Dance On Our Graves

Chapter 17

Lauren feels like she's fucking six years old again trying to remember all of the etiquettes rules her parents taught her. Yes ma'am, no ma'am, please, thank you, meat forks and salad knives, don't speak unless spoken to, chew with your mouth closed....All these lessons swirl around in her head as she, Emily, and Camila make their way toward the restaurant. Lauren needs a cigarette.

"Why is your hand shaking?" Emily asks Lauren, Emily's hand in hers.

Lauren looks down at her and feels a little calmer seeing her brown eyes looking up at Lauren. She's wearing a dress that Lauren's mom sent her in the mail for her birthday, which is tomorrow. It's yellow with a white ribbon around the middle, ending in a bow that Camila tied. She looks so adorable. So much like Camila. Lauren's eyes dart to Camila who is looking at Lauren sympathetically. Lauren looks back down at Emily and tells her, "I drank too much coffee." Then Lauren goes back to completely losing it internally.

Lauren is so in her head trying to remember what side her water glass goes on that she doesn't realize they have arrived until she's very enthusiastically hugged by Sofia. Pain shoots through Lauren's entire torso and Lauren tries her best not to cringe.

"Oh my god," Sofia gasps after she pulls away and looks at Lauren properly for the first time, "What happened to you?" Lauren can feel Sofia mapping her face with her eyes. Lauren told Camila that they could still see her cuts and bruises under the make-up, but she insisted that she looked fine.

Lauren glance behind Sofia to see Mr. and Mrs. Cabello both staring at her as well. Lauren's face burns with their looks. So Lauren looks to Camila. Camila shoots a glance down at Emily, who is obliviously watching a fountain in the corner of the lobby. Camila makes eye contact with her sister and quietly says, "We'll tell you later."

Sofia narrows her eyes at her sister in thought. Then her eyes get wide and she looks at Lauren, "It was S-H-A-W-N wasn't it?" Sofia's eyes peer down to see if Emily caught her spelling her sperm donor's name. Emily's walking over her to grandpa and hugging him so she's not even paying attention.

Camila nods and presses her finger to her lips. "I'll explain everything later." Her eyes sweep her family making sure that they're all going to let it go for now. Her parents look alarmed and Sofia just stares at Lauren. Lauren has no idea what she's thinking and Lauren's not sure that she wants to.

Mr. Cabello clears his throat, "Shall we?"

Somehow, Lauren ends up at the same end of the table as Camila's mother. Lauren's convinced that the universe hates her. It has to. Luckily, Emily is seated between her and Camila so Lauren has someone to talk to next to her. Lauren and Emily color in the coloring book that Camila brought for her while Lauren actively avoids direct eye contact with Mrs. Cabello.

The dinner is filled mostly with Sofia talking about her competition. It'll take place tomorrow in the late morning. Then she's free to roam until the award ceremony the next day. Something must have happened to loosen Coach Lovato's iron grip on the team because she never let them have a whole afternoon off.

Lauren's having a hard time focusing on the conversations at hand. Every time Emily leans over on Lauren, pain shoot through her abdomen. Plus, Lauren's still on edge, her eyes sweeping the restaurant every few minutes. Especially with all the Cabello's in one place. Not that S-H-A-W-N has any reason to know where Lauren is or that they're here.

"So," Camila's mom looks at Lauren and Lauren clenches her fists under the table. She's trying to have a conversation with Lauren and Lauren panics and prays that she doesn't ask Lauren about her job. Lauren prays hard. "I saw your mother the other day at the mall."

"Oh yeah?" She is not doing very well in starting a conversation. How does Lauren respond to that?

Mrs. Cabello nods, "Yeah." Then she looks from Lauren to her food and then back at the other end of the table.