Monday.

School seemed long and torturous.

Well, more than usual, especially since it was the first day after break and Lauren would be retrieving Camila from the station this afternoon. She was scared, truth be told. Would she reject her altogether, ignore her, hit her? She didn't think so, after all, she was in the right.

The bell rang and Lauren was the first student out of that classroom, out of the school, and first on the road as she hauled ass to the station. Then her phone rang.

"You're not at your locker." Dinah chuckles from the other side as she picks up. Lauren smiles, practically hearing the blonde's smirk-like grin through the phone.

"Sorry I just–"

"You'll just bring me your Chem book later."

"Or you could come over instead?" she turns down the main road.

"I wouldn't want to disrupt anything."

"You wouldn't be."

With a groan, Dinah agrees and Lauren makes a mental note to invite Normani and order pizza. She parks the jeep and hops out of her seat, jogging giddily up to the front counter. She was nowhere in sight.

"Camila will be here in a little bit," Mr. Jauregui call from his office, "go wait outside." The man chuckles as his daughter instantly takes orders. Lauren takes her time to walk back outside, eyes frantically searching the streets as she sits on the hood of her black beauty. Timed seemed slower at this moment than it ever had in school, but she remained patient. Patient and bored. Her knee bobbed up and down frantically against the tire while her eyes flickered to any sign of movement. Where was she? After twenty-seven minutes, where was she?

All movement stilled as a squad car pulled up on the opposite side of the street causing Lauren to hop down from the hood. Suddenly her palms became sweaty and anticipation roared through her body what the hell would her reaction be when she saw her standing there like a fool? Dark brown locks appeared from the passenger side, sunlight making her eyes sparkle and setting her ablaze.

She stopped. Took a look at Mahone, then took a good look at Lauren. Rounding the front of the car, she stared at her for a while, Lauren's face clearly full of worry. She swallowed air, mouth dry and all thoughts focused on the brunette. They loved each other. Maybe not in love, but they did love each other.

Camila laughs a smile, rolling her eyes before crossing the street and running into her arms. Lauren was a little surprised, still, she held her all the same. It had been... what? Three days? Two days? In teenage time, that's an eternity. Camila pulls out of her grip, cupping her cheeks instead to bring Lauren's lips to her own. She accepted the kiss with a smile and her hands fell onto the girl's small waist to pull her closer as she now leaned against the jeep.

"I'm sorry," she apologizes, Camila's hands moved to her shoulders. Forehead rested upon the other, noses brushing as well as their lips every time the other spoke.

Camila laughs, "Don't be. You did the right thing and I was being a bitch about it." She whispers, pecking the girl's lips.

"Yeah but I–"

"Lauren," her tone is reprimanding, so she shuts up. "Thank you..." She nods, kissing her again.

"Wanna go home?" she murmurs causing Camila to smile and nod. She wrote a new word into Lauren's journal on the journey home, one she had created for herself. 

Kissper, the mumbling of words into another's lips. A whispered kiss.

-

The brunette fell asleep tucked into the older Cuban's arm and not even a minute later, she too fell into slumber.

As soon as the two arrived home, there were barely any words exchanged. Camila didn't talk about being away and Lauren didn't talk about her being gone. Lauren had just grabbed her hand gently and led her upstairs where they both fell asleep on top of her covers. They were emotionally exhausted.

Lauren woke up an hour after Camila had woken up to the sound of music downstairs and she found no girl next to her. Dragging herself downstairs with tangled hair and tired eyes, there was something that she didn't expect to see.

Dinah and Camila sat on the couch with Dinah going on and on about lord knows what, Camila's hand in her lap as the blonde painted her nails. She would nod occasionally as Dinah rambled on, both of them oblivious to the girl tiptoeing into the kitchen.

"She came to get your Chemistry book and ended up doing my nails," Camila calls out.

Chocolate eyes danced over her body as she shoved her hand into a box full of lucky Charms. It was clear she'd just woken up; tousled hair, lazy expression, pillow marks across her cheeks. She decided she liked her this way.

Dinah had paused her conversation briefly. "Always worrying about damn food," she grumbles, eyeing her choice of cereal before going on again about some guy that attempted to flirt with her.

Lauren chuckled under her breath, wandering into the living room and sitting down on the loveseat. She closes her eyes, a handful of cereal in her mouth and forgotten rock music from the '90s playing faintly in the background of her best friend's voice. Everything was at peace, everything was completely and utterly okay.

Camila interrupts Dinah's speaking again, this time with a string of coughing that made Lauren's stomach lurch. It sounded abnormal, throaty as if the skin on the inside of her throat had turned dry and began to create jagged holes.

"You okay?" Dinah questions as the girl began to calm down and Camila nods.

Yet no one believed her.

-

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[ edited on july 17, 2019 ]