HMU

one hundred nineteen

"Hey, babe. What'd you wanna talk about?"

"Just, uh... I've... I've been keeping something from you.. about my past."

"Oh god.. you haven't killed anyone, have you?"

"I—"

"Oh gosh, you have... that's okay, I'll keep it a secret. I can be your alibi if they ever find you and try to take you away, I—"

"Lauren! I didn't kill anyone, jesus."

"Yeah, I know. You couldn't hurt a fly. I was just messing with you. But what's up?"

"It's about my past relationships. One has kind of come back to haunt me, and... well... I know it's taken me awhile to bring it up in the first place, but I didn't know how to tell you, and I wasn't entirely ready to talk about it either..."

"It's okay, Camzi. You know you can tell me anything."

"..." (sniffles) "...God, I thought t-telling you this over the phone would be easier..."

"Take your time, baby. It's okay."

"Okay." (pauses... shuffling as she moves the phone away to wipe her eyes) "You know the partner I told you about? The one I hate?"

"Yeah..."

"Her name is Ariana, and she's.. she's my ex-girlfriend. We dated back in high school and into my first year of college, and things were going great. She was really sweet, and always did little things for me, and sometimes she played me songs... she seemed like the perfect girlfriend."

"...What did she do to you, Camila?"

"I'll get to that part, I promise... Anyway, things were going wonderfully until she started acting really weird. She didn't want to go out on certain nights and we never went to specific places, and she always brought me gifts to apologize but it always seemed like there was something else she was trying to apologize for.

"I had no clue what had gotten into her. I tried asking everyone she knew if they knew about any trouble at home or something that was making her weird, but... when I got to her roommate, I figured it out.

"She'd been cheating on me. For how long, I don't even know, 'cause I never got it out of her. It's why I was so weird about Lucy at first when she stole your phone before any of that shit happened. But anyway, just... that part isn't even bad compared to what she did when I confronted her...

(pauses, taking a shaky breath) "I should've waited to tell you this in person, but I had to tell you now, babe, I'm s-sorry—"

"Don't apologize. We've talked about a lot of serious shit over the phone. Sometimes it's all we can do, 'cause we can't afford to go and see each other everyday."

"I-I know..."

[...]

(sniffles) "Okay... So, when I found out, I confronted her about it. She tried to deny it, but she was always a horrible liar... A-And as I started to leave, s-she grabbed me. She said she wanted to 'make it up to me,' but we'd never done anything like that and so I tried to shove her away, but... she kept trying and she ripped my shirt and accidentally scratched my arm a-and... Thankfully Dinah came in before she could do anything else. She totally kicked her ass. Ariana never came near me again, until this project."

"She hasn't tried anything, has she?"

"No, she barely speaks to me. I think she's afraid Dinah will come for her again, or she feels guilty? I'm not really sure, but either way I don't think this project will be a problem."

"Alright, if you're sure... but I still want you to tell me if she tries anything."

"Of course. I'm sorry it took me so long to tell you."

"Stop apologizing. Talking about this kind of stuff makes it real... and I know it's really hard to find the courage to bring it up."

"I love you. Thank you for being so understanding."

"I love you, too, babe. Leo also wanted me to tell you he loves you and he's proud of you."

"Aw, I love Leo and I haven't even met him yet."

"Yeah, but he knows all about you, I talk about you all the time. Isn't that right, bubby?"

"Gosh, your baby voice is so adorable."

(giggles)

"That was adorable, too."

"I gotta take Leo for his walk. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay. Love you."

"Love you, too."

***