Camila's POV
The drive to Lauren's house was silent. All you could hear were the rain drops from outside; ending their journey to the ground. Ally exchanged a few glances with me as she drove. She wanted to assure that we were fine, but when a smile formed on her face, I could see that there was much more going on in her head then I thought. At first, I didn't know what she was smiling at. I turned to look behind me for an answer but there was nothing there and just as I was about to ask, I realized that she had been staring at us. I looked down at the girl sleeping peacefully on my chest. She had been under my arm, my chin resting on top of her head as her arms tightly wrapped around my waist. I smiled down at her beautiful figure. I liked watching her sleep. It was nice. She always seemed so peaceful and calm when she slept like this. Sure, she was a little tore up, but so was I. We were both in pain, her internally and me physically. She was broken and fucked up, but in a sense so was I. I practically have broken ribs for fucks sake. And surprisingly we were still here. Barley floating, but here, together. And maybe that's part of the reason I had always been drawn to Lauren. There was something about her that always seemed to be in pain. Something about her that just seemed...broken. But I mean who isn't? We're all a little fucked up. You just gotta decide what kind of fucked up your into.
In the depths of my mind, I heard Ally clear her throat. I shook my head lightly to bring myself out of my thoughts before I met her gaze through the rear view window. "She's lucky, you know that right?"
I shook my head and half smiled, "No, I'm the lucky one."
Ally didn't answer. She simply shook her head and smiled.
There was a short silence after that. Ally's eyes had been focused on the road again while mine were on Lauren. I admired her as she slept again and couldn't help but smile. She was the most beautiful creature that I had ever seen. And the best part was, she was beautiful on the inside too.
"I've never seen anyone love someone like the way you love Lauren." Ally interrupted my thoughts, her eyes still focused on the road.
I half smiled before I looked down at Lauren tenderly. " Yeah well, I've never loved anyone like the way that I love her either."
-
After we had arrived, Ally went home, and the other girls stayed in my room to stall for me for the night. They were a little ify about it at first, but when they saw Lauren by my side, looking like a lost puppy, they couldn't help but give in. I mean I would have suggested spending the night at my house, but Lauren left a huge mess behind and I knew that if it was still there in the morning, her parents would ask questions. And from what I see, I don't think Lauren is ready to hear anymore shit from them.
It had already been two and Lauren and I still weren't done cleaning up. It was mostly my fault though. As I picked up things, I couldn't help but ask questions. It was like there was so much more to her then I knew and these peices from her room were like my gateway to understanding. Surprisingly, she didn't get annoyed. She was willing to share some of the stories about things she had won, pictures that she had saved and little cute things she kept in her room.
As I swept up some glass from the floor my foot bumped against a cd rack and practically made the contraption fall over on it's side.
"Nice one Camz." She teased from behind.
I shook my head amusingly before I crouched down and picked up the rack. I then picked up some of the CD's and shuffled through them to get a look at the type of things she listened too. There were plenty of Bob Marley, a few of The 1975, The Arctic Monkeys, Ed Sheeran, Rhianna, Beyonce and many many more. But the one that caught my attention was a collection of Claude Debussey, featuring the piece, Claire de lune.
"I never took you as the classical type." I said waving the CD behind over shoulder as I shuffled through a few more.
"It's the foundation to all music." She simply replied.
"Thats true." I agreed. "It's just..."
"What? You don't like classical music princess?"
I shook my head, "No. I love it. I just never expected you to be into this type of stuff."
"Don't let perception full you Camz. I'm not as cool as you think I am."
"Oh, I never thought you were cool, I was just saying." I teased.
"Oh yeah? Then tell me, what do you think of me?"
"Well, for starters I think your a big dork. I don't think you'll admit it to yourself, but I've never seen a collection of books or classical music this big."
"Camz, I have like three classical CD's."
I gave her a pointed look, "Exactly. You're collection is enormous."
Lauren chuckled a little as she shook her head at me.
"Stop making me laugh my chest hurts."
"You're not the one with the broken ribs." I joked realizing that she didn't know yet. The hairs on the back of my neck practically stood up as the vibe in the room changed.
"That's right..." Lauren said walking over to me. "You're hurt." She said before she crouched down next to me and cocked her head to the side. "Tell me, what happened to you?"
I wanted to tell her. I really did. But it had been a really tough day for her already and I didn't want to add on to it.
"It's not important. We can talk about it later." I said avoiding her gaze and continuing to look through her music.
Her pale hand grabbed my chin and pulled it towards her direction, " I want to talk about it now. Who hurt you?"
I sighed before I gave in, " I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to get mad."
"I can't promise that." Lauren almost whispered with her brows furrowed.
"..."
"Come on Camz. I'll try not to freak out."
