Lightning (Camren)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lauren stood outside of the Cabello residence, debating whether or not she really wanted to go through with her plan. Inside of the house was Camila's entire family. Camila's mother, who hated her guts, her father, who may or may not hate her too, and her little sister Sofia, who may feel indifferent towards her. But when Lauren realized that this had to be done, she knocked on the door three times and waited for someone's arrival at the door. She waited for about thirty seconds until the door was finally opened, revealing a not too please Mrs. Cabello.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked in disgust.

Lauren sighed and replied, "I think we should talk. Or, I think we should make things civil between us."

"Not a chance." Mrs. Cabello said sternly, beginning to close the door.

Lauren stopped the door with her hand and said back, "Listen, I know we've had our struggles and falling outs, but I think it's best that we make peace for Camila's sake."

"Where is she? Did you come alone?"

Lauren nodded, then explained, "She's in Los Angeles with our friends doing 'The Voice'. I'm not sure if she told you that or not."

Mrs. Cabello sighed and said, "I already knew that she was going, but I just didn't think that it would be so soon."

"I didn't think so either."

"But you're not with her? Didn't you make it on the show too?" She questioned, starting to soften up slightly.

Lauren sighed, remembering the tough decision she had to make, then responded, "I did, yes, but Mr. Holland offered me a new job taking care of someone that I had taken care of previously in my nursing studies."

"Oh, really? You know what Lauren? Come on in. I'm actually quite interested to know what is going on here." She said, holding the door open for Lauren to enter.

Lauren was shocked by the kind gestures that Camila's mom was giving her, since she expected something much worse to have happened. Getting punched in the face was actually Lauren's predicted best case scenario, but that didn't even happen. Her mother offered for Lauren to take a place next to her on the couch, where they decided to continue their conversation. 

Lauren began to explain everything to Camila's mom, "So Camila, our friends, and I all made it onto the show, but I chose to stay back because of the special bond that I have to the person that I'm caring for now. Mr. Holland gave me the choice to take the job or do the show, but I just couldn't turn down this job."

"Who are you going to be caring for? A man? A woman?" She questioned Lauren.

Lauren responded with, "She's a little girl named Annabelle who I cared for during nursing school as an assignment. She, like Camila, is blind, but was recently diagnosed with some type of cancer. Apparently she's super close to beating the cancer, but she just needs someone who can encourage her to do so. That's why Mr. Holland hired me. So you see, that's the reason why I had to stay behind in Miami. It was hard to make the decision that I had to make, but I decided to do what was right instead of something that I just wanted to do. When a little girl's life is at stake, I would do anything just to help her."

"I'm actually upset that I didn't get to know you better before lashing out on you, Lauren. You really are a good person. I'm just kind of... overprotective for lack of a better term." She sighed, then continued, "I hope that you'll accept my offer to start over, Lauren. I've been up over my head lately, and some of the things that I've done are just unforgivable and crazy. And I know that I say that I want only the best for my daughter, but I realize now that what I think is best and what she thinks is best are two completely different things. Could you find it in your heart to possibly forgive me?"

Lauren's jaw dropped at the sound of that, not knowing exactly what to think. It struck her as odd that she would even think about apologizing for what she had done already, but Lauren shook off that thought. Before speaking, Lauren switched her expression from surprised to happy in order to avoid looking stupid any longer.

"Of course I can." Lauren finally answered. "But do you want to hear something great?"

Camila's mother nodded with a look of interest growing on her face.

"Camila had an operation donated to her that could potentially grant her with the ability to see. I saw something on the news a while back that had to do with it, which made me bring it up to people that I was close to. We were both interested in having the operation done on Camila, but we didn't have anyone to donate their eyes to her. But when our friend Dylan passed away, he left us with exactly what we needed to have the surgery go underway." Lauren explained with a wide smile growing across her face.

Mrs. Cabello gasped, holding both hands over her mouth, then put them down to say, "I can't believe it! When will we know if it has been a success or not?"

"In a little less than a week. The odds are that it is going to work, but you never know. This is an operation that has only been being performed for a short time, so the statistics regarding it aren't so accurate yet. However, we're really confident that everything will turn out fine." Lauren answered with a smile.

"This really is unbelievable, Lauren! I'm so excited for her to finally see the world and be able to do all of the things that she's ever dreamed of. Camila really does deserve everything for what she has suffered for her whole life." She said with a smile that grew with each second. "But these friends of yours that she's with? Are they going to be able to take care of her? Put a mother's heart at ease by telling me that they can."

Lauren let out a small giggle and replied, "Of course! We've been living with them for a little while, so they should know exactly what to do. I put all of my trust into those four being with each other."

"Good, I feel a lot better now. But I'm going to miss her a lot." She sighed, putting her head in her hands. "How would you like to meet Camila's sister? Her father is working, so you might not meet him today, but Sofia is here. Unless you're on a time limit, that is."

"I have some time." Lauren said with a smile.

Mrs. Cabello instructed Lauren to follow her, and Lauren did as she was told. Lauren followed her down a hallway to a door that had Sofia's name printed on the door in pink lettering. Once the door was open, it revealed a cute, little girl playing with toys in the center of the room. Lauren noticed an obvious resemblance between the siblings, which made her smile. Anyone who had the luck to look anything like Camila was a very lucky person indeed. 

"Sofia, I have someone here that I want you to meet. This is Lauren Jauregui, and she's a very special person to Camila." Mrs. Cabello said to the little girl sitting in front of them. 

Sofia got up from her place on the floor and ran over to Lauren and her mother with an extremely excited look on her face. 

"Is she Camila's girlfriend?" She asked her mom in a singsong voice.

Mrs. Cabello sighed and answered, "Yes, she is. As much as I still kind of hate to admit it."

"Are they going to get married?" Sofia continued to bombard her mother with crazy questions.

"I don't think so. That would just be absurd." 

Sofia frowned and replied, "But aren't two people in love supposed to get married?"

"Only if they're meant to be, Sofia."

Lauren's heart sank at the sound of Camila's mother's answer. The whole point of her visit was to convince her that she was good enough for her daughter, even though Lauren went into the house expecting the exact opposite of just that. It was the fact that she came so close to being good enough, that it hurt more to hear that she would never receive an approval from her mother. But what did Lauren expect? It was Camila's mother after all.