Through Her Eyes (Camren)

Chapter 8: Bows And Hoodies

Mornings, Lauren thought as she leaned against the door frame to the guest room and watched Camila mumble sleepily into her pillow, were actually not that bad. All mornings should be like this, the quiet drizzle of rain rolling off the rooftop above and soft light just managing to shine through the gauzy curtains, playing off Camila’s brown hair and parted lips. If all mornings were like this, Lauren wouldn’t mind getting out of bed quite so much.

But all mornings could not be like this, Lauren reminded herself.

“Camila,” Lauren called, voice still rough with sleep. “It’s morning.”

Camila made a soft noise, moving comfortably below the thick white comforter.

“Time to get up,” Lauren called louder, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Don’t you want breakfast?”

Camila just huffed again, rolling so she was facing farther away from Lauren. “Nruphle…” said Camila – or at least that’s what it sounded like to Lauren.

She allowed herself the full smile now. “You can’t stay here. I have to work,” Lauren reasoned.

“…Lolo…” said Camila, and Lauren bit her lip uncertainly and looked away.

“Right,” she said grudgingly. “I guess you can stay, then.” What was the worst that could happen? She only had to work for a few hours, maybe Camila would just sleep the whole time.

Camila huffed into her pillow.

“Stay out of trouble,” Lauren told the sleepy lump of silky brown hair. “I’ll be back before noon, okay?”

Camila made a soft sound that Lauren was going to interpret as agreement and Lauren shut the door quietly behind her.

Preparing the food for the strays in the kitchen, Lauren could not wipe the smile off her face. It pulled at the underused muscles in her cheeks, making them ache.

“Stop that,” Lauren admonished herself quietly, setting the food down for the strays that were waiting on the back porch.

Cat seemed anxious, meowing long and sad sounds and watching Lauren with worried green eyes. For the first time Lauren reached out to pet her.

——-

Lauren should never, never have left Camila alone in her house.

She hadn’t wanted to go to work, not with Camila all warm and cozy in her guest room. It wasn’t even her day to work; another barista had quit for a better job at Starbucks and Lauren had been called in for a few hours to fill in part of her shift. She would have said no, as Lauren was a firm believer that weekends were meant for nothing more than TV, infomercials, cheesy puffs and cheesy movies, but Lauren had been skipping out on Cocoa’s much too often since she’d met Camila. Not only was her manager severely displeased but Mrs. Smith kept extensive tabs on all her neighbors and when Lauren didn’t leave for work in the mornings, she all too often came over to ask why.

Probably hoping she’d dropped dead.

Still, when Lauren stepped through her door after work and was greeted with Camila’s smiling face it became all too clear that she should have stayed home anyway.

“Holy shit. What did you do?”

Camila blinked innocently back at her. Her brown hair was perfectly brushed, and there was a huge and shocking pink bow attached to her head.

“I look pretty?” Camila asked, trying to turn her head to see her bow. Lauren gaped.

“What did you…How did you…”