Summer Nights (Camren)

Chapter 21

Camila's POV

Instead of being woken up by Lauren's gentle touch, I was completely startled by having my body shaken almost violently. I rubbed my eyes and focused on the person who had been trying to wake me up, Ann. I fell out of my bunk and onto the ground harshly as Lauren crawled out of the bunk from behind me.

"Camz! Baby are- oh hi Ann. What's going on?" she asked confused, helping me up.

"Well...I need to have a word with you both in my office. Follow me," she gestured, walking us out of the cabin as she quietly shut the door.

It was very early in the morning and I couldn't understand what was going on at the time. No one else was up and Ann seemed very serious and on edge which frightened me even more. I wasn't in the right state of mind to ask questions or figure out responses for anything she could have possibly asked. All I could do was follow her and hold Lauren's hand gently for support.

"Ok ladies...step inside," she whispered, creaking open the door to allow us in.

We took a seat in the office chairs in front of her desk as I tried to fix my hair. My makeup was all smudged from the night before and my hair was a complete mess of knots. Lauren, on the other hand, looked stunning as usual. Her wavy hair flowed beautifully and everything was flawless as usual.

"What's this about?" I asked concerned, placing my hand on Lauren's knee.

"We filed the report on Austin and with the help of your friend Brittney, he was proven guilty. However, this did not erase what you did...as much as I wanted it to. My supervisor gave me a few options to offer you and unfortunately he won't let me bend the rules. You can make a public apology to Austin and volunteer once a week for the rest of camp to teach children about non violence. You may also drop the charges on Austin for sexual harassment and just stay away from each other. You're last option is to do nothing and be sent home immediately," she explained slowly, taking a deep breath after every option.

"That's friggin bullshit," she answered back, holding onto the chair tightly as she shook her head.

"Lauren. You pick or I will," Ann replied.

"Well..I'm not dropping the damn accusation because he did do it and I'm not going to let him get away with that. I don't want to apologize because he deserved it...but I'm not going home," she thought out loud, staring into space.

"Lauren," I whispered as I rubbed her back to calm her down.

"So what's it going to be?" Ann asked, not giving up on having Lauren make the decision.

Lauren threw her hands in the air and groaned in frustration before answering. I knew that she wasn't happy about any of the options, but had to pick one regardless.

"I'll apologize...but honestly, screw these camp rules. What happens afterwards? Does he go home at least?" she asked, darting her eyes around the room nervously.

"Not exactly. He won't be allowed in your cabin or to do any activities you both are involved in. If you all some how end up in the same place, one of you will have to leave," she replied, writing down Lauren's decision on the form in front of her.

"Great. So the psycho is still roaming around! Amazing rules...congratulations on the best camp in the world! Idiots.." she screamed before mumbling the last word annoyed.

Ann shook her head and led us out as I remained silent, not wanting to get involved. She brushed her short grey hair out of her eyes and put on her camp baseball cap before continuing to speak to us.

"Lauren...you're apology will be told in front of the whole camp. You have one day to write it and tomorrow you will have to recite it. You're volunteering begins the day after tomorrow...good luck," Ann responded emotionless as we walked down the steps away from her office.

We walked slowly in silence before I decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled.

"No babe...don't be. It's not your fault at all. We just have to deal with his ass for two more weeks and then he'll be out of our lives. Let's just focus on us and our date tonight," she reminded me, picking me up wedding style without much difficulty.

"Lauren!!" I squealed, giggling as she twirled me around. As soon as her emerald eyes met with mine, my heart melted in happiness and all of my problems seemed to disappear.

"Shh...you'll wake everyone," she whispered, trying to tease me.

"Don't worry...I have a plan. I may have asked Ann if we could take today off to focus on your apology..." I admitted, moving my eyebrows up and down suggestively.

"Something tells me we're not going to be writing that apology," I winked, still carrying her up the steps of our cabin as carefully as possible.

"Nope. We're going on that date something always seems to cancel," she replied with a laugh as I placed her on her bed quietly and took a seat next to her.

---

I guided Lauren to the setting of our date as she begged me to tell her where we were going. We both were dressed casually this time, although I loved seeing her all dressed up. She always looked amazing in whatever she was wearing...or not wearing.

"Here we are..." I said calmly.

"An old cabin?" she asked, looking around confused.

"No silly. We're going on the roof," I giggled, leading her up the ladder to get there.

"Oh my god...this is like some romantic movie. Aw Camz...it's adorable. How did you find this?" she asked, stunned at what I had put together.

I had ordered us two dishes of pasta from an Italian resteraunt about five minutes away from camp that one of the counselors had picked up. There was also bread, seltzer, breadsticks, and a bit of a surprise.

"Oh my god you actually bought pasta. Aw," she blushed, taking a seat on the blanket I had set up. I had brought pillows and a speaker with my ipod in case we got tired and just wanted to relax. 

We could see the ocean and all of the cabins from where we were sitting. It was getting kind of dark as we finished up eating and I decided to bring out the surprise. I began to cough, which was the signal, and waited for the person I needed to appear.