Temporary {Camren}

Chapter 56

Now on any ordinary Saturday, Camila and Lauren would be making breakfast together, singing whatever terrible love songs popped into their heads, and debating what cliché films they would watch on the couch for the majority of the day. But today wasn't an ordinary Saturday, today they were sat in the cold, damp, and dark hospital, because it was 1am, and now, Lauren had cancer. "You're burning up Lauren." "I know." "Let me get you a cold flannel." "I'm fine." Lauren swatted the nurse's hand away stubbornly. "She's trying to help you babe, you're not fine." Camila sighed. As if Lauren would admit that. As if Lauren would admit the truth. The truth was, Lauren was shivering uncontrollably, her already pale face was a sickly, ghostly pale, her eyes were bloodshot and heavy, and there was a consistent ringing in her ears, along with a recently everlasting throbbing in her skull. "I got here as fast as I could!" Lauren groaned. "Camila!" Lauren shouted in shock, and dismay, possibly even anger, making the throbbing in her head worse. "Yeah?" The Cuban winced. "You called my fucking mom?" "I had to Lauren. You would do the same if it were me." Camila said, admittedly not feeling any regret over her decision. "Dinah's here, Camila's here. They'll take care of me Mom, it's late, please go home." "No Lauren. It's my job to look after you. I'm your mother, and I'm staying put." Lauren sighed exasperatedly and laid her sweaty forehead against the palms of her hands in her lap, leaning forward in the uncomfortable plastic chair. "Where even is Dinah?" "Getting this one some water." Camila said, pointing lazily over to Lauren. She was tired too. "Hey! Nurse, why is my daughter not in a bed yet??" Clara shouted. "Mom, stop it please." Lauren whined, both from the embarrassment and the pain in her head. "I'm sorry ma'am. But you must understand we do have other patients." The obviously gay male nurse pointed out unnecessarily sassily. "I bet all your patients don't have cancer." Lauren's impatient mother hissed loudly, loud enough to stop all the chatter in Urgent Cases, even some nurses had turned in their direction. "Mom!" "Clara, maybe you should go home." Dinah said, appearing from down the corridor and handing lauren some water, kneeling in front of her best friend. "Sorry it took so long, the one near here ran out so I had to go to like, the other side of the hospital." Lauren sipped the cold water gladly before gagging. The male nurse a scrambled to find the girl the classic cardboard bucket for vomiting in, but it was too late. The contents of Lauren's stomach were splattered on the floor, but mostly on Dinah. Dinah bit down on her tongue harshly but sucked it up. This was not about her, or the new set of pyjamas she bought yesterday with Normani, this was about Lauren. The girl who was currently very sick, very sick on her. "D-Dinah I'm so sorry." Lauren whimpered, voice wavering as she started to cry with remorse. "No it's okay Lauren, I promise." Dinah cooed, dabbing and wiping at her clothes with the blue paper towels Clara and Camila were handing her. "Let me find you a gown and some bowls, in case this happens again. Hopefully not on your friend again." The nurse said awkwardly. "Yeah how does it feel to be wrong!" Clara shouted after him. "Oh my god." Lauren scoffed weakly. "I'm gonna take Clara home-" "God, please." Lauren begged. "Dinah-" The woman protested. "Clara, Lauren needs some quiet and I swear, Camila and I can deal with this. We will deal with this. We promise to update you and Papa J on any news." Clara took a deep breath and looked at her eldest daughter. "It's not that I don't love you Mom," lauren sniffled. "I do, you know I do. But I just can't, I can't handle this hysteria right now." Clara stopped and listened to her daughter for once, a slow nod following as her words sunk in. "Alright. You two look after her, make sure she's alright." Camila nodded. "You know we will." "I swear Mama J." Dinah said, hand on heart, well, hand on damp vomit. "I love you Lauren, take care." "Love you too Mom." "Goodnight." Camila and Dinah said together as Clara padded her fluffy, awkward slippers down the white hallway leading to the darkness of the night. Lauren groaned quietly, head between her knees as she tried to ease the nausea. "Here's some more buckets and a gown, one for you too in exchange for your clothes." The nurse said, looking at Dinah. "Thanks." She smiled awkwardly. "I'll try find a doctor available and a bed for you.." "Lauren." Camila filled in the gap. "Lauren." The nurse smiled apologetically. "Thanks." Lauren whispered weakly. "Come with me to the bathroom babe, we can both change." Dinah said, holding her hand out for Lauren to take. "I'm so dizzy Di, and I feel sick." Lauren sniffled. "Shh I know, I'll be right here in case you get unsteady. I'll bring a bucket if you feel like you're gonna vomit again." "I'll stay and wait for more news on the doctor and the bed." Camila said sleepily. "You need some caffeine." Dinah said light heartedly, but Lauren uncontrollably gagged at the word and Dinah thrust a bucket below her chin which the vomit thankfully landed in as opposed to her front. "Come on Lauren." She sighed sadly. Lauren leant into her side as Dinah half carried the girl's weight to the toilets, a stench of disinfectant entering their noses as they walked in, and vomit exiting Lauren's stomach at the same time. "I'm so sorry I was sick on you." Lauren apologised again. "It's fine Lauren, this gown is actually more comfy than you think." Dinah lied, it definitely wasn't as comfy as her new pyjamas. And the butt gap didn't make it too appealing either. At least she still had her underwear on, nevertheless, it wasn't appealing. She would never care