The Girl Nextdoor

Chapter 45

"Are you fucking kidding me? This isnt your fault Camila. They should have known better. I told them to back off until the next attack. I don't know why they didn't listen to me." Lauren said closing her eyes briefly. "I'm sorry Camz. I should have been there."

"No, dont blame yourself either. It's not your fault that I got hurt. You've had a pretty tough day to deal with."

Lauren bit her lip and shook her head as she tried to contain her anger. "Fuck." She muttered to herself before she got up, "I'm gonna kill them."

I got up and grabbed her wrist, "Um, no you're not."

"Watch me." She said pulling her wrist away and pacing towards the door.

I ran after her and pulled her back again, "Where are you going?"

"To do what I should have done a long time ago."

"You're not seriously going to either of their houses right now. It's the middle of the night."

"I don't care." She simply replied pulling her arm away from me.

"Lauren-"

"-Camz." She interrupted. " I need to do this."

"Not right now. You're not thinking straight."

Lauren shook her head and averted my gaze.

I cupped her cheeks and made her look at me, "Listen to me. It's okay. I'm okay. And we're both here. Together."

"They hurt you? How can you possibly think that I'm okay with that?"

"You have to be. You can't throw everything away for me. Not tonight. You won't be able to handle it."

Lauren pursed her lips. They trembled as she tried to contain the tears threatening to escape her eyes.

"Hey..." I softly said caressing her cheek with my right thumb. "Whats wrong?"

"I just... I feel so helpless." Her voice quivered.

"You're not."

"Then tell what can I do to help you? What can I do to make the pain go away?"

"Nothing. I dont need you to do anything. I just need you to be here with me."

"Camz..."

"That's all I want right now. I want to be with you tonight. Talk to you, kiss you, hold you, everything. I just need you to stay."

Lauren furrowed her brows as she processed my words. She looked deeply into my eyes as I stared into her soul with my own.

"Okay." She finally gave in. "But only for today. I can't promise you that I'm not going to murder them tomorrow."

"I can live that." I smiled. "Here, why don't you sit down while I finish up. There's not that much left, I just need to pick up the rest of your CD's and some glass."

Lauren nodded her head before she pulled me in for a hug. I was caught a little off guard but, that didn't stop me from melting into her blissful arms. I reciprocated the act and rested my head on her shoulder. I felt her lips kiss the side of my head before she took a deep breath. "I love you."

"I know. I love you too." I breathed back, her arms wrapping around me tighter as I said it.

"Camz?"

"Yeah?"

"I fucking love hugging now."

"Way to ruin the moment."

"Sorry." She apologized pulling away.

"Its okay. I was kidding. Now that I'm away from your clutches, I can finish up."

"You couldn't be away from me even if you tried."

"Then I better get to it then." I played along before I turned on my heel and walked to the end of her room where I had left the mess.

I picked up the rest of the CD's and the remaining pieces of glass on the floor. After I had deposited the glass into a trash bag in Lauren's closet, I walked back over to my doom.

"All done." I said sitting next to her on the foot of her bed.

"Not quite." Lauren said looking at something below my feet.

"What do you mean?"

"You missed a spot." Lauren said nodding her head towards the ground.

I lifted my foot and looked at the object sitting under it. It was a copy of Carmila by Sheridan Le Fanu. I reached for it on my side and it could have been the worst thing I could have done. Lauren's Polaroid picture fell out of my pocket and collided with the ground. I glanced back at Lauren and realized that she had noticed. She squinted her eyes at the photo before she reached down and picked up the pieces. When she got a better look at them. Her eyes widened. Her hands shook. And a sharp pain began to invade her chest as the betrayal made itself evident on her face.

This was it. This was the end of everything. The end of us. The end of my life. And it was all because I took a stupid picture.
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