Stranded

#17

"I'm sorry Camila. I tried to persuade Alejandro and Sinu to come with us, or at least your mom for that matter, but they wouldn't believe that the two of you were still alive. I mean it took the rest of us every fibre of our being to get out and do something, but they both all but quit." Hailee states with a tinge of hate.

"Tell me the whole story from the time we went missing until now. I think Lauren and I would like to hear it." Camila says sourly, knowing it was going to be a touchy topic.

Lauren had woken up a couple of hours later, a storm still ongoing outside, and they huddled in the cave together. Camila was holding Jasmine in her arms while Lauren sat on the log, breast feeding Lily, humming lightly as she watched her daughter suck on her nipples. Jasmine was still asleep, curled up into Camila's arms, while the three friends sat down together.

"After you guys went MIA, Alejandro got the entire forces to head out in search of you guys. 2 weeks' worth of searching turned into months, and they claimed to have never found you guys. We thought it was a load bull and maybe they were looking in the wrong place. So we attended your funeral and well, we sorta of lost it. We couldn't accept it. Months later after your so called funeral, I thought about things, and I told Normani that I wanted to keep on looking for you guys. I couldn't bear the thought of just letting you guys go just like that. And I knew one of you was fucking smart enough to get the hell out of the water. So we sold everything, the money used for the wedding I used it to get a boat, and we all chipped in." Dinah told her story, and Camila nodded, along with Lauren who was quiet too. She was definitely still exhausted to even be out of bed, but the babies needed to feed and her breasts were feeling heavy and full.

"So you tried to convince my parents and you never saw them again?" Camila clarified.

"Yeah."

Camila clenched her jaw, anger and rage boiling up inside of her, pain and grief settling in. Lauren saw the way Camila looked, and she got up, to sit down beside Camila, using a free hand to rub her back.

"We are sorry. Truly. We never mean't to break it to you like this. I mean, we expected them to jump on the idea, but they blew me off. And I think I'm banned from ever entering the white house ever again." Dinah sighs, adjusting herself on the log.

"I should have known my parents were asses to begin with. I still don't know why I even bothered with them when they were on their campaign. Did they tell you what happened to Lauren? How she saved their fucking lives and this is how they repay her? For all the shit she's been through and yet they called it quits. Do you know how many months the two of us spent waiting? Waiting for someone to come by and help us out of here? Until finally one day we got tired of waiting and we realised that no one was coming? Lauren saved my life because of her inflatable bag, only for me to lose her in the ocean and find her barely clinging onto life from a bloody shark bite and a wounded shoulder and having her suffer for months trying to get her back on her feet?"

"Camila..." Lauren coos softly, Camila's rage being cut off almost instantly.

"We are sorry Camila. Truly. And we understand that if you guys don't want to jump back into the world, we know. In fact, all of us are practically with you guys on whatever you decide to do. All of us have made some shitty mistakes, and we will do whatever it takes to earn your forgiveness."

Dinah said, holding both Normani and Hailee's hands, as they looked at their two friends. She couldn't help but feel happy for them, two kids in their arms, beautiful girls they were, but the look of pain and unhappiness still settled in their expressions. Dinah understood that they were deep in thought, and no matter what their decisions were, they as friends would follow them until the end. Just then, Lauren was the one to speak up.