A/N: It's been a while hasn't it? Well I edited this chapter and deleted 14-16. I wanted to change the whole car accident thing, because I thought it was overused and unoriginal. Now that I'm on vacation, I plan on writing a lot more. So get ready! Hope you like the new direction that this story is going in!
"Lauren, my arm hurts." Camila complained to Lauren as soon as they arrived back at Lauren's house. "Could you have a look at it or something?"
Lauren frowned, the answered, "Sorry, Camila. Unfortunately, it's going to be like for a while. You broke it in several places, so it's going to be pretty painful for a few weeks. It'll get better, I promise. For now, all I can give you is some Advil. It'll help you at least some."
"It didn't hurt back at Ally, Dinah, and Normani's house though. Why is it hurting so much now?"
"You were probably having too much fun to notice it." Lauren replied, logically. "Would you like some Advil?"
Camila nodded, then Lauren went off to get two pills and a glass of water from the kitchen. When she returned, she placed the glass in one of Camila's hands and the pills in the other. After taking the pills and gulping down the water, she handed the glass off to Lauren, who placed it right beside the other empty glass from earlier. Lauren could sense that something else was bugging Camila, so she decided to ask about it.
"Is something wrong, Camila?" she asked.
Camila sighed, then responded, "Yeah. I've been thinking."
"What about?"
"Us. I'm having some second thoughts." Camila stated, with a frown.
"What? Why? We just got together this morning. Shouldn't we give it a little longer?" Lauren questioned frantically.
She thought long and hard before finally answering, "It's really not that at all. I want to be with you, I do. Unfortunately, I really think you deserve someone better. You and Dylan should be together, honestly. All our relationship would consist of is you taking care of me all the time, and I don't want to drag you down. If it's okay, could you bring me home tonight? If not, I understand that you're tired."
"But Camila..."
"This isn't something I want to talk about, Lauren. My decision is final. I'm not going to drag you down that way, and I want you to date someone where you can equally take care of each other. I really am sorry, really. We can still be friends, but we just need some time apart. I know we've been through this already, but this time, I won't change my mind."
Lauren was tired, but she knew that if she didn't bring Camila home tonight, things would get very awkward between them. She was so tired, in fact, that she hadn't even noticed what was happening. It was dangerous to drive drowsy, but at this point, she really didn't care anymore. She stumbled about the room as if she was drunk looking for her car keys, eventually falling on the hard, wood floor. This made a loud thud, causing Camila's face to fill with worry.
"Lauren? Are you okay?" she asked.
"Why do you care?" Lauren spat back. "You don't care enough to actually talk this through like usual."
Camila sighed, then plopped down on Lauren's couch. "You're right. I'm sorry. Would you like to talk about it?" she asked, apologetically.
Lauren adjusted her position to be sitting with her legs crisscrossed, then responded, "Can we?"
"Yeah. What do you want to talk about?" Camila asked.
"This decision that you made. You think Dylan likes me, or even loves me, but I think you've got it all wrong."
"But Lauren..." Camila was interrupted.
"No, Camila. I'm going to talk now, and you need to hear it. You need to listen to what I have to say for once. You're always making the decisions, but not this time. We need to discuss this together like the adults that we are." Lauren said calmly with a hint of sass. "Dylan and I aren't a thing, Camila. You and I are. When two people want to be together, they should be without any questions asked. And when you said that we should both take care of each other equally, and that I'm the only one taking care of you, you were wrong there too. Yes, I am the one taking care of you physically, but mentally you take care of me. You fill the hole in my heart a little more every day without even trying. Just being with you makes me a better person. Before you go forward with breaking up with me, I want you to know that. Think, and then speak."
There was a long silence that sat like a rock between the two girls. The silence caused Lauren to be filled with tension and worry. She wondered what Camila was thinking about. Was she going to change her mind? Or was she just making the situation much harder than it needed to be? Camila was a very complicated human being, and there was never anything predictable about her.
The silence dragged on for twenty whole minutes, and Lauren's throat was getting dry as she awaited to hear the fate of their relationship. Silently, she got up and made her way to the kitchen to grab herself a glass of water. As she gathered a glass from her cabinet, she let a tear fall down her cheek. She filled the glass up to the rim with cold water and took a sip, instantly feeling a bit relieved.
Lauren turned around to exit the kitchen when she was shocked to see Camila waiting in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. Because of the scare, Lauren dropped her glass of water on the floor, causing it to shatter and spill water everywhere. The sound of the glass shattering made Camila bring her hands to her mouth in shock.
"Oh my gosh, Camila!" Lauren shouted, breathing heavily. "You scared the crap out of me!"
"I'm so sorry! Let me help!" Camila yelled, beginning to walk into the kitchen.
Lauren held her hands in front of Camila, then said, "Wait! There's glass everywhere! Stay where you are!"
