Me Without You

"Hello, my beautiful mess."

Camila thought about what Lauren said. She really did.

She considered leaving. She stood on that platform in the staircase and she thought long and hard about just leaving and letting Lauren get on with her life and cutting all ties. Maybe that'd be easier this time around.

Maybe she could move on if there was nothing holding her back anymore. Maybe she could push her feelings for Lauren away to the depth of her mind and never think about the green-eyed girl again.

Maybe she could do all that.

But maybe she couldn't.

And that thought, that very idea that Lauren was the one kept her feet firmly planted on that platform.

It had been two years. For two years she'd kept her feelings in check, she'd managed to push them away and she thought she was happy, she thought she'd moved on but the second her eyes landed on Lauren...she knew she was wrong.

She was so very wrong.

Because it was Lauren.

And before Camila could truly process what she was doing, her feet were darting back up the stairs following behind her ex-girlfriend. Flashes of their past, their memories, good and bad, plagued her as she ran, taking steps two at a time. It felt like she had no time at all but everything was moving in slow motion.

Camila could feel her lungs protesting the strenuous movements but she didn't care. Her lungs could give out that very second and she would be okay with it because they would be giving out with her going to the one place she always belonged. With Lauren.

Normani watched as Dinah cautiously painted her toenails, a portion of her tongue exposed as she concentrated and the older girl rolled her eyes because Dinah always treated doing tedious thing like that as if it were brain surgery.

"So you're saying Camila is going to try to win Lauren back?" She crossed her arms from where she stood in front of her girlfriend's dresser.

"I told you," Dinah didn't so much as look up at her girlfriend despite feeling a little annoyed at Normani's disbelieving tone. "My ship never sank."

"It sort of did."

"No...it docked for a while, but now it's setting sail again," The blonde pointed her nail polish brush at the older girl and narrowed her eyes. "You're such a negative old lady."

"Old lady? Come on, babe, you can do better than that."

"Suck a dick, Normani."

"I mean...if you insist, babe, but I don't think you'll like that...."

A soft knock echoed through the room and Dinah's eyes darted to her bedroom door just as she noticed Keana walking in.

The thing was, Dinah liked Keana. She liked Keana very much, she was a nice girl and she was sort of Lauren's perfect match and that was what kind of put Dinah off.

That, and the fact that Lauren was the single thing that kept her best friend in Miami. And she sort of missed having her best friend in Miami.

She'd also been a firsthand witness to the love Camila and Lauren had shared. She remembered holding Camila back from attacking Lucy when she thought Lauren was going to die in hospital. She remembered watched Lauren's walls come down around Camila after the brunette simply smiled at her.

Dinah remembered the very moment she decided that Camila and Lauren were made for each other.

They had been sitting outside against the school building as usual, everyone had been joking around, Lucy inappropriate as always. But Lauren and Camila...they were in their own world. Lauren had had her arm lazily tossed over Camila's shoulder and the younger girl was snuggled up against her. The green-eyed girl had buried her face in the brunette's thick locks before pressing a kiss to Camila's temple.