A Simple Folded Paper

32

Almost a week later, Lauren woke up to a ringing phone that Saturday morning. Rolling over on the bed to grab the phone that disturbed her sleep, she noticed that Camila was nowhere in sight. Once Lauren reached it, she realized that it was not her own that was ringing, it was Camila's. She got out of bed and went downstairs in search of her girlfriend, who she found curled up in a ball on the couch watching TV. 

"Hey,", Lauren greeted after she plopped down on the couch next to Camila, "your phone was ringing.", she said, handing the device to the other girl.

Whoever was calling, had ended the call a few seconds before. "It's unknown, I'll just wait until they call again.", Camila said, cuddling up to Lauren's torso and kissing the girl's cheek. "Good morning", she greeted, distributing kisses along Lauren's neck, collarbone, and shoulder.

Lauren already knew that in the mornings Camila tended to be a little bit lovey touchy but she didn't mind a bit, so she leaned her head a little to the opposite side of Camila to give her some more room to work with but Lauren was not able to enjoy it for long. Camila's phone was ringing again. Dammit.

"Hello?", Camila said into the phone, the greeting coming out a little muffled by Lauren's neck. "Yes, it's me.", suddenly, Camila was on her feet and Lauren was looking at her with wide eyes. "Yes, thank you so much, bye.".

As Camila was hanging up, Lauren promptly asked, "What's wrong?".

"It's very much the opposite of wrong, Lauren, my dad just woke up!", Camila basically screamed, dragging Lauren out of the front door before they could do or say anything else. Although her phone stayed behind, Lauren was able to grab her keys or else they would be locked out for the rest of the weekend. Lauren had not seen her dad the entire week, but he had left a note saying that he had a business trip to make during the whole weekend and Hannah was at a friend's house.

Lauren could see the excitement in Camila's face, moves, and way to talk. Although Lauren was extremely happy with the news, she knew that when people wake up from comas, they may have suffered internal damages and it was never good to have high hopes in this situations. But how could she tell that to Camila if she was so happy? How could Lauren be a good girlfriend if she ruined Camila's happiness based on a possibility? She couldn't, she thought, so she kept her mouth shut and drove to the hospital.

Camila was so excited babbling about how happy she was, that she didn't even realize when they arrived at the hospital. Only when Lauren parked the car and told her that they were there, was when Camila realized it and got out of the car, running to the elevator. She couldn't express how happy and excited she was. Finally, something good happened and at least one parent she had back.

"Camila!", she heard Lauren shout behind her. Camila stopped in her tracks and turned back, Lauren was running in her direction and when they were both side by side, Camila apologized for having run and they both made their journey to the so-well-known floor where Camila's parents were staying.

Not even bothering with asking at the reception, the two girls entered the room and were met with two doctors and Camila's grandparents. Her dad was awake, the oxygen mask was not covering the lower part if his face anymore but he looked tired and sick. Camila shrugged it off, not wanting to give importance to that details.

"Dad!", she said, running to his bed. She engulfed the man in an awkward hug, due to him being laid down.

"Hey kiddo", he greeted, patting her daughter's back.

"I missed you, dad."

Lauren heard Camila's voice shaking and knew instantly that she was about to cry. Lauren wanted to approach her girlfriend and comfort her, but she also didn't want to interrupt the family moment.

"I, hm, I'm going to wait outside.", Lauren said.

Nobody seemed to hear her, so Lauren slipped out of the room not even bothering to not make much noise since nobody in the room acknowledged her presence anyway. Lauren understood perfectly well Camila's reaction, but Lauren was selfish in the way of feeling left out with the situation. Of course she knew that it was normal Camila be too entranced with her father being 'back', but to the point to not even acknowledge her presence or absence? Lauren was a bit hurt but tried to convince herself that it was perfectly normal and that Camila wasn't making it on purpose while she sat in the waiting room.

Without her phone to distract her, Lauren found herself bored to death. She was only sat there for half an hour, but those walls seemed to be mocking her at that point and Lauren decided to see if her own girlfriend did, in fact, acknowledged her absence after all.

Lauren knocked on the room's door and opened it, but stopped in her tracks when she saw that all eyes were on her, including her girlfriend's.

"Hey, I'm glad you're back. We were just talking about you.", Camila said with a smile and Lauren noticed that everyone in the room was smiling as well.

"So, you're the famous Lauren.", Camila's dad said, laughing. "Don't stay at the door, come in."

Lauren entered the room, closing the door behind her. She approached the bed and sat down next to Camila. "Nice to meet you, sir.", she said, extending her hand for the man to shake.

The man laughed but shook her hand nevertheless. "I believe we met already."

Lauren just nodded, she didn't know what else to say. But Camila knew. "I was telling me how you, Hannah and your dad welcomed me in your family and how my staying was."

"Thank you for taking care of my little girl.", the man said.

"It was my pleasure, sir."

"Please, don't call me 'sir', that makes me feel old."

The conversation went from that. Camila's grandparents eventually excused themselves and left and Lauren stayed with her girlfriend and her dad, the man telling old stories about Camila that earned laughs from everyone except for Camila herself, who pouted and faked being sad and upset every time something embarrassing about her was brought up. Lauren told stories herself about Camila that happened during the time they were together, not earning an awkward look about their relationship from Camila's dad. It looked like what Camila told was true, he was actually really supportive of them and seemed pleased to meet her daughter's girlfriend.

Eventually, the 2 girls left around lunch time. Camila's father had to do some exams during the whole afternoon and there was no point in staying there waiting. Lauren noticed a few glances that Camila gave to the bed on the other side of the room, the bed where her mother still was in a coma. Lauren found herself thinking about whether or not the woman would have the same happy ending as her husband.

"Your dad is really cool.", Lauren shared with Camila when they both got home and were making lunch.

"Yeah, I regret not being so connected with him as I should", Camila said with a drop of sadness in her voice.

"Don't battle yourself with that babe, just make sure you spend quality time with him and value it from now on."

And Lauren didn't even know how much she would regret saying that.

~

A/N: So, I haven't posted in two days cuz I'm a lazy ass who spent her whole weekend watching videos instead of being studying. I'll probably not update daily for the next two weeks, this girl has a big test in a few days and exams the two weeks after. After that, I'm all yours ;)

I decided to share my incredible music taste with y'all, so I decided to have a "song of the day" type of thing on the end of every chapter. Today's song is Alcoholics by Skizzy Mars. Enjoy.

Also, tell me camren fanfics to read cuz I'm outta options here.

Enjoy your life at the fullest cuz we ain't gonna live forever, kids.