Broken, Honest, Beautiful

Close Call

"Are you okay?" "What do you think Lauren, you're on top of me." Camila coughed, having the wind knocked out of her body. "Well sorry for saving your ass from getting hit by a dickhead in a car." Camila just kissed her cheek and smiled. "Thank you Lauren." "Now see? That wasn't so hard, was it?" "No, can you get up now?" Lauren lifted herself off of Camila and helped her up. "Oh shit!" Camila held onto Lauren when she nearly fell. "Are you okay Camz?" "I hit my head on the sidewalk. I'm dizzy." Camila blinked a few times, trying to steady herself. "We'd better get you checked out." "But Laurennn.." "Ah! No. Hospital, Cabello. No arguments." Camila whined and followed Lauren to the car. "She should be fine, it's just a little bump on the head." The doctor said as he washed his hands. "See? I told you." "Yeah yeah, well I'm so sorry for being a responsible adult." Lauren teased. "I think just to be on the safe side you should take her home to rest." He said to Lauren who nodded. "But I want food!" Camila groaned. "I'll pick us up a McDonald's on the way home, don't be stroppy." Lauren said, at the mention of the fast food Camila shut up before Lauren took the offer back. "I'd like to check you out too." "Oh no I'm fine-" "For my own peace of mind." The doctor interrupted. Camila leaned in with a smirk. "For his own peace of mind.." "Shut up." Lauren growled. "I'm satisfied with you both, something clearly broke your fall." The doctor said in regards to Lauren. "Yeah, me." Camila scoffed. "Be quiet or no fries for you." Camila zipped her mouth shut and Lauren smiled. "Good, with all due respect, can we leave now?" "Of course girls, and have a nice day." "Thank you." Camila smiled as they hopped off the bed. "Oh I'm sorry, just one more thing." The girls turned around. "My daughter is a big fan of Fifth Harmony, could I get your autographs Camren?" Lauren took a breath and Camila shook her head slightly to say let it go. "Sure." Camila agreed for them both. "Okay. Here you go, tell your daughter we say hi." "Could I just record a quick video?" Camila nodded and Lauren smiled. "Her name is Elisha." He said with a warm voice, you could tell he thought the world of his daughter just by the tone of his voice. "Elisha, hi Elisha!" Lauren waved. "Hi cutie, I hope you're doing good and I hope we get to meet you one day." Camila blew a kiss at the camera. "We love you, thanks for the support baby!" Lauren pouted and blew a kiss before they waved goodbye and then the man stopped recording them. "Thank you so much for this girls, she'll love it, I can't wait to show her." Camila giggled. "Aw. You're welcome doctor." "C'mon Camz." Lauren tugged the girl outside. Camila's eyes widened as she was jolted out of the room. "Lauren!" Camila huffed, pulling her arm out of the girl's grasp as they walked out of the hospital. Camila studied Lauren for a moment and frowned. "Are you okay Lo?" "Fine. Just get in the car." Lauren grumbled, getting in the driver's seat. Camila got in without a word and they made their ways to a McDonald's drive through. "Hi girls." Alejandro greeted them both when they got inside. "Hey Mr Cabello, I was just leaving." Camila turned around to face Lauren in shock. "You were?" Lauren nodded. "See you later." Camila frowned worriedly. "I'll call you?" "Sure, oh, and Camila hit her head earlier on, so yeah, just keep an eye on her." Lauren mumbled, and with that she was gone. "You hit your head?" Sinu asked worriedly. "Lauren pushed me out of the way of a car, but we went to the hospital mama I'm fine." Camila said, swatting her hands away from her head. "Yay!! Mila brought food!" Sofi shouted excitedly and grabbed the girl's fries, running away with them. Camila groaned, looking at the door, then her parents, and then where her little sister had disappeared. "Shit." She muttered under her breath. "Mind your language mija." Sinu half scolded and half sighed as she went to the kitchen to finish her coffee. "Uh, sorry Mama. Papa, I know what the doctor said but can I please go and see Lauren?" "Maybe later Karla, get some rest first and I'll drop you off in an hour or so, but if you fall asleep I won't wake you up." Camila chewed on her lip in thought. "Okay." She relented begrudgingly. She just had to refrain from the latter, heck, not falling asleep wouldn't be so hard, right? About that, Camila was wrong. She did fall asleep for 2 hours, but she still had time to go to Lauren's house and check on her. "Papa!" Camila called out, grabbing her green jacket on the way out her room. "Papa!" Camila repeated, louder this time. "Karla what is it?" "Drive me to Lauren's! You said you would." Camila whined. "Ask nicely mija." Her mother said seriously. "Papa, please will you drive me to Lauren's house?" "That's