Camila did as she was told and waited in the doorway. Lauren carefully picked up the pieces of glass that were scattered all over her floor, making sure that she got every single one. Luckily, there were only a few pieces of glass that were broken, so she was able to clean it up fairly quickly.
Lauren sighed, then said, "Finally. I've picked up all of the glass. I just have to clean up the-"
She was cut off by Camila falling and slipping on the water that was still coating the kitchen floor. Lauren went to go help Camila up, but then ended up falling herself. Instead of trying to get up, the two girls burst out into laughter while embracing each other in a hug. When the laughter came to an abrupt stop, things got serious again.
"What am I doing?" Camila asked herself.
Lauren gazed at her with a confused look, then asked, "What do you mean, Camila?"
"I mean, what am I doing? As in, why am I trying to rid myself of happiness? We are clearly happy together, and I'm trying to rip us apart because of a reason that doesn't even make sense. It's stupid things like slipping on puddles of water on the kitchen floor together that remind me of how perfect we are. This little thing has made me realize something. I don't care that I'm insecure anymore. That shouldn't mean that I don't deserve happiness. You made a good point, Lauren. If two people are meant to be together, then they can find a way. They will always find a way." Camila explained to Lauren.
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Lauren asked with a smile.
Camila nodded and said, "Yes. It means I want to be with you forever, Lauren. You're all that I want. Actually, no. No, you're what I need, not what I want. I need you to be here with me until the day that I die. One day, maybe, I want to be bound to you by law and by a pair of rings. Not today, but hopefully someday. For now, though, I want to be your girlfriend. Would this be okay, Lauren?"
"Yes! That will always be okay! It appears that we share the same thoughts, Camila. You've described everything that I've always dreamed of."
Camila smiled too, then said, "Now that things are solved, let's get this water cleaned up. Then I want to talk about our living conditions."
Lauren nodded and carefully stood up, then helped Camila up without hurting her arm. After bringing Camila back into the living room, she went back to the kitchen where she picked up all of the water with paper towels. Once everything was neat and tidy, she went back into the living room to talk to Camila about more technical stuff.
"So I think we should move here, Lauren. We're next door to our friends and my mom wouldn't think to ever interfere with us again. I'd like to do that if it's okay with you. It'd be a much better decision than staying at my house that is farther away from everything. What do you think?" she asked Lauren.
"I'm down for whatever, Camila. You bring up good points, so I'll agree. Also, I think it'd be cool for us to live right next door to our friends. It'd be much quicker for us to get there for any occasion, including our auditions."
Camila nodded and sighed, then said, "I'm glad all of that's over. Now let's get some sleep, shall we?"
"Let's do it." Lauren answered.
Lauren walked Camila down to her bedroom, then helped her get into bed. On her way out to the couch, Lauren was stopped in her tracks by a small hand wrapping around hers. She looked down to see Camila looking in her direction with blank eyes. The tired, gorgeous girl made Lauren smile as she was reminded of them being together permanently this time.
"Well?" Camila asked Lauren.
"What's the matter, Camila?" she asked.
"Aren't you going to cuddle with me tonight? We are dating now after all. I don't know much about relationships but I'm pretty sure that's normal."
Lauren giggled, then said, "Yes, that's normal. I just need to go and shut off all the lights in the house first, then I'll be right back in."
Camila nodded, and Lauren made her way out the living room where there were a few lamps turned on. As she was about to shut off the final light, she noticed someone peaking in through her house's window. Instantly, Lauren went over to the front door and opened it to see who the person was. She turned her head to see that it was Camila's mother.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Lauren screamed.
Her mom stomped over to Lauren then said, "What do you think? I'm making sure my child is okay!"
"She's fine. Why wouldn't she be?"
She scoffed, then replied, "Because she's not at home with me. Plus, I can't trust you or anyone with my daughter. I care for her in case you haven't noticed."
"Well that's a first. Seems like you just want to keep her trapped in a house that she can't leave and doesn't want to live in. Maybe you should stop thinking about what's best for you and start thinking about what's best for her." Lauren said.
"I am thinking about what's best for her, and it's not with you. You've already pledged to take care of her, but she is more damaged than she was before I let her live on her own. I just can't trust her being anywhere that's not under my supervision. I'm not giving up on having her come home, but I'll let you have a chance to prove yourself to me. Have a good night, Lauren." she said, walking away from the house.
Lauren closed the door and mumbled, "Psycho woman."
She made sure that the door was locked, then made her way back to the bedroom. Camila seemed to already be half asleep, but jerked awake as soon as Lauren crawled into bed.
"What took so long? I missed you." the tired girl asked Lauren.
"I missed you too. And there was just some psycho outside of our house."
Camila giggled and joked, "Was it you?"
"Ha, ha. Very funny. Let's just get to bed."
Lauren embraced Camila in a way that was most comfortable for them, and they fell asleep with wide smiles across their faces. Before Lauren actually fell asleep, she left a kiss on Camila's forehead, then crashed almost immediately. And for once, the two had gotten a good night's sleep.