Camila rushed downstairs, afraid of what had happened. Lauren's voice made her worry. She was in the elevator and it couldn't have gone slower for her. The doors finally opened and she rushed to the exit of the building. She saw Lauren through the glass door and furrowed her eyebrows once she saw the older girl smiling at her. She went outside and embraced her in a hug. "What's wrong Lauren? Is everything okay?" She asked worriedly as she pulled away and looked at her.
"Everything's fine," Lauren said.
"Then why did you sound worried on the phone? I thought something bad happened," Camila said, shaking her head.
"I just wanted you to get down her quickly. I really just wanted to see your face," Lauren told her truthfully.
"You're such an ass," Camila said. "You scared the shit out of me."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out that much," Lauren chucked.
"Well you did," Camila said, smacking her shoulder.
"Ow!" Lauren exclaimed.
"That's what you get! For scaring me," she said.
"I'm really sorry Camz. I really didn't wanna freak you out," the artist told her seriously. Lauren didn't mean to scare her that much.
"It's alright, I guess," the younger girl told her, bringing her into another hug. Lauren wrapped her arms around her waist and breathed in her scent. "Oh, and Camz?" She asked once she pulled away.
Lauren's eyes widened a bit. "It just slipped out. I'm sorry. I'll still call you Camila if you want."
"No. It's actually really cute," Camila smiled at her.
That made Lauren smile as well. "So you wouldn't mind me calling you that?" She asked her.
"Not at all," Camila said, chuckling and shaking her head.
"Okay, cool." Lauren said. Then silence fell between them.
"So you wanna come upstairs?" Camila asked.
"Oh, um...yeah," Lauren nodded her head.
Camila smiled at her and they headed back inside. Once they reached Camila's door they walked in and saw Dinah still sitting on the couch.
"Mila, where the hell have you b-," she didn't finish her sentence since she saw Lauren follow come in behind her. "Holy fuck! Lauren? Jauregui?"
"That's me," Lauren chuckled.
"Oh my god" Dinah said standing up for my the couch and walking over to her. She didn't know if to hug her or not so she just put her hand out for her to shake. Lauren smiled and shook her hand. "I'm Dinah Jane. It is so nice to meet you. Wow, your work is so amazing. I'm a big fan." Dinah told her.
"Aw, thank you. That really means a lot," Lauren smiled at her. "So your Camila's roommate?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm also her best friend," Dinah said. "We've known each other forever."
"That sweet," Lauren smiled.
"Alright, well were gonna go inside my room," Camila said, grabbing Lauren's hand and leading her to her room.
"It was nice to meet you," Lauren said, looking back at Dinah.
"Yeah,, you too." Dinah smiled.
Camila had closed her door and faced Lauren. "I'm sorry about her."
"No, it's fine. I love meeting people like her. She seems really nice," Lauren told her.
"Yeah, but she's a pain in the ass sometimes too," Camila said, sitting down on her computer chair while Lauren sat on her bed.
"Aren't all best friends like that though?" Lauren asked.
"I guess, yeah," Camila shrugged. "So you couldn't wait to see me to get some "inspiration"," Camila said, using her fingers for quotations.
"I just really missed you, that's all," Lauren told her honestly.
"That's sweet," Camila smiled at her.
Lauren glanced at Camila's computer screen and saw that she had been typing. "You writing something?" Lauren asked, nodding her head towards the laptop.
Camila looked at it and shook her head, "oh, I was just writing something. My parents and stuff." She shrugged.
"Can I read it?" Lauren asked.
"You can if you want. It's just something I do to help deal with stuff going on."
Lauren got up from the bed and read what Camila had typed.
Well, in two days it'll be three years. Three fucking years. I can't believe how much time has gone by. I still remember that horrible and painful day. I keep picturing their dead faces. I see them everywhere. There's a lot of things that remind me of them and I smile at the thought of them.
Every year that goes by it just seems to get harder and harder. It sucks. I'm not gonna see them ever again. So I try my best to make them proud. I wish they could see me and see how my life is now. All I really have left is Dinah and her family. Losing Sofi was hard. Then I lose my parents. My life has been hard. So fucking hard and complicated. Stupid drunk drivers. How could people be so fucking stupid? The anger I have towards that person is insane. I lost everything. Everything.
Lauren's eyes were watery once she finished reading. She looked at Camila who was looking down in her lap, playing with her fingers. "Camila," she whispered. Camila slowly lifted her head up and met the artists eyes. "I'm so sorry."
Camila slowly shook her head," it's not your fault." She whispered back to her.
Lauren brought her into a hug and rubbed her back slowly. About a minute later Lauren spoke, "can I ask you something?" She asked as she separated from Camila. Camila nodded so Lauren continued. "Who's Sofi?"
