So Close (Camren)

19 - Look How They Shine For You

a/n: welcome back, sunshine! i'm gonna go ahead and put a trigger warning on this one as it has direct mentions of alcohol abuse. that being said, i deeply apologize for not having trigger warnings for the previous chapters that did. i'm most probably going to go back to put in trigger warnings for them too. anyway, the song rec for this chapter is Yellow by Coldplay (covered by Alessia Cara). hope you enjoy reading!!

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Almost a week has passed since Camila and Lauren first checked themselves into the 1000 Hands Recovery and Retreat Center and they both have been settling in and getting comfortable with the place quite nicely.

The girls have been decorating their sides of the room with things they managed to bring along with them. Camila's side adorned by her ever-trusted laptop, some journals and writing materials, along with pictures of her and Dinah up on her wall that's spruced up by some fairy lights that the smaller brunette has managed to borrow from the Supplies Office on the grounds. Meanwhile, Lauren's side of the room is 'artistically' littered by crumpled up pieces of paper that she's scrawled some abstract lyrics for some of the new songs she's been working on ever since she got into the facility. Coupled with a few posters of Paramore, Ed Sheeran, and Mumford & Sons, Lauren's side of the room practically screams 'Lauren', same as how Camila's side is deliberate on depicting parts of the smaller girl without Camila even intending to do so.

Personal demons-wise, they've had to tackle some of their issues with Camila having bouts of sadness and some kind of weariness when she was just doing fine a few seconds ago and Lauren struggling and almost always failing to ignore the tick she feels most nights since she's used to drowning herself to alcohol.

The good thing about it?

They don't feel so alone anymore.

On their first night in the facility, Camila woke up in the middle of the night breathing heavily, having woken up from a nightmare where she gets too close to the edge of the sadness that she feels and her parents find out all about it and her career ends up crumbling to ashes as a consequence. Lauren, on her side of the room, as it turned out, was having trouble sleeping too. Almost giving into calling Ally to ask her bandmate to buy her a couple of drinks and bring it to the facility.

The second that Camila jolts up and sits on her bed with her back against the wall and her eyes shut tight, Lauren doesn't hesitate to cross to the smaller brunette's side of the room.

"Camz?" Lauren whispered in the dark as she tentatively sat at the edge of Camila's bed.

The smaller girl doesn't respond at first, too focused on getting her breathing back to normal to notice her bed dip the slightest.

"Hey, Camz? Are you awake?" Lauren cautiously touched Camila's shoulder, causing the smaller girl's eyes to open and frantically search around the room to see who just touched her before she relaxes when her eyes recognize Lauren in the dark.

"Oh, Lo. You scared me a bit there." Camila's voice was raspy, having just woken up.

"Well, you were scaring me too! You were breathing all heavy then you suddenly sat up with your eyes closed. I thought you were having a nightmare or something so I came over." Lauren half screamed and half whispered as she gestured to Camila's bed.

"Y-Yeah, sorry if I woke you up. I'll try to, um, keep it down next time." The smaller girl said, her head hanging low like she's ashamed of causing any disturbance for Lauren.