3 months later...
Lauren and her family had settled in with the newborn in their house.
Clara's meeting with the Cabello's was a success, although Camila still hadn't made the effort to talk to her mother or father just yet.
The girls had all returned back to their homes.
----
It was 6AM , the sun was just rising . Ever since Rey had been safely placed in the Jauregui household, and Lauren had healed up; Lauren made it her mission to run a mile a day.
She turned the corner and ran up her driveway, making it back to her house.
Mike had already left for the day , Chris and Taylor had already been picked up for school by their friends, and Clara was just getting ready to walk out the door.
"Did you beat your time?" Camila asks greeting Lauren with Rey in her arms, which has become a familiar scene these days.
"I feel like I'm - getting slower." Lauren says trying to catch her breath in between.
Camila places Rey in the bassinet near by, and grabs a bottle of water to give to Lauren.
"You've been at this whole running thing consistently since you were cleared." Camila starts with, "Plus getting up every hour to a screaming baby isn't helping." She finishes.
"What- are you saying?" Lauren says still trying to get her heart and breathing to a resting rate.
"I'm saying that I think you're overworking yourself." Camila says as she sits next to Lauren.
"B-but I need to exercise ." Lauren says.
"You don't need to , you want to." Camila says correcting her.
"Well we'll be back to working in a few weeks and I can't return looking like a fat ass." Lauren says.
"First of all you didn't even gain that much weight and second of all who cares what the media says, they practically down talk everybody just to get reads." Camila says.
Lauren runs a hand through her hair.
"Are you okay? Why are you still breathing so heavy?" Camila asks suddenly switching to a concerned tone.
"Yeah-yeah I'm fine." Lauren insists.
Camila dismisses it .
"I'm gonna hit the shower." Lauren announces as she stands up.
Camila is still pondering around the thought of something being wrong with Lauren. Ever since Rey has been home and she's been allowed to work out she's been acting like a maniac, and quite frankly it was freaking Camila out.
Lauren stepped into the shower , turned the knob to a bearable temperature and emerged herself in the water.
While she's in the shower she hears the house phone ring. She would try to yell to Camila over the sound of the water, but she figures Camila should know to answer it since she's become accustomed to the household.
"Yellow " Camila says as she picks up the phone.
"Is this Lauren M. Jauregui or her guardian?" The female voice asks on the other end.
Camila thinks for a minute knowing that Lauren is still in the shower.
"...this is her speaking." Camila says covering up.
"This is the Miami - Dade Court House calling to confirm your scheduled appearance on the upcoming Friday, will you still be appearing?" The lady asks.
"Uhhhh... yes I will ... Be there." Camila discloses.
"Okay thank you, you will report through door B located on Chester Ave and you must be on time." The lady says.
"Uh and can you remind me of the time?" Camila asks.
"Your time is 8AM approximately, but be there before that." The lady confirms.
"Thank you." Camila says as they end the call.
Lauren comes from down the hallways , fully dressed with a towel wrapped around her wet hair.
"Oh you got your breathing under control ." Camila states.
"Yes I told you it was seriously just from me running." Lauren says.
"Anyways who was on the phone?" Lauren asks.
"The court house confirming your appearance." Camila replies.
Lauren rolls her eyes at the thought.
"I'm glad that it's coming up so I can finally get this behind me." Lauren says.
"Yeah I'm sure that it's a burden." Camila says.
"I just hate the fact that I have to come face to face with that dickhead again." Lauren says making a face of disgust.
"Just think of the fact that you're gonna make her life just a little bit better by hopefully getting rid of his rights." Camila says.
"Yeah you're right, because I sure as hell can not let my daughter be raised by that lame excuse of a man." Lauren says.
-----
Around the second month of Rey being home, Lauren had started sneaking out on certain nights.
She reconnected with her friends Lucy and Keana , who were currently in college. One night Keana invited Lauren to a frat type of party, it was supposed to be a one time outing for her just to take a break from her new reality.
After awhile, she became addicted to this new "high".
Camila nor the Jauregui's ever caught Lauren's late night shenanigans. Mostly due to the fact that Lauren kinda gave up her bedroom to Camila and she began sleeping on the couch, accompanied by some lame excuse as to why she's choosing to sleep on the couch but no one questioned it.
Camila became such a big help to Rey, that it was like she didn't need Lauren.
This is when she added the "morning run" into the picture. She would leave the house around 11PM to turn up with Keana , Lucy and her newly found college friends when her household was all tucked in and sleep, then return at 2AM, sleep for about 3 hours then head out for her run to cover up what she did last night.
-----
This night, Lauren debated going out because she knew she had court first thing in the morning and her mother would be home due to the fact that she's going to the courthouse with her and Camila.
But she ended up going anyway because this night she really felt the need to let loose.
Lauren stepped out of the house closing the door behind her. Luckily her house was built with doors that don't make a lot of noise, this is how she's successfully escaped every night.
Just as she stepped out Keana's vehicle pulled up to pick her up.
"Hey girllll!" Keana greets Lauren sounding as if she's started her partying earlier than planned.
"Are you drunk already?" Lauren asks.
"No I'm drunk from no sleeeeep!" Keana says.
"Anyways I can't be out too long this time, I have court in the morning." Lauren tells her.
"No problem, you'll be back in time." Keana says.
The two drive off.
Each time she went out it was a different house the parties were taking place at.