Camila looked down to her lap again. She sighed before speaking. "She was my little sister. Um, she was born a couple of months early. She obviously didn't make it," Camila looked up at Lauren with watery eyes. "Her name was gonna be Sofi, as you read. I was so excited to be a big sister. I was gonna teach her everything. I remember I was so excited when my parents told me that my mom was pregnant. I got even more excited when we found out it was a girl. It's easier to get along with girls than it is boys," Camila chuckled.
Lauren gave her a small smile and nodded while she rubbed Camila's thigh.
"Losing her was so hard and then I lost my parents. I lost everything," Camila began to cry. "I didn't know what I was gonna do. Everything changed. You shouldn't take your family for granted Lauren, you really shouldn't."
Camila wiped her tears with the back of her hand while Lauren asked another question. "So you went with Dinah and her family?"
Camila nodded, "Dinah and I grew up together. My family knew hers and hers knew mine. We were best friends. So I went them and then me and Dinah were gonna start school so we got our own place. Here we are now," she said, motioning to their place.
"Did they ever catch the driver?" Lauren asked her.
Camila shook her head. "No. They never caught that son of a bitch."
Lauren gulped and rubbed Camila's thigh again. "I can't even imagine how hard things were for you Camila. I really can't."
"Yeah. My life has been a crazy ride," she said as she gave Lauren a sad smile. Lauren squeezed her hand. "So," Camila began, changing the subject. "You wanna get some inspiration today?" Camila asked her.
Lauren nodded, "let's do it."
-
Lauren and Camila had walked around parks, beaches, and every other place you could think of, but Lauren still hadn't found what she wanted to paint. "Alright, there had to have been something that caught your attention." Camila said as they walked around another park.
Lauren scrunched up her face, "uh, I don't know. I just didn't find that thing that just clicks and catches my attention."
"Nothing catches your attention?" Camila asked.
Yeah, Lauren thought. You do. But she didn't feel brave enough to say it out loud. "I think we're gonna have to do more exploring," she told her.
"Well what else could we look at? We've seen everything."
"You know what? That's what I'm gonna paint." Lauren said.
"Paint what?" Camila asked.
"Everything."
"Everything?" Camila asked her and Lauren only nodded. "What do you mean paint everything?"
"I'm gonna paint a little bit of each thing that we saw today." Lauren told her simply.
"So like a mashup of everything we saw? Won't that end up looking kind of messy?" Camila asked the artist, still confused on how she was going to make a painting of everything that they'd seen.
"I'm gonna make it work Camz, don't worry," Lauren smiled, reaching down for her hand and intertwined their fingers.
Camila looked down at their hands and smiled, "if you say so."
The two of them continued walking around the park, enjoying the nice, sunny day. They had gone to eat somewhere later that day and ended up back at Camila's place, snuggling on her bed while they watched a movie.
Lauren wasn't really paying attention to the movie since Camila picked it. The Notebook was not her favorite movie, but she watched it for Camila. She played with Camila's hair as her head was laying on her stomach. Camila on the other hand was all into the movie. She had watched it hundreds of times, but she didn't care. She could watch it over and over and could never get sick of it. Lauren continued playing with her hair as the film played and spoke, "I like this."
Camila lifted her head and faced Lauren with her chin resting on her stomach. "Me too," she smiled up at her.
"Today was fun," Lauren smiled at her.
"It was. Even though I still don't know how you're gonna make the painting come together," she chuckled.
"Watch, it's gonna come out looking really great and I'm gonna rub it all in your face," Lauren smiled.
"No, I believe you. Your work is amazing Lauren and I can't wait to see how it turns out," she smiled.
"Well, thank you," she smiled, kissing her forehead. She looked at the television and saw the credits on the screen. She checked the time on her phone and saw that it was almost midnight. "I should get going," she sighed, looking down at Camila.
"Aw, okay," Camila said getting up. "Let me walk you to the door."
Lauren put on her shoes and noticed that the apartment seemed quiet. "Where's Dinah?"
"She went out with some friends," Camila told her.
"She didn't invite you?"
"Well, no. I was with you. And I'm sure I had much more fun with you than I would've if I went with them." Camila said, opening the front door.
Lauren walked towards the door but stopped when she was in front of Camila. She placed her hand in her cheek and slowly leaned in. Their lips were in sync and Camila couldn't help but smile into the kiss. They broke apart and Lauren looked at her with a funny expression. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Camila told her. "I just really enjoy doing that."
"Me too," Lauren smiled, giving her a little peck. "Alright, I'll text you so we can hang out again soon."
"Sounds great," Camila smiled as she watched Lauren smile one last time at her before she made a turn and was out of her sight.
Lauren had made her way out of the building and looked up at the sky. Wow, she thought. I really like her.
A/N
Hello everyone! I saw the girls yesterday and it was so much fun, but I got PCD and I feel so sad. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I apologize for any mistakes I made. I want at least five comments before I post the next chapter because I wanna see what you guys think about the story and what you think is gonna happen. Thank you and I hope you have a great night!
-Ricky