A look at the photos revealed that Lauren had been one of the popular girls, she just had to be. In every single one she was surrounded by a large group of beautiful girls, a few of them in cheerleader uniforms, or guys in football jerseys. Camila knew that Lauren had gone to an all-girls school and since she recognized Luis in some of them, she guessed that a few had been taken at his high school.
She glanced from one picture to the next and wondered just how many friends Lauren had and why she had never talked about any of them. The only ones, that she had ever mentioned, had been Normani, Dinah and Ally. But perhaps they had lost contact after high school... wasn't that what some people said?
Camila walked further into Lauren's study and stopped in front of a case with shiny medals and trophies. Curious, she looked at a large photo behind the glass. Since she once heard Lauren talking about the sport, she knew that this had to be one of her old softball teams. And due to the medals and trophies, she could only guess that they had been quite successful too.
"Yeah, that looks kinda pretentious, doesn't it?" Lauren's voice came from behind her and Camila snapped her head around.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she quickly apologized and took a few steps back. "I didn't mean to snoop, but the door was open and I was curious when I saw all the pictures and –"
"Camz, it's okay," Lauren chuckled and walked up to her, looking wistfully at the trophy case. "Sometimes I forget that it's there..."
Camila scoffed. "You forget? How could you forget something like this?! This medal here says that you won the State Championship, Lauren! Like, what the heck! You guys rocked!"
"Thanks." Lauren smiled bashfully and rubbed her neck.
"Why did you never talk about it? I think you only mentioned it once that you played softball in high school and that was when you..." Camila trailed off as she remembered Lauren's fight with Luis in the forest. She had accused him of lying about something that made her quit softball and ultimately lose her scholarship...
"When we were in Miami?" Lauren asked, grimacing slightly. "Yeah, I just... don't like to think about it. I only put the case up because my dad and the girls persuaded me to do so..."
"I'm glad they did," she told Lauren and mentioned smiling to the other side of her wall. "It sure seems as if you never did anything but softball."
Lauren laughed softly and glanced to the other photos. "Yeah, I always went to softball camp during the summer since I was old enough to go. I was really obsessed with it."
They went silent while Lauren looked with a melancholic expression at some of the pictures before she shuddered and quickly walked back to the door. "You want some hot chocolate before we talk?"
Camila shot a curious look to the pictures and nodded. "Yes, thank you."
"No problem." Lauren smiled, though she seemed a little sadder than before. "You can stay and look a little more if you want to. I'll call you when it's ready."
It cost everything in her not to walk over to the other side of the room and find out what made Lauren upset, but after a short moment, she shook her head.
"It's fine, I missed your comfy couch anyway," Camila said and winked.
Lauren chuckled. "I always knew that you liked it better than me... I'm hurt, Camz. You really hurt my feelings."
"You can earn my love when you make me some hot cocoa," she smirked and followed a now giggling Lauren out of the room.
"Duly noted and stored away for future reference," Lauren told her before disappearing into the kitchen.
Camila shook her head smiling and sat down on the soft couch, but her smile slowly slipped away when she remembered that soon she would get her answers.
She nervously played with her fingers and frowned. She had heard quite a few snippets, but she had learned better than to make up her own theories. Her imagination was too wild for something like that.
But would her opinion of Lauren change?
No. Of course not. No matter what happened in the past, she would never think badly of Lauren. The girl, she had come to know in the last month, was an amazing person. She had influenced her life greatly and no matter what she might have done, that was if she had done anything, it didn't have to do with the girl she knew. This Lauren was really one of the most genuine and caring people she knew. And did she honestly think that the girls would still defend Lauren, if the girl had done something unforgivable?
"Here you go," Lauren's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see her holding two mugs in her hands.
"Thanks."
For a short moment no one said anything as they sipped on their hot chocolate, before Lauren cleared her throat lightly.
"So, um... I'm not really good at these things," Lauren mumbled, her eyes not leaving the mug in her hands. "I think I should just start at the beginning, right?"
"You don't have to tell me anything you're not comfortable with, Lauren," she reminded the girl, but Lauren shook her head, still not looking up.
"No, it's fine. It's been over a year..."
Lauren sighed deeply and Camila didn't dare to take her eyes off of the girl beside her.
