The Last Time I Saw Her

Chapter 1

***8 Years Ago***

It was barely audible, but Lauren allowed her curiosity to get the best of her. Slowly closing the heavy locker room door from behind her, she slightly raised her eyebrows in hope as she began making her way toward the shower area. The green eyed beauty could have sworn it was the piping system acting up yet again, however refused to have that wavering feeling remain on her conscious later on. Gripping the bouquet of daffodils and gardenias tighter, Lauren readjusted the dark leather anchor bracelet being used as ribbon around them before slightly biting her lower lip in anticipation of finding the brunette she's been longing for.

Taking in a deep breath, the black haired  girl hoped the chlorine filled air would somehow miraculously calm her nerves; give her the courage she's been searching for in the past few weeks to finally come clean about her true intentions for a certain tanned beauty. Silently praying today would be the day she'd remember for years on end, lauren didn't quite realize how precise she was about to be.

It was the drop in her chest she felt first; followed instantly by the sudden feeling of her throat constricting. As much as she wanted to, the green eyed beauty couldn't move. She couldn't speak. She couldn't breathe. All she was able to do was watch. Watch in agony. Watch in humility. Watch in duplicity. Everything happened as though it was in slow motion, yet she couldn't do anything to stop it.

There had seemed to be some hesitancy at first; but that quickly changed.Lauren watched as camila broke the kiss briefly before lightly grazing the shorter woman's lips. Watching as the tanned beauty shifted her gaze from the girl's pink lips toward her cerulean eyes; lauren parted her lips in agony as the brunette leaned in to fully devour the girl's mouth yet again.

Clenching her jaw, the sound lauren had heard earlier suddenly became more apparent. It wasn't the drain. It was their moans. Outwardly emotionless, pools of tears began forming in the raven haired girl's eyes; though she was too stubborn to allow them to fall. Instead of turning away, she watched. She watched as Camila dug her hands into the girl's dirty blonde hair before pinning her against the hard metal of lockers behind them. She watched as Camila hips held the blue eye beauty in place just as the brunette's hands began exploring the shorter woman's curves. She watched as Camila lightly grazed the hem of the lighter brunette's rose camisole before fully imbedding her hands under the paler woman's top.

Despite trying to use all her willpower to look away, Lauren couldn't. It wasn't until Lauren saw the blonde beauty's fingers trail downward toward the hem of the brunette's shorts did the raven haired  girl allow a tear to finally fall. Feeling her gut tighten, a shot of shivers instantly swept across her body. Taking in a shaky breath, Lauren finally closed her eyes as she turned away. Trying to gain back some of her composure, the raven haired  girl looked up for some relief.

Finding herself somehow moving toward the exit, Lauren couldn't help but look at the pair one last time through the full length mirror right by the door. Shifting her gaze away, the raven haired  girl then looked directly at herself before shakenly swallowing to hold back her pain.

She really was a joke to the universe wasn't she? With her out of date bob haircut and straight bangs; Camila Cabello  would never find a girl like her remotely attractive. Her mother's hand me downs that hid away her insecure teenage body definitely didn't help along with her black plastic Arabella glasses which were a size too big for the frame of her face.

Lauren really did think she had a shot to be with Camila. She knew she didn't have the "right" looks, but she had the personality. The green eye beauty was definitely a rarity among her friends. Lauren found herself connecting with practically anyone. However, there were two ends of that spectrum. On one end she had Camila. They didn't have the typical friendship she had shared with everyone else. When she and Camila were together, it was as though everything made sense even though they were too young to even know what that meant. The two had the ability to just know what the other was thinking and be able to comfort the other without even asking. They were always in sync no matter if they were in the same room or complete opposite ends of the hallway. On the other end of the spectrum was Vanessa Reed, the girl who made her life a living hell for the last few months; the girl who had driven her to hate herself for being who she was. Vanessa wasn't just a bully. Bully was far too good of a word for what Vanessa was to Lauren; the girl was a monster.