One Wish (Camren) (G!P)

Chapter 28.

Lauren's POV

I once read that love was a force of nature. 

However, as much as we want to, we can't command, demand, or take love away even if we wanted to. It would be as if asking to command the moon and the stars and the wind and the rain to come and go according to our whims.

Love is bigger than you I am.

You can invite love, but you cannot dictate how, when, and where love expresses itself. You can choose to surrender to love, or not, but in the end love strikes like lightening, unpredictable and irrefutable. You can even find yourself loving people you don't like at all. Love does not come with conditions, stipulations, addenda, or codes. Like the sun, love radiates independently of our fears and desires.

Love is inherently free. It cannot be bought, sold, or traded. You cannot make someone love you, nor can you prevent it, for any amount of money. Love cannot be imprisoned nor can it be legislated. Love is not a substance, not a commodity, nor even a marketable power source. Love has no territory, no borders, no quantifiable mass or energy output.

I had come to learn that no matter how egocentric I felt about pouring my love out to the girl of my dreams, I could never keep her from loving me back. For years I thought that if I led her into loving me, I'd only cause and inflict pain on her for the rest of her years.

All my life, I hated myself for letting her go but I treasured the fact that she was away from a monster like me. I longed to give up my powers for a single day if I could, so I'd come face to face with her again and tell her I loved her in that stupid caged up room.

It didn't matter where or how I told her--but I longed to tell her. To express my affection for her even if it were to come from a single smile.

And just hearing her blurt the words out for me so confidently...it just-- it almost changed me. It made me feel...Happy.

"Happy", was a relative term for me. Happy was something that elevated the spirit, lifted one from the mire of whatever was normal. Happy was over six years ago when I was told I made someone proud. Happy was when I was told that despite what others said, I made others happy too. Happy was when I was let out for ten minutes out of my room to take a deep breath of common air.

But, this?

I was beyond happy. Beyond cheerful, untroubled, delighted, blithful. Beyond any other synonym that could replace the common word into one of meaning and expression. This was just completely different.

I grip onto the log underneath me, steadying myself onto the rough patch of wood before I lost any of my balance. I placed a hand over my chest as if my heart were to burst into nothing but ashes, as if I couldn't breath for a whole eternity.

My eyes were wide and blurred with unexplained tears as I stared into her exquisite brown ones, feeling my body flow with the effect she gave me of a simple smile...not to mention the shocking revelation that was just mentioned just now.

Camila offers a hesitant hand and I feel my lips quirk into a smile, her lips trembling as she fights to hold back the tears she'd been holding for long enough. I don't hold back as I spring off the log, almost knocking her off her feet as I wrap my arms around her, burying my face into her vanilla scented neck.

"Do you really mean it?" I whisper into the soft skin of her neck, smiling wide when she nods frantically only a split second after I ask. I pull away and grab both her shoulders, looking deep into her honest eyes; trying to find any doubt or regret but finding none.

"Yes, Lauren." Camila wipes her tear stained cheek and smiles, chanting over and over, "I love you, Lauren. I love you."

"Oh my god," I laugh joyfully, picking her small frame from the dirt beneath her and wrapping my arms around her waist, spinning the laughing girl in circles.