Confessions Of A Teenage Party Animal (Editing.)

18 - Insufficient Evidence

Camille's POV

I felt the sunlight on my eyelids and yawned as I opened my eyes. I was a little surprised to see the car, but then quickly remembered that I had run away two weeks before Thanksgiving, quite irresponsible of me. I clicked my tongue and looked over at Lana in the driver's seat.

Lana looked more relaxed when he was sleeping; his features didn't have that unapproachable glare that he seemingly carved into his face. The sun hit Lana's face, but it didn't seem to bother him. "Why are you staring? Creep," he said. I felt my face turning red and quickly looked out of the passenger window. "What type of person doesn't open their eyes when they're awake?" I mumbled, looking for a defense on why I was staring. "This guy," he said, pointing at himself.

I scoffed, but it wasn't a true annoyance. Lana kept his eyes closed for a few more seconds before opening them. "Good morning," he said. I smiled and replied, "Good morning."

We drove for about an hour, talking about random topics.

I shook my head at "Pasta?" and "Bagels?" But nodded at "Egg sandwich?" Lana sighed, "It's not like we're in the middle of nowhere or anything." I laughed, "I'm sorry, but next time, ask someone else to run away with you!" Lana smiled, "But I chose you for a reason." I smiled back, "Sap." Lana rolled his eyes and continued driving.

We stayed quiet for a bit until my mouth started moving on its own. "Lana, I genuinely think that this has been one of my best years," I said as I put my feet on his dashboard. Lana stayed quiet. "I owe it to you. Everything has been better with you, from the second you walked into the coffee shop drunk, to the Disney trip and to here, New York," I said, noticing the road sign that said 'Welcome to New York.'

"Well, it's about to get a lot better," Lana smiled. "I was having a moment!" I laughed, but he just rolled his eyes. It was quite sunny in November. I hugged my jacket a bit closer to my body. It was colder here, in the city of dreams. I guess it doesn't snow in Florida for a reason.

"And Cam?" I turned my face away from the window, "Yes?" I asked. "There is no way this hasn't been my best year ever." I smiled, and he smiled back.

We drove quietly, not appreciating the city scenes, but more each other's company. Until we both got hungry and stopped at a 7-Eleven

I sat in the car while Lana went to get us some food from a 7-Eleven. I always imagined New York to be amazing, but now that I was here, seeing it in real time, I knew why it was called the city that never sleeps. How can anyone sleep when they have a place like this all around them? It's impossible.

Suddenly, the driver's door opened. "It's pretty cold, nothing like home." I smiled at his words and grabbed a bag of cashews from the pile of snacks Lana had bought. "We don't even have proper jackets," I said, hastily opening the bag. We stayed in that parking lot for a bit. The day seemed to be running very quickly; it felt like only a few minutes ago, the sun had risen,n, and it was setting like it wasn't betraying us by robbing us of the last sunlight of the day.

"My mom is probably fuming..." I laughed quietly, shattering the oddly comforting silence. Lana looked at me and smiled, "You love your mom a lot." He stated, not leaving any room for argument, "I guess I do."

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I sat on the hood of Lana's car as we watched the city in silence, it was quite sunny for a November day, New York felt or maybe was words colder than anywhere in Florida including St.Valleys, I didn't know how to take it all in, New York City looked like it could've gone on forever, especially when looking at it from such a high point, you couldn't have declared where any of the known buildings were, not even The Empire State building, but it wasn't overwhelming not in the slightest, all because I had someone to share it all with.

I heard a sigh leave Lana, and I turned my head to glance at him, "I feel like I owe you an apology or at least an explanation." I wanted to scream at him for breaking the Holy Ground that being the silence, which was so much more than comfortable silence.

"No, you don't owe me anything." I said as I put my hands into my hoodie pockets, starting to feel the cold, Lana stared at me for a bit like he was trying to decode my words, "I need to tell you, I promised." and for a moment, my mind flashed to July.

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"Camille." I turned to look at Lana with tears in my eyes; he hugged me; it was almost too fast to comprehend, "I get you, I understand, and one day I'll tell you why I get you, but not today."

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"You did," I said. Finally; Lana looked at me again; his eyes were brown, just brown; I wasn't going to call them honey-colored because they weren't; his eyes were so dark, I knew they didn't look lighter in the sunlight, and I loved it. "So now I will." Feelings flooded me, but the most prominent might've been admiration.

He then cleared his throat like he was about to tell something important, it was, "I'll be honest it all started on Halloween, 4 years ago," I nodded to show I was paying attention, "If I'm being honest I was being a brat, a fucking idiot, moping over not getting good candies and losing the costume contest. I was at my aunt's house since back then, and I still had a good relationship with Jena, my cousin." I wanted to laugh, but I didn't want to sound insensitive,

"my older cousin...Waylon walked downstairs from his room and started talking to me, and well, of course, 12, year old I did not think I should be worried about, fuck, I shouldn't have needed to be worried about my fucking cousin." Lana looked down at the city. "He listened to me rambling about having the worst Halloween ever, and then, oh my god..." He started to look sick like he was about to tell me something horrendous.

"He offered to trade the candies I didn't like for ones I did. I agreed because he was Waylon; the oldest of my cousins and the coolest person I knew." Lana stopped and laughed like he thought the next part was just so funny. He couldn't resist laughing early, "I ate it, it was laced, I fell unconscious when I woke up my costume had been thrown on the floor and I realized I was wearing one of Waylon's sweaters, I don't think I immediately realized what had happened but something in my brain did, I just felt it, and then it happened again, but this time I was awake, and it was at the rink since he worked there part-time." Every time Lana paused, I felt like when he continued, it would get worse.

"I didn't go out of my room for weeks; I couldn't; I felt so disgusting and horrible; it was all too much. Waylon didn't do it again when he realized I was being extra careful around him; a few months passed... I don't remember anything too clearly, it was happening so fast, but this is what happened; Waylon was caught having sex with an underage girl, or he claims it was consensual, I was happy, I thought; Now he'll finally get what he deserves," He stopped and glanced at me.

"until the police found out I was one of his victims, I hated that, I had to sit in a cold interrogation room while answering things I didn't want to, digging up things, I thought I had forgotten, It was horrible, but I wasn't the only one, there was so many of them, I remember it was just kid after kid, some older than me some younger, all at the station waiting for our round of questions. Waylon was 23. He had 48 victims, all under 17 years of age. He only got three years of jail, on the grounds of insufficient proof, 48 victims, 39 of us gave testimonies, and the judge dismissed it on the grounds of insufficient fucking evidence." Lana's voice broke on insufficient, and I couldn't stand it; I hated seeing him like this; it was horrible; I wanted to find Waylon and scream at him, ask him why he couldn't have kept his sick and twisted fantasies to himself.

"So, you blame yourself?" Lana didn't look at me but smiled, "A little." He mumbled picking at the thread of his jeans, "Don't." I said and tried to sound reassuring.

Lana smiled still not looking at me but he did seem at least a bit happier, "thanks, Camille."

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a/n: ew shitty ass chapter💀