Exposed || Camren

Chapter Fourteen: Lightning

After Camila had found out that her father had left, and then admitted it to Lauren, she felt a lot more free with herself. She had thought originally that finding out about her father would make her depressed, but she wasn't. She felt better knowing than constantly living in a life of mystery. But, it still hurt her to know that her father was so against her. That she was just living a lie for most of her life. 

While Camila was hurting, it wasn't because of what her father had done, or because of the lies her mother continuously told her. It was because even after what Camila had told Lauren, the latter was still negative towards her. She knew that it would be hard to get on Lauren's good side again, because she kept fucking up and saying things she shouldn't be saying, and harassing Lauren when Lauren shouldn't've been harassed. But all Camila wanted was a chance to prove that she was good on the inside, just broken on the outside. 

Camila sighed softly, sitting in her room with nothing to do. She badly wanted to call Lauren up, to see if they could meet up for another meeting for the paper. But, Lauren had already finished the paper, and there was nothing more that could really be done. Camila hated that there was nothing else to do. She had no excuse to be with Lauren anymore. Well, more like Lauren no longer had a reason to see Camila anymore. 

The brown-eyed girl always wondered how life would continue on after Lauren. Camila wondered a lot about life. Not only about her friendship with Lauren, but how things would go down after graduation. She would always try to imagine what it would be like to finally feel like she didn't need a man in her life. She wondered what it would be like to finally refuse going to a beauty pageant. She tried to think of how she'd come out to everyone, and who she would actually keep in her life afterwards. But, Camila couldn't really get past Lauren that Saturday night. 

The bleep of a message suddenly came up on Camila's computer, making her perk up. She checked the message, smiling when she saw it was from Lauren. She thanked God for a moment before opening it, smiling wider when Lauren talked about meeting up sometime soon. While Camila knew her mother would kill her, she wanted to sneak out and go meet up with Lauren at that very moment. While it wasn't a school night, it was still midnight, and the only time Camila was allowed out that late was when it was prom, which was just a week away. 

'Would you like to meet up with me sometime? We need to talk xx'

Camila blushed hotly at the x's, then typed a response, saying, 'We could meet up now, if you so wish.' Camila looked at the message a couple of times before sending a couple of x's with it. When she got a reply, asking if she was sure she wanted to risk it, Camila sent a 'hell yeah' and started to get ready to sneak out of her bedroom window. 

Just twenty minutes later, Camila was at the Grove, a smile on her face when she saw Lauren with a flashlight, waiting for her at the entrance. She walked over, smiling wider. "Hey," she breathed before looking over at the entrance. "What's up?" 

"Nothing, really. I just want to talk. I, um. I kind of miss you, Camz," Lauren admitted, her voice cracking a little. 

Camila frowned. "Are you crying?" she asked, grabbing the flashlight and shining it on Lauren's face. 

Lauren scrunched up her face, then snatched the flashlight back. "No, perra. Jeez. I'm just a bit sick," she said, her voice still croaky.

Camila winced. "Sorry. I was just worried," she murmured, looking away. She jumped when Lauren suddenly shoved a flashlight underneath her nose. She took it. 

"As long as you don't shine it in my face, you'll be fine," Lauren said, making Camila giggle softly. 

The two girls shone the flashlights on the ground, walking for a minute into the Grove, trying to find the spot they usually met up at in the dark. When they found the area, Camila let out a soft breath of relief. "I love going here. I don't know about you. It's just nice. It's like...our spot, you know?" she asked.