Me Without You

"Hello, my beautiful mess."

And Camila had done the simplest of things.

She'd smiled up at Lauren as if she were everything she ever needed in the world.

And Dinah just knew. That was the real deal.

That was what poets talked about in their writings, that's what artists drew for love. That's what musicians sang about.

So Dinah liked Keana...and she even liked Maddy...but the pair were stuck between two attracting magnets and when they colliding...Maddy and Keana were just could to be collateral damage.

Camila stood outside of Lucy's apartment. Her eyes were stuck on the door but she simply couldn't knock.

Behind that door was a girl she had fixed, only to break her again and then fix her. And Camila wondered if she'd break Lauren for a second time. She wondered if she had the power to.

Because if she did that would mean there was hope, that Lauren held onto the exact same feelings she did.

But that scared Camila as well. Because she'd had the power to break Lauren and...she had. She broke her. She let it happen.

"Camila?" The brunette spun around quickly when she heard her name and watched a familiar girl make her way over carrying a sleek briefcase. "Hey, you visiting Lucy?"

"I-uh-no," The younger girl sighed and stepped back from the door. "Lauren's in there."

"Do you want me to grab her?" Vero offered and eyed the door before digging into her pocket.

"I don't know." And that was enough to halt the older girl in her actions and slowly place her briefcase back on the floor.

"Something happened?" Vero guessed as she looked between the door and Camila, tucking the keys to the apartment back into her pocket.

Camila eyed the girl Lucy was dating. She saw the kindness coated in the girl's eyes and the gentleness of her smile. Camila was glad Lucy had found someone nice, after everything she'd been through, Lucy deserved that fairytale happy-ending everyone aspired for and she saw that for Lucy with Vero.

"You never knew Lauren and I." Camila sighed as she back up against the wall and sighed.

"I heard a lot," Vero nodded. "Lucy was half-convinced at one point that you'd come back for Lauren." The older girl shrugged. "But a year passed and I guess she lost hope."

"I wanted to." Camila swallowed as she ran a hand through her hair. "I asked about her a lot."

"Dinah?"

"Yeah...she told me Lauren was doing well. So...I didn't come back. You know, because she was doing well."

"Camila, what are you doing outside of my apartment door?" Vero leaned back against the wall opposite the younger girl.

"I kissed Lauren." Camila confessed. "And it meant something. It had to. Vero...she's the love of my life."

"Fine," Vero nodded, her jaw clenching and unclenching for a moment before she pulled out her keys again.

"What are you doing?"

"Probably something Lucy's gonna give me shit for, but I believe you, Camila. I believe you because I know how it feels to be certain about someone. And if you love Lauren even half as much as I love Lucy...then you deserve the chance to show her."

Dinah's eyes darted from Normani to Keana as the light-haired girl took a seat on Dinah's bed casually.

It was simple; Keana being at Dinah's house without Lauren was unusual. They never really hung out with the green-eyed girl's girlfriend one-on-one.

"Do you guys think Lauren ever fell out of love with Camila?" Keana frowned down at her hands for a moment. "And don't lie to me."

"Kea-"

"No," Dinah ignored the glare Normani sent her way. "I don't think Lauren ever fell out of love with Mila. But I know she fell in love with you."

Vero unlocked the door and pushed it open slowly, her eyes scanning around the open apartment before landing on Lauren and Lucy perched on the bed, Lucy's arm wrapped protectively around the raven-haired girl's shoulders.

Vero cleared her throat to gain their attention and two contrasting sets of eyes looked up at her.

"I found someone in the hallway," The dark-eyed girl stepped aside and gestured to Camila who sheepishly made her entrance. "Lucia, let's go take a walk."

"Veronica, this isn't-"

"Lucy," The warning in Vero's tone spoke volumes to her girlfriend and Lucy stood as she watched Vero slip her shoes off and replace them with sandals.

Lucy didn't bother sparing Camila her disapproving gaze as she made her way over to the door, Vero making her way out before Lucy. Camila felt a chill run down her spine as she met Lucy's cold gaze just before she stepped further into the apartment so the pair could shut the door behind them.

And that left Camila and Lauren alone in the apartment. Both eyes welled with tears, but only one completely certain of her feelings.

Lucy ripped her hand away from Vero's when the girl attempted to hold hers and shot her girlfriend a frosty glare.

"Why the fuck would you do that?" The growl in Lucy's tone was new to Vero and she was taken aback by it.

"I thought you wanted Lauren to be happy?"

"She was happy!" The older girl shot back. "I fucking knew this would happen, I knew Camila coming back would do this."

"I think Camila could give her more."

"How the fuck would you know that, Veronica? How could you possibly know? You don't know shit about what happened!" When Lucy caught how her girlfriend flinched back, she reined her anger in and sighed. "This was one of the worst idea you've ever had."

"You said that about me falling in love with you once," Vero argued. "And here we are."

"That's different."

"Because you're deciding it is." Vero went for her girlfriend's hand again and felt her lips curl up slightly for a smile when Lucy squeezed hers back. She brought the angry girl's hand to her lips and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "Still love me, Lucia?"

"Too fucking much, I swear."

Lauren hated how beautiful Camila looked despite the tear stains marring her cheeks or the fact that her hair was still the same way Lauren had left it at their prior run-in.

"I thought you left."

"You know I couldn't." Camila crossed the room slowly.

She thought Lauren would try to create space, but the closer Camila got, the more Lauren's eyes seemed to scan her. Until eventually Camila stood in front of the bed Lauren was perched on, and then she just had to crouch to meet her ex-girlfriend's eyes.

Camila hesitantly reached out as she watched another tear trail down Lauren's cheek, her thumb wiping at the liquid only for Lauren's hand to cover her own and keep it there. Camila looked up at the woman she loved and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear with her unoccupied hand.

"Hello, my beautiful mess."

And the second the last word left her lips, Lauren slid down from the bed only to wrap her arms around Camila's neck and bury her face into the familiar shoulder, inhaling Camila's vanilla scent greedily.

"It's okay," The brunette smoothed down the raven hair as she coaxed. "I've got you. I've got you, Laur."

Lauren's body shook against Camila's and the brunette decided then and there that through the good and the bad, she would always be there for Lauren. This was it for her. She didn't need anything else as long as she could always hold the raven-haired girl as tightly as she was in that moment, nothing else mattered.

Nothing would ever matter as much as Lauren ever again.