Gravity

Chapter 9

*August 9th 2013*

*Friday 2:00pm*

*Long Beach, California*

Lauren's POV:

I trudge through the sand and approach Camila who is lying flat on her back on the beach, bathing on top of her beach towel with her sunglasses covering her face.

"I got you some water, baby."

"Oh," Camila tilts her head up before moving to an upright position. "Thank you." She takes the cold bottle from my hand while pressing a quick kiss to my lips. I watch as she takes a large sip, before scanning the crowded beach around me.

I tug on my baseball cap, pulling it further down my head and shifting my sunglasses. I don't say anything out loud but being in such a crowded place like Long Beach is starting to put me on edge. I walked past three cops and two cop cars just on the small trip to the store to get us some refreshments. Obviously I kept my head down low, but apart from Vegas, this seems like the most crowded place we've been to so far and I don't like it.

"Where's Keaton?" Camila breaks me away from my thoughts, moving her sunglasses on top of her head to look at me.

I shrug. "The same place he's been the past four days, walking around town with a picture of Megan asking strangers if they've seen her."

Camila pauses, a small frown on her face before she replies. "Still no luck then?"

"Nope."

The moment we arrived in Long Beach Keaton drove us to the bar where he was tipped that Megan was working at. It was ridiculously early, and all I wanted to do was go find a bed to sleep in but I couldn't say no to my desperate new buddy. Camila was fast asleep by this point, so I made sure that we didn't wake her while we waited patiently for the bar to open.

The second the owner showed up with his set of keys, Keaton leaped out of the car and bombarded him with questions about Megan. The owner, a little taken aback, admitted that he did indeed know Megan, and that she did used to work in his bar, emphasis on the word did. Turns out, Megan still has a drug problem, and after showing up to work high one too many times she was fired on the spot.

This was over a week ago.

Keaton doesn't want to leave Long Beach. We waited around that day to speak to some of the bar staff who turned up to work later in the day and each one admitted that they didn't really know Megan that well. However, there was one who said that she saw Megan the evening before in a nightclub not too far from here which is why Keaton doesn't want to leave.

"What do you think will happen if he does find her?" Camila asks me curiously and I pause.

"I don't know." I admit thoughtfully.

"Hopefully he'll be able to help her sort her life out."

"Yeah I hope so."

"And then, you and I can finally get things back to normal." She smiles slightly and I sigh, moving my arm to wrap it around her waist and pressing a soft kiss to her temple. "Well, not normal but you know what I mean." She smirks slightly and I let out a small laugh despite myself.

"I know." I agree with a small smile and squeeze her waist briefly. I pause, contemplating a question that I haven't asked out loud in a long time. "Do you miss home?"

Camila stills, and I feel her body tense in my arms. "Lauren," she speaks up after a moment too long of silence. "We agreed not to talk about that."

I frown at her choice of reply and look down at the sand in front of me, my spare hand sifting through it slowly.

"I know but...it's been four months since we left and I was just wondering if you were getting homesick yet."