A Slow Dance With Reality

I Love You

Tuesday.

The day of Taylor's funeral.

The day Lauren would never see her sister again. The final farewell. The last goodbye. Hello's ended last Christmas. Hello's ended the year Taylor got everything she asked for and Lauren got a few books. Her mother claimed she didn't have the money, but judging from Taylor's new bike, she did.

Jealousy.

Lauren was still jealous and it was her sister's funeral. She was disgusting. She was horrible. How could she be jealous at a time like this? How could she be thinking about such petty things? She should be grateful to be alive, grateful that she wasn't dead. Funerals were a time to think back on the dead with joy. With happy thoughts, but Lauren was still jealous. Lauren didn't know her sister. Lauren didn't have memories to look back on with a smile.

They had competitions to look at. They had fights and arguments and hurtful words. They didn't share a bond. And now they never would.

And even with that thought Lauren still couldn't cry.

Why couldn't she cry?

What was wrong with her?

Her phone pinged, and with a dropping heart Lauren read the name on the front.

[Camila Cabello:]
Where are you?

That was all Lauren needed to feel her entire body run colder than it ever had before. Camila was in trouble, she could feel it. The students had taken advantage of Lauren not being there and now Camila was paying for it.

Lauren didn't excuse herself, she didn't say goodbye to her family, the worst was over. Taylor was in the ground. Piles of dirt were over her coffin, what was the point in sticking around to mourn in silence with family you hadn't seen in years when Camila was in trouble?

The car sped down the streets of Lima as Lauren rushed left, then right, and ran a red only to nearly miss getting hit. She didn't care. Her mind repeated Camila's name, repeated all the awful things Lauren had done to her, and repeated that flash of white as Camila smiled at her while handing her the tea.

Her mother's car pulled up to McKinley high and Lauren was quick to log in at the front and find Camila Cabello. It was time for Glee, in fact it was smack dab in the middle when Lauren rushed through the doors only to find Camila checking her phone, Austin by her side, Dinah and Normani eyeing her oddly, and the rest just staring confused.

"Lauren, I didn't think you were in school today."

"Are you okay?" Camila's eyes met Lauren's and she nodded slowly.

"Fine as always. Are you?"

Lauren sighed, let her shoulders sag, and sat on the other side of Camila, ignoring the rest of the world as she resisted herself the comfort of Camila's shoulder. She was okay.

She was okay. For today.

For today Camila was okay, but Lauren wasn't taking any more chances. Her phone pinged, her mother's name coming up on the screen and the same message Camila had sent on her screen. However Lauren ignored this one and instead sat in Glee and listened as she caught her breath. This was where she was supposed to be. Next to Camila, keeping her safe. Protecting the girl she knew she could, not standing around as everyone talks about good memories.

Lauren didn't have anymore good memories, she couldn't think of a single one.

And then she did.

Her favorite memory.

Camila's beaming smile. That was Lauren's favorite memory. It was her best memory, and she'd make sure to never forget it.

She loved that smile. That perfect smile with perfect teeth. Teeth of her savior.

Camila Cabello was only sixteen and already she'd saved someone's life. She saved Lauren's life who had dedicated her own to save Camila's. An odd twist for Camila to add to her biography when she wrote it.

But for now, it was just the two sharing seats next to each other and sitting in silence. For now it was history with hello's, glee with check ups, lunch with Camila tending to Lauren, and then the school day ended. And Lauren went home that much closer to feeling okay.

But the night had other plans. In the brief moment of Lauren catching a sliver of peace and shut eye, she had a nightmare. Different from the one with Camila blaming her but somehow still the same.

In Camila's place was Taylor, asking why she wasn't trying. Asking what she did wrong. What she did to hurt Lauren so horribly. And then she hung herself. Right before Lauren. Right before her very eyes. Every night Lauren now woke up screaming. She still couldn't cry. No matter how badly it hurt, now matter how hard she clenched at her chest, it still hurt. The blame, the guilt, the fear, the memory. It all hurt to a degree that made it almost not worth it.

But then those teeth came into view. Those teeth that made it worth it. Such an odd thing for Lauren to think of but Camila had a beautiful smile, and it was all because of her teeth. Shiny white, and perfectly straight. Beautiful. Camila was beautiful, and now Lauren had a new mission.

Proving it to her.