"Everything is going to be okay." Camila gave Lauren's hand a reassuring squeeze.
They were standing in front of Lucy and vero's home waiting for someone to answer the door. The few seconds that passed felt like minutes to Lauren. She didn't think she'd be this nervous but she was and she couldn't help herself. She was terrified to see how Lucy would react to seeing her. So She wasn't sure if she was more relieved or afraid when vero finally answered the door.
"Lauren, Camila it's so good to see you." Vero greeted them with a smile. "Please come in," she invited them into her home, it was what you'd expect Lucy's home to look like, empty. In the sense that she wasn't a very materialistic person and had what was necessary but nothing more. The walls however were covered in paintings and photographs. What stood out the most was the blown up portrait of Lucy and a small African boy sitting on her lap and Vero with a young Indian girl by her side as they sat on a plaid blanket, the golden pasture and blue skies as the background. They all had on very off-white and pastel colors.
And then she heard the voice, she hadn't heard in years. "Sorry about the mess Ivy and I were in here getting some of her homework done." She wasn't apologizing to them but to her wife.
Lauren did not expect to ever see Lucy standing on her own two feet again, well even now she was using crutches but that was a hell of a lot better than, when she saw her all those years ago.
Vero assures her, "It's fine, why don't you come sit down , Lauren and Camila are here." She pats the couch cushion next to her.
At this point Lauren and Camila are sitting across from them, the air is tense and nobody is sure on what to say next. It's been years.
"So Camila," vero is the first to speak up, getting Camila's attention. "How have you been?" If this isn't awkward she didn't know what was.
"I've been good, Lauren and the kids keep me busy." That's the truth, there is never a dull day being married to Lauren Jauregui. "What about you guys, how have you been?" She asks.
"We've been great." Lucy answers for them, "okay now that, that's over with. Why are you here?" The question is obviously directed to Lauren, who hasn't worked up the courage to look up at her just yet.
That's vero and Camila's cue to leave the room because they know this is something between their wives, before they leave Camila gives Lauren a reassuring shoulder squeeze.
"So you finally got Lauren?" Vero asks Camila once they're seated in the backyard porch bench.
"Yeah, and you finally got Lucy?" She asked back, vero gave her a nod. Both couldn't contain their laughter in any longer.
For the longest time vero and Camila seemed to be stuck in very similar situations, both in love with fuck girls for lack of a better word. In high school You'd think they both lived on opposite sides of the world because they were both very different from one another but they had some thing in common well more like some one's in common. They related to each other in many ways and that's what made them a good support system for each other when they're other friends didn't understand what they called the infatuation with best friends Lauren and Lucy.
Camila asked, "I noticed the photos, are they your children?"
"Yeah. Ivy our daughter is 6, we adopted her from a small village in India. We were doing a shoot for the orphanage, Lucy and I fell in love with her. We started the adoption process when she was 2 and finally got the yes just as she was about to turn 4. They didn't want to hand her off to a lesbian couple but Lucy's dad helped us out and got us the best lawyer money could buy. Beckett our son just turned 2. We were on another shoot in Uganda, when we met him he was 3 months old. He would cry whenever Lucy tried putting him down, and it broke her heart seeing him in tears. She didn't have to say anything to me, I already knew he was eventually going to come home with us. After we got the yes for ivy we submitted the paper work for him. We didn't get the yes for him until he was 14 months old. It's a long process in it of itself but it's much harder when your a gay couple. Specially in country's that still don't acknowledge gay couples. It was hard but it was definitely worth it." Vero had a genuine smile on her face, she truly was happy with the way her life was going.
"That is incredible, I'm glad you changed your mind about kids." In high school vero claimed to everyone she'd never have kids, she wasn't a fan of them.
"Me too. After everything that happened with Lucy, she was told she could never have children of her own. I never wanted kids of my own so we figured we wouldn't have any. We hardly ever talked about it but when we met ivy, when I saw the way Lucy looked at her, I knew she wanted children. I still don't want to get pregnant and give birth to a baby but I love the kids we have." She explains.
"I thought I could only ever love my children, because they were biologically mine right? But A year ago we found this little boy living in the streets and we took him in and it took all of one day for me to fall in love with him. Just as we were going to start the adoption process his father got custody of him. I felt like a piece of my heart was being ripped out. We still get to see him every once in a while and that helps. I love him just as much as I love my biological children and it should seem crazy but it's not." Camila shared with her.
"Three kids right?" Vero asked.
"Yeah, the twins just turned 6, and I had Kelsea almost 6 months ago." She confirmed.
"So you had them when you were 19?" Vero did the math in her head.
"Yeah, I found out during my first summer break of college and I was completely terrified." Camila said, cringing as she remembered those moments.
"Why? I mean you were head over heels in love with Lauren. Weren't you happy to be having her kid?" Vero asked, a little confused she thought this was a good thing. It was a way to get Lauren to commit right? Boy was she wrong.
"No. I mean sure I loved Lauren but having a kid at 19 wasn't in my 5 year plan. On top of that, the mother of my child was in the middle of a war zone. I was afraid she'd die and not get the opportunity to meet or even know about her child." Camila indulged.
War zone? Wait what? "Wait, I'm not following? What do you mean war zone? Didn't Lauren get full ride baseball scholarships to the university of her choice, didn't she attended Duke university?" Vero was thoroughly confused.
"That was the plan, but the summer after graduation she enlisted into the marines. We're actually near the two year mark since she got out." She explained and vero was shocked.
