lost // camren

3

"Why do we have to go to these things? There are no other kids my age there and it isn't fun for me," Lauren whined to Todd as he struggled with fixing his black tie correctly.

"We go to these things because I am forced too," he answered, sighing in frustration as he failed once again to knot it correctly. "I wouldn't go if I didn't have to, L. You know that."

Lauren didn't have a smart response for that, so she simply resorted to smoothing down her black dress. She dreaded being dragged to these important events that Todd had to go to to 'keep his image up', as he described it, but she had no choice. She wasn't old enough as a nine-year-old to stay home alone, but that wasn't the only reason Todd never let her out of his sight if he could help it.

It was December 19th, and in six days, Lauren would be given the most important gifts that she could ever receive in her life: journals written by her father that tell their story, from the beginning. But she had no knowledge of that, and she was getting antsy and even more curious about her parents, going as far as to sift through a lot of Todd's old things he left in the attic upstairs. Todd was getting worried that she would snoop a little too hard, and find something she really didn't need to. If only she could just curb her curiosity for six short days.

That was one of the reasons Todd didn't want to hire a babysitter to watch Lauren while he went to these events. She could literally sit up in the attic and go through anything she wanted without the worry of Todd randomly checking in on her and finding her doing something rebellious. He had never explicitly told Lauren to never go through the things in the attic, because that would only cause her desire to do it and turn it into a raging need to look into it, but he had discouraged her to do it, on multiple occasions.

"You look wonderful, L," Todd brought Lauren out of her thoughts.

"Thank you," she nodded, running her hands over the fabric of her dress yet again, a habit, she assumed. "Same to you, if you could just get that tie on the first couple tries."

He stuck her tongue out at her as she laughed and turned, ready to get this party over with.

Ten minutes later, they had apparated right outside the venue, along with several other witches and wizards all coming to the same old, boring event. Todd took a deep breath, letting the fake, wide smile slide over his lips that he would present to almost every patron he would talk to tonight. He squeezed Lauren's hand as she surveyed the area, hoping and wishing with all her might that in some miracle, another kid her age would appear.

Lauren was out of luck, it seemed. They were an hour into the party, which didn't feel like a party at all to Lauren. Plus, there wasn't even any bouncy castles or fun games set out. Todd had left her to her own devices at the table where her card had been placed, which also happened to be the only card at the table. She sighed, fiddling with the napkin that had been arranged on her plate in a weird swan-looking shape. Nothing sounded better to her than ditching this whole party, but she didn't want Todd to worry and basically set out a search party for her, which he totally would.

"I've been looking everywhere for another person my age, thank Merlin," an unfamiliar, female voice suddenly snapped her out of her actions of wallowing in her own self-pity. She jumped in her seat and spun around to locate the voice. What she turned to was not at all what she expected.

The mysterious girl in front of her was one of the prettiest humans Lauren had ever laid eyes on. That was saying a lot, especially when Todd's friends came over to listen to quidditch matches on the radio, or for a simple dinner.

Her long, light brown hair fell in slight curls and almost swallowed her small frame for how long they fell down her back, stopping only at around the base of her spine. She was wearing a white dress that fell down to her knees, showing off how much of a stick figure she was, and boy was she a stick. Her eyes were a completely different story. They were a mixture between a light chocolate brown and then a coffee with three creamers in them kind of brown, sparkling with what seemed like untold stories and so many secrets.