We Found Love

TEN

* * *

Of course Camila notices. She may have been talking to Lucy, but her senses were wired to Lauren's every movement. It sounds creepy stalkerish but she just can't help it, she just automatically gravitate towards the girl.

It bothers her, how Lauren's peridot eyes seems to be so lost. She couldn't fathom how something so beautiful be so sorrowful.

She doesn't understand why Lauren looks so sad and seems so angry at the world most of the time. She wants to know what made her this way and the urge to eradicate that reason once and for all is just way too strong for her to brush off.

Lucy was walking beside her, telling her about how Lauren got her out of trouble in class by doing her project back in high school, and yes, she was listening, but half of her attention is hyper aware of the quiet green eyed girl walking behind them.

She doesn't mean disrespect, but to be completely honest, she wants to strike up the conversation with Lauren instead.

She occasionally turns to check up on Lauren, just to make sure she's still behind them and has not disappeared somewhere in an alternate universe. However, the sound of the soft pitter patter of the girl's shoes on the pavement indicates a further distance as the sound slowly fades in every minute she checks. Her attention is so split that she almost misses Lucy's comment.

"You like her,"

Camila turned to Lucy and saw her teasing smirk. "What?"

"The Grinch behind us . . . You like her," the girl quietly chuckled.

She tried to deny it but her denial came in an incomprehensible words bunched up in her throat causing her to choke. It was pathetic, and couldn't be more obvious. She tried to mask it with a chuckle, but came out so awkward, it only made her case worse.

It made Lucy laugh, very amused.

"Just keep talking to her," she said quietly after her heartily laugh calmed down a little. "She's not usually like this grumpy, she's sweet and one of the most amazing friends I ever have. She's caring and generous and very kind. It's just that . . . She's not in a good place right now, hasn't been since . . . Well, in a while,"

That piqued her interest even more.

"Why? What happened?"

"It's not really my place to tell the whole story but let's just say that Lauren hasn't been her cheerful self and it pains us, her friends and family, to see her like this. We really do miss her smile and beautiful laugh," Lucy said in a somber tone, her teasing and cheeriness so suddenly shifted.

Camila already did notice it the first time. And it really did bug her. She's just got other things to switch her focus on and did a relatively good job of deliberately not letting herself dwell on it and work herself up with a stranger's personal issues reflecting on their eyes.

Admittedly, it was the most beautiful pair of eyes she's ever seen, rare and shining like of a precious gem. She won't deny the instant pull she felt but she also recognized the sorrow it carries right then and there. How can she not, Lauren's eyes are so deep and expressive and mesmerizing and so revealing.

But at the time, she couldn't do anything, seeing that the girl was annoyed at her after accidentally knocking her down the steps. Not to mention they were basically strangers, it's weird to just blatantly ask what's behind those sorrowfully beautiful peridot eyes.

And now, from the way Lucy described things, it seems like a very touchy, sensitive subject to just discuss it like a regular conversational topic. It's probably best to let time run its course and have Lauren speak her troubles when she's comfortable enough to do so.