Lauren's POV
It's been another uneventful few days in the office. We were able to put the Robertson case behind us, so all I did for the second part of the day was a lot of paperwork. I told Camila that I would be home late tonight, but since the case is done, I'm able to get off a bit earlier than I thought. I decide to instead surprise her.
When I walk in the door, the entire apartment is silent. "Camz?" I say, hoping for a response.
When I don't get one, I go room to room, looking for her. When I get to the bedroom, I find her sitting down on the floor, facing the opposite wall. I slowly walk in, careful not to make my presence known.
Her headphones are on, blasting music and I can hear her tiny voice, humming along. I stand just outside the doorway with my head peeking into the room. She occasionally hums something before shaking her head and reaching down in front of her, completing a task I can't see from here. Just as I'm about to step closer to take a look, she huffs in frustration and slams something in front of her before tossing it to the side - a notebook.
She runs her hands through her hair before picking up her phone and scrolling through it. I can now make out a familiar beat emitting through the headphones as Camila shifts her weight onto her knees and lays down on her stomach, now singing with much less hesitation
Downtown we let it go
Sunset high and our bodies low
Blood rush in the hazy glow
My hands, your bones
Loose up we break the scene
One step deep as you fall to me
Heart clap, we skip a beat
Count one two three
I watch in awe. I've known that Camila used to be in plays in high school, but I had no idea how much of a talented singer she is. After the song ends, and she scrolls on her phone to pick another, and I slowly approach her, careful not to scare her.
"Baby?" I say, kneeling down and wrapping my arms around her torso. She takes her headphones off and bows her head in embarrassment. "Aw babe no, you sounded amazing. Where did you even learn to sing like that?" I kiss her pink cheeks over and over until I feel them perk up in a smile.
Her face is still bright red, and she quickly turns the music off on her phone. "I'm not very good, but I used to love singing-"
"If you call that 'not very good' I would love to hear you at your best," I say, honestly.
"I used to love singing. When I was little I had these delusional dreams of being on stage somewhere singing my own songs. I used to write songs about anything... I'm pretty sure the first song I ever wrote was about spaghetti when I was five - except it was called 'Psgetty' because I couldn't pronounce it." Her eyes lose focus at this memory while I chuckle thinking of a tiny Camila singing about 'psgetty.'
"When did you stop?" I ask.
"I don't know. Somewhere along the line I lost the motivation, I guess." She shrugs, pulling herself into a seated position in front of me.
"Why?"
"Life happened, ya know? I unfortunately was forced to grow up when my parents kicked me out. I guess I left all my childhood dreams in that house and needed to learn what 'stability' was far too quickly." My heart breaks for the beautiful girl in front of me.
"I haven't felt inspired in a while, so I just kinda got back into in the last few days. I was talking with Sam and it really made me want to try and get into music again. I was so jealous that he had pursued his dream of working with art and I kinda let my love for music fall to the side."
"Oh, you and Sam are keeping in touch?" I can feel my jealousy rising again and I decide I fuckinghate the feeling.
"Yeah, talking to him helped ease me back into it. I have no idea what I want to do with it, but for now I'll just enjoy the tiny bit of inspiration I have." My stomach twists at the notion that Sam has become her inspiration and I know I need to remove myself from this conversation for a few minutes.
I lean over and give her a short kiss on the cheek. "Well you sound amazing, so keep it up."
I still can't believe that even after meeting up with Sam that she's still talking to him. What does she need to keep in contact with him for? It's not like he was a good friend to her.
I stifle my feelings for a minute so that I can do what I initially planned. I sit myself back on the edge of the bed and pull out the box that I had been hiding out of her sight and give it to her. She looks at it, confused, but then she begins to understand what it is. "Baby, you got me a Chemex?! And what the hell are you doing home early?" She pushes up onto her knees and scoots forward until she's resting between my legs with a big, dopey smile on her face.
