My Love Has Come Along

08

Lauren's initial panic tells her to pack her bags and disappear and never come back, but it only takes a few words from Normani to calm her down.

Ally insists that Camila will come around, but it's been a week with no contact from the girl. Dinah says Camila's been avoiding her on campus and in class, but Lauren kind of expected that. She was the only one out of the loop and Lauren's sure that has to sting.

The picture her mother gave her was in her pocket where she placed it and Lauren's been staring at it constantly. It's been so long since she's seen her family's faces, and she's opened up more to the other girls, telling them about her sister and brother and the trouble they'd get in together.

Lauren just misses Camila, like, a lot. She knows Camila is hurt and probably a little scared, but Lauren just wants to let her girlfriend know how much she means to her.

If they're still girlfriends at all.

Lauren sighs and looks over at Ami, who looks as downtrodden as she feels. He gives her a miserable look, his green eyes reflecting what Lauren's feeling back at her.

The door to the apartment crashes open and Lauren jumps. Camila's standing there, panting like she's just run a marathon and a determined look on her face.

"Look, you're a witch," she snaps.

"Um," Lauren says. "Yeah?"

"And I've spent an entire week with no contact between us," Camila continues, kicking the door shut behind her loudly. Lauren's glad Ally and Normani are out on a date, or they'd surely hear everything happening.

"Do you know why I did that?" Camila demands.

"You were mad at me?" Lauren tries. "I didn't tell you about this big part of my life and it hurt you?"

"No." Camila frowns. "Yes. But mostly, I stayed away to see if my feelings were the same whether I was around you or not."

Lauren feels a little like she's been slapped. "You... thought I cast a spell on you?" She feels pretty hurt by the accusation, but she knows it's probably deserved.

"I don't know!" Camila averts her eyes guiltily. "I just - I've heard a lot of stuff about witches, you know?"

"Yeah," Lauren mutters, a bad taste in her mouth. "I know."

"I mean this is a huge deal!" Camila cries. "And you kept it from me."

Defensiveness rises in Lauren and she gets to her feet. Camila doesn't back down, and Lauren's not sure if that makes her happy or more angry.

"It is a huge deal," she says. "I don't know if you know, but people are still being murdered over this, so forgive me if I wanted to be a little cautious."

"We've been dating for months, Lauren!" Camila shouts. "You're telling me you didn't think about letting me know at any time during our relationship?"

"Of course I thought about it, it's all I thought about!" Lauren's hands fly up. "But it's not that easy, Camila, I had to be sure."

"Be sure of what?"

"That you wouldn't hate me!"

Camila looks stunned by that answer.

Lauren sighs deeply and rubs at her eyes for a few seconds. "Camila, I've lost a lot of people I care about. And the more time went on the more scared I got."

"Scared of what?"

"Scared of losing you," Lauren says bluntly, honestly, and she can see the words hit Camila. "I can't lose you, Camila."