Maybe I over-exaggerated.
It's been about five weeks since my confession about Louis to Camila, and she hasn't said a word to me. Or anyone, in fact; not even Dinah. I've caught her shooting quick and short glances at me while touching her lips, which just makes me shiver because I know she's questioning if she actually kissed me or not. I can tell that management is getting worried- they've been asking us if anything personal happened recently that explains Camila's quietness. I begged the rest of the girls to keep it hidden, and turns out they didn't even need my begging. We were all sprawled out in the hallways of a Los Angles hotel, outside of Dinah and Camila's room.
"So, she's just laying in there?" I bit the side of cheek.
Dinah nodded as she played with loose strands of Ally's hair, who was spread out across her stretched legs, "Just staring at the ceiling. She's literally turning into a mute."
"Jesus. It's all my fault," I sighed and Normani's head shot up from her phone.
"I swear to God, Jauregui if you have another panic attack," she gritted her teeth together. "You've had way too many. How many was it on Tuesday? Two, three?"
"Four," Ally clarified. "I don't think that's healthy or natural."
"Of course it isn't natural," I furrowed my eyebrows at Ally's remark and then directed my head back to Dinah. "Do you think she maybe wants to-"
"Ladies!" Austin dragged his saggy pants down the hall to our left. "How's it going?"
"Hey Austin," Dinah smiled. "What are you doing here? If you're here to see Mila, she's actually not feeling well..."
"That's funny, because she actually texted me to come down," he stuck his hand up and smirked as he wagged his phone in the air.
"Why?" I raised my voice and everyone's head shot towards me.
Austin's eyes told instantly cold, "Why does it matter to you? It's our relationship and stuff is private."
"Oh," I began to giggle sarcastically and hysterically at the same time. "Oh! So, she is planning to have sex with you? Right now?"
"Lauren!" Normani and Ally rang out.
"No, let her continue," Dinah protested.
"She isn't feeling well, and if you think she just texted you to actually have real sex for the first time," I sputtered. "Then you're dumb as fuck. This is an obvious booty call, but you're too oblivious to realize that."
"I'd rather hear the truth from Camilla, thank you very much," he snorted and began to walk past our huddle.
"It's Camila! Cam-eel-ah!" My head began to throb at a familiar pace as I stepped out in front of him. His burning and an unknown stinky smell dripped from his mouth and swarmed through my nostrils, making me squeeze my eyes from tears. Once I opened them back up, I jabbed a frustrated finger into his muscled chest, "And you should fucking know that! You are her fucking boyfriend, aren't you?"
"Get your hands off me psycho, Camila has told me everything. This isn't the first time she's called me up!" He hissed and slapped my hand away roughly in another attempt to slide past me, but I didn't budge.
"I'm not a" -I gave him a harsh shove, and he fell back slightly- "psycho!"
The others were already on their feet; Ally and Normani stood behind me as Dinah tried tugging me away.
"He isn't worth it, Laur. Let's just go, alright?" She tried to persuade me.
"No! I'm not letting him go into that room with just her!" I shouted and wiggled from Dinah's grasp.
"Why do you even care? What, do you fucking love her?" Austin teased me and smiled devilishly in my face.
I had cracked at his comment and swung my right arm in direction of his jaw, which pounded straight into the bone. Besides the gruesome sound that came from his face, three gasps arose from around me. Austin was glaring at the floor, feeling the part of his skin that my contact was put.
I picked up my fist and examined it in front of my eyes. There was a slight discolor to my knuckles, a sign that bruising was soon to come. My body shivered as I lowered my fist, "Shit. Shit, Austin I'm really-"
A smack was blown across the side of my head; the side where my messed up scar still remained from when my first panic attack had occurred.
The scene of the hotel room hallway disappeared and everything went to a complete darkness.
*
When my eyes popped back open, I wasn't even close to being in the hotel anymore. The hospital room smelt and looked much similar to the others I had gone too, so I took a deep breath and settled back into my mattress for another "nap".
"Wait, Lauren please don't go back," a voice croaked, full of past tears and cries. My neck flicked towards the opposite corner of the room where Camila was positioned. Her face blurred into my view and showed to puffed and red in all differently places. A stream of dried tears dipped down each of her cheeks came into view when I noticed she was approaching me. She noticed my widened and shocked expression, so she just chuckled and my hands into hers. An instant warm feeling rose up inside of me, so I returned her action with a kind smile.
"What are you doing here?" I asked her and straightened my posture up.
"I came here to see you," she sighed and knelt onto her knees beside my bed. "I heard some screams coming from outside the hotel room. God, Lauren I was so scared. When I saw you on the ground, unconscious and blood pouring from your head- I was scared to death."
"I don't think you should see Austin," I gulped at the stupid suggestion. I couldn't control her love life; why did I even bother?
"That's already taken care of," she grinned and gave my hands a slight squeeze. "I don't even know why I dated him anyways."
"Sex," I muttered a little too loudly. When I noticed Camila's eyes flare open at the answer, I quickly tried to retreat, "I did not mean to say that aloud."
Camila shook her head and removed her touch from me, "No. I, I think you're right."
"Really?" I questioned it pure surprise.
She nodded, "After you told me the truth, I just really needed someone or something to take away the pain. Austin seemed like the best answer at the time, but now I realize how cruel and violent he is."
My breath caught before I went on, "When you say something, do you mean-"
"God no, Lauren I could never," Camila stared directly into my eyes for reassurance. "That's way too far, you didn't hurt me that much."
"So you admit it, I hurt you," I slowly muttered.
"Of course you did. You lied to me, and it wasn't about eating the rest of the Oreos, or staying up late," Camila bit her bottom lip. "It was a huge lie. Something that if you didn't tell me, it would've gotten extremely out of hand."
"I think it was too late for that," I let out a huff of air. "You know, the whole first kiss situation."
"Hey, the past is in the past," Camila smiled sweetly before leaning forward and caressing the right side of my head. I jumped at her sudden touch and she immediately pulled away. "Shit, I'm so sorry Laur I forgot."
"Me too," I joked and we shared a group of forced laughter. Camila watched silently as I moved my hand towards the sensitive spot of my head and felt around. The torn skin felt a lot bumpier, which signified that the cut was a lot worse than I had expected. Just as I began to move my hand away, Camila grasped suddenly at my wrist.
"Remember when I asked about knowing how my first kiss was? How I was at kissing?" She blurted out.
"I do, but you kind of asked me to forget," I admitted. "Something also about how Austin could tell you all of that."
"But Austin is gone, and I want you to tell me," I felt the sensation of her fingers touch mine spread throughout my body. "How was our kiss?"
Camila was off her knees now and was right in my face, reminding me of the night that we were both in the hospital together. I raised my free hand up towards her forehead and gently traced the outline of her horizontal scar with a smile, "It was-"
"Good morning, sunshine!" Ally and Normani's cheerful voices burst into the room. They galloped to my other besides and together pulled me into a friendly hug. Once they pulled away and began to chatter about, my eyes floated to my hand; which was no longer holding Camila's. Camila wasn't near me either, she was at the end of the bed; pretending like nothing had just happened.
Oh, but something did.
Camila Cabello and I had just encountered a moment. One I was sure to never to forget.
But, would she?