I smile and help her open the box. I stopped on my way home at a local store in town and saw the Chemex. Camila has been into all types of coffee lately, so I wanted to get her something that she can use to brew exceptionally good coffee. "First of all, yes because while the Keurig is nice and quick, it doesn't exactly produce quality. This is supposed to brew some of the most delicious coffee. Caffeine is a drug. I don't care what anyone says, this shit is a drug," I say, holding up a few of the flavored coffees I bought with it.
"Baby, caffeine is a classified drug... that's a thing. No one is going to deny it," she giggles at my apparently unnecessary rant. Oh.
"Whatever, I knew that... Second, the Robertson case wrapped up early. It's pretty much a shoe-in."
Her smile is killing me. It's been a while since I've seen such a genuine smile on her. "This is the best thing ever, thank you! Oh my god it's so pretty!" She holds up the large glass beaker that's fashioned with a nice wooden handle at the neck. "I'm so excited that you're home early, let's go make some!"
As I lean in to give her a kiss, her phone goes off and she gives me a quick peck before pulling away quickly. She must still be getting texts from Sam. My instinct is to retreat from the room and recollect my thoughts, so I get up and head out into the kitchen.
Don't say anything, Lauren. Keep your goddamn mouth shut.
This time, my phone goes off and I answer it.
"Detective Jauregui?"
"This is she."
A crackling sound comes through the receiver and then I hear a deep, man's voice. "Hi Detective Jauregui. This is Special Agent Morgan from the criminal investigation unit of the FBI. Are you able to talk right now?"
I begin to pace back and forth in the kitchen. "I can talk, sure."
"Detective, have you recently been contacted by a Christian Dreyer?"
Shit. "Yes, he contacted my phone."
"Ever since we took this case over, I could tell that you were not being straightforward with us. I would appreciate if you brought anything important to the Dreyer case to our attention from now on. But, in the essence of time, I'm going to need you to come down to the station and give us your phone. If he has been contacting you, we need to ensure we have our top team working to find him based on any phone data from future texts or calls."
"But he's been using a rerouted number," I say, scoffing at his apparent foolishness.
"We have the best team in the country working this case, Detective. I can assure you that our technology far surpasses anything the state has provided you. So please, in the next hour bring over your phone. And do not touch a goddamn thing on it."
These fucking douchefucks. First, they take the case from right under me. Now, they want to confiscate my phone? And what, leave me defenseless?
I hang up without responding.
"Camz, I have to leave," I call into the bedroom. Her headphones are on again and she's humming and scribbling again in her notebook. She sees me motion to the door and she understands, giving me a quick wave. I guess she didn't care that I was home after all.
--
The FBI wasted no time going through my phone and other personal things to ensure that they could find any and everything that came into contact with Christian Dreyer. They even went through my wallet...Like what could I possibly hide in there?
Now that I'm completely phone-less and have no way to get into contact with anyone, I stop over at the local AT&T in the mall and take a look at the newest phones. The lady at the counter gives me a nod, and she looks very familiar but I can't place her face.
"Can I help you with anything, Detective?" she asks.
Have I slept with her before? Is that how I know her?
"I'm just looking for a phone."
"Today is my first day back." She gives a sad glance over to me and it clicks.
Oh, she's the friend of that girl Tori who we found in the river a few weeks ago. The girl who was submerged in her car.
"I'm really sorry about all that, I hope you're doing better?" I ask.
"Much better thanks." She pauses. "So can I help you look for anything in particular?"
"Not really. I have no idea what I want. It just needs to be something sturdy. As you can imagine, my phones take a lot of beating."
She giggles under her breath. "Okay, how about this one?" She hands me the Samsung Galaxy Note and I turn it on.
I take it into my hands and nearly drop it onto the floor. I don't have small hands, but this must be for a behemoth. I can barely wrap a hand around it. "Too big, how about something smaller?"
"Then try this," she says, handing me the iPhone 6.
"Much better." An entire crowd of people starts walking into the store and I can see the panic set in her eyes. "It's okay, I'm fine for now, go head." I gesture for her to move on to the next group.
I've never really been into iPhones but this is a really solid piece. I turn it on and play around with the text app. Damn, this is nice. I pull up some of the other apps to check how seamless it is to use. I actually don't mind it.
