Just Off The Key Of Reason

Chapter 14: Hum Hallelujah

Lauren was crying. Though she was obviously trying to hide it, taking bunny bites of the vegan chili Camila had made, a sort of terrified smile fixed on her face.

Tears were about to start rolling down her cheeks, but she kept eating it. Now that was, that was just true love.

Camila had taken one bite of hers and nearly vomited into the sink. Now that her esophagus was permanently damaged, she was eating bread and milk. Lauren, apparently, refused to acknowledge that the chili was anything less than amazing, or anything more than tolerantly hot, and she plowed right on through.

Camila winced as Lauren started sniffling. Her eyes had turned bloodshot and she was looking a little sweaty. Jesus Christ, what had gone wrong with that recipe?

"Honey, just stop." Camila pleaded, reaching over to prevent Lauren's spoon from dunking into what was essentially lava, again. "I did something wrong. You're going to make yourself sick."

Lauren shook her head vigorously and breathed deeply. Well, at least her lungs were still functioning. Surely her other organs wouldn't last much longer.

"No, it's good." Lauren insisted, though she couldn't hide the frightened look in her eyes when she dunked her spoon in for another bite.

Camila made a noise between a sigh and a laugh, and swiped the bowl away from Lauren to pour it down the sink. Or in the trash. It would probably cause the sink pipes to disintegrate and they'd have to call the plumber again.

"Hey." Lauren protested weakly. She looked dazed, like she didn't know what was happening. Camila put a glass of chocolate milk in front of Lauren, and felt her girlfriend's forehead with a cool hand. God, she was on fire.

Camila had ignited her girlfriend.

She watched Lauren give up the pretense of enjoying that meal, and chug her milk before laying her head down on the table wearily.

"I told you, you didn't have to eat it, honey." Camila said, scooting closer and rubbing Lauren's back slowly.

Lauren whined into the tabletop, though it was muffled by her arms. "It tasted good. And I was hungry. And you said there were-were cookies for dessert...Now my stomach hurts."

Camila rolled her eyes, but kept rubbing, and placed a cool hand on the back of Lauren's neck. She had said over and over to stop eating it. Lauren just didn't learn. Apparently her iron stomach had made her believe that she could handle this concoction.

Pssht. Even Barnaby wouldn't go near that pot of lava. Pot of fucking disaster.

Lauren sat up suddenly and looked at Camila with a pained expression. Camila knew that look. Unfortunately.

"Are you going to be sick?" she asked quickly.

Lauren was already standing up when she nodded, and Camila followed her hurriedly into the bathroom, just in time to pull brown hair out of Lauren's face.

Camila grimaced as Lauren retched. She would make herself vomit if she focused too much on the noises, which, yeah, that would be exactly what they needed. God, Lauren probably felt like a Charizard right now. Hurling up flames. She looked more like Charmander. Tiny little Charmander.

Lauren emptied her stomach as Camila just rubbed her back and focused on Lauren's cartoon fish shower curtain. That's a clownfish. That's a dolphin. That's the sound of vomiting. That's a seahorse. That's the smell of stomach acid.

Oh God, Camila was seconds away from hurling when Lauren finally stopped and slumped back, breathing heavily. Camila regained control of her own stomach through sheer determination and brushed the hair out of Lauren's face with a sympathetic smile.