To Follow you or To Lose you

Chapter 10: my body in the hands of a lunatic.

The next day Camila went to meet me at the cafe. I was still upset, maybe a lot, but I wasn't able to ignore her.

"Normani wants to see you, Mrs. Luna" she told me happily. There was no repentance on her face, and I think it bothered me even more to realize that she wasn't going to apologize. Or so I thought.

"Okay" I answered coldly. I didn't want to make her cry again, but I didn't want to make her think that I liked her actions.

"Let's go?" She encouraged me as she held my hand. I immediately pushed her away, but only to put them back together because I thought I was being too hard. Then I thought I'd been too soft and repeated everything three times.

My hand ended up next to hers, just as it should have been.

"I still have to finish work, Camila" I wanted the use of her name and not her nickname to give her a clue about my mood, but she seemed too busy thinking about colorful clouds.

"But Normani wants to see you..."

I bit my lower lip, knowing that Mrs. Johnson would soon arrive so that I could take her order. Not that I had a huge desire to hear her constant talk about hell and sin and how badly I fell in love with Camila, but my head had a list of tasks that I refused to fulfill.

Still, seeing Camila's hopeful eyes, something encouraged me to leave six times.

"Lauren, Mrs. Johnson is waiting for you." Dinah interrupted us, her gaze never turned to Camila, which she told me she preferred to ignore Camila's existence. "She says she has brought new verses for you to read."

I rolled my eyes twice, for I hated her religious fanaticism. Of course, with numbers in her recommendations, I couldn't help but read them, but in doing so I became more convinced that all my feelings were right.

"Lauren, please" Camila begged, who wouldn't let go of my hand.

I didn't want her to either.

"Don't you dare, Lauren. If you leave you'll have some kind of attack and I'll be the one who has to look for you" That, on the part of my best friend, felt like a threat "...As always" she growled.

And it hurt me to hear her words.

"If it bothers you, you shouldn't do it" I said coldly "I don't force you to anything, Dinah."

"I don't mind."

"It seems it does" I countered, and my anger with Camila was nothing compared to the one I felt towards Dinah at the time "Have I been a nuisance to you all this time?"

"Lauren..."

"Mrs. Luna looks hot being angry" Camila told Dinah in the middle of that discussion, but we both decided to ignore her.

It wasn't time for crazy.

"You shouldn't have done all that for me, Dinah." A tear slipped down my cheek, and it contained anger, sadness, and a friendship I doubted I could regain. Camila cleaned it for me. "I could have overcome all my problems alone. I didn't need you."

And I knew it was wrong to say it as soon as these 11 words came out of my mouth.

When a hand hit my cheek, I wasn't surprised. I deserved it after all.

"Don't hit Mrs. Luna" Camila warned, who immediately stood in front of me. Her hand didn't let go of mine, which was shaking because of what was happening. All around us all the customers were looking at us.

I appreciated Camila's attempt to protect me, but my head kept telling me again and again that I deserved one more slap.

The tension between us didn't go away when Ally got to us. Adam was further back rearranging his saddle glasses and looking at the little girl as if she were a heroine.