"Okay." I said before I cleared my throat and continued, "So, today at school, I went to the bathroom to blow my nose around lunch time and..." I paused.
"Um.." My voice quivered.
"Camz." Lauren said catching my attention. "It's okay."
I took a deep breath before I spoke again, "Vero and Madison came in and they...hit me. Until the point where I really thought I was going to pass out. I thought I was a goner. But luckily, Dinah and the girls found me and saved me. After that, I went home and took a really long nap. And when I woke up, I talked to my dad about a few things. He was a mad about what happened and wanted me to tell the police but I refused too and we got in a little argument about it. He agreed with me at the end though and after he left, I went out looking for you."
Lauren's breathing began to become uneasy as she maintained eye contact with me. Her teeth clenched as she took in my words. She looked mad. Scratch that, pissed. You could literately see it in her eyes. The fire, burning endlessly within them.
"They hurt you?" Lauren tried to ask calmly as she moved a strand of my hair behind my ear.
"Yeah but I shouldn't of gone to the bathroom alone. Especially on a day that you weren't here to protect me."
"Are you fucking kidding me? This isnt your fault Camila. They should have known better. I told them to back off until the next attack. I don't know why they didn't listen to me." Lauren said closing her eyes briefly. "I'm sorry Camz. I should have been there."
"No, dont blame yourself either. It's not your fault that I got hurt. You've had a pretty tough day to deal with."
Lauren bit her lip and shook her head as she tried to contain her anger. "Fuck." She muttered to herself before she got up, "I'm gonna kill them."
I got up and grabbed her wrist, "Um, no you're not."
"Watch me." She said pulling her wrist away and pacing towards the door.
I ran after her and pulled her back again, "Where are you going?"
"To do what I should have done a long time ago."
"You're not seriously going to either of their houses right now. It's the middle of the night."
"I don't care." She simply replied pulling her arm away from me.
"Lauren-"
"-Camz." She interrupted. " I need to do this."
"Not right now. You're not thinking straight."
Lauren shook her head and averted my gaze.
I cupped her cheeks and made her look at me, "Listen to me. It's okay. I'm okay. And we're both here. Together."
"They hurt you? How can you possibly think that I'm okay with that?"
"You have to be. You can't throw everything away for me. Not tonight. You won't be able to handle it."
Lauren pursed her lips. They trembled as she tried to contain the tears threatening to escape her eyes.
"Hey..." I softly said caressing her cheek with my right thumb. "Whats wrong?"
"I just... I feel so helpless." Her voice quivered.
"You're not."
"Then tell what can I do to help you? What can I do to make the pain go away?"
"Nothing. I dont need you to do anything. I just need you to be here with me."
"Camz..."
"That's all I want right now. I want to be with you tonight. Talk to you, kiss you, hold you, everything. I just need you to stay."
Lauren furrowed her brows as she processed my words. She looked deeply into my eyes as I stared into her soul with my own.
"Okay." She finally gave in. "But only for today. I can't promise you that I'm not going to murder them tomorrow."
"I can live that." I smiled. "Here, why don't you sit down while I finish up. There's not that much left, I just need to pick up the rest of your CD's and some glass."
Lauren nodded her head before she pulled me in for a hug. I was caught a little off guard but, that didn't stop me from melting into her blissful arms. I reciprocated the act and rested my head on her shoulder. I felt her lips kiss the side of my head before she took a deep breath. "I love you."
"I know. I love you too." I breathed back, her arms wrapping around me tighter as I said it.
"Camz?"
"Yeah?"
"I fucking love hugging now."
"Way to ruin the moment."
"Sorry." She apologized pulling away.
"Its okay. I was kidding. Now that I'm away from your clutches, I can finish up."
"You couldn't be away from me even if you tried."
"Then I better get to it then." I played along before I turned on my heel and walked to the end of her room where I had left the mess.
I picked up the rest of the CD's and the remaining pieces of glass on the floor. After I had deposited the glass into a trash bag in Lauren's closet, I walked back over to my doom.
"All done." I said sitting next to her on the foot of her bed.
"Not quite." Lauren said looking at something below my feet.
"What do you mean?"
"You missed a spot." Lauren said nodding her head towards the ground.
I lifted my foot and looked at the object sitting under it. It was a copy of Carmila by Sheridan Le Fanu. I reached for it on my side and it could have been the worst thing I could have done. Lauren's Polaroid picture fell out of my pocket and collided with the ground. I glanced back at Lauren and realized that she had noticed. She squinted her eyes at the photo before she reached down and picked up the pieces. When she got a better look at them. Her eyes widened. Her hands shook. And a sharp pain began to invade her chest as the betrayal made itself evident on her face.
This was it. This was the end of everything. The end of us. The end of my life. And it was all because I took a stupid picture.
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