"What the . . ." Tremors shook my legs down to my bones. Was that the vibrations or me shaking?
Scrambling out of the covers, I grabbed my baseball bat from under the bed and ran out of the room. I had no intention of going downstairs, even though that's where I'd stupidly left the pistol. I just needed to peek over the railing to see if I'd actually heard someone entering my house.
My body instantly reacted at the sight of Lauren rounding the corner into the foyer and flying up the stairs. She was definitely pissed and primed for murder with the way he charged up the staircase, taking two at a time. I darted back into my room, letting out a little yelp as I tried to run for the French doors and escape. I had no idea what Lauren's plan was or if I should be afraid, but I was. She'd just broken into my house and that freaked me out.
"Oh no, you don't!" Lauren burst through my bedroom door, and the doorknob slammed against the wall, probably denting it.
There was no way I'd make it out of the doors on time. I spun around to face her, raising the bat. Lauren yanked it out of my hands before I even got primed for a swing.
"Get out! Are you crazy?" I started to veer around her, trying to get back to my bedroom door, but she cut me off. I was surprised she wasn't strangling me, judging by the look on her face. Lava was about to come out her nose, I was sure.
"You cut the electricity to my house." Her nostrils flared as she got an inch from my face and stared me down.
"Prove it." A tap dance was happening in my chest. No, more like the Paso Doble.
She cocked her head to the side, lips curling dangerously.
"How'd you get in here? I'll call the police!" Again, I thought. Not that it did me any good when I called earlier about the noise. Maybe they'd show up if I was murdered?
"I have a key." Every word was slow and threatening.
"How do you have a key to my house?" If she had a key, I wasn't sure if I could call the police.
"You and your dad were in Europe all summer," she said with a sneer. "Who do you think got the mail?"
Lauren collected our mail? I almost wanted to laugh. The irony of her doing something so mundane slowed my heartbeat a bit.
"Your dad trusts me," Lauren continued. "He shouldn't have."
I clenched my jaws. My dad and grandma knew very little about the state of Lauren's and my relationship. If they knew how bad it'd gotten, then they would've spoken to her mother. I wasn't a whiner, and I didn't want to be rescued. It hurt that Lauren was pleasant with my dad but a monster to me.
"Get out," I gritted through my teeth.
She advanced on me until I was forced back against the French doors. "You're a nosy bitch, Camila. Keep your fucking ass on your own side of the fence."
"Keeping the neighborhood awake makes people irritable," I spit back.
I crossed my arms over my chest as Lauren braced against the wall with both hands positioned on either side of my head. I don't know if it was from the adrenaline or his proximity, but my nerves were shot. Something had to give.
I looked anywhere but in her eyes. The burning tattoo on her arm was all in blacks and grays. I wondered what it meant.
Her arms were tight with tension—at least I hoped they weren't normally that rigid. Her skin looked smooth and . . .
The air left my lungs as I tried to ignore the tingling sensation in my core. It's best to just look her in the eye. We hadn't been this close to each other in a long time, and we'd been nose to nose a lot since my return.
Lauren must have realized the same thing, because her eyes hardened on me and her breathing turned ragged. Her gaze drifted down my neck to my camisole, and my skin burned everywhere she looked.
Refocusing and straightening her expression, she inhaled deeply. "No one else is complaining. So why don't you shut up and leave it alone?" Pushing off the wall, she started to walk away.
"Leave the key." I called out, getting used to this new boldness.
"You know." she laughed under her breath and turned around. "I underestimated you. You haven't cried yet, have you?"
"Because of the rumor you started this week? Not a chance." My voice was even, but a smug smile threatened to break out. I was getting off on our confrontation, and the realization that things between us were finally "coming to a head" as dinah had said. Look at us already. Lauren and I hadn't been alone in my room in over three years. This was progress. Of course, she was uninvited, but I wasn't going to nit-pick.
"Please, like I even have to resort to spreading rumors. Your cross-country pals did that. And their pictures," she added. "Everyone drew their own conclusions." She let out a sigh and inched towards me again. "But I'm boring you. I guess I have to step up my game." Her eyes were spiteful, and my foot twitched with the urge to kick her.
Why did she keep this up? "What did I ever do to you?!" The question that coursed through me for years erupted out of my cracked voice.
"I don't know why you ever thought you did something. You were clingy, and I got sick of putting up with it is all."
"That's not true. I wasn't clingy." My defenses were crumbling. I remembered, very well, the history between the two of us, and her words made me want to fucking hit her! How could she forget? As kids, we'd spent every waking moment together when we weren't in school. We were best friends. She held me when I cried about my mom, and we'd learned how to swim together at Lake Geneva. "You were over at my house as much as I was at yours. We were friends."
"Yeah, keep livin' the dream." She pushed all of our history and friendship back at me like a slap in the face.
"I hate you!" I screamed at her and meant every word. An ache settled in my gut.
"Good!" She shouted in my face, boring down on me. "Finally. Because it's been a long time since I could stand the sight of you!" She slammed her palm against the wall near my head, causing me to jump.
Flinching, I screamed to myself. What had happened to us? She'd scared me, but I stood my ground, telling myself that she wasn't going to hurt me, not physically. I knew that, didn't I?
My brain shouted for me to run, to get away from her. No tears fell, thankfully, but the pain of her words made my breathing almost turn to dry heaving.
I had loved Lauren once, but now I knew, without a doubt, that "my Lauren" was gone.
As I took a deep breath, I met her eyes. She seemed to search mine, probably for tears. Fuck her.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed flashing lights coming from outside and turned to stare out the window. A small, insolent smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.
"Oh, look. It's the police. I wonder why they're here." Lauren couldn't have missed my insinuation of why the cops were there and who'd called them. I guess they'd finally responded to my noise complaint. Turning my head to face her, I delighted in her fury. Her poor face looked like someone just pissed on her car.
She raised her chin and relaxed her brow. "I promise you will be in tears by next week." Her vengeful whisper crowded the room.
"Leave the key," I called out to her as she left.
