Camila could sense the sunlight streaming through the window as she pulled the blanket up over her head. She was exhausted and didn't feel like getting up at this moment. She reached over to feel for Lauren, but soon found that she was the only one in the bed. Her eyes were wide open now as she pulled the covers off of her and looked around. Lauren was nowhere to be found. She looked over towards the closet and noticed a suitcase on the floor. camila's heart sank. Something must have happened since last night. Camila was starting to think lauren must have changed her mind somehow and was planning on leaving again. She hastily got out of bed and began to look around the apartment. As she made her way through Lauren's place, she noticed the mess was still there from the night before. This brought back memories of what had happened and Camila, while still uneasy about lauren's sudden disappearance, couldn't help but smile. She glanced over at the front door and spotted a note taped up to it. She was almost paralyzed. She didn't want to move. She was afraid to find out what the letter said. She didn't think she could stand a rejection letter.
Not after all that had happened. Camila took a deep breath, walked over to the door and warily read the note.
"Good morning, camz! Make yourself at home. Help yourself to some breakfast. I had to run an errand, but I'll be back soon.
Love, Lauren.
Camila breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the time. It was noon. She hadn't realized she had slept so late. She wasn't very hungry, so she decided to take a shower while waiting for Lauren. She turned on the water and found the right temperature. As she undressed, she felt a dull soreness in both of her arms. She looked up in the mirror and noticed a bruise on each arm where David had violently grabbed her.
She shuddered. She was completely confounded as to why she had stayed with him for so long. She couldn't figure out why she would stay with someone who would do this to her. She continued staring at herself until the mirror was completely fogged up by the steam coming from the hot water. She stepped into the shower and let the water drip down her back. The hot water began to soothe her skin. She began to feel cleansed; renewed. This wa a brand new day. And last night was the start of a brand new life. She smiled to herself as she thought of Lauren.
As camila emerged from the shower, she wrapped a towel around her and walked out to the living room while drying her hair with another towel. She was greeted by a smiling Lauren who was cleaning up the kitchen.
"Hey! Well look at that. It lives!"
Camila laughed. "Yeah. Sorry. I was just… exhausted. What time did you wake up?"
"I don't know…seven maybe?"
Camila watched Lauren as she continued to tidy up the kitchen. Lauren noticed camila watching her from the corner of her eye, so she stopped cleaning and turned around.
"What's up?" asked Lauren.
Camila shrugged.
"Everything okay?"
Camila shrugged again. "I don't know. I just…I thought you were leaving. I mean, when I woke up, you were gone and I saw the suitcase and-"
"The suitcase is for you," assured lauren. "I mean…if you want to use it. If you want to go get your stuff. You know…from your place."
Lauren started walking over to camila anticipating her response.
"Yeah. Yes. I do"
"Okay. Okay, good."
"I just…I guess I haven't really thought this through. I don't even know where I'm going to stay," said camila.
"Well…I could take you to your mom's. Or your dad's….or I could…bring you back here. You know…until you figure out what you want to do."
"Yeah. Well, maybe I should go to my mom's. Just for now, anyway. Until I get things squared away.".
Lauren wasn't too devastated by camila's response. She knew that staying with her mom was probably the best thing for camila right now. And besides, lauren had every intention of being around to see camila through this. She would just be a phone call and a car ride away.
"Good. It's settled then. We'll go get your stuff later today," said Lauren.
"Okay. I mean…I don't have much to go get. Just the essentials. Clothes. And your letter. I would grab my guitar, but…well…you know..."
Lauren nodded and wrapped her arms around camila and pulled her into a hug. She could feel camila's damp hair against her face. She could smell the fresh soap on her skin. Lauren couldn't resist and started slowly kissing Camila's neck.
"I missed this," she whispered.
Camila, who was enjoying every second of this, responded. "Me too."
Lauren pulled back and looked at her. She was beaming. She had no idea how camila would react this morning after what had happened between them the night before, but now that she knew camila was okay with everything, her heart was soaring.
"What errand did you run?" asked camila.
"Oh…well…I was actually hoping you'd still be asleep by the time I got back, but I guess I took a little longer than I thought. I just picked up a few things. Groceries and stuff. Um…why don't you get changed. Then you can help me put everything away."
"Oh fun! Just what I want to do. Put stuff away," teased camila as she headed back into the room to change.