Camila went on to tell her about, life when Lauren was still enlisted and about life after.
--
Lucy and Lauren spent the first few minutes they were left alone in silence. Well up until Lucy repeated her question from earlier. She wanted to know what Lauren was doing looking for her, after all those years of not hearing from her.
"I figured it was time." Was Lauren's answer.
"What's it been 10 years?" Lucy asked, Lauren nodded. "Why did you wait this long? Why did you even wait at all?" By her tone, Lucy was upset. With good reason too.
"I was scared. I felt guilty." Lauren admitted. She sighed, "I was a coward."
"It wasn't your fault, I was driving that night. I chose to get behind the wheel." She huffed. "I was scared Lauren! It was maddening to find out I was paralyzed from the waist down, I needed my best friend there with me but you disappeared on me. We were friends since childhood, I thought you'd be there for me! I thought my life was ruined, I thought about just ending shit there and then and nobody was around to talk me off that ledge. Not my parents, not my friends and not you!" She yelled at her.
"I couldn't face you Lucy. It was my idea to go to that stupid party, it was me who convinced you to drink, it was me who assured you we'd be fine driving home a little drunk. It was me who almost got us killed, it was me who led you to end up in a wheelchair. I ruined your life and I thought you assumed the same. I thought you wouldn't want to see me. I thought you hated me. Believe me I tried reaching out many times but I could never work up the courage to do it." Lauren said.
"I didn't blame you, I just needed you to be there for me. I needed something to stay the same after finding out that my life was forever going to change."
Lucy and Lauren had grown up together, living only a few houses down from each other. They were the best of friends, and in high school they were the dynamic due. Biggest fuck girls around. If they showed up at your party, you knew it was going to be a good time. At just 16 both were drinking, smoking and sleeping around. Life for them was great, until it wasn't. They had been invited to yet another house party, only this one was a little farther out into the middle of nowhere. The drive up was a bit rough considering you had to eventually get off the main roads and get on the sketchy dirt roads. Lucy made herself the designated driver for the night which meant she wasn't drinking. Lauren wasn't okay with that, everything was so much better when they were both drunk in her eyes. She convinced her to at least have one drink, which then turned into two and then three. By the time they decided to leave, Lauren was close to black out drunk and Lucy was more than buzzed. She knew it wasn't a good idea but they needed to get home. Lauren assured her they would be fine, the roads were abandoned and no one would be around. That part was true. It was all going fine, she was driving a little below the speed limit and she was swerving but there were no other cars around to hit so that was good. Then she swerved to far, the car rolled into the small ditch and they were flipped over. Lauren was out cold, blood dripping from her forehead, Lucy was wide awake now. She was stuck, and in to much pain to move, but she did what she could to try and wake Lauren up. When she succeeded, she told Lauren to call 911 because she was the only one who could reach the phone. Then Lucy passed out, and the next time she woke up, she was in a hospital being explained to on why she couldn't feel her feet. She asked about her friend and was told she had a broken arm and a few bruised ribs along with a mild concussion but that she had been sent home already. She waited day after day for a visit from Lauren that never came. She was taken out of school and was homeschooled. She didn't walk with her class, she didn't hear from any of her old friends and that hurt but it hurt more not hearing from her best friend, her sister, Lauren.
She was surprised to see vero, she began to visit her regularly. She always knew vero had a thing for her and she had a thing for vero as well but Lauren was convinced that they shouldn't settle down in high school so she didn't. But Lauren wasn't around anymore. She didn't think anybody would want to be with her now that she was crippled, but vero did, vero always wanted her. She didn't want to live in a small town that only pitted her so she moved to Miami to attend college along with her girlfriend. Which lead to her being a well known photographer, and that lead to her making enough money to pay for her surgeries. She wasn't back to her old self just yet but she no longer need a wheelchair.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. Like I said, I was a coward. I've felt terrible about it since the day I woke in that hospital bed. In the military you hear the saying "no man left behind" and I failed you and I'm so sorry about that. I've hated myself for it." Lauren apologized.
"I don't blame you for it, and I don't hate you for what you did, not anymore at least. As fucked up as it sounds I needed that. The person I was before it happened wasn't me, it was you. I tried being like you because you were changing and I was scared I was going to lose you. It helped me realize that, that person wasn't me. I changed for the better, I'm a better human being because of it." Lucy said truthfully. " I'm glad you changed your ways as well, I always knew you secretly had a thing for Camila." She tried to lighten the situation. She wasn't angry with Lauren anymore but she needed more time to figure out if she'd forgive her. If they could be friends yet again.
"I'm really glad your doing better now, I wish I could have been there to give you the support you needed." She sighed, her sad eyes now a little happier. "I think deep down I knew it then too, I just couldn't get myself to admit it. It bothers me because it's missed time I could have had with her."
"Well then don't waist anymore time being stupid." Lucy joked, and Lauren nodded. This was more than a joke to her, it was real advice.
"Cute kids." Lauren said looking up at the portrait, and changing the subject.
"Thanks," Lucy genuinely smiled, they were her world. "You have a picture of yours?" She asked, Lauren pulled out her phone, she had hundreds to show her.
It wasn't much, but it was a start.
--/////////////////////////////--
It's something I guess.
I leave in a few days, because college is starting back up in two weeks and I still have yet to unpack my apartment.
So much has happened this summer, it's crazy to even think about. I did things I would have not expected from myself. Including having a summer fling with an old friend. Anyways How was your summer? What crazy shit did you do?