better. Get in the car." "I wanna come!" Sofi shouted excitedly. "No Sofia, it's your bedtime now." Alejandro said in a gentle voice. "But-but I wanna see Lauren!" "You can see her soon Sof, I promise." Camila smiled and kissed her cheek, causing her little sister to giggle. "Tell Lauren hi, Kaki!" Sofi said as she ran upstairs. "I will!" Camila shouted back before she and her father made the journey to Lauren's house. "Are you staying over, or am I waiting for you?" Camila looked at the door and decided the Jauregui's wouldn't turn her away. Especially in this level of darkness. "I'll call you if I can't stay. I'll text if I can." Camila said with a smile. "Okay, have fun princesa." Alejandro kissed his daughter's cheek and Camila smiled. "Bye, goodnight." "Tell Lauren I said hello." "M'kay." Camila said before she shut the car door and rang the doorbell twice. A small groan was heard before the door opened. "Oh, hello Camila, it's nice to see you and all, but what brings you here at this time of night?" Mike asked curiously, holding back a tired yawn. "I just, I just wanted to check on Lauren..she was acting strange earlier and left after we had agreed to hang out today." "She's in her room Camila, go on up sweetie." Camila heard Clara call out from inside. Camila smiled at the sweet nickname. "Thank you Mrs Jauregui." "How many times? Call me Clara honey." "You can stay over if you like Camila, make yourself at home." Mike smiled. "Thank you." Camila said before she climbed the stairs up to her friend's room. "Lauren?" Nothing. "Lo, are you in here?" Camila decided on just opening the door and as it turned out, Lauren was on the floor drawing with her earphones in. "Lauren!" Lauren jumped and turned her head to see Camila at the door. "Oh shit, I didn't know anyone was-sorry Camila." "It's fine Laur, I'm sorry for scaring you." Camila chuckled breathlessly. "It doesn't matter, why're you here?" "You left pretty quick earlier, I wanted to see you were okay." Camila said standing in the doorway. "You can sit down, just shut the door." Camila shut the door and sat down next to Lauren. "Whatcha doin' there?" Camila asked with a smile as she admired Lauren's drawing of a dragonfly. "Drawing, wanna join me?" Lauren asked, holding out a pencil with a warm smile. "Sure." Camila giggled. "What's that Camz?" Lauren asked as she took her eyes off the dragonfly she was adding detail to. "It's a unicorn..I think." "You think?" Lauren laughed. "Well it was, but I kinda screwed up the legs and now it looks like a kangaroo, elephant thing." "It's not that bad.." Lauren said, a small smile playing on her lips, threatening to give away her temptation to laugh. "Just say it, it's terrible." Camila deadpanned. "What-no, I mean..okay yeah, fine, it's pretty bad." Lauren laughed. "Teach me!" Camila whined. "How to draw?" "Yes!" "You're serious?" "What do you think?" Camila asked sarcastically. "Uh, alright give me that." Camila handed her the pencil to help and she immediately regretted it. "Wha-Lauren, hey! Quit rubbing out my drawing!" "Shh, shut up and watch me." Camila huffed and watched her friend in awe. The way her eyebrows creased as she concentrated, the way she stuck her tongue out as she angled the paper. "There, look, I've created an outline." Camila turned her attention to the paper and nodded. "How'd you do that?" Lauren visibly deflated. "What? You weren't watching?" Camila sucked in her breath. "Uh, no, not exactly." "You know what, if you're not going to pay attention to me then I'm not going to bother." Camila whined and tugged on her arm. "Nooo, wait Lauren please. I was watching you." "Exactly. Me, not the paper." Lauren said stiffly, tugging her arm away and putting away her art supplies in a drawer. "Hey, listen Laur, you've been in a strange mood all day, are you okay?" Lauren's face crumpled up and she stopped in her tracks, doing nothing at all. "Lauren?" Camila said, a gentler, sweet, comforting tone soothed Lauren into letting free her tears. "Hey, shh, no, come here, it's okay." Camila guided a sobbing Lauren into her arms. Camila stroked her hair and sighed to herself. She knew this would happen. It's why she came in the first place, for whatever reason, she expected a small breakdown. "You know you can talk to me, don't you baby?" Camila mumbled against her neck. Lauren fisted her top and nuzzled into her neck. Camila just stood there, holding her without a word to break the silence. Lauren didn't need anything but to be held. "I love you Lo, more than you believe." "More than I deserve." Lauren whispered against her neck. "Don't say that." Camila gulped, a tear escaping at her words. "C-Camzi." Lauren whimpered in such a broken voice Camila's heart clenched. "Don't..I'm here Lolo." she squeezed her best friend in the hug. "I'm