After she changed, camila emerged from the bedroom and she immediately stopped in the doorway when she spotted something she hadn't seen earlier. A brand new acoustic guitar was leaning against the chair. Camila was completely stunned. She looked over at lauren, who was leaning against the dining table, nervously awaiting camila's reaction. Camila was speechless. She walked over to the chair, picked up the guitar and started to softly strum the strings. She was breathless. She couldn't say a word. She just looked at lauren unable to believe that someone would go out of their way like that with such a beautiful gesture.
She managed to finally choke out a few words.
"Laur, I…a Gibson J-45? I don't even know what to say."
"I remembered you said you always wanted one. That every good musician needs a Gibson. I figured you were gonna need it for your show next week. It's your audition for Eli's band, right?"
"Yeah, but laur this is…this is too much. I mean, it's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever done for me, but it's too much. I can't accept it."
Lauren walked over toward camila. "Camz, if you could see your face right now. If you could only see what I'm looking at, then you'd know. You'd know how worth it everything is just to see that look on your face. That look when you're holding this guitar…it's priceless. You have to accept it. You have to because I absolutely need to see that look on your face every day. It just brings light into my heart. Please."
Lauren put her hand up to camila's face and leaned in to kiss her. The guitar was separating their bodies. Camila held onto it for dear life, as if she never wanted to let it go. But if any reason was good enough to put it down for a moment, this was it. She gently put the guitar down and closed the gap between their two bodies as they continued kissing. When they pulled apart, camila just smiled at lauren.
"So…this means you'll keep it?" asked lauren.
"Yeah. It's my dream guitar given to me by… well…I guess you're something of a dream yourself, aren't you?"
"You're being cheesy. Cheesiness works for you. I like it. It's endearing," said lauren, as she pulled camila in for another kiss.
The following week, Camila was up on stage again, setting up for her show. She tried to keep her hands from shaking as she began to tune her guitar. She glanced over at lauren, who was serving drinks behind the bar. Just seeing lauren's face, knowing she was there helped camila to relax a little bit. Lauren gave her a reassuring look. She could tell camila was nervous, so she walked over to the stage, bearing the perfect cure for nerves.
"Here. This should help calm you down a little," said lauren as she handed camila a shot of Patron. Camila looked at it tentatively.
"Uh…so your goal is to get me to pass out on stage?" asked Camila.
Lauren laughed. "My goal is to loosen you up a bit."
"Well, I'm not doing a shot alone. Where's yours?"
"Right here," said lauren, as she pulled another shot off or her tray. "So what should we drink to?" asked camila.
Lauren stepped up onto the stage so she was face to face with camila. They stood there, gazing at each other, not really noticing the place was beginning to fill up. Lauren had momentarily abandoned her post behind the bar, preventing people from getting their drinks. At the moment she didn't care. She smiled at camila, who smiled back. Neither of them said a word. They didn't have to. They both knew what they were drinking to. Lauren
raised her glass to camila's.
"Slainte," she said as they both leaned back and emptied their shot glasses. Camila could feel the alcohol burning down her throat and immediately felt a little better.
Lauren reached out and took the empty shot glass from camila's hand. Her fingers tenderly caressed Camila's hand as she slowly pulled the shot glass away and smiled at her.
"Good luck, camz. I know you'll do great."
Camila watched lauren walk back over to the bar. At that moment, she felt like forgetting about her show and hanging out with lauren the rest of the night. But she knew she couldn't do that. This gig was too important. For a few different reasons. As camila continued setting up, she continually glanced over in camila's direction and caught her eye a few times. The past week had gone by so quickly. She and lauren had gone to get Camila's things and brought everything to her mom's house, where she's been staying. David has pretty much stayed out of the picture. After she told her parents what happened with David, Alejandro paid him a visit and made it clear that he was to stay out of camila's way and never come into contact with her again. David complied and only put up a fight once. A couple days ago he tried calling Camila and begged her to give him another chance. When she refused, he started yelling at her again. Camila hung up on him and hadn't heard from him since. Things were better now; more peaceful. And now that lauren was around all the time, camila has never been happier. She has never felt more complete and contented. They hadn't had a repeat of last week's tryst, but they both knew there would be plenty of time for that. Camila and lauren knew that what they had between them was forever. There was no doubt about it. It may have taken them seven years to get to this point, but at least now they'd have the rest of their life to make up for all that lost time. While lauren was serving drinks, she saw Alejandro and Lily come through the door, soon followed by Sinu. Eli's bandmates took their seats up front. Lauren looked around for Eli, but couldn't find him anywhere. She remembered him showing up with his band, but he took off somewhere shortly after that.
