READY OR NOT (CAMREN)

TWENTY EIGHT

The beeps and whirs of the machines drifted to Camila distantly as she woke. She'd been asleep for at least a couple of hours, that much she knew. The doctor without the hair had mentioned something about keeping her on a low-level sedative so her ribs could heal. That was totally okay with her, as it felt like she was hit by a truck each and every time she inhaled.

Her headache was better though. That would make the doctor with hair happy when he stopped by later. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, which held a different shape than she was expecting. That's right. New room. They'd moved her down the hall, which meant her condition was improving. She turned and stared at the cup of water on the end table next to her. God, she was thirsty, but the prospect of reaching for the water was so not worth the pain it would inflict.

"Are you thirsty?" a calm voice to her right asked. She turned and blinked against the image, as she wasn't sure it was real. She'd been hit on the head, after all, and had had a number of crazy dreams about Lauren since. But this wasn't one of them, she realized, as no amount of blinking erased the picturesque visual in front of her. She was real and she was here, looking like an angel at her bedside. Lauren smiled down at her. She looked pale, and tears glistened in her eyes, but she was smiling. "Hey, there."

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Camila managed to ask, glancing around the empty room as she noted that her own voice still sounded gravelly and unfamiliar.

"Not your brightest question," Lauren said and moved the cup with the straw to Camila's lips so she could drink. The water was cool and refreshing, and she managed three swallows. "Good?" Camila nodded and Lauren set down the cup.

"Where else would I be?"

"At your place, living your life."

Lauren shook her head. "Not when you're here." She gently traced what Camila knew to be a large bruise around the side of her cheek. "Who did this to you?"

"Shawn shouldn't have told you about this."

"He said it was Tyrone. They thought you were Karla?"

Camila nodded. "Listen, Lauren. It was nice of you to come, but I'm sure you have things you should be doing. You and I are—"

"At a hospital, while you're getting better. And I'm here to help with that."

Camila found her eyes. "I don't need your help."

"You seem to say that a lot. Problem is, I'm done listening. You need me and I need you."

Her head was swimming again and she felt a distinct lack of energy to push back.

"I have people," she managed to point out. "You can go. My mom stopped by earlier, and Shawn."

"I'm glad. But you and I are different, and you know it. I'm not going anywhere."

Those were the last words Camila heard as she drifted off again.

I'm not going anywhere.

She dreamt of her and Lauren walking along a beach, picking up seashells every once in a while and letting the day guide them where it might. They kissed when the sun went down and stayed up late talking. When she opened her eyes again, the clock on the wall told her it was nearly five a.m. Lauren was asleep in a chair to her right and rested her head on Camila's mattress alongside her. Camila couldn't believe it.

I'm not going anywhere. She heard the words again in her mind as she glanced down at the sleeping woman next to her.

Lauren looked angelic in the moonlit room. Camila lightly touched her hair, soft and silky. The sensation caused Lauren to stir and raise those big green eyes to Camila. "You okay?" she asked in her sleepy Lauren voice. "Do you need anything?"