I open the camera app because while this is mostly for work, I have a thing for taking pictures of landscapes. The phone is tethered too close to the docking station that I can't get a feel for the quality so I open the gallery to see if there are maybe some quality samples. And then I see it. A picture of Christian Dreyer.
--
Camila's POV
"Sof, can you please just listen for a second? I can't stay up here."
Every few days, I Facetime with Sofi. Each time I see her on the screen of my laptop, I realize just how old she's getting. I can't believe how much of her life I've missed because I've been away for just a few months. How can someone change so quickly and drastically?
"No, you listen. If you love her why don't you stay up there. Mami and Papi haven't been too hard on me lately ever since Abuela came to stay with us. I can manage on my own - I have been, for quite a few months. Plus now that you and Lauren are living together, I can come stay whenever I want."
"When did you get so old and wise?" I laugh. "I can't though mija. I really want to. But my job is down there and my entire family is there too. I can't just uproot my entire life for some girl."
"She's not just some girl."
"You're right, she's not."
"You love her. That's the difference. You know that won't just go away right?"
"I never said it would. We're going to make the distance work."
"...says everyone, who not before long, ends up breaking up with their girlfriend or boyfriend. Don't bullshit me."
"Sofia Cabello watch your mouth!"
"I'm not that ten year old little girl anymore, Mila."
"Well to me you are. So for my sake, please."
I hear the door slam and realize that it must be Lauren coming home from work, for the second time.
"Sof, I gotta go. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"
I shut the laptop just as Lauren enters the bedroom. Her suit is disheveled and she carelessly flicks off her heels onto the floor in front of me.
"Have you been sitting on the floor all day? Like, have you gotten up to at least clean something or maybe make us some dinner?" she asks.
"Wow, someone came home angry. What bit you in the butt?"
"It's not funny. Just, if you're going to be at home all day can you at least help out a little bit? I'm not asking for a lot." I pick up her heels off of the floor. The middle of the floor? Really? She can at least make it easy to clean up after herself. I place them into the bedroom closet.
"Sure, yeah," I say, as I make my way to the kitchen. I usually cook for the both of us, so I don't know why she's getting so angry today. I know better than anyone how difficult our jobs are, but that never makes it okay to take it out on one another.
"I had to get a new phone because the FBI took it. Here, let me type in my new number."
I hand over my phone to her and as she types it in I can hear the buzzing and feel the anger emanating from her body.
"So this is what you've been doing all day?"
"What? Texting Sam? No. I sang a little, attempted to write, and I Facetimed with Sofi."
"I thought he wasn't a big part of your life. Why all the sudden?"
Oh so THIS is why she's mad.
"Babe, we talk about music. He's helping me out with something, it's really nothing. Read the texts if you want," I offer.
"Thanks, but no thanks. Here." She hands her phone back to me and brushes by me to wash her hands in the sink.
"Relax, he's harmless. Plus I think Hailee is trying to get back with him. They made googly eyes at each other the entire time we were at lunch."
"Drop it, Camila," she says. "I'm just gonna order pizza and hop in the shower." She makes a move to pass me, but I block her way. She takes a sidestep and I continue to step in front of her.
"I'm not in the mood for this. Please just let me go take a shower."
"No. Not when you're clearly mad at me. Lauren, look at me," I plead. Her eyes have looked everywhere but at me and I miss them.
"Camila, can we please not do this now," she begs. Her face is red, almost like she is fighting back tears. I grab her hand in mine.
"Baby, please look at me."
She keeps her head angled down, but her eyes finally find mine. She's so fucking cute.
"You are absolutely absurd if you think anyone is a threat to this," I start. Her eyes drift away from mine again. "Nope, look at me." She sighs, clearly finding her stubbornness again and huffs before picking her whole head up and looking at my face. I smile at how jealous she is when she has less than no reason to be.
"Stop smiling at me like that, it's not funny," she pulls her hand away and folds her arms across her chest. The gesture looks so childish that I'm genuinely fighting the laughter that is threatening to escape.
