Come Back, Be Here (Camren)

Chapter 19

"So how's CamEEla?" Keana enunciates each syllable of the girl's name. "Vero's told me everything. You know you could've told me." Keana frowns before reaching for her cup of coffee and taking a sip of it.

"I know, but I didn't want to have to tell everyone. It's painful to talk about so I told Vero to tell you and Alexa about everything." Lauren runs her fingers through her hair. "Camila is... better. Her panic attacks are becoming less frequent so that's a blessing. She's slowly starting to get more comfortable around me and she's even remembering some of her attack."

"Laur, that's great that she is remembering! Maybe she will remember everything with time." Keana offers the Latina a hopeful smile. "Is she still with-"

"I don't know." Lauren cuts her off, not really wanting to hear the boy's name. "God, if I had a say in it he would never step foot near her again. He's abusive, and I don't know if she doesn't leave him because she's scared of him or because maybe she's grown so accustomed to the abuse that she thinks it's normal and so she just tries to look past it."

"Fuck. That's horrible. I bet it kills you to see him do that to her and her let him." Keana sets her hand on top of Lauren's on the table.

"She's just always covered in bruises and I'm just trying to show her what real love is supposed to be like. I just hope I'm doing a good job of it." Lauren wipes the tears away that have fallen to her cheeks. "I just wanna fucking bash his head in for laying a finger on her, but I can't because I don't want her to think I would hurt her like that. Plus, violence absolutely terrifies her. It takes her back to the night she was attacked."

"I've seen first hand how much you love that girl. I watched you two exchange vows. I'm sure you are doing an incredible job of showing her how much you love her." Keana smiles sadly and Lauren offers her one in return before turning her attention to her phone that's vibrating on the table. She sees 5 new texts from Dinah and then looks at the time.

5:00 pm.

"Shit Ke I gotta go see Camz. She should be out of her meeting by now." Lauren lays a ten dollar bill on the table before standing up. "I'll text you tonight if we decide to go out." She leans down and plants a quick kiss on her friend's cheek.

"Bye, Jauregui." Keana calls after the Latina.

As soon as she makes it back to the hotel, she sees that Dinah, Mani, and Ally are all standing out in front of the room with flowers and a bottle of champagne.

"Bout time!" Dinah announces when she sees Lauren jogging down the hallway.

"She back?" Lauren asks as she digs out the key from her purse.

"Well you're the one with the key so..." Dinah states and Lauren rolls her eyes as she slides the key in and opens the door. When she steps in, a small smile crawls to her lips as she takes in the sight of Camila sleeping soundly. She immediately puts her arm out to stop Dinah from unpleasantly waking her up by jumping on her or something.

"Ugh, you're no fun." Dinah huffs and Lauren walks over and sits down on the side of the bed.

"Wake up, pretty girl." She leans down and whispers in Camila's ear. The younger girl stirs awake and lets out a yawn while stretching. Lauren has to stop herself from letting out an "aww" because her wife looks so adorable with her messy hair and sleepy eyes.

"Hi, Lo." She rasps out as she stifles another yawn.

"Hi, sleepyhead." Lauren smiles at the girl.

"Jesus, don't keep us waiting. How did it go?" Dinah pipes up from across the room and Normani slaps her arm.

"I, uh, they didn't like my songs." Camila fakes a frown and looks down at the bedspread.