Lauren puts the finishing touches on her make up and slides on her black pantsuit. Today, she has a job interview for the Applied Arts Instructor position at Miami Arts & Design Education. The woman she co-owns the art studio with in Venice mentioned that she had a friend in the Miami area that worked at M.A.D.E and last night she called Lauren to tell her that she has a job interview at 5 pm.
After applying her red lipstick and fixing a few stray hairs, the artist grabs her car keys and heads to the door. She turns off her music and finds herself humming the last song that was playing while she was getting ready.
"Crawling back to you. Ever thought of calling when you've had a few? Cause I always do." The brunette sings as she exits her apartment and turns around to lock the door. "Maybe I'm too busy being yours..." She abruptly stops singing when she turns around and comes face to face with an amused Camila. A blush rises up to settle on the green-eyed girl's cheeks.
"Never took you as an Arctic Monkeys kinda girl." Camila smirks as she slings her guitar case on her back.
"They are a hell of a band." Lauren comments, praying her face isn't as red as it feels.
"Agreed." Camila smiles. "So where you headed, business woman?" Brown eyes scan the beautiful girl in front of them.
"Job interview at Miami Arts & Design Education." She smiles while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Guess you are headed to a gig?" Lauren points to the guitar case sitting on the former teacher's back.
"Yep and I probably should go. Don't want to keep the fans waiting." The brunette chuckles as she sends Lauren a quick wink and starts to descend down the stairs. Lauren laughs and follows Camila down the stairs.
"See ya, Lauren." Camila waves when they hit the bottom of the stairs and Lauren frowns when she notices that Camila is walking away from the parking lot.
"Are you walking there?" Lauren blurts out before Camila can take another step away from her.
The brunette turns around. "Yeah." She sighs. "The medical bills after the attack were fairly expensive and I just got them all paid off a couple of months ago. I guess a car has been the last thing on my mind." She shrugs. "Dinah usually drives me anywhere I want to go, but she's at work and the bar is only a mile away so I just walk."
The young teacher looks so small to Lauren at the moment and all the green-eyed girl wants to do is scoop her up in her arms and protect her from the world. She knows she can't do that, so she brings her hand up to fiddle with the wedding band around her neck. Camila's eyes fall as she watches Lauren toy with the ring around her neck.
"Is that um..." The young brunette points to the round piece of jewelry.
"Yeah." Lauren breathes out. "It was... well is yours."
"Oh." Is all the former teacher mutters. Camila never knew something so little could be strong enough to send the muscle in her chest all the way to her stomach. But it was.
Lauren scratches the back of her neck, unsure of what to say as well. She has a lot to say, actually, but Camila wouldn't be comfortable hearing it. Not yet anyway. Lauren despises awkwardness so she quickly tries to relieve some of it. She bows down and extends her hand to the girl in front of her. The former teacher quirks an eyebrow up at Lauren's weird gesture, but doesn't say anything. "May I be your chauffeur for the day, Ms. Camila?" Lauren tries out her best British accent and Camila doubles over laughing. When she finally composes herself, she sees that Lauren is still bowed down dramatically.
Rolling her eyes playfully, Camila slides her hand in Lauren's and tries to mimic Lauren's horrible British accent. "I would be delighted if you would." Lauren just shakes her head in amusement as she escorts Camila to the car, relishing in the feeling of Camila's hand in hers again. After the two get settled in the Charger, Lauren plugs in her phone and turns on another song she knows Camila likes. The Arctic Monkeys remind Lauren of Camila, considering the younger girl introduced Lauren to the band.
The mirror's image
Tells me it's home time
But I'm not finished
'Cause you're not by my side
Camila shrieks when the music fills her ears and reaches to turn it up louder. Camila ends up belting out the whole song and Lauren would have joined in, but she couldn't stop laughing at Camila. The young brunette would use her right fist as a microphone each time she would sing the chorus and Lauren found it extremely endearing and quite amusing.
The green-eyed girl brings the car to a stop outside the bar and a frown washes over Camila's features briefly when she sees that they are already at her place of work.
"You give me a ride and I repay you by practically busting your eardrums... and your speakers." Camila chuckles. "Sorry about that." She smiles sheepishly at the driver of the car.
