A Door in the Wall (Converted Camren)

Chapter 10

Lauren was so happy that Camila was not angry or disappointed with her. She felt exhilarated that Camila was still looking forward to their Friday dinner date. She made sure Camila received detailed descriptions on how to get to her apartment. Lauren had also debated with herself to offer her friend to pick her up, but felt that it might seem too imposing.

She did not know if Camila would take the subway or a cab or if she could even walk to her address. The Cuban had no idea where Camila lived now. Nevertheless she sent her a thorough explanation on how to find her address and which exit to take from the subway station.

The four days until Friday passed agonizingly slow for Lauren. Every time she tried to sleep, she was reminded of the little incident with that one person leaving the show early which had somehow triggered the whole events with Camila.

When she had some free time, she went to the ASL lessons she had scheduled with Carmen. The teacher was impressed with how much effort Lauren put into her work and how fast she learned and told her so. Lauren did not stop after the lessons with Carmen. She would sit down and practice every free minute she had at home. She looked up words and signs on the internet if her textbook did not cover them. She wanted to learn this new language as quickly as possible.

Carmen had already explained a lot to her in regards to its historic background, its development and its current usage in the US and Canada. Lauren was actually impressed as to how complex the whole language was and it intimidated her a bit as well. There seemed to be so many things to learn that it felt like hiking up the Mount Everest and she was just at base camp. Carmen had laughed at this analogy.

"Well, at least you are on your way. And you have managed all the way to the Himalaya. Now you just have to start climbing."

"Yeah, well, somehow that seems to be the hardest part." Lauren had stated.

But Carmen had managed to ease her worries. "Lauren, everything will come with practice. You will see, once you converse with Camila, you will pick up signs, body language. facial expressions and all the other important markers very quickly."

The young woman had asked Carmen to not tell Camila about their arrangement, because Lauren wanted to surprise her. As both their lessons were in the morning, Lauren was always hurrying out quickly after they finished. But since her lesson and Camila's had a break in between which was a little over an hour, Lauren was quite confident that she would not to run into her friend and thus having to explain what she was doing there. Besides, she would not have to keep it a secret beyond Friday. Then she would be able to put some of her newly acquainted skills to use, however rudimentary they still were.

Lauren planned for a two-course dinner, starting with pasta with fried vegetables and a dessert of chocolate and banana's ice cream. On Thursday, she happily made her way to the grocery store to buy the provisions for their dinner. She really hoped Camila would like the recipes and that she would display a bit more appetite than last time.

Just as she entered the store, her mobile vibrated.

Hello Lauren!
I'm looking forward to tomorrow, but I have to confess I'm also a little nervous.
Don't know why. Maybe because I decided to take the subway to your place.
That will be the first time I'm going to do this since... Anyway.
Thanks for the detailed description; see you tomorrow!
Camila

Quickly Lauren drafted an answer.

Hi Camila!
I am also looking forward to tomorrow. In fact I'm just grocery shopping.
No, not telling what I'll be cooking, don't think about asking. :-).
Tell me tomorrow when you get on the subway, then I can be on the lookout
for you, just in case my description wasn't as accurate as expected.
If you change your mind about using the subway, let me know, please.
I can pick you up at home.
L.