Stronger (Camren)

Chapter 13

When I woke back up, it was around midday. I took a shower and then went out to the living room. Camila didn't even look at me. I sat down and checked my phone. I had several text messages. They said:

'Hey, it's Keaton.'

'It was good seeing you again!'

'You look even more beautiful now.'

'I'm sorry about that kiss. I still feel bad.'

'See you next time.'

I sent a quick reply and texted Camila.

'Are you mad at me?'

She looked at it but didn't respond. I sent a few more but she eventually just turned her phone off. Outside, it was raining. Uncle Gordon went into work to fix a pipe. Aunt Milika took Stevie to go pick up Lacey's at a friends. When they were all gone I tried to get her to talk to me but I failed. She just looked at me then went out onto the porch. After a few minutes, I went out and sat beside her. We sat in deafening silence for what seemee like forever. "Cami, talk to me." I said. She got up to go in the house but I blocked her. "I'm sorry but I'm not letting you in until you talk to me." I said. She did what I least expected her to do which was walk off the porch into the rain. I followed her. "Camz." I said while gently grabber her arm. She turned and finally caved. "I saw the text messages, Lauren. What kiss?" She said. "He kissed me. We have a long history. I pushed him away and then went on and on about you." I said. She looked into my eyes for a moment before hugging me. "I'm sorry. I should've asked but I just assumed the worst and-" She began. "Hey, don't be. It's alright. I love you, Camz. Only you." I cut her off. She kissed my ear. "I love you too Lolo, so much." She said. We went and sat on the porch for awhile then went in thr house when my aunt came home. Later in the day, Camila came with me to my mom's. "Hi, girls!" My mom said hugging us both as we walked in the door. We went into the living room and we talked for awhile. "So do you guys want to tell me?" She made a gesture towards Camz's hand. Camila looked down and blushed. "We're engaged, mom." I said. "Congratulations." My mom said. Keaton came in and dropped on the couch. "What're you girls making me watch today?" He asked. "I actually forgot to get a movie. Keaton, can you run to the store?" She asked. Keaton nodded. "Laur, will you come with me? It'll be like old times." He asked. I hesitated but said okay. When we started driving, I noticed his glove box. When we dated a long time ago, we put tons of stuff in his glove box and locked it shut. It was simple stuff such as pictures, letters, promise rings, and so on. "It's still locked?" I asked, surprised. He nodded. "I forgot where the key is. My mom thinks we put it in the garage. You could come over and we could look for it tomorrow?" He suggested. I nodded. We went to the store and then back to my mom's. We played games while the movies played. We left around nine to go home. Keaton is coming to get me tomorrow." I said lying down beside Camila. "Why?" She asked. "We  are going to clean his garage to look for the key to this glove box used to have." She nodded. We drifted off to sleep sometime later. The next morning, Keaton picked me up. We started around eleven and finished around four. "We've searched everything in here." I said. We put everything back where it belonged.  I went to walk into the house but the stair moved. Keaton looked at me confused and lifted up the wooden stair. Underneath was a small box. I opened it. There was a small note and a key. It read:

May 7th, 2012

Forever? ~ Keat
Forever. ~ Laur

"Okay let's open it." I said putting the card back in the box and grabbing the keym i unlocked it. He pulled everything out. After looking through everything else, I grabbed the photo album. I looked through it but when I got to the last few pages, I threw it on the ground. Keaton gave me a confused look. He picked it up and looked at it. " he's doing alright." He said. I felt a few  tears run down my face. "Can you take me home?" I asked. He started the truck. We drove in silence. "You can take whatever you want." He said. I took it all. "I'll give you it back." I said. He shook his head. "Take your time." I half smiled and went in the house. I walked in and gathered everybody, except the twins, around the table. I set everything down. "There's still a lot of stuff that you guys don't know about my past. I dated my friend Keaton for a while until I realized that I didn't like guys. Despite that fact we continued to hook up for a while after that. About three years ago, I found out I was pregnant. I had him two or three weeks before I turned fifteen. I helped raise him for the first few months but then it just became too hard. Keaton's brother and his wife actually adopted him. It wasn't safe for me to bring him home he's going to be three in a few days. His name is Ashton Michael Stromberg." I said. Everyone had a confused look on their face. "Can I talk to you in the kitchen?" Uncle Gordon asked. I nodded my head and followed him. "How could you not have told us this?" He asked. "I didn't know how to. I thought I could let it go but then I found all that stuff today." I said. "You told me you were always safe." He said. "We were. It broke." I said in a low tone. "Well you're out of your mom's house now so you can see him again." He said. "I've already let him down as it is." I said. My voice cracked. "Come here, squirt." He said, opening his arms. I gladly accepted. "You can make it right. You just have to think on the bright side. That is your flesh and blood. He needs to know he's loved unconditionally by the one woman in his life that should never love him any less." He said. I nodded. After awhile, I went back into Camila and I's room. She was looking through the photo album. I sat down beside her. "How could you not have told me? I thought we told each other everything." She said. I sighed. "I didn't know how. That isn't something that I could casually bring up in a conversation." I said. "I planned on telling you, I just didn't know when." Camz looked up at me for a moment. "I'm not mad. I can't understand where you're coming from but I understand why." She said. She kept looking through the album and when she got to the last few pages, I started to tear up. She put her arms around me. "We'll go see him tomorrow." She said. We fell asleep after awhile.