Teach Me How To Love // Camren

Chapter 8

Camila's pov:

I wake up feeling more tired than usual, which makes sense. I look over at the clock, it reads 06:00. I know I shouldn't be stressing about Lauren, but I can't help it. My mind is filled with worry. I'm worried about her health, is she eating enough? Can I stop her from self-harming? And how am I going to keep her father away from her?

 All of these issues kept me awake, and now today is going to be more difficult than I hoped for.    I go to the bathroom and start getting ready for the day. Brushing my hair while pretending to be some sort of a superstar, then putting on some light makeup.

I enter the kitchen and instantly decide that I am going to make some breakfast for Lauren, the only problem is that I have no idea what she likes. What if I make something she hates? I don't want to upset her, I know she has had a lot to deal with lately. 

After ten minutes of standing around talking to myself like some fool, I decide on making some ham & cheese toast. That can't go wrong right? It's simple yet tasteful. I make a mental note to myself to figure out what Lauren likes, so I can make her feel more at home, even though this is technically not her home. 

All of this thinking is starting to give me a huge headache, so I go to wake Lauren up. I wanted to give her the breakfast to eat in the bed, since she must be tired. However, since I am a stupid ass, I go into the room without knocking. As I enter I am faced with the nude backside of Lauren, and I manage to drop the plate I am holding. The noise of broken plates rings through the room, Lauren turns around and the room goes hot. She looks at me for a few seconds, before she looks down at herself and screams. I quickly grab a nearby blanked and wrap her tightly in it. 

"I'm so sorry, I should have knocked. Please don't be embarrassed." I practically beg. She looks at me and I can see her eyes soften. She grabs her clothes and goes into the bathroom without saying a word. I mentally slap myself and start cleaning the mess I made. Camila Cabello, please stop fucking up, sincerely, Camila. 

Lauren's pov:

I knew I should have locked the door, then I wouldn't have shown my birthday suit to Camila. Ugh, I hate myself. I hate her. No I don't. 

I admire her, I respect her, I might have a small crush on her, but she intimidates me. I don't normally listen to people, I am the schools badass after all. I was a bit confused when I felt my own body betray me when she was giving me commands. "Get dressed, Lauren. Or I'll do it for you." I could feel the hair at the back of my neck rising, this was something I have never felt before.  I can't say I didn't like though, but it isn't very likely to happen again, she only did it so I wouldn't be sick.

I get dressed and decide to head downstairs, hoping Camila didn't bother making me another toast. I'm not really hungry, I do however want a smoke. Maybe she smokes? I can ask her about it. "Ms C, do you smoke yo?" No, I can't really ask her that can I? 

I'll rather just search trough her house like some weirdo, that's way better. I sigh at my own stupidity, before I exit the bathroom and make my way downstairs.

My prayers have not been answered. I fake a smile as I am met with yet another plate of ham & cheese toast. It's not that I don't appreciate her efforts, I just have a bad relationship with food. 

"You must be starving." Camila looks over at me with concerned eyes, and I nod. I'm not lying, I am starving, but I haven't had a bite yet and I'm already feeling guilty. I sigh and decide to just ignore my own thoughts and eat the damn toast. I sit down and start eating, and in the corner of my vision I can see Camila smiling at me. At least somebody is happy I'm eating, and I can't lie, this tastes really good, even though it's just a simple toast.

Breakfast is soon over and my guilt is even bigger now, I feel trapped. I excuse myself and head for the bathroom, I don't want to do this but I feel like I have no choice. Why are you so weak, Lauren? Why can't you just ignore your own fucking thoughts?

"Lauren, are you okay?" Camila is outside the bathroom, I realise I must have spaced out and failed to reply when she was knocking. "I'm fine. Just need to use the bathroom that's all." I hope she'll just leave me be, so I can do what I need to do. However, I have no such luck.

"Please open the door, Lauren." I hear Camila beg from the outside. I ignore her and I sit down on the floor.  "No." I am surprised at how strong my voice sounds, I suddenly feel really powerful. The feeling doesn't last long.

"Open this door now." Camila says punctuating each word. I gulp and I can feel the hair on the back of my neck rising.

I get up from the floor and open the door. I am met with the worrying face of Camila. Before I can say anything Camila hugs me and I start sobbing. I expect Camila to say something, anything really, but she doesn't. She just holds me, and I'm thankful. Maybe Camila isn't all that bad after all.

After a few minutes she lets me go, and leads me to the living room where we sit down onto the couch. She looks at me and I know she's going ask me something, and suddenly I feel terrified.

"Lauren, talk to me. I can't help you if you don't." She says looking at me with her warm brown eyes, they seem so inviting, so calm and so loving.

"I don't need your help." I answer bluntly causing the older girl to frown. She just shakes her head and gets up heading for the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" I say fear evident in my voice.

"I'm calling the hospital, you did run away and I could get in serious trouble from keeping you here. It doesn't seem like it will do you any good either." She says matter of factly.

I need to think quickly. I don't want to go back to the hospital or my dad, so I have to talk to Camila, I just have to.

"Fine." I say groaning.

"Fine?" 

"I'll talk to you." 

"Good." She comes back to the couch and I mentally prepare myself for all the questions that are about to spill out of Camila's mouth. However I wasn't expecting the question she asked.

"Do you want to live with me for the rest of the school year?"