Cannonball

Epilogue

Lauren's PoV

April 19th 2013.

Friday 11:05pm

Miami, Florida.

"Go Lauren!" Zayn orders loudly, pointing to the car. Before I know it he is throwing Camila's duffle bag into the back seat as Camila runs into the passenger side. "Go now! Quick!" I jump into the car blindly and my shaking hands stumble around the keys.

I hurriedly restart the engine, the tires screeching in protest as I pull away fast. I quickly swing around the corner but not before I see the sight of those familiar flashing blue lights in the distance with Zayn still standing on the edge of his driveway.

I keep driving fast, my fingers clutched tightly to the wheel as my eyes continue to dart back and forth between the road ahead of me and the mirror to check behind. The noise of the sirens slowly fades away and the flashing lights haven't followed since we turned the corner from Zayn's street.

They didn't see us.

I let out a breath. I see Camila do the same once she checks over her shoulder; she falls back into her seat. I pause briefly before I speak.

"Camz," I look at her before my eyes find the road again, my hands clutching the wheel so tightly I can feel my skin stretching. "It's not too late for you. I can stop this car right now and you can go."

"Laur-" she tries to cut me off but I speak over her.

"Camila I just need to ask." I tell her firmly. "Are you sure? Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? Once we do, there's no turning back."

"Lo, I love you. Nothing is going to change that." Her voice is soft but firm and I instantly believe her. "We're in this together, no matter what."

I clear my throat and nod, blinking back the emotion that is fighting its way onto my face at her words. I push away the guilt and the pain, willing myself to stay strong.

This isn't going to be forever.

I finally pass the cheesy 'Thank You for Visiting Miami' sign and I feel a brief wave of relief before I realize there is still a while to go until we cross state lines.

"Lo," Camila breaks the tense silence. "I need you to tell me what happened." Her voice is stern and I know that she's not going to take no for an answer.

"Camila," I sigh while shaking my head. "It's complicated." I don't want to lie but I don't want her to know the truth either.

"I don't care." She snaps. "What were you even doing there in the first place? Sofia told me they found your car, why? What were you doing anywhere near Vaughn? You promised me it was over, Lauren!" she scolds me. "So tell me the truth, and don't you dare think about trying to spin me one of your cover stories." I immediately cringe. Busted. "I want to know everything. You can't protect me from this. It's too late. We're in this together, so just tell me the truth." She reaches out and places her hand gently on my thigh, her palm slowly sliding towards my knee before squeezing it gently in reassurance. I let out a shaky breath and look down at her hand. "I love you," she whispers out softly. "Do you really think that I'm going to judge you? Whatever you did, I don't care."

"Okay." I give in because she deserves to know the truth. She's right. She made this sacrifice to run with me so now we are in this together. So I tell her everything, from Zach's lie about telling Vaughn I spoke to the cops, to the picture of her outside of her house to the plan to set Vaughn up by me planting drugs in his house that would send him to prison for at least ten years.

"It all went wrong from there," I grimace, my eyes glued to the road ahead of me as I speed along the empty lane, avoiding the freeway until it's inevitable. "Everything was going to plan, but then I found Vaughn." I swallow the lump that is building in my throat and Camila squeezes my thigh again urging me to continue. "He was already dead, Camila, I swear. I don't know who shot him. I was starting to panic, I've never seen a dead body before... I didn't know what to do. Then I heard a noise, and I thought whoever killed Vaughn was still in the house and I didn't think," I clench my jaw in frustration at the biggest mistake that I made. "I wasn't thinking! I panicked and I picked up the gun. I only did it to protect myself, I didn't think that I wasn't wearing gloves; I didn't think that the gun was most likely the same one used to shoot Vaughn. I picked it up and I held it out in front of me," I take a deep breath. "Except it was just Zach, he came to warn me that Vaughn wasn't where he was supposed to be but by then it was too late. The cops had showed up so we made a run for it." I shake my head at the sheer unluckiness of it all. "So not only did I leave my car outside of the house, I touched the damn murder weapon, too."