"You never have to repay me for giving you a ride and you can bust my speakers and my eardrums anytime you want." Lauren laughs as Camila slides out of the car and leans down in front of it, propping her elbows on the open window so she can make eye contact with the older brunette.
"Goodluck at the interview, Jauregui. I hope I didn't make you late." Camila pats the car once and starts walking backwards toward the entrance of the bar, her eyes still locked with Lauren's. "Thanks again for the ride."
Lauren waves and waits until Camila enters the bar. As she watches her walk in the door, Lauren realizes that the lyrics "I hate to see her go but I love to watch her leave" were written just for Camila.
That ass. Lauren thinks. She could write a million songs about it herself.
Lauren quickly glances at the clock and sees that it is only 4:30 pm. She mentally high fives herself for her smart decision to leave the apartment an hour early.
The interview goes fairly well, considering that she is hired on the spot. The woman who interviews her is very pleased with Lauren's resume and mentions that their mutual friend put in a good for for the green-eyed girl.
After the interview, she decides to make her way to the bar, in hopes that Camila's set hasn't ended. As soon as she enters the dimly lit place, her ears are immediately graced with the sweet voice that gave her a private concert only a few hours ago. Lauren's heart flutters when she hears that Camila is singing the bridge of "Do I Wanna Know?" She wonders if the song was on her set list before their encounter this morning or if it was added after. Lauren hopes it's the latter.
The brunette plops down on a bar stool and informs the bartender that she wants an Angry Orchard. She laughs when she remembers how Camila used to always tell her that her beer of choice was "too sweet" to be a real beer. As soon as he hands her a bottled one, Camila starts strumming a different tune.
"This is an original." Camila informs the bar patrons.
Honey you are a rock
Upon which I stand
And I come here to talk
I hope you understand
That green eyes
Yeah the spotlight, shines upon you
And how could anybody deny you
Lauren almost chokes on her beer when she hears Camila reference green eyes in yet another one of her songs. She places her beer down and spins around on her stool to give Camila her undivided attention for the rest of the song.
I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter
Now I met you
And honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes
Honey you are the sea
Upon which I float
And I came here to talk
I think you should know
Camila looks up and allows her eyes to roam the crowded bar. Her breath hitches when she sees a pair of green eyes staring back at her. She allows her mind to drift for a second as she wonders if her writing about green eyes and her fascination with green eyes stemmed from Lauren, from her past with the girl. No, she couldn't remember the brunette who is currently watching her from across the bar, but maybe those green-eyes had such a huge impact on her that no man could beat the memories of them out of her head, no matter how hard they tried.
That green eyes
You're the one that I wanted to find
And anyone who tried to deny you
Must be out of their mind
Because I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter
Since I met you
And honey you should know
That I could never go on without you
Green eyes
Honey you are the rock
Upon which I stand
As the song ends, Lauren wonders if Camila wrote that song before or after she came back into town. And once again, Lauren hopes the latter.
She breaks from her thoughts when she notices Camila walking her way. As soon as she makes it over to her, she immediately points to the beer in Lauren's hand.
"Angry Orchard. I never really considered it a real beer. Too sweet." She states casually, completely unaware of the butterflies that she just released into Lauren's stomach. The green-eyed girl clears her throat and smiles fondly at the musician,
"We used to have endless arguments about that. Playful arguments of course." She chuckles as she sets the 'fake beer' back down. Before Camila can respond, a body collides with the table behind Lauren, effectively knocking it and all of it's contents over. This startles both of the girls and Lauren turns to watch as another man crouches down next to the man laying on the floor and quickly grabs a fistful of his shirt to bring him to a sitting position. When he does, he collides his fist with the man's jaw. After the third punch is thrown and one of the bartenders finally pries the man off of the bleeding man on the floor, Lauren turns back around to see Camila's reaction.
She curses herself when the brunette is no longer beside her. Of course something like this would set off a panic attack within the fragile brunette. Lauren frantically turns back to the bar and locks eyes with the bartender from earlier. He points to the back door, understanding the silent question that Lauren's asking him with her eyes. She immediately takes off to the back door and swings it open. Her heart breaks when she sees Camila curled up in a ball with her back against the brick wall of the bar.
