Growing Love - Camren

Chapter 12

"It's just that..." she slightly giggled again but I could tell there was something fake about it, "I should be used to this kind of stuff by now," she said quietly but loud enough for my brain to hear and go off.

Lauren's POV

I slowly slid my hands back around her waist and onto her knees, releasing her from my grip. I was looking directly at her now, probably confusion and worry covering my face. She wasn't looking back, instead her hands seem to take her interest.

"What do you mean? Used to what kind of stuff, Camila?" I asked her just wanting her to look up at me so I could decipher my answer just by looking at her eyes. She started playing with her fingers in her lap and occasionally looked to the ground in front of her, eyes roaming it's surface as if it held the answer.

"I-It's nothing... just family stuff," she said still concentrating on the floor and her fists bunched together. But my head wouldn't stop creating all these questions and wonders about what she meant. What kind of family would cause her pain? Now I was starting to get angry, a drastic change in mood from just seconds ago.

"What kind of family stuff? Were they not treating you the right way?"

Silence. Longer silence this time too.

Her breath was now cracking as she continued, "No, it's just, well... my dad. He had some problems."

The second I heard where this was going I slowly took my hands off her knees, needing more closeness. So I carefully placed them over her fidgeting fingers. The second my warm hands wrapped around her cold ones, her hand motions stopped and she looked into my eyes. Hers looked a lot darker than before, mostly because of the dark lighting of the room.

Tears began brimming in her eyes and her lip was shaky. As it seemed she can look straight through me, I took her attention away from my own widening pupils and smiled. It was a soft smile, a sorrowful smile, but a warm one. She seemed to now take her eyes off mine and stared at my lips. She began to form a small smile as well now, just by taking in mine.

I could tell she gained courage now, so she went on. "My dad... he was weak. He didn't think so but I know now, he was weak. When I was growing up he was an okay guy, always working and getting things done, business came before anything is what I believed was his motto. Me and my little sister, Sofi, didn't mind that he was gone too much since he was usually a bit drunk when around." I could hear her swallow hard as if that isn't the bad part to focus on.

"It was my mom... my mom. She was the one who cared for us. Since my dad was always working, he made enough so she could stay at home and be our full-time mom. She would take us to the park near our street when we were young, bring us to our favorite ice cream shop in town when we felt sad, and one time my sister and I wrote a song for her and performed it on her birthday. She loved it and said it was her favorite present, but not to tell dad that. She was kind, thoughtful, loving, everything you couldn't possibly hate about a person... but then it stopped," she said as her head hung lower. Her fingers started to fidget beneath mine so I softly ran my thumb along the side of her palms to silently tell her 'it's okay'. She just looked back down, now concentrating on our almost interlocked hands.

"One day we were headed to my stupid dance competition, all of us, my mom, sister and I. Well not everyone, but the ones I cared about. Then out of nowhere a truck swerved straight into our lane and smashed right into the front of our car. I-It was so scary. The only thing I could remember after that was waking up in the most obnoxiously white room I've ever seen. I was so overwhelmed and all I could think of was what had just happened. They told me I was beat up quite a bit in the accident, but will be fine. Apparently they didn't know the definition of fine. Later I found out everyone else would fine too, again, that wasn't what happened. Once we all got sent home, my dad made up this story of why he couldn't visit any of us in the hospital, that work wouldn't allow him any time to leave. We let it slide, because it was expected to be completely honest, but I didn't know it would hurt a lot more after about a month. My mom... " she paused to unsuccessfully pull herself together.