After pegging it out of the Hernandez's front door, Camila had escaped to her next nearest safe haven- Dinah's house. She had been greeted at the door by the Polynesian's ever-buoyant mother and immediately pulled into a tight hug. The Hansen's had always been ones to opt for physical affection- skipping over regular formalities.
Camila had often been jealous of her friend's family's palpable closeness, especially during the aftermath of her disastrous coming out. Her father had practically ignored her existence and even her mother had felt distant. The brunette always had her little sister on her side and she was eternally grateful for Sofi's unwavering support but there's only so much succour a grade school kid can give. Since the atmosphere at home was tense and unpleasant, Camila had spent a great deal of time at her friends' houses. She had developed a soft spot for Dinah's household, the constant friendly raucous of the golden-haired girls numerous younger siblings provided a natural, tension free ambience which contrasted so dearly to the aura back at home.
Once released by Dinah's mother, Milika, the shaken up Latina was ushered up the stairs to her friends bedroom.
Dinah had been watching an episode of 90210 when her mother practically barged her way into her room with Camila in tow. At first she was mildly aggravated that she had been interrupted but on seeing her friends red, tearstained cheeks all feelings of annoyance dispersed and she jumped up to pull her into her arms.
The honey-colour-haired teenager had brought Camila over to sit on the side of her bed as Milika had made her silent exit, knowing the evidently distraught girl was in the best hands possible.
Dinah didn't ask any questions, she just gently rocked the girl in her arms back and forth hoping the motion would be somewhat comforting. The slightly older girl had started to cry again and heavy sobs were wracking through her body, making the whole bed shake slightly below them.
Eventually Camila started to calm down. Her cries became increasingly more sparse and she managed to retell the events of the afternoon to the Polynesian. The Latina started at the point where she'd turned up at the Hernandez's house looking for Ally and ended when she'd apologised for kissing Lauren and raced out of the house.
Dinah was confused to say the least, why had Lauren been comforting her best friend in the first place? What had happened beforehand? Was Camila okay? In her opinion there was certainly more to the story than Camila had let on. Surely she couldn't be this perturbed over a simple kiss? Yes, she understood that the girl felt guilty for 'taking advantage of Lauren when her judgement's probably clouded by grief' (Camila's words not hers) and overwhelmed that she'd given away her first kiss just like that but in her mind that didn't add together to create the overwrought Camila she'd been comforting minutes prior. Camila had been more upset than Dinah had ever seen her and the two had known each other for longer than they could remember. There had to be something more, something else must have happened and that made Dinah feel fairly inept as a friend. Camila was her best friend, she confided in her about everything and anything. She thought the brunette trusted her to the same extent but apparently that wasn't the case and that hurt Dinah a lot. She prided herself on being a solid, reliable friend, it was one of her most self-valued qualities and the fact that Camila didn't see her that way sent a dagger into her heart.
Despite feeling considerably put down and upset, Dinah graciously offered up half of her bed to the Latina and pressed play on the episode of 90210 that had been previously interrupted.
A few blocks down Lauren had given up looking for the runaway brunette. She had scoured the area around her cousins' house from top to bottom but hadn't stumbled across any luck. The chocolate-eyed-girl was no where to be seen. Admittedly, Lauren hadn't ventured too far from the house but she didn't know the area well and didn't want to risk getting lost or wandering into some dangerous neighbourhood and into trouble.
