Phantasm (Phantasm, #1) - Camila/You

Chapter 26 [📱]

"You're going into this without a plan, aren't you?"

My grip on the steering wheel tightened as Phantasm voiced out the obvious. I was in a car zooming through the highway while veering away from potential crashes. "I do have a plan," I reminded her.

I could imagine her rolling her eyes as my phone sat on the passenger seat.

"If you call storming inside a house demanding for answers a plan, then yes, you could be an evil mastermind."

It was my turn to roll my eyes now. This argument, in its core, all had something to do with my girlfriend denying dating me on national radio. It wouldn't be a problem at all, of course, since I just needed some sort of explanation and I was adamant in getting it—calling her immediately as soon as I knew she was done with the interview.

Surprise, surprise, she didn't answer.

As I tried to call her over and over again the whole day, she only responded with three words.

Camila: Talk later. Busy

If she thought that was going to satiate the questions floating in my head, then she's got me all wrong. Of course, her words, asking me to trust her, resounded in my head. And I did trust her, I don't doubt her one bit.

But when she's clearly avoiding the topic then I'm entitled to an explanation aren't I?

I slowed the car to a stop just in front of the girls' apartment in LA. There was still no definitive plan in mind for what I was about to do, just that I needed to talk to Camila and sort things out with her. I just wanted a reason and once I got it, I'll be fine. I took a few deep breaths before grabbing my phone and jogging towards the door.

"This isn't the best way to go about this, you know," I heard Phantasm say but I was already knocking on the door.

Lauren immediately smiled when she saw me on the other side. "Hey, Y/N. What are you doing here?" she asked, moving to the side so I can enter.

I looked around as she closed the door behind me. "Is Camila here?"

"Uh... no."

"Do you know where she is?"

I saw Lauren's eyebrows furrow ever so slightly. "I—she—no actually."

"What?"

"I don't know where she is," Lauren said, looking down at her feet. I opened my mouth to say something but she beat me to it. "I think I hear Dinah calling me actually, let me just—"

She didn't even finish the sentence before she ran away from me. Luckily, my reflexes were fast and I caught her arm before she made her escape. I pulled her close to me, my hands on her arms and our faces close to each other.

"You know where she is, don't you?" But Lauren only shook her head. "Lauren, are you really lying to me again?"

It seemed like that did the trick because she winced and looked away from me. I let her go but held her arm in case she planned to run away again. My heart began to race at the thought of Lauren and Camila hiding secrets from me. I mean, they both know the shit we went through because of all these lies and now they were doing it again?

"I... don't want to lie to you," she said quietly.

"Then don't."

"But it's also not my place to say."

"And it's also not you or Camila's place to keep secrets from me again."

Lauren sighed as I crossed my hands over my chest. I knew I was being difficult but I couldn't just ignore the fact that they were doing what they did to me all those months ago. What was Camila doing that required her to push me into the dark again?