Trigger Warning
It is nighttime when Camila finally returns home from the video shoot. She tried to leave set right after she heard the door slam and couldn't find her wife anywhere, but Eric reminded her of the contract that she signed with them. She just looked at him incredulously, as if waiting on him to say just kidding, go be with your wife. Instead, the man just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
When she finally gets inside the apartment, she sees that all the lights are off. The Latina frowns as she drops her stuff onto the floor. She immediately makes her way to the bedroom she shares with Lauren. The musician has every intention of walking into the room and begging for her wife's forgiveness. She puts her hand on the door knob and tries to push it open, but it won't budge.
It's locked. Lauren's locked her out.
Camila has come home late many nights, but the door to their room has always remained unlocked. The younger Cuban's heart shatters when she thinks about the fact that Lauren didn't want her to come in and say goodnight. Maybe Lauren didn't care if she came home at all. Not wanting to give up easily, Camila gently knocks on the door.
"Lauren, can you open up please?" The brunette pleads, her voice shaky. She waits patiently to hear footsteps on the floor, signaling that Lauren has gotten up from the bed and is coming to unlock the door. After she waits for a minute, she realizes Lauren has made no move to get up and unlock the door.
"Baby, please let me in. I'm so sorry I had no idea that the video would be that... sexual." Camila cringes when thoughts of what she had to do earlier in the day with Zayn flood her mind. "Lo, I'm sorry. Please let me in." Camila's knocks become more frantic.
Camila continues to knock and plead, but after 30 minutes pass and the door is still locked, she dejectedly turns around and presses her back to the door. She slowly slides her back down the wood until her butt hits the floor. Deciding that she doesn't want to sleep too far from Lauren tonight, she curls up in a ball by the door outside their bedroom.
She wipes at the tears that are silently spilling from her eyes. She has no idea that Lauren is inside the room, doing the exact same thing.
The next morning, Lauren wakes up and starts getting ready for work. She has to add an extra layer of powder on her face in an attempt to hide the bags under her eyes. The brunette didn't get much sleep last night. She couldn't stop crying long enough to fall asleep.
Once she's finished getting ready for the day, she opens up the door. Her heart clenches when she sees her wife laying on the floor in front of their bedroom door, wrapped in the blanket that is usually draped over the back of the couch. She immediately bends down and scoops the smaller brunette up into her arms and carries her back into the room. She gently lays her sleeping wife on their bed and tucks her in.
A sigh escapes her lips when she takes in Camila's disheveled features. Her cheeks are tear stained and her nose has a tint of red to it, which Lauren guesses is from her wiping it so much last night while crying. She gently reaches out her hand and pushes a strand of Camila's hair away from her face.
"I'll always belong to you. No matter what happens, no matter what the future holds." Lauren whispers. "I'll always belong to you." She leans down and places a kiss to her wife's temple. Her lips linger on Camila's warm skin for a minute before she finally pulls back. "I love you, Camz."
With that, the brunette exits the room and their apartment and heads to work for the day.
Halfway during her work day, Lauren hears her boss yell for her to come to the front of the store. Currently, she's in the back sorting out the art that will be displayed at the next art exhibit that's coming up soon. Not wanting to keep her boss waiting, she makes her way out of the back room and to the front of the store. When she gets in view of the front door, she stops in her tracks when she sees her wife standing there with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. She knows she should feel elated and happy to see Camila, but she can't help but wonder how many more times her wife is going to keep messing up and then bringing her flowers as an apology. Lauren loves Camila more than life itself, but it's going to take more than flowers to solve their marital problems.
"Judging by the look on your face, I guess I should've gone with food instead of flowers huh?" Camila cracks a playful grin, but it quickly fades from her features when she notices that Lauren's face remains blank. "Baby, I know you're tired of me fucking up and then bringing flowers. I'm tired of it too. Please let me fix this. Let me fix us." Camila steps forward slowly in attempt to reason with her wife.
"You're never around long enough to fix anything, Camila." Lauren deadpans and Camila sighs as she sets the bouquet down beside her feet. Once her hands are free, she closes the distance between the two of them.
"Let me take you out tonight. Please? After we go to the party that Epic is throwing tonight we can do anything you want to do. Anything." Camila offers and Lauren's eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"I already made plans for tonight. Don't you remember me telling you weeks ago that I made plans to hang out with Keana tonight?" Lauren questions and Camila's shoulders deflate.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I must've forgotten. Well why don't you hang out with Keana while I go to the party and then we can spend some time together after we are both finished?" The younger brunette proposes and Lauren shakes her head.
