A Simple Folded Paper

25

The rest of the day passed with the same amount of tears and silence of that morning. They stayed cuddled up on the couch watching cartoons all afternoon, with Lauren occasionally trying to convince Camila in eating something. Lauren had warned her dad about the situation and it was him that drove Hannah to school that morning, but Lauren was in charge of picking her up later.

Camila fell asleep a couple of minutes before Lauren had to pick up Hannah, so she decided to let the girl rest. An added vantage of leaving Camila sleeping was that Lauren could explain to Hannah everything that had happened and warn her the mood Camila was in and that they couldn't play together that day.

When that eventually happened, the child became sad, not because they couldn't play together but because Camila was sad and there were people in the hospital. Lauren felt proud, at least her parents had educated Hannah decently.

When they got home, Camila was awake and was talking to someone on the phone. When Hannah saw her, the child ran to her and hugged her awkwardly, but Camila soon took care of accommodating the little girl on her arms. She mouthed a 'thank you' and continued the conversation with the person on the other side of the line.

Lauren called the kid from the kitchen, telling her to go there in order to eat something. The older sister prepared the younger a sandwich and handed it over, which the child promptly accepted.

A couple of minutes later, Camila was entering the kitchen as well. Lauren noticed how red her cheeks were, how swollen her eyes seemed to be and how her girlfriend was a sad mess. She thought about hugging her in a form of comfort, but Camila beat her to it and hugged her torso tightly before Lauren could even process what was happening.

Lauren said nothing, she just hugged her girlfriend and rubbed her back, until Camila said something that got out muffled by Lauren's shirt and she had to separate them a bit in order to hear what it was.

"I said that it was my grandmother on the phone, my uncles' funerals are tomorrow and she called to let me know the time and place.", Camila repeated.

"Are you going?", Lauren asked. She knew how Camila didn't like them very much, but she also knew that 'family was family' and that Camila followed that motto too.

"I guess."

"Do you want too?"

Camila hugged Lauren again - tight, as always. "I don't want to, I mean, who the hell wants to go to a funeral? But I think I should go, so I'm going."

"Then I'm going with you if you don't mind."

"Me too!", they heard Hannah basically scream, hugging their legs.

Lauren broke the hug she and Camila were sharing and crouched down to talk to her sister. "Do you know what a funeral is, sweets?".

"Yes, mommy told me last year when Kim died.", the child said as if it was a common thing.

Lauren flinched a bit at the mention of her sister's death but tried not to show it in front of Hannah. "Alright. But why do you want to go to this one? You didn't even know Camila's uncles, Han."

"Because you told me last year one thing that I liked and even wrote it in my journal!", Hannah said excitedly and ran out of the kitchen. Lauren and Camila looked at each other in confusion and seconds after, Hannah was entering the kitchen, running, with a princess' journal in hand. She sat at one of the chairs and opened her journal, searching for the page she wanted. When she finally found it, she cleared her voice as if she was announcing something. "You said 'Instead of mourning their death, celebrate their life.' and I like to celebrate!".

Lauren and Camila both laughed, but Lauren soon realized that her sister didn't seem to know what a 'funeral' was after all. "Sweets, a funeral is not the place to be happy. Yes, it's a celebration of life, but it's a sad thing, okay?".

"Okay. But I still want to go, please!", the child pleaded, pouting and looking at both girls in front of her.

Lauren and Camila looked at each other and, with a nod, Camila told Lauren that it was okay for her sister to join them. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading Hannah's journal who engaged in a playful fight with her older sister when this one read something embarrassing that she was not supposed to. Camila felt at peace, relaxed. For the first time since she heard the news, she was not thinking about the worst. Of course, her parents' condition was still very present in her thoughts, but the two sisters managed to take her mind off of it for a while. If it wasn't for them, she would probably be crying and depressing 24/7 in her room, in a house where she would be alone since her parents were not there to comfort her.

Lauren was just as glad for her sister's presence as Camila was. The kid was always the entertaining one in the family and it was impossible to not laugh when you were around her. Although Lauren told Camila that she needed to be sad and that that was okay, she felt that Camila needed a break, and cartoons and playfully dramatic representations of Hannah's journal entries were the distraction that she provided Camila with.

She just couldn't imagine how Camila would be if they weren't together. It's not that Lauren was bragging for being 'good to Camila', it was just that if they were not even friends at all, Camila would be alone dealing with all of this. Lauren was just happy to be there for Camila when she needed because she knew that Camila would be there for her if it was needed.

But of course, Lauren needed Camila every day - and so, the girl was there every day. Lauren was still amazed by how her life had changed in a couple of days. Camila was now her girlfriend. The same girl that she met 3 years prior, the same girl that she crushed on for more than a year, the same girl that had been leaving cute little folded paper in her locker for some weeks, was her girlfriend. Not even in her dreams, Lauren would have nailed it in how great it was to kiss Camila, or just hug her or hold her hand, nor how cute Camila was sleeping, even with the light snoring and drooling.

She knew Camila liked her back, but Lauren was still scared. She was scared of getting out of this situation with a broken heart or getting out of this situation at all. She knew they would eventually fight, be angry with one another, that they would cry and be hurt. But the good moments Lauren knew that they would have would compensate all the bad ones. Bad things would come to try and tear them both apart, but Camila was worth the fight against all of it.

~

A/N: So, Down comes out tonight, or at 5 in the freaking morning for me, SO LET'S ALL REMAIN CALM. Pff, sure...

Anyyyywayyyy, that thing that Lauren said to Hannah about funerals is actually a quote from Eminem. 

Celebrate life everyday, because someday you won't be able to do it.