Unconscious Beauty (Camren)

Chapter 4

Lauren held Camila while she sobbed. She instinctively stroked the younger girl's hair while her tears fell. Camila pulled away from Lauren's embrace and wiped her eyes and nose. Lauren couldn't help but notice how beautiful Camila was even after crying. Especially noticing how her chocolate brown eyes looked so light compared to their dark surroundings. Camila shook her head lightly muttering something Lauren couldn't comprehend under her breath. "Are you-"

"I think you should go," Camila said stepping back, trying to keep up her tough facade even though her voice was trembling. She hated crying in front of people, even more so in front of people she barely knew. Camila liked being closed off and letting herself wallow in her own thoughts. She was used to crying herself to sleep when all of her troubles caught up to her. She cried after her little sister went to sleep because she wouldn't grow up like a normal child. She would let her tears fall when she thought about how hard it was for her to want to continue living.

"I-I just..." Lauren tried to say something but she couldn't find anything that the brown eyed girl probably hadn't heard before. She didn't want to say "it will be okay" because they'd both know that it was a lie.

"I'm sorry Lauren...I didn't mean to put all of this on you. I'm just...I don't even know!" Camila yelled frustrated,"I'm just so broken and fucked up and I don't want you to get mixed up in it!" She finished smacking the brick wall in front of her with the palm of her hand.

Lauren took hold of Camila's hand, worried that she would hurt herself. "Camila...I get it. I don't know how you feel exactly but, I realize that you've been through some pretty tough shit. You have a reason to be angry and frustrated, even I have things I struggle with...we're all a little broken."

Camila shuffled on her feet looking at the ground so Lauren wouldn't see the tears building up in her eyes again. "Thank you," Camila said, her voice cracking,"I still think you should go though, I just want to be alone."

Lauren worried about what Camila would do if she left. Would she hurt herself? Would she cry and scream until her throat was sore? Would she continue to bottle up her feelings and pretend nothing happened? None of these appealed to Lauren but she still gave a faint,"okay," to Camila.

"Goodbye Lauren," Camila waved lazily walking in the opposite direction.

"Camila?" Lauren called out.

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to act like this didn't happen tomorrow?" Lauren asked sadly.

"I don't think I could even if I tried," Camila responded honestly,"I'll see you tomorrow Lauren."

Lauren watched as she walked away. When Camila was no longer in sight she walked back to the car where Ally was sitting in the front seat on her phone. "How did it go?" Ally asked excitedly.

"I'm not really sure," Lauren sighed climbing into the drivers seat.

***

Lauren stepped into her quiet house as sneakily as possible after dropping Ally off at her house. She tiptoed up the stairs, pausing for what felt like an eternity whenever a step creaked so she wouldn't wake anyone. All she wanted to do was get in her bed and sleep without getting a long speech from her father about coming home late.

Luckily, Lauren was able to get to her room and flop onto her bed. She let out a long sigh, releasing all of the stress from her body. Lauren didn't bother changing her clothes and scrambled under her covers before dozing off into a much needed sleep.

"Wake up," Lauren's father said sternly, shaking her arm roughly. Lauren rubbed her eyes and sighed when she saw the time, she had 20 minutes to get dressed and get to school. "I thought you'd never wake up," he muttered on his way out the door.