to understand why the mysterious butt gap existed. "Do you need any help changing?" The normal, sassy, and certainly snappy Lauren would bitch at the idea, add a small insult for good measure and go on with a 'I can change myself thank you very much'. But this cancer ridden Lauren was weak, tired, shaky and sick, so this Lauren slowly nodded and held tightly onto her best friend's arm for support while she helped change her. If normal Lauren was going through this, she would be incredibly embarrassed, despite the fact it was her best friend, because she was a very independent person, who admittedly had some trouble seeking out help when needed. But tonight, she didn't care, not one bit. When she had finished changing, Dinah was about to open the door, but Lauren leant into her body and began to cry weakly. She was scared, she was upset, and she just wanted her best friend to tell her it was going to be okay. Dinah wrapped her warm, long arms around her and kissed the top of her sweaty disgusting forehead, not caring in the slightest. "I love you Dinah, I don't tell you enough but I do. I really do, I promise." Lauren rambled, Dinah simply shushed her and rubbed her even sweatier neck to soothe her, cringing uncontrollably at the awful slipperiness and wetness. "I love you too Laur." Dinah mumbled, staring off into the distance. "Am I going to be okay?" Lauren whispered, it was rare for Lauren to get scared. She was usually very brave. She was brave when she broke her arm in seventh grade, she was brave when her parents nearly got divorced after her mom was suffering from paranoia and thought her father was somehow cheating on her; something he would never do, she was brave when her little sister Taylor was nearly hit by a Mercedes Benz so the slightly older girl stood in the way to protect her, she could still remember the number plate, she was brave when her brother accidentally set fire to the stove making dinner and they were the only two people home, be it only four years ago, she was brave when she was raped to protect her best friend. She was brave when she first found out she had cancer, but maybe she wasn't quite taking it in then. She still wasn't sure. All she knew, is that she wasn't being brave now, and she hated herself for it. Dinah didn't know if lauren was going to be okay, but she had to be brave. In some cases, lying is the best option, in any other scenario, Dinah certainly wouldn't advocate lying. But lying and possible false hope are differing things, right? "Of course you will." Their heartfelt moment ended when Camila knocked announcing her presence and opened the door. "Sorry, they've found you a bed babe." Lauren nodded and went to move. "Just give us a second." Dinah interrupted. Camila nodded. "I'll just wait outside for a minute so I can lead the way." Lauren smiled softly as the door slowly creeped shut, as some hospital doors did, for some reason. "I just wanna clean you up a little, you're sweating a lot." Dinah giggled. Lauren smiled slightly at Dinah's laugh. For whatever reason, it always humoured her, even in the worst of moods. Dinah was like that, a ray of sarcastic sunlight on a stormy night. Which was what this was. A stormy, Saturday night. When the two girls emerged from the bathroom Camila looked at her wife attentively and worriedly, despite how clearly exhausted she was. Camila had bags under her eyes and they were very slowly slipping shut every few seconds. But Camila refused to sleep until she knew Lauren would be okay. Lauren had told Camila to go home and go to sleep when Dinah arrived, but Camila responded with 'No fucking way in hell Jauregui' every time she tried to insist. "Camila wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled lauren into her body. "I love you." She mumbled against her now dry and less salty tasting temple. "I love you more." Lauren whispered, closing her eyes as they walked, trusting Camila completely to guide her safely to wherever her current hospital bed was. "A doctor will be with you at some point." A new female, older looking nurse with a tired expression and was the typical thick skinned snappy old lady. But Dinah liked a challenge and bit back. "When?" Dinah said fiercely. "Whenever he can make it." The nurse hissed back. "Please, my wife is sick as hell, she's got leukaemia. She needs a doctor now. Take a look at her and tell me she can wait another hour!" Camila said, her tired temper increasing with every word and every glance she stole at her wife. "Damn Chancho." Dinah whispered to herself. The woman seemed to back down and nodded idly. "Alright. I'll fetch one now after I deal with this bedpan." Lauren scrunched up her nose, gagging into the bowl but nothing seemed to come up, for now at least. "Ew, TMI." Camila cringed. "Do you think he'll be long?" Dinah asked when lauren closed her eyes, falling asleep after an average of ten more minutes waiting, at least she was in a bed. Camila sighed. "Do you think she'll have long?" Dinah froze, looking at lauren now, sweating and shaking, shivering and vomiting, pale and hollow, the way she talked, not just croaky, sad, and defeated. Camila and Dinah noticed in her sleep how her breathing was getting slower. Dinah's eyes pooled with tears and she choked up. "I-I don't know." Camila squeezed her eyes shut, and took Lauren's hand in her own. She rested the side of her face on Lauren's stomach as she dragged her chair closer to the bed. "I love her so much Dinah. She can't leave me." She croaked, her voice shaking terribly. "I promised her she'd be okay, she has to be." Dinah crumbled. But all Lauren could see was darkness, pure blackness, and her body seemed to be getting slower, the sounds seemed to be getting softer, the light seemed to be getting closer. Would she be?