"Sam is helping me remember why I loved music in the first place, Lauren. It's something I was really passionate about at one point in my life and gave up on because realistically, it probably wasn't going to lead me anywhere."
"Well I'm glad you rekindled with your inspiration." She makes a move to walk around me again and I step in her way once more.
"I said he reminded me. He has nothing to do with why I've felt inspired lately. But you do," I say, lifting her chin until she faces me again. "You have everything to do with it. Baby, he is not a threat. There is not a single person on this planet that is a threat to this and there hasn't been from the moment we met, despite how many times both of us tried to fight it."
I unfold Lauren's arms and place them around my waist while I wrap my arms around her neck. I can see tears brimming in her eyes, but they don't exactly look like sad tears. I rest my forehead on hers. "I'm yours, baby. There is nothing and no one that is going to change that, you hear me?"
She nods with a small sniffle. The motion of her head caused one tear to escape so I release one of my hands to wipe it away and pull her into a passionate kiss. It starts slowly, conveying everything I feel for her without words, but quickly begins heating up. I gently pull away.
"You getting jealous was really cute, though. The Lauren Jauregui... jealous," I smile. She shakes her head.
"I don't know what you're talking about. Lauren Jauregui doesn't get jealous." She smiles back. Her smile is so contagious that shortly after we are both giggling into short playful kisses that contrasted the long deep kisses from moments ago.
"Can we cuddle? And maybe watch a movie?" She innocently asks.
"Absolutely. But under one condition," I request.
"Okay, what's that?"
"That you actually order pizza, and that you change out of these work clothes and put on my favorite little set of pj's." Her eyes narrow as a smirk appears on her lips.
"I don't know if I remember which pj's you speak of. You might just have to come help me get dressed, then." She pulls me by my hips into her, attaching her lips to my neck, immediately sucking on my weak spot. My eyes roll back in my head before I push her back.
"You stop it, you little tease." I peel myself out of her grasp. "Order the pizza, then meet me in the shower," I begin walking toward the hallway, taking my clothes off on the way. Just as I reach the bathroom, I am in nothing but my thong as I throw a playful look over my shoulder and see her scrambling with her new phone before bringing it up to her ear.
"Yes, hi... I would like one plain pizza for delivery please," she says, her eyes finding me in the doorway. I turn around to face her and slide my hands into the waistband of my underwear as I slowly slide them down my legs. I stand up, covering my breasts and kick my thong off to the side before turning around to give her a view of my backside. I giggle to myself as I hear, "uh w-what? No, yeah, sorry I'm still here... what did you ask me?"
I wait patiently under the hot stream of water until I finally hear the bathroom door open. I watch her silhouette through the curtain as she undresses herself.
"You know, that was really rude and we are not going to have sex now because of it. I hope you're please with yourse-" she says, finally climbing into the shower. I cut her rant short with a deep kiss. My lips glide over hers, already wet from the water.
"Mmh," she moans. I got what I wanted out of her so I pull away and turn around.
"Here, can you soap my back." I hand her the body wash "... sorry I cut you off, what were you saying?" She knocks the body wash out of my hand and spins me around pushing me into the wall. She drags her tongue the length of my bottom lip before biting down.
"I was saying that we only have a half an hour," she whispers into my ear. My breath catches in my throat as she drags her tongue down my body until she's kneeling between my legs.
--
I wake up the next morning from the bright morning light basking through the window. My entire right side draped over a sleeping Lauren who is laying flat on her stomach with the sheets strewn halfway down her back. Her dark hair falls in beautiful, messy waves behind her and obscures a portion of her beautiful face. I carefully remove the offending strands and take a moment to admire the scene.
I could wake up like this for the rest of my life. That thought immediately brings tears to my eyes because I know our time is limited. If I could stay in this exact moment in time I would gladly do it, but I know I can't and that kills me. I think back to when I first got here and I did everything I could to hate this girl in front of me. It was a battle that I think some part of me knew I wasn't going to win, but I would be damned if I didn't try. Fast forward a few months and here I am, watching her sleep peacefully in the early morning light.
