Amnesia (Camren)

Chapter Thirty-Six: Breathe

Camila

"Dinah! Do we have more boxes? I didn't think I had this much crap to pack!" I yelled into the box I was packing up, too lazy to face the doorway so she would hear it clearly. "When did I buy a poster of The Vamps?" Oops. Must have bought it one of the times I was mad at Lauren. I guess this was going to go in the trash pile. No reason to keep something that was meaningless to me.

I threw the poster behind me as I continued to look at forgotten memories. I had a photo album filled with piles and piles of photos. Mainly of Lauren and me. There were a few of the girls...probably just one or two to be honest.

I ran my fingers through the pages filled with our beaming faces. I stopped at a particular picture. The picture had been taken a few days after the first breakup we had. If I were to put it next to one we had taken a few days prior, you would see the difference. Hurt, distance, trust issues, they were present in our eyes. We had issues. Sooo many issues.

I flipped the page, my eyes landing on a Polaroid of Lauren and me, soaking in the sun, sunglasses perched on our smiling faces, hiding away the windows to our souls. We were so young and reckless then.

"Dinah, can you hurry up and take the picture? I can feel every inch of my skin burning from the sun." Lauren complained, as she threw her arm around me for the picture.

"Quit your yapping, you toothless vampire."

Lauren scrunched up her face. "What the fuck? A toothless vampire?"

"Yeah, you've got all bark, but no bite. You may look scary and people may be afraid of you, but when it comes down to it, you're whipped and a teddy bear."

I giggled at Lauren's face as she tried to come up with something to throw back at Dinah. Her mouth opened and closed as she stuttered.

"Whatever. Just take the picture before I become a lobster." Lauren turned to me. "But if I do become one, will you put lotion on my body?"

Oh man.

My cheeks were ablaze with her question. Thank God for the sunny day because if not, they would have noticed, what I assume to be a beet red blush cover my whole face, ears, neck and probably my shoulders; the areas that were exposed to the sun already.

She was asking me to put lotion on her body? This would mean a shirtless Lauren, maybe more. And it would mean that I would have my hands on her body. Lauren's body would be pressed into my hands and it wouldn't be by "accident".

I cleared my throat. "Yeah, sure."

"I see you, Chancho." Dinah winked at me. Oh shit. She knew what I was thinking.

Oh God, oh God, oh God. I need to find the nearest exit. Abort. Dinah was bound to embarrass me in front of Lauren. This was a big step in our relationship that we had not taken and I did not want Dinah saying anything to make it awkward.

"See what? We all see her, Dinah," Lauren pointed out.

Dinah rolled her eyes and laughed. "Nothing, Captain Oblivious."

Was it possible to be the same color of a red sports car?

"It's Captain Obvious, not Oblivious, Jane." Lauren huffed. "Can you take the fucking picture?"

I promptly shut the album, throwing it into the box and backing up from the box like I had been bitten.

I knew it was a possibility that I would encounter lots of memories today, but I didn't think they would affect me. I had hoped too much for something that I knew would be impossible to ignore. She was embedded in every part of my life. She was in the air, my skin, my clothes, inanimate objects, buried deep inside my chest. This whole room was covered in memories, from head to toe. We grew together and learned from one another. How could I have thought this would be easy?