"Well, as you know, I played softball," Lauren started and nodded to her study. "I loved it. I was kind of obsessed with it, to be honest. Ever since I was little and watched a game, I wanted to play it too. First my dad showed me how to properly throw and catch the ball and stuff like that... until my parents surprised me one day and send me to the softball camp in the summer."
Lauren smiled slightly and played with the cup in her hands.
"I was really excited and it was amazing to do basically nothing else but play softball all summer long with other kids around my age. Some girls were awesome and I made many friends, though there were enough idiots too, of course. After the first time, my parents noticed how happy it made me, so they send me to that camp every summer."
Camila listened intently, wondering where this story was going. She could almost see a little Lauren with a cute little softball bat in her hands or running around and catching balls. Smiling slightly, she took in the small grin on Lauren's face. It was clear that this was one of her favorite childhood memories.
"When I was around twelve, I got into trouble with one of the idiots," Lauren told her, chuckling to herself. "We didn't really see eye to eye and started to pull pranks on each other. One day we went too far and some counselors were the victims of a pretty, uh, nasty attack. As punishment we had to help in the kitchens among other things. And as cliché as it sounds, after we put our attitudes aside, we got along pretty well until we finally became friends. Very good friends, in fact."
Lauren paused for a moment and seemed to be lost in her memories. Just as she was about to say something, Lauren finally looked up.
"We exchanged numbers at the end of the summer and continued to text and call each other while we were at school. She lived in a completely different location, so it was basically impossible to meet in person. But we had our softball camp every summer and it always felt as if we hadn't been apart at all, you know? It was as if the distance didn't matter. We just continued where we left off. When people started... you know... picking on me when I was in middle school, she was there and told me that I shouldn't listen to them, that I should keep my head up and show them how awesome I was."
Lauren shook her head and she averted her eyes once more.
"So I put everything into academics and softball. I knew I had friends who cared about me, even though they didn't go to the same school. It didn't matter that some immature people wanted to make themselves feel better by trying to put others down..."
Camila nodded wordlessly and could definitely see some similarities between Lauren and herself. They had both concentrated on the things they loved and had tried to ignore everything else. Although it hadn't been always successful, for Camila at least.
"But then I started to notice that she was slowly pulling away from me... she was more guarded, more closed off than the summer before," Lauren continued quietly. "At first I didn't say anything, I thought she would come to me, if something was wrong. But when she didn't, I started to become more concerned and asked her myself. She just shrugged me off and called me paranoid. She told me that everything was okay, that she was fine. She wasn't though, but I didn't pressure her anymore like she had asked me to and kept those thoughts to myself."
Scoffing, Lauren glared at the cup in front of her.
"Every year she got more reserved, she barely laughed. When I was sixteen, I couldn't hold back anymore and cornered her one evening. I couldn't just sit back and watch, I had to do something, you know?" At Lauren's pleading look, Camila nodded reassuringly. "One evening I finally asked her what was wrong, said that she needed to tell me what was happening, what made her so sad... and then she just kissed me."
Camila's eyebrows shot up. She what?
Lauren shook her head. "I was speechless and just stared at her until she ran out. I'll never forget the horrified and sad look in her eyes... she looked so panicked. And instead of acting like the friend I should have been, I let her run away. I didn't look for her. I just let her run away from me. What kind of friend does that?"
Camila slowly set the cup down on the table and reached for Lauren's hand. "You were shocked, you weren't thinking."
"She left early the next morning," Lauren said in a monotone voice. "I tried to call her phone, but she changed her number. After camp I even drove all the way to her home only to find out that her family moved away. I thought that maybe she was coming back to camp the next summer, you know? But she didn't. She was gone, she just wasn't there anymore. And instead of being worried, I got mad. I got really, really angry with her... I couldn't look at any picture of her without feeling this rage... I felt as if she had left me... I was so selfish."
Camila bit her lip, not knowing what to say. Instead she squeezed Lauren's hand gently and the older girl gave her a forced smile.
"Did you ever find out what happened to her?" Camila finally asked and furrowed her brows as Lauren shut her eyes tightly before she nodded slightly.
"Yes, I did," she whispered brokenly and Camila watched in alarm as a tear rolled down her cheek. "And I wish I hadn't..."
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A/N: Yeah, that's right. I stopped there. Haha, don't kill me ;) Thanks for reading and if you liked it, click on the little star!