Secret Love

Chapter Two

   When Camila got to her house, she carefully walked up her cement steps which was stained with water. She wiped the rest of her tears with the grey sleeve. Her other hand reached for the keys in her pocket. Her husband's car was in the driveway, but she wanted to open the door herself so she could have time to think of an excuse as to why she got home later. She was about to pull out the keys until she heard the sound of the door knob jiggling and the door opened.

   "He-hey Austin.", she weakly smiled. 'I can't say I went to the store, I didn't buy anything.', she thought.

   "Hi.", his voice was low with a straight face. He was just standing by the door with a wife beater on. His brown hair was combed over and his hazel eyes looked down at Camila's clothes.

   "Uhh...are you gonna let me in or?", she said as she stood outside, the cold wind hitting against her hair. Didn't he see that it was raining?

   "Oh. Right" he opened the door wider and let her come in. After she walked in, he shut it. Camila put her purse down on the couch and went to go upstairs. Austin observed her. "Where were you?", he said while walking to the living room table.

   "I had to stay after to correct some papers", she lied. 

   "Sooo, no kiss? No hug?", he asked.

   "Sorry, I have to change first.", she reasoned as she reached the first step. She didn't feel like kissing him.... She ran up the stairs.

   "Uhm...whose sweater is that? You weren't wearing it when you left for work.", he sorta yelled up the stairs, before Camila got to the door and she froze. How did he even notice? She had to quickly come up with something.

   "It's-it's mine. I've had it in my car for a while.", she turned around and looked down the stairs. Austin was standing there. He didn't look mad or anything - which was a good sign. He just bit his bottom lip and nodded and walked away. Camila finally let her breath out and went into their bedroom to change out of her wet clothes. However, she actually changed her mind and decided to take a shower instead. That way, she can clear her mind and be by herself for at least twenty minutes.

-

   The shower was steamy and the bathroom quickly became foggy with hot clouds. She squirted the liquid Dove soap onto her body sponge and rubbed it onto her chest, releasing the relaxing lavender scent.

   Camila liked the smell of lavenders. She had lavender candles in her bedroom, which she used to light up for special nights with her and Austin or whenever a hurricane threatened to put their power out. She also had lavender scented hand lotion in her purse and would use it whenever she needed it. Like if her hands started aching from correcting papers or from writing.

   She then moved on to her shoulders and then her arms. Camila's eyes became wide. She didn't realize the huge hand mark on her arm until now. She got a flashback from when Lauren's hand gripped onto her arm, followed by the words "Why not?". She heard Lauren's voice and whimpered as the hot shower was still running. She had to hide this from Austin.

-

   "Hey babe.", the young woman tried not to sound nervous. She was wondering what was going through Austin's mind. The guy was hard to read. "What are you watching?", she sat down on the same couch.

   Austin looked at her and then at the spot between them.

   "Why don't you come closer?", he sounded demanding but not quite mad.

   "I just want to sit here. More room.", she said trying to sound calm. She didn't want to be next to him.

   "Camila...just sit next to me", his voice became low and annoyed. Again, she kindly declined, but she realized that was a mistake when his face got redder. He grabbed the brunette's ankle and roughly pushed her towards him.

   "Stop Austin!", she complained. His nail actually dug into her skin and she winced in pain.

   "When I say I want you next to me, you better come next to me.", his teeth looked like they were grating together behind his tightened lips. His wife was now scared. This was like yesterday all over again. Her heart was beating, but it wasn't out of love- it was out of fear. He was looking right at her and he was still gripping her ankle. He finally released it in a throwing motion and turned towards the t.v. again.

   Camila just sat there with tears in her eyes. She didn't want him to see her cry. That would let him know that he had control over her and that he caused fear. Monsters liked that. They liked that. They liked getting fed fear. The taste of it powered them and made them even more stronger.

   However, Camila failed in not getting noticed. Her sniffling was very obvious, causing Austin to turn around.

   "Oh, now you're crying?", he complained. Of course, you're the one who hurt me, Camila thought. She suddenly became angry. "I didn't even grab you that hard".

   "Yes, you did", she finally spoke up, but it was in a tone of anger rather than sadness. She got up and pulled down her sweater that she wore again to cover the mark on her arm. That actually wasn't the first time she had to cover marks. The only difference was, that this was an unintentional one.

   "Where are you going?", he made a mad face.

   "Up. Stairs.", Camila looked at him, still unhappy. With that, she stomped up the stairs to their room and shut the door. She wanted him to sleep on the couch. He probably was going to. They haven't slept in the same bed for over four consecutive days this year. Maybe once a week or even twice. She couldn't care less where he was sleeping, as long as he wasn't next to her.

   Well, if he was going to be in their bed tonight, she didn't want to feel him climbing into bed and getting under the covers. So she shut her eyes and tried to quickly fall asleep. She hoped for a new day tomorrow so she can see her students and a special someone. She then pulled the sweater over her nose and inhaled, getting a whiff of Lauren's scent. Positive images came to her mind. Lauren's black hair, her green eyes, her warm hands. Before Camila knew it, she was asleep.