Dance On Our Graves

Chapter 2

Trigger Warning: Drugs
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The feeling that Lauren have while walking to the club is unfamiliar. Usually, she feel...well she feel nothing. She don't typically care what goes on around her. She's pretty much in her own personal shit storm for the most part.

Tonight though...she feel something. Some kind of purpose. She's not going out with the girls after work tonight because she have things to do. She's not just worried about herself anymore. She's thinking about buying a couple new blankets because the insulation in her apartment sucks and she don't want Camila or Emily to get cold. She's thinking about going to the grocery store for the first time in months because they need to eat. Lauren know it's not permanent, but right now it's pleasant feelings. Having purpose instead of just existing.

Lauren pause outside the door of the club and pull out her baggy. Renewed sense of purpose or not, she's fucking tired. She dig in her wallet and extract a credit card. After dipping it onto the bag she bring the powdered covered corner to her nose.

Fuck that burns every time, but it only takes a second to work. She felt the immediate burst of energy. Then she drop the baggy back into her bag and wipe off her nose. Off to work.

Work was mindless and super easy. Her take for the night was smaller than normal, but that didn't matter. She don't typically buy a whole lot of things and she stay in her shithole apartment because it's cheap and she really don't spend a whole lot of time in it anyway. So her bank account is rather substantial. She don't have a car and her only non-apartment expense is her phone. She buy her parents things occasionally, but not enough to make a dent.

Lauren stop by the drug store and grab some breakfast things. Eggs, milk, orange juice, bacon and bread as well as the largest electric blanket she could find. It's almost four by the time she get back so she try to be as quiet as possible. She's right about it getting cold in her apartment. She silently put the grocery bag in the refrigerator and then open the electric blanket. From the light of the perpetually lit business building across the street, coming through the cheap blinds of the apartment window, Lauren can see Emily sound asleep between Camila in the wall, two blankets on top of her as well as one of her jackets from the closet. Camila on the other hand is curled up in a ball next to the edge of the bed. She's wearing a pair of Lauren's sweat pants and a t-shirt. Lauren resist the urge to touch her just to see how cold she is. Instead she plug in the blanket and drape it over both of them.

A smile flickers on the corner of Lauren's lips. She don't know how and she don't know why, but she's glad that Camila's back. Even if it's just for a week. Instead of the constant hollow ache in her chest, there's a warmth filling the void. She may not be hers anymore, but she's not going to let anything happen to her. She promised her that soon after they first met and she's going to stick to it.

Exhaustion starts to take Lauren over so she kick off her boots and lay on the couch. She lay on the couch and close her eyes for a moment before sitting back up. She didn't trip when she walked over to the couch, which is not something that usually happens. Then she look around and find that her apartment is clean. All the dirty clothes are in the hamper and the kitchen counter is wiped down. All the empty beverage bottles are in the trash and all the dirty dishes are done. Her cigarettes aren't on the coffee table, but a quick sweep of the room and she find them on top of the refrigerator. That's probably so the kid doesn't get into them. Lauren grab her gym bag and put it on top of the refrigerator as well. There's nothing in there the kid needs either.

Finally she lay back down, curl into the back of the couch and drift off to sleep.

When Lauren wake up, she smell breakfast. She's also substantially warmer than she were a few hours ago. And when she move to roll onto her back she find out why. The electric blanket is on her now. After a stretch and a roll of her neck, she roll onto her back. The first person she see is Emily. She's sitting on the coffee table on the opposite end of the TV, watching some kind of kid's show. When she sees Lauren, she smiles and says good morning before turning back to her show.