Lauren slowly steps forward, Camila's sobs becoming more apparent the closer she gets to her. The green-eyed girl slowly crouches down in front of the brunette, careful not to startle her.
"Camz." She whispers. The younger girl slowly raises her head and locks eyes with Lauren's sympathetic ones. Her breathing is still ragged and her eyes are wide. Lauren reaches her right hand up and places it on Camila's tear stained cheek. "Slow breaths, babe." Lauren slows down her own breathing in attempt to get Camila to follow her lead.
Lauren watches as she struggles to slow it down, but after about a minute of the green-eyed girl coaching her, Camila's breathing finally returns to normal and her tears subside. The older brunette slowly brings her left hand up and when it comes to rest on Camila's other cheek, she uses both of her thumbs to wipe tears away.
"You're safe. You're okay." Lauren cooes. Camila nods and offers Lauren a small, grateful smile. The older girl stands up and for the second time today, she offers Camila her hand to take. The brunette accepts and allows Lauren to pull her to her feet. The green-eyed girl's hand reflexively lands on Camila's lower back as she is leading them both back into the bar.
Once they return to their previous spot, Lauren notices a familiar brunette boy sitting on the bar stool. Camila stops in her tracks and Lauren feels the girl tense up. The older brunette drops her hand to her side and protectively takes a small step in front of Camila just as Austin turns to face them.
"What's wrong with you?" Austin asks as he takes in Camila's disheveled appearance.
Camila looks down at her feet. "I had another uh panic attack." She mumbles.
"Seriously? It's been a year, Camilla. I can't believe you are still having those." Austin rolls his eyes and takes a sip of his beer. Lauren has to restrain herself from beating this Oompa Loompa to a pulp. The only thing stopping her is her wife's well-being. Camila comes first. She always has.
"Yeah I know. I'm sorry, Austin." She whispers as she takes another step to stand closer to him. Lauren wants nothing more than to just pull Camila away from him and tell her a million times over that she has nothing to be sorry for. She wants to drive her away from here, from him. Unfortunately, she has to just stand there because that's all she can do. Right now, anyway.
"It's okay. I just wanted you to be in a semi good mood tonight when we bang, but I guess that's out of the question, huh?" He chuckles bitterly as he downs the rest of his beer and stands to his feet. Camila just stands there, her eyes trained on the floor beneath her. The shame and embarrassment she feels rendering her completely speechless.
Lauren's stomach comes up in her throat as she clenches her fists tightly. She feels blood trickling from her palms, but the pain she feels in her chest far outweighs the pain she is unconsciously inflicting upon herself.
Austin slaps a five dollar bill on the counter and grabs Camila's forearm. Lauren's eyes narrow in on the grip and she realizes that he is gripping her on the exact part of her arm that Lauren inspected yesterday. The same part that is discolored from the previous times that he has forcefully grabbed her.
Camila shrugs him off. "I uh had plans with Lauren tonight. We were going to grab food after my set." She trains her eyes on Lauren, pleading for her to follow along.
"Yeah that's not happening. C'mon." He jerks her again.
"She said she has other plans." Lauren speaks up and steps forward, her shoulder lightly brushing Camila's.
"Do you have a problem." Austin steps forward and gets in Lauren's face. "You need to butt out of my relationship."
Camila's heart races when she thinks about Austin hurting Lauren. He has a temper and she doesn't want the whole bar to see it. Especially Lauren. She doesn't want her to see it or feel the repercussions of it. So she does what she has to do. Even though its not necessarily what she wants to do.
"Austin." She places her hand on his shoulder. "I'll go with you. Just calm down."
Lauren's eyes flicker from Austin to Camila, silently pleading for her not to go with him. Camila looks away from the green eyes because she knows if she looks in them a second longer that they will convince her to stay.
"Maybe we can go get lunch another time." Camila offers Lauren a small smile. The younger brunette just hopes it looks more reassuring than it feels. Lauren just nods and runs her fingers through her hair. "I'll be seeing ya, Lauren." The younger girl finally surrenders to Austin and lets him take her away from the green eyes that are still pleading for her to stay. The green eyes that she could write a million songs about.
____________________________________________________________________________
Song: "Green Eyes" By. Coldplay