It took about an hour for a full interview.
Another fifteen minutes for Camila to finally give up the identities.
However, the glare she threw Lauren would last an eternity.
She'd waited impatiently outside the interrogation room, nothing to pass the time except count how many officers strolled in and out of the room. When the brunette emerged, she stood and followed after her, despite the dirty looks she gave. She stormed past the front desk with the girl trailing behind as she stomped out to her jeep.
"Why did you tell him? Why did you tell your dad?" she asks arms crossed over her chest defiantly. Lauren's mouth opens and closes as she searches for the proper response.
"I just wanted to help," she answers meekly.
"Help?!" her voice grew angrier. "You could've helped by keeping quiet! Everything was in the past and now it's all over the place again." She tugs at her hair while stumbling backward. With a deep breath, she falls to the ground, back completely flat against the concrete with her hands pressed to her eyes.
The world was shit.
"I'm sorry..." she wasn't and they both knew that. Her eyes linger over her limp body and she clears her throat, sitting criss-cross next to her.
"Camila," Lauren barely heard one of the deputies walk up behind them. "Ready to go?" the man questions.
Lauren stands immediately, glancing between the girl and the man in front of her who was barely even a man. The name tag read Austin Mahone.
"Go? Go where?" Lauren asks, Camila sits up with a cough and a sniffle, her voice wavering.
"Oh, they didn't tell you?" her voice drips with sarcasm.
"A rehabilitation center for young women," Mahone answers. Lauren takes a step back, slightly shielding Camila. Her expression grew stern and triumphant.
"No. N-no, you can't take her, she doesn't react well i-inโ"
"Lauren, I'm not going to argue with you." Mahone crosses his arms. The girl raises her eyebrows. Sure Mahone was older, but he could easily be recognized as a high school student.
"And I'm not going to argue with you. I said she can'tโ" a small hand on her arm stops her rant. Camila was willing to go, willing to leave her behind and that wasn't exactly an appealing thought.
She looked at her with fragile, her face a mixture of anger and sorrow. The girl didn't say a word as she walked towards the squad car leaving with nothing but a cough and a glance over her shoulder.
-
"She'll be back in a day or two," Mr. Jauregui ensures. Lauren shifted her chin on the table to show her disagreement, stabbing a carrot on her plate with a fork.
She'd barely touched her dinner.
She was angry at herself but simultaneously she knew there was no reason to actually be angry because she had done the right thing. The house felt too empty though and she wondered how she had survived with it being just her and her father in the first place. Mumbling something about going upstairs, Lauren takes care of her uneaten food and wanders to her room.
After about an hour, there's a knock on her door and Dinah comes in a moment later.
"Hey," She calls and she glances at the blonde before returning her eyes to the ceiling. With a sigh, Dinah circles the bed before crawling in next to her, her head resting on her shoulder. She stares at the ceiling, struggling to see what Lauren saw.
"She's coming back Monday," Dinah informs her. "They just need to keep her in case they caught whoever... you know?"
The nod was subtle but there. The Polynesian takes Lauren's hand and starts to mess with her fingers in an attempt to distract her. It worked for a little bit, then it didn't.
"I just worry about her," she mumbles, taking a deep breathe while closing her eyes.
"You like her?" Dinah questions, all she could do was give a faint "yeah".
-
Saturday was slow.
So goddamn slow, Lauren was considering stabbing herself in the stomach.
"Write a poem," Normani chuckles, lifting the weight off of the rack with Lauren as her spotter. She rolls her eyes. Maybe she was being a little overdramatic but she almost positive Camila hated her for what she had done. Surely she understood why she had done it, right? Of course.
And she did miss her, truly and honestly, she missed her.
"How's it going with Dinah?" Lauren asks to get her mind off the girl.
"Eh, we're fine."
"Fine?" Normani shrugs.
"Fine is the response a girl gives someone when she wants them to shut up or when she doesn't get her way... 'Does a ratty sports bar sound good for dinner tonight babe?'" Lauren makes her voice go lower for the guy and higher for the girl. "'Yeah, that's fine.'" Normani lets the weight rest back on the rack, sitting up with her core on fire and sweat beading on her forehead.
"Yeah, but one: we're not dating and two: I'm not a guy either," Normani laughs. "We're okay... half friends half dating, so I really don't know where the border lies."
Lauren seems to understand, following Normani around the gym to her next weight station. "Like lagom?"
"You act like I know what that means."
"The perfect balance; it's Swedish," Lauren whacks her upside the head, "go read a freaking book every now and then, God, I thought I raised you better."
Normani laughs, "You sound like my mother."
"For all you know I could be your mother," Lauren gives a wink sending both of them into hysterics. It's been a while since had done just this, hanging out and laughing at jokes that weren't really funny. Cause they were sisters and they needed moments like this to themselves.
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[ edited on july 17, 2019 ]