Beautiful Optimism (Camren)

Chapter 7

Camila's PoV.

Dinah knocks on the door and we wait till someone comes. I hear loud footsteps making their way downstairs.

The door bursts open and Lauren's mom is standing there