I sit like this for an undetermined amount of time, just lightly running the back of my index finger up and down her exposed back. I catch a glimpse of the time and realize that in the haze of love and lust last night, Lauren forgot to set her alarm.
I lean in and kiss her cheek softly. It's warm with sleep. I kiss her closed eyelid and feel a slight flutter, before it evens out again. I kiss her ear lightly before whispering, "baby." No response. I kiss her cheek again before leaving a series of little pecks all over her face. She stirs a little, so I go back to her ear. "Baby, you have to get up."
"Mph," she replies.
"Baby, you're late," I whisper again before leaving a soft kiss on the corner of her lips. Her eyes finally flutter open.
"What time is it?" she asks through a raspy, sleep-ridden voice that makes my heart flutter. Her eyes blink a few times before they meet mine. She pulls up onto her elbows, suddenly more alert.
"Camz? What's wrong?" She looks worried. I lift my hands to my face and realize I've been crying.
"Nothing, nothing. You have to get up, Laur... you're late," I remind her.
"No Camz, talk to me... what's wrong? You're crying." She leans over and pulls me so half of my body is pinned underneath hers and her elbows rest on either side of my head. She kisses the trail my tears left.
"It's nothing, I was just thinking," I shrug.
"Sounds dangerous," she says, with a soft smile, seemingly catching on to what I was upset about.
"I love you," I blurt out. I can feel my cheeks getting red, but I don't care. It felt necessary. Lauren smiles sadly.
"I love you too, Camz." She kisses my nose affectionately. She doesn't realize that all of these little things are making it harder and harder to turn off my emotions right now.
"I don't think you realize how much I do, though... because I don't think I even understand just how much. I think I need this more than I've been willing to admit," I look away from her, feeling a fresh set of tears escape the corner of my eyes. She wipes them away with both of her thumbs.
"I don't think either of us really understood how hard this is gonna be," she admits. "But this is something I'm not willing to let go of. You are something I am willing to fight for. We will figure it out, baby. I promise you that." She kisses my lips softly. "But let's not talk about this yet, yeah? Let's not let this ruin the time we do have left. She lifts herself off of me and extends her hand. "Will you shower with me? I promise to be good this time," she smirks and I nod in response.
We took our time in the shower. Lauren seemed to be in no rush despite the fact that she was about 2 hours late to work. We exchanged innocent kisses, and explored one another's bodies with no intent other than mapping out every curve, scar, and inch of one another.
Lauren stays long enough for me to brew our first cup from the Chemex before she regretfully kisses me goodbye for the day. I retreat to the bedroom with my freshly brewed cup of coffee and pull out my notebook. In dramatic fashion, I have been attempting to write something for Lauren. It seems childish, but where words always fail me, music speaks. I'm a bit rusty, so I pick up my phone and shoot a text to Sam, hoping he can meet up with me and help me finish this song before my and Lauren's time runs out.
Me: I'm working on that song we talked about... when can we meet up?
I put my headphones on as images of this morning flash through my mind. If it hurts this bad right now, I know this is nothing to what it's going to feel like in a week when I need to leave. Sofi's words come back into my head. I never took staying as a serious option. It would be reckless of me. I have a job that I worked my ass off to get. I have Sofi to look after. I have my friends. It would be foolish, Camila. You can't do that for a girl. But Sofi is right... Lauren isn't just 'a girl' and what I feel isn't just going to go away.
My phone buzzes next to me. I shake my head, ridding it of these crippling thoughts, and open the text from Sam, hoping he is able to meet and help me with the song I've been struggling with for days.
Christian's POV
I've got the itch. It's like a disease. I'm an addict.
Hailee? She was just a pawn in this master plan. I had to let her go so I could get on with bigger and better things. But don't forget - she plays an important part in this, and I need for her to stick around.
My phone buzzes, and I reach my hand into my backpack. Nope, not that phone, the other one. I pull out the old Blackberry and turn on the screen. It's another text message.
Camila: I'm working on that song we talked about... when can we meet up?
I smile. Hi beautiful.