right here, don't you worry." Suddenly they heard a phone ring. Camila grabbed her friend's phone and looked at the screen name. "Dinah's calling." "Which one?" Lauren sniffed. "FaceTime.." Camila said and watched Lauren as she ran to the bathroom to clean herself up as best she could. "Lo do I answer it?" "Yeah!" Lauren rasped out uneasily. "Hi Dinah." "Chancho! Are you with Lauren? It's late." "Uh yeah." "Where is she? Is she okay?" "Uh, fine, I think." Camila muttered, checking for the girl as she spoke. "Camila, what happened? Tell me." Dinah said seriously. "Uhm, I think Lauren's-" "Dinah!" Lauren said, overly cheerful. "Yay! Hi baby!" Dinah smiled, but she didn't dispute that she looked like she had been crying, Dinah could see behind the washed face and the newly applied makeup. Who wears make up at 11pm? "Did you have a good day?" Lauren asked excitedly. "I'll give you two some space, I'll go-" "Camz you can sleep over. Get in my bed-" "Kinky. Remember your girl is on the phone, Jauregui." Camila teased. "Shut up and go to bed." Lauren pushed her out the way. "Night Cheechee!" "Night Mila!" "Is she gone?" Dinah asked and Lauren nodded. "Yeah, why?" "Good. Tell me why you've been crying." "I ha-" "Don't lie to me Lauren." "I gotta go." Lauren said simply. "No Lauren-" "Goodnight Dinah-" "Don't hang-" Lauren exhaled with relief when the call cut off. She thought she was home free until Camila handed her her phone and Dinah was on the screen. "Here Laur. Dinah said you lost connection." Lauren growled and hung up on the girl a second time. Camila's jaw dropped and she stared at Lauren for a second and then decided on just locking her phone. "Why'd you do that?" Lauren was about to come up with an excuse but suddenly there was scratching at the door. "What's that?" Camila asked. "Midnight. Open it. I still need to walk him." Camila opened the door and giggled when the Labrador jumped up at her feet. "Hey buddy." "He misses you guys." Lauren giggled when the puppy crawled onto Lauren's lap and licked all over her face. "Shall we walk him together?" Camila asked. "Mhm, I'll grab his bags and the lead." "I'll wait downstairs." Camila said, she then took the opportunity to call Dinah while Lauren was busy. "Mila!" "Dinah, I gotta be real quick and quiet." Camila whispered. "Okay whatever. Now what the fuck is wrong with Lauren?" Dinah asked worriedly. "She's having a bad day." "How can I help?" "Okay listen I know this sounds stupid and crazy, but is there any way you can get here?" Camila asked, nervously checking the stairs - no Lauren just yet. "It's not that long until we go back on tour." Dinah said hesitantly. "Dinah she needs you." "I'd love to Mila but I can't afford a ticket." "Shit I'll pay then, you look for the next flight and send me the link." "You'd do that?" "Apparently." Camila grumbled. "You're a star Chancho." "Yeah yeah, oh Lauren's coming. Text me the link, love you!" She said and hung up hurriedly. "Who was that?" Lauren asked as she and Midnight came down the stairs, the puppy was practically bouncing. "No one." Camila said as normally as she could. "Whatevs." Lauren mumbled with hurt evident in her voice. Couldn't she just tell her the truth? "Ugh Lauren come on, don't be like that-" "No it's fine, it's not my business is it." Lauren dismissed as she opened the door. "I want happy Lauren." Camila huffed as they walked down the street. "Well too bad, she's not here!" Lauren shouted so loud the puppy whined. "Sorry boy." Lauren bent down and stroked his ears apologetically. "What's the matter with you? We're back on tour next week, I don't get it." Camila sighed. "Yeah well, I don't either." Lauren muttered as they continued the walk. "Why is it so hard to talk to somebody Lauren?" "It's not, I talk to Dinah." "You hung up on her, twice." Lauren groaned. "Well sometimes I don't want to talk." "Clearly." Camila scoffed. "Look, people are really trying to help you, why can't you see that? Don't you even want to? People care Lauren, people believe in you. What about your family? They're worried too you know." "You think I want that?!" "I don't think that Lauren but the support is there, you're just too wrapped up in yourself to notice, or care, I don't know what's going on in your head anymore. No one does." "Fuck you Camila." Lauren hissed, pushing her back. "Yeah? Fuck you too! Pull yourself together Lauren. If you keep this shit up people will start to give up on you." "Like you?" Camila shook her head and put her hands on both her shoulders. "Like hell." Lauren exhaled shakily. "Camila I'm seriously losing it." Camila could see Lauren's tears in her eyes in the moonlight, the puppy whining and pawing at Lauren's legs sadly. "I'm scared Camz." Camila wrapped her arms around her neck and sighed, whispering "Me too."