"Camz, I told Keana I'd devote the whole night to her since we never see each other. I'm sorry." Camila nods in understanding, the lack of remorse on Lauren's face making her heart hurt.
"Okay, baby. Have fun with Keana and I'll see you when you get back." Camila forces a smile, something that doesn't go unnoticed by Lauren. The older brunette wants to feel bad that she cannot go to Camila's party with her tonight, but she did tell her weeks ago that she made these plans with Keana. It just shows Lauren once again how little Camila has been paying attention to her lately. "I'll go now. I don't want to get you fired." The younger Cuban leans in and places a quick kiss to the corner of Lauren's mouth. She doesn't think she deserves to feel Lauren's lips on her own.
"Bye, Camz. Have fun tonight." Lauren reaches out and grabs Camila's hand. She gives it a quick squeeze and then releases it from her own.
The musician bends over and picks up the flowers. She extends them to Lauren and the girl takes them from her. "Bye, Lo. Love you."
With that, Camila turns around and walks out of the art gallery. Once outside, she allows a few tears that she had been holding in to escape. She quickly wipes them away and makes her way back to their apartment to get ready for the party at the label tonight. Camila had hoped that Lauren would accompany her to it, but she can't blame the girl. It's her own fault that she didn't remember that Lauren already had plans tonight.
Camila spends the next few hours getting ready and once she is dressed and ready, she heads to the party. Lauren, on the other hand, leaves straight from work to go over to Keana's house. She brought her things with her so she could just get ready at her friend's house.
Once Lauren and Keana finish getting ready, they head out for a night of fun in the city. They go from club to club and spend the night dancing and drinking. Knowing that she has to drive home tonight, Lauren cuts off her drinking at 9 pm so she will be sober enough to drive home by the end of the night. The green-eyed girl's phone stays in her purse for most of the night so when she finally pulls it out around 11 pm, she sees that she has multiple missed calls from Camila and one voicemail. Excusing herself from the table in the club where she is currently sat with Keana and a few of Keana's friends, she makes her way outside so she can listen to the voicemail. She immediately presses play and brings the device to her ear.
"Hi, Lolo! Just calling to say that I love you veryyyy much." She hears a drunk Camila slur. Her voice sounds quivery and Lauren knows immediately that she's been crying. "I am so sorry about everything that I've done. I can't live without you. Please don't divorce me. I know I don't deserve you, but please don't leave me." Lauren hears a slight hiccup and then the voicemail ends.
Lauren's chest feels heavy with guilt and worry. She feels guilty that she has led Camila to think that she wants to divorce her and she's worried that her wife is drunk and upset at a party that she's not even at. Once she remembers that drunk Camila likes to make dumb decisions that almost always put her life in danger, Lauren makes the decision to leave the club and go to the party.
After explaining the situation to Keana, Lauren immediately gets in her car and drives to the record label, where the party is being held. As soon as she arrives, she parks her car and makes her way inside.
She steps inside the building and immediately feels under-dressed. All the men are wearing suits and all the women are wearing long, elegant dresses. She, however, is dressed in a short red dress that stops at her upper thighs.
Lauren immediately starts searching through the crowd of strangers for her wife. After looking for a solid 20 minutes for the musician, she starts to get frustrated. She grabs the attention of the cocktail waiter that is walking past her.
"Excuse me, have you seen Camila Cabello-Jauregui? She's a signed artist at this label." Lauren asks rather loudly so the man can hear her over the music playing.
"Um I think I saw her, Eric, and a few other artists go up the stairs and into one of the rooms up there awhile ago." The man answers.
Lauren thanks him and makes her way up the stairs that are located to the right of her. She opens the first door she sees, but it's just an empty studio. When she comes to the second door, she hears voices cheering and so she turns the knob and pushes the door open. What she sees makes her blood run cold.
Lauren watches in shock as the woman she loves leans over a wooden table, puts a straw to one of her nostrils, and snorts a white line of powder up her nose.
Suddenly, it all makes sense to Lauren. Camila's weight loss. Her nosebleeds. Her loss of appetite.
It all hits her like a ton of bricks and she cannot help the gasp that escapes her lips. The gasp successfully gets the attention of everyone in the room.
When Camila's bloodshot brown eyes finally meet Lauren's watery green ones, the younger Latina immediately wipes the excess powder from her nose with the back of her hand and quickly stands to her feet.
But she doesn't make another move or sound. Neither of them do.
Both girls just stand there, staring into each other's eyes, while both of their worlds come crashing down around them.