beyond the monotonous city

thirty

TW: drugs, alcohol

Camila asked her to sleep over at her house the next day.

School couldn't finish sooner as Lauren packed her stuff in a backpack before heading to the other house. Camila greeted her with her wide smile. "Welcome to my humble abode."

She ate dinner with them, only Sinu and Sofi as Alejandro was out of Miami for the week. Sofi seemed to be unfazed especially after Camila's episode. Camila filled her in that Sofi didn't know that she was gravely ill. Lauren wished Sofi would never have to know.

When dinner was over, Camila started to bake some brownies and Lauren helped her. They were just talking about the most shallow things that Lauren appreciated. They ate their brownies in the living room with Sofi as they watched Tangled and Frozen back to back. Lauren looked on as Sofi was lying on Camila as they watched, Camila's arm was around her younger sister, curling in her wavy hair. Lauren smiled and thought that Camila would be a great mom one day, but she immediately wished she never thought of that. Her heart ached then for all the things Camila will never experience, to get married, to have kids and that brought forth a lump in her throat.

She blinked away the tears as she focused on Olaf singing his music number, to the amusement of the youngest Cabello. When the movies were done, it was past eleven. Camila took Sofi by her hand. "C'mon let's get you to bed."

"Carry me Kaki," Sofi said, holding her arms up.

Camila looked at Lauren. She saw the regret in her face. Lauren immediately caught on and scooped up Sofi for Camila. The girl giggled as Lauren brought her to her room. It was pink and had Disney princesses cut outs courtesy of Alejandro probably. She laid Sofi in bed, Camila following behind.

"Looks like I have an assistant around here." Camila joked, looking at Lauren. Camila sat beside Sofi and kissed her goodnight. "Goodnight my little princess. I love you so much."

Lauren smiled at the sight. Camila was a lovely sister, Sofi was really lucky.

Camila turned off the lamp beside her bed and held Lauren's hand as they got out of the room. Camila laid on the bed. Lauren sat beside her. "Hey Camila if you don't mind I'll go to bed now. I take my pills as well to help me sleep. I can't really mess up my sleep schedule."

Camila nodded. "Oh, of course. We can wake up early and just talk then." If Camila was disappointed, she didn't let on. After brushing her teeth, she took right spot on her bed. Lauren took her pills and slept on the other side. She was ready to fall asleep deeply, not expecting to get another nightmare. But she did.

"Are you sure you're not going to the party?" Alex asked as he dropped her off home.

"Yeah I'm studying for my Biology test, for tomorrow. And you know my new rules. No parties." Lauren said as she was about to go inside her house. It was already dark.

"Alright, well I'm going home already. I'll see you tomorrow babe." He went over and kissed her goodbye before going inside his car and speeding off.

Lauren watched until he was gone. She went up to her room and opened her textbook, studying concepts and terms. When two hours passed, she looked at the clock. It was 9pm. She knew the party lasted until after midnight. It was the biggest opening party of the year, Keana and Shaun were going to be there, but she bailed as she wanted to work on being better again and because her mom had banned her. After her friend's confrontation of her and her talk with Alex, she stopped doing bad things to please him and all was well. It was her senior year and she had to make it right and do well, especially since she knew Ivy League schools had their eyes on her.