Trials and Tribulations (Camren)

Chapter 43 ✔️

"Hey," Ally said, her voice small as she knocked on the open door of Lauren's bedroom, Clara having let her in downstairs on her way out. "Can I come in?" she asked the brunette, entering hesitantly, Lauren's eyes watching her closely from where she lounged on the bed, Camila's diary opened in her hands where she'd been reading it.

"Looks like you already have," Lauren noted abrasively, placing the diary on to the nightstand beside her and shifting her position so that she was now sat upright against the head of the bed.

"Lo, please?" Ally said, slowly making her way in to the room further, her hands fidgeting nervously together in front of her.

"What?" Lauren asked brusquely, her eyes conveying the resentment she felt towards her friend. "What do you want Ally?" she practically spat.

"I want to apologise to you for earlier," Ally told her seriously and Lauren snorted derisively in response to the words, knowing that her friends apology wouldn't change what had happened, wouldn't magically make everything alright, wouldn't improve the situation in the slightest.

"Don't you think it's a little bit late for that?" Lauren asked sarcastically, eyeing Ally meaningfully as she came to a stop at the end of the bed.

"Listen, I'm really sorry for what I said Lo," Ally told her sincerely. "Honestly, I feel terrible about what happened. I wasn't thinking properly..."

"No shit," Lauren interrupted, muttering under her breath.

"I'm so sorry," Ally apologised again. "Please tell me what I can do to make it up to you?"

"There's nothing you can do Ally," Lauren replied simply, leaning forward to meet her friend's gaze squarely. "What's done is done now. You can't take it back. You can't make it right. You can't wish it out of existence."

"I know you're mad at me..." Ally started but the sound of Lauren's sardonic laugh stopped her words in their tracks.

"Damn right I'm mad at you," Lauren interceded laughing again. "Do you have any idea what you did? Do you?"

"Is Camila alright?" Ally asked, having not spoken to Lauren since she'd walked out at lunch but hearing about the incident in the library from Normani.

"Do you even care?" Lauren asked her interestedly.

"Of course I do," Ally said, her voice growing loud, evidently insulted by Lauren's insinuation. "Camila's my friend too..."

"Oh, she's your friend again now is she?" Lauren asked, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed and standing up, "That's strange because earlier she wasn't good enough for me. She was just taking advantage of me, using me...isn't that what you said?"

"I never said that," Ally protested. "You know that isn't what I meant Lo, I'm just concerned about you..."

"Fine," Lauren conceded, ignoring the latter half of Ally's reply. "Maybe you didn't say those words exactly but that's what you implied and it amounts to the same thing."

"I didn't say anything that wasn't true though," Ally replied, her voice firm. "You do a lot for Camila..."

"Willingly," Lauren cut her off angry. "I do it willingly because I love her..."

"Now," Ally interrupted, her own voice rising with irritation. "You love her now Lo but who's to say you'll even still be together in a month's time. You can't throw away your life for someone who..."

"I'm not throwing my life away," Lauren objected furiously.

"Jesus, are you even listening to yourself?" Ally asked her. "You used to be a straight A student Lo and now you're barely scraping a C. You even failed your last history exam or don't you remember that?"