Lauren knew deep down inside that she had no business parting like this considering that she just gave birth only a few months ago, but at the same time she just felt anger inside of her because Camila was such a natural with her child.
They arrive at the house, it was a big mansion connected to the ocean with a dock on the back of the house.
The two girls get out of the car and enter the house.
It's all dark inside accompanied by club lights , loud music and the scent of alcohol mixed with marijuana fill the place.
"Who's up for some beer pong!?" A guy shouts out for everyone to hear.
"How do you play it?" Lauren asks hesitantly.
"You've never played beer pong?" He asks.
"No why do you think I'm asking how to play it?" She responds back.
A group of girls bring Lauren to a different table and give her a quick masterclass on how to play it.
Within 30 minutes Lauren already feels like she's a legend at beer pong.
"Alright who's gonna verse me?" Lauren shouts out.
"I will !" A girl shouts out.
Lauren rolls her eyes knowing that it looks like she can beat her in no time.
The game begins.
By the end Lauren had ended up consuming about 15 partly filled red solo cups containing various concoctions of drinks.
Since Lauren had begun this partying thing, this was the first time she had consumed enough alcohol to get drunk or potentially have alcohol poisoning.
Within the next 2 hours of being there, Lauren managed to get a few puffs of marijuana in as well .
Alcohol and smoking the two worst combinations.
By the time Keana was ready to drive Lauren home , Lauren's drunk state was wearing off, but the hangover stage was approaching and she only had about 4 - 5 hours to sleep it off when she gets home.
-----
"Honey, you should've been up like 30 minutes ago! What happened to your alarm?" Clara says as Lauren rises to a rude awakening.
Lauren sits up opening her eyes slowly as they adjust to the light. Her head felt extra heavy as a reminder from what she did last night.
She gets herself up brushes her teeth, then she greets Rey and breastfed her for the morning.
Lauren places Rey back into her crib, and goes into the kitchen to eat before showering.
"You must've really been tired last night, you didn't attempt to get up for her once like you normally do." Camila comments.
"Yeah." Lauren says accompanied by a smokers like cough.
"Yuck where did that come from?" Clara comments.
"I always have a morning coughing fit." Lauren states with her voice sounding raspier than usual.
Clara rolls her eyes and drops the topic.
"Here you two ." Clara says as she hands the plates of eggs, bacon and toast to Camila and Lauren as she leaves the room to finished getting dressed.
Camila digs in first, but she can't help but notice Lauren's unusual behavior across from her.
It started to hit Lauren that she truly overdid it last night.
"Why do you seem so spaced out?" Camila asks using her fork to imitate a rocket ship in space.
"Just tired." Lauren says not bothering to fight or deny Camila's accusations.
For the rest of the time they sit there in silence.
Lauren somehow managed to scarf down everything but on the inside she knew she would regret it later.
-----
"You look so sexy - wexy ." Camila says admiring Lauren's business look that she's never seen until now.
Lauren smirks.
"Woah look at you." Lauren says as she turns around to see Camila in a form fitting black dress, topped with a black blazer.
"It's time to go." Clara announces as she passes the room.
The two girls follow not too far behind.
Mike took off for the day to take care of Rey until they return.
As they drive along , Lauren started to regret that she decided to eat such greasy foods with the hangover and sit in the back seat.
The car was quiet until it filled with the sound of Lauren's terrible cough.
She let out the wet deep cough and threw her head back in agony.
"Like I said before that is a terrible cough, do you have an infection or something?" Clara asks.
"No-no-" Lauren says interrupted by another cough.
"I think I'm just getting a cold or hay fever - I'm fine." She insists.
"Well hopefully this won't be too long." Clara says.
Clara turns into the parking lot across the street from the courthouse.
Lauren gets out the car and straightens up her look .
The three women walk across the street and enter the courthouse, and go through security.
A man dressed in a suit escorts each of them to their designated areas, Lauren sits at a table in front with her lawyers and Camila sits slightly behind as a part of the witness team and Clara sits in the audience.
As Lauren sits there her head starts to feel even heavier than before.
Moments later Noah and his team walk in and take their seats at the table next to where Lauren's team is at.
At that moment her heart races.
"All rise, court is now in session." The judge says.
"You may now be seated ." The judge finishes.
One the people from Lauren's team gets up and reads the information of the case to the jurors.
There is a lot of different bits and pieces of what happened being thrown around, but in Lauren's head everything is starting to feel fuzzy.
"Ms. Jauregui, will you please take a seat in the stand to tell your account." The judge says.
Lauren gets up and suddenly feels nervous at how quiet it is and all the attention is on her.
After sharing her half of the story, the judge asks a few specific questions.
Halfway through, her mouth starts to over salivate and she begins to feel a feeling of nausea.
She assumes that it's just from the pressure of all these questions. She decides to readjust her partially slouching position and sit up straight with her hands on her hips.
"Did the words "no" or "stop" ever come out of you mouth?" The judge asks.
"Yes, multiple-" Lauren starts but is cut off by a sudden rising feeling in her throat, she proceeds to place a hand in the center of her chest as if that's gonna do something.
"Sorry." She states.
The judge gives her a look signaling her to continue.
"Yes, I said no and stop multiple times." She finishes but immediately after getting those words out she projectile vomits on the stand.
"We now stand at recess court will resume at 8AM tomorrow." The judge says as he dismisses the house.
A/N
What an ending lmao 😂
So yeah, Lauren sneaks around getting high and boozing it up, will her cover be blown yet?