On Lauren's twenty-second birthday, Camila sees her from across the street in downtown Miami, hanging off the arms of Dinah and Normani, two of their high school friends. All three of them are obviously well on their way to getting drunk, their steps unsteady and laughs too loud.
Something twists inside Camila's gut at the sight. She was only supposed to drop off the present—a vintage polaroid camera—and get back to the house, but she can't tear her eyes away from Lauren now.
She hasn't seen Lauren in three years, which, considering that she's likely going to be around for at least a few hundred more, shouldn't feel like forever. But it does.
Lauren looks different. Her hair is dyed black, and it's loosely bouncing against her shoulders with every step she takes. There's a certain air of maturity surrounding her, and when she speaks her voice is lower and huskier than Camila remembers. She's beautiful.
Normani says something that makes Lauren laugh, and Camila's mouth goes dry at the sight. She has to remind herself that this is Lauren, not some random girl she can approach and bite down on at the end of the night. Her body's reactions to Lauren are completely unrelated to the vampiric side of things—this is what it's like to be attracted to someone when the endgame isn't drinking their blood.
But when Lauren, Dinah, and Normani turn the corner and disappear from Camila's field of vision, she can't stop herself from spinning around and following them from a distance. Her eyes are glued to Lauren's back, like she's on the hunt and watching her prey's every step until it's the right moment to attack.
From the corner of her eye, Camila catches sight of a clock that reads 4:32 AM, and she knows that Ally is waiting for her to come home. She also knows that she didn't bring a phone with her, which means she can't text Ally to let her know she's not in trouble, but as much as she's dreading a speech from Ally about how she can't trust Camila if she doesn't give her a reason to, she can't bring herself to turn around.
Lauren and her friends eventually enter a bar a few blocks down, and Camila follows them inside without a second thought. A wall of body heat and the smell of fresh blood hits her the second she steps inside, and her mind grows foggy as her vampire instincts take over.
One girl in particular, a blonde wearing a low cut shirt that perfectly exposes her neck, catches her attention. Camila's fangs dig into her bottom lip and she carefully inches closer to her, already thinking of ways to lure her away from the crowd. She closes the distance between them, subtly placing her hand on the girl's swaying hips, and bats her eyelashes with a flirtatious grin on her lips. The girl's eyes turn playful and she presses closer to Camila, the scent of her skin becoming almost overwhelming in such close proximity.
Camila instinctively leans closer to press her lips against the girl's neck when a glass falls from the bar and shatters on the floor. The sound immediately pulls Camila back into reality, and she not-so subtly pushes the girl off of her.
"Sorry," she mutters, ignoring the indignant look on the girl's face, and before getting distracted again she starts making her way to the bar Lauren is sitting at.
She climbs onto a bar stool and slaps a twenty onto the bar and orders some colorful cocktail, keeping her head down as much as possible to lower the risks of someone recognizing her. This bar isn't too far from where she grew up, and the chances of running into someone she knew are a lot higher than she wants to admit.
Although the bartender blocks her view on Lauren most of the time, Camila is still highly aware of how this is the first time they've been in such close proximity in over three years. The realization is enough to make Camila's head spin, and she quickly downs her drink. (Alcohol needs to come in much higher quantities to make her feel its effects now, and even then it's not as good as the high after drinking fresh human blood.)
From the other side of the bar, Dinah and Normani order more tequila shots for the three of them, and as the bartender ducks to grab the bottle from underneath the bar, Camila's eyes lock on Lauren. Lauren's head is resting on the bar, like she's already passed out, and the only indication that she's still breathing is the slight movement of her shoulders—too subtle for human eyes.
Camila doesn't like it. She knows how Lauren gets when she's drunk. At first it's all rainbows and butterflies, but after a while she'll get slow and if she lays down for long enough she'll fall asleep. It's not hard to figure out that Lauren's had enough to enter the second phase, and Camila hates Dinah and Normani for not noticing that.
She watches the group for a while, trying really hard not to walk up to them and tell them that if they cherish their life they need to start taking better care of Lauren. They're her friends, for god's sake; they're supposed to know these type of things.
Camila orders another drink, and she wishes that she could be human again, even if it's just for one day.
&
She ends up ordering a glass of water for Lauren, to help her sober up a little. It's the least she can do, and since Dinah and Normani are too drunk themselves to notice that Lauren is drifting in and out of sleep, she figures it's pretty much necessary to intervene.
Lauren sits up when the bartender places the glass in front of her, her eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. She asks something Camila can't quite make out, and the bartender jerks his thumb over his shoulder in Camila's direction.
Shit.
Camila tries to duck away behind a really tall man, but she's too late. Lauren's jaw drops and her eyes widen, and the world seems to stop spinning for a moment.
"Camila," Lauren whispers, and there's so much pain and emotion in that one word that Camila almost throws all caution in the wind. She wants to hold Lauren so badly, even if it's just for a split second, even if it would mean she'd never get to come back here again. In that moment, she'd do anything to bury her face into Lauren's neck one last time.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Camila knows she has to move. She has to get out of here, minimize the damage. She can still make Lauren believe it was a mistake, that she was never really here. But she can't tear her eyes away from Lauren.
Lauren's eyes are still just as green as when Camila first realized she was falling in love with her. Lauren's tentative smile is still the most beautiful thing in the world. Lauren is still the girl Camila's loves more than anything, and she has spent the last three years holding on to that final piece of humanity she had left.
And then Lauren says her name again.
Camila blinks. She's not supposed to be here. Lauren is not supposed to know that she's still alive. Lauren is supposed to be moving on from Camila, and that can't happen if she knows that Camila isn't really dead.
Camila unfreezes, finally coming to her sense.. She slips off the bar stool and starts making her way back outside. She flinches when Lauren repeats her name, fighting against the urge to go back.
"What are you talking about?" Normani asks.
"It's Camila," Lauren replies breathlessly. "She's here. I saw her."
"Lauren," Dinah says, softly. "Camila's gone. She can't be here. It's just your imagination."
"I swear I saw her." Lauren's voice breaks. "She's right th—"
Camila slips outside before Lauren can finish her sentence, slamming the door shut behind her. She blinks against the tears burning in her eyes, but it's no use. Her knees buckle under the weight of heartbreak, and she struggles to breathe.
She's only a few feet away from the bar when the door opens again, and Dinah and Normani emerge from it, dragging a somewhat hysteric Lauren between them. Camila dashes around the corner as fast as she can, pressing herself against the wall to keep them from seeing her.
"We need to go back," Lauren slurs, clearly struggling against the tight grip Dinah and Normani have on her arms. "Camila's inside, we need to go back."
"Camila's dead!' Normani snaps. "She's been dead for three years, Lauren. You're drunk, and you're delusional. Camila isn't here, and she's not coming back. We know you miss her. We miss her, too. But it's been three years. She's gone. It's time to let go."
"Mani..." Dinah says, softly.
Normani sighs, her voice a lot gentler when she speaks again. "I know. I'm sorry. Let's just go home, okay?"
No one replies, but three pairs of footsteps approach Camila's hiding spot, and she shoots a quick prayer that they don't notice her.
They don't. They walk straight past Camila like she's not even there.
It's the way things are supposed to be, but it still makes Camila's chest feel tight, and she has to bite down on her hand to herself from letting out all the frustration that's been building up inside of her for the past three years in a scream.