to tell her immediately what had happened. Walking out of the courthouse, stopping on the front lawn, I took my phone from my pocket and read two new texts before making the call. One from Lauren that said: Going to the funeral home now. There are some last minute details to be taken care of. Call when you get a chance. And then another text from Ally: How are things going?

Oddly enough, Ally had managed to stay out of most things related to the trial. She, of course, asked for details last night once I had returned home from my afternoon of questioning, but she seemed to be opinion-less on Dinah and the trial and that was a first.

Knowing that Lauren was busy at the moment, I chose to call Ally on my way back to the apartment from the courthouse but not before I got online, bought a plane ticket back to Miami that would put me touching down ten minutes before the funeral was meant to start. I decided after I bought the ticket, that I wouldn't speak with Lauren until I had actually made it back to Florida. The worst thing would be a delay and having gotten her hopes up that I'd make it in time to be at the funeral.

Once I had bought the ticket, I dialed Ally's number, and on the second ring, she answered, seemingly out of breath.

She said she was out running errands and ran outside in order to hear me. I dove right in, without wasting much small-talk, and told her about Dinah's confession and how the trial was over until Monday, where I'd appear in front of the Judge to get the final verdict.

She squealed, and chanted, and I imagined her standing on the street somewhere, jumping up and down like a pint-sized child, and then in true, typical Ally-fashion, she started crying before the end of the call. She said that she was proud of me for standing my ground, and that she was just as relieved that this could all finally be over and I can stop living with regret, and honestly, fear.

I agreed with everything that my roommate said because it's all what I had already thought of once Simon delivered the best news ever.

Before hanging up, I told her that since I didn't have to be back until Monday, that I was flying back to Miami, to be with Lauren. She said she'd meet me at the apartment and drive me to the airport and we could talk on the way there.

Once I finally did make home, I grabbed the bag that I hadn't even unpacked, sitting by my bedroom door. And no longer than three minutes of waiting for her outside of the apartment building, she drove up. The drive to the airport was shorter than I think we would have both liked. She talked nonstop about how everything had worked out and where I'd go from here. She asked about Lauren, and Dinah and then she asked about my parents. Ally knew that they were in Miami, and I told her that I'd make a point to visit while I was there for the weekend to give them the good news.

I was relieved that I could finally focus again on how to make it so they could stay in this country and live a normal life. And just before Ally and I said our goodbyes, I stressed that everything with the trial and my parents would have to be put on the back burner for at least a day or two because Lauren needed me most right now and that was apparent when I stepped out of the cab in Miami.