Bad News

Bad News - Chap. 10

She gave up and decided to do her homework instead. After that, she had dinner with her parents and sister, and went to bed early. It didn’t shock her parents that she went to bed early on a Friday night, because Lauren was always home. She didn’t go out to parties, or have sleepovers with friends. Lauren’s parents only knew Normani and Dinah from the stories she had told about them, and have seen them in person maybe once or twice. They felt bad for Lauren, but they never brought it up, too afraid to hurt her feelings.

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Lauren wakes up the next morning, feeling anxious. She doesn’t know what's going to happen, and she has no idea if she is ready to face Camila again after she told her so coldly to leave. Lauren is nervous and scared, she'll have to admit that. But thinking about Tyler and Camila also makes her feel calm. It's weird for Lauren to feel all those different kind of emotions at the same time, and she has a hard time figuring out which emotion is the strongest.

On her way to Camila and Tyler, Lauren has considered turning around a more times than she hit her gas pedal, but decided against it at the last moment time and time again. No matter how scary it is, she has to do this. She has to know what happened exactly, and why.

Lauren gets out of her car and walks up to the front door of the small apartment quickly, afraid that she would change her mind if she gives herself time to think about it.

She reaches her hand out to knock on the door, when it swings open quickly, revealing a smiling Tyler.

‘’Hey there gorgeous.’’ He greets her,  smile still in place.

‘’Hi.’’ Lauren greets back shyly.

‘’Come on in.’’ Tyler says, opening the door further and moving to the side to let Lauren in. He takes her jacket and puts it away, then leads her to the living room. She had never been in this room; she only ever saw that bedroom, kitchen and the back yard.

Lauren looks around quietly, trying to find anything about Camila or Tyler. But she can’t find anything apart from blank walls. There are no pictures, just empty walls that look like they're going to collapse any moment, and damaged furniture. Tyler motions her to sit down on the couch, while he plops into the chair across from her. There is a small table between them, where Tyler had put a glass of water for Lauren.

‘’Alright,’’ he starts, clapping his hands once. ‘’Let’s do this. Fire away.’’ Lauren looks at him with surprised and confused eyes.

‘’Shouldn’t we wait for Camila?’’ she asks shyly. Tyler’s smile disappears for a short moment as he frowns a little before it reappears again.

‘’Mila doesn’t really know you’re here. So, it’s just you and me.’’ He answers, winking at Lauren.

She suddenly starts feeling uncomfortable, a wave of worry and fear washing over her. She doesn’t know this boy at all, and now she's here, in an empty house, with him. Alone. She has the sudden urge to get up and leave, when Tyler speaks up again.

‘’Don’t worry Lauren. I’m not going to hurt you; I just want to talk to you. I know Mila doesn’t want me to, but I also know that you just want some answers. You can leave whenever you want to, I’m not forcing you into anything, okay?’’ he asks and smiles sweetly at her.