A sudden shaking woke her up from her sleep. It wasn't much but it was definitely enough to end Lauren's dream. She groans, switching from her side to her back as she struggles to get her eyes open. She barely catches a dull glimpse of chocolate brown before closing her eyes again.
"What is it?" she grumbles as politely as one could at three in the morning.
"Why did you give me your mom's book?" she whispers. The question immediately made her wake. Lauren sits up, her face almost bumping with Camila's but said girl scoots back a bit with her legs tucked underneath her.
"What?" she asks, voice still laced with sleep.
"Why?" the brunette repeats. A sigh escapes the raven haired girl and she brings a hand to rub down her face. The moons shines through her window and onto her hair making the other girl look more like fantasy than reality. She looked just as tired as her, but her eyes held purpose.
"I don't know, you looked like you needed something to hold on to," Lauren brings her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms loosely around her legs. Camila stares at her for another moment before crawling off the bed and leaving the room. A minute or two passes by as she tries to get her thoughts around the lingering strawberry scented air. Eventually she falls back against her pillow, exhaustion over taking her.
-
As the sun filtered through her window, Lauren immediately felt the need to scold Camila for waking her up last night. Pushing the feeling aside, she grabs her phone off the nightstand table and checks the time. 8:00 am. The air was warm and held the promise of nice weather which meant no laying around all day. No naps, no sleep. Everyday there was something out of place. Today it was the fact that there was no scent of coffee. Lauren's mouth felt dry as her eyes met the ceiling that seemed to crack and brittle under her gaze because she knew she had to get up. But she didn't want to.
"Clinomania," the girl sighs, sitting up while threading her hands through her hair. The wood flooring was cool under her feet, sweatpants low on her hips and an oversized cropped t-shirt. Camila's door was closed and her father's squad car wasn't in the driveway which automatically explained why the air wasn't streaming with caffeine. Off to the left, a stair creaked and Lauren stopped her search for food briefly. She hadn't even heard her descend the other steps. Snatching a bag of pretzels from a bottom shelf of the pantry, she closes the door to reveal the tiny girl she'd seen only five hours before.
She crosses her legs as Lauren leans against the counter opposite her. They exchange their fair share of stares, looking the other up and down.
"Clinomania," Lauren breathes, "the excessive desire to stay in bed. Today I am-"
"Do you have anymore books?" Camila interrupts. There's a brief pause.
"You read all of yours?" she asks. Impossible. There had to be at least twenty.
"Seventeen," she nods. Three books off. But still, the girl had only been here for about two and a half weeks and she's finished seventeen books. Granted, they weren't very big, but they weren't preschool level either.
More books? Of course they had more books, there was a room full upstairs. But... they were her mother's of course. In literature, this is what we would call Lauren's internal conflict. Should she give her another one of her mother's books or just claim there were no more?
"Yeah, follow me," she smiles, brushing past her before going upstairs taking the steps two at a time. The forbidden room. There seemed to be an invisible sign on the door that seemed to warn others to keep out but now, Lauren was about to take it down. Clearing her throat as she enters, stepping (and occasionally stumbling) over boxes in order to get to a bookcase.
Camila stands politely in the doorway as the other girl begins to scan the books, fingertips running over the dusty spines. Mutters of titles of thin and thick novels spew out of her mouth that the brunette can't really hear but suddenly she stops. She turns slightly. She seemed to know it was a sacred place, standing in the doorway as if she wasn't allowed in the room. And she wasn't but... maybe there was an exception.
"Why don't you pick one?" Lauren steps back slightly as if to suggest she should come inside. "After all, you'll be the one reading it and I don't want to pick something you won't like."
Camila shrugs, beginning to come in. "I like everything," she mumbles, tripping over a box but Lauren quickly leans over to break her fall. She helps her stand up straight before she begins to look at the books with interest. Wide brown eyes glisten in fascination, barely noticing the girl next to her. Lauren watches, just as appalled as her because today had been the day she'd spoken to her the most. It was the day of many words.
Camila stands on her toes in an attempt to reach a novel on the top shelf and Lauren chuckles before getting it down for her.
"Stephen King's 't'," she chuckles. Another Stephen King. It was a sizable book, one that would surely hold her over a while and it looked enormously in her tiny arms. She sighs, looking up from the ancient pages to Lauren who was staring down at her. Tucking her lips into her mouth, she makes her way back over to the doorway.
"Camila," she calls and said girl stops, turning just outside of her door as Lauren still stood by the bookshelf. "You read a lot." She didn't know where she was going with the conversation when she called the other girl's name. The bandage around her hand caught her green eyes as she fiddles with the hem of her shirt.
"I like to read because it's not here," she smiles, disappearing into her room. Because it's not here. The girl always left her wondering.
-
read, vote, comment, enjoy!
ps. i listen to drake while writing. just thought you should know.
[ pss. i still listen to drake ]
edited on june 14, 2019
[ haven't listened to drake since then. 02/06/22 ]
YOU ARE READING
𝔠𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔞'𝔰 𝔰𝔥𝔶, camren
Fanfiction( completed ) She'd been providing for herself since the age of fourteen when her parents had died tragically in a car accident. But now, two years later at the age of sixteen, she finally has a place to call home. Camila was shy. Very, extremely, i...