"Lauren. Can you grab another crate of Leffe from the storage freezer?" asked lauren's boss, as he was marking the inventory.
She looked over at camila, who wasn't exactly ready to start yet. "Uh…sure. I'll be right back."
She walked around to the back door and as she pushed the door open, she stopped suddenly in her tracks and tried to look away from the scene in front of her, but it was like a bad accident. For some reason, she just couldn't pull her eyes away. Grace and Eli were caught off guard and immediately pulled away from their passionate kiss. They both had that deer in the headlights look. They stood there, all three of them, in the most awkward two minutes of silence any of them had ever experienced lauren looked back and forth from Grace to Eli. Grace looked back and forth from Eli to Lauren. Eli looked at his shoes, kicking the bottle cap in front of him. More silence. Lauren tried to speak, but really had no idea what to say.
"I…just…beer…," she pointed over to the storage space.
More silence.
Finally, Eli looked at his watch as he began to walk back inside. "Oh…uh…well, I should get back in there. Mila's about to start."
Lauren and Grace were left staring at each other. Lauren smiled awkwardly and shrugged. Grace just sort of nodded, nonchalantly.
"Well," said Grace. "This has been sufficiently awkward. So, I'm just gonna go. And be somewhere that's not right here."
Lauren watched as Grace scurried back inside.
Lauren couldn't help but laugh. 'Oh boy,' she thought. 'Camila's parents are gonna have A LOT to adjust to in the coming months.' As lauren came back in with the crate, she immediately looked over at camila, who was at the microphone. Once she saw lauren, she was ready to finally start her show. She looked out at the at the crowd. The place was almost
completely filled up. She picked up her new guitar and slid the strap over her shoulder.
"I just want to thank everyone for coming. Um…this first song…well, I just wrote it. And I wrote it with this guitar. And every word is true." Camila looked over at lauren as she said that last part. Camila gripped her guitar and started strumming. She usually closed her eyes during the first song, but not this time. She didn't want to miss a moment.
"Take my hand, break my stride
Make me smile, for every time I've cried
Hold my heart, in the palm of your hand
Don't listen to it breaking, I need you understand,
Have you ever been held before?
How can I make you see?
I've never been held before
Like the way you hold me
You make me feel like a river
Like a water overflow
I wanna shout it out from the mountain
I wanna sing it on the radio
I'd sell my soul like a sinner
If it means you'll never go"
Lauren couldn't take her eyes off of camila. She let every word of that song sink in. She knew it was about her. There was no doubt in her mind. Just as she knew the one at her last show was about her. She tried to fight it, but she couldn't. Those damn tears would not stop forming as she continued to watch camila sing.
Camila was still looking right at lauren.
"I think the sun is finally rising
It's burning down because I miss you
I'm gonna walk right through the fire
'Cause all I wanna do is kiss you
Rain falls, but won't wash this away
I'll build a stone wall, to make you stay
You make me feel like a river
Like a water overflow
Wanna shout it out from the Mountain
Wanna sing it on the radio
I'll sell my soul like a sinner
If it means you'll never go"
Camila could feel every emotion come pouring out of her. She put her heart and soul into this song and her entire body was getting into the rhythm. She had the crowed completely mesmerized. But the only one she cared about getting through to was Lauren. And it was working. Camila always had a hard time putting into words exactly what she was feeling. She wasn't one to often open up emotionally, so this was her way of telling Lauren everything she was feeling about her.
"You make me feel like a river
Like a water overflow
Wanna shout it out from the Mountain
Wanna sing it on the radio
I'll sell my soul like a sinner
If it means you'll never go
Never go
Never go"
The song ended and the entire audience erupted in applause. The cheering lasted for what seemed like minutes as camila shyly smiled and said thank you. She looked out and saw the look on her dad's face. She could tell he was moved. She saw her mom beaming as she was wildly applauding. Eli's bandmates were equally as impressed, whispering to Eli, telling him they needed his sister in the band.
Camila looked over at Lauren once more. Their eyes locked and lauren was completely enthralled. It took all of her strength not to run up to the stage and kiss camila right there in front of everyone. She knew that now was not the time. This was camila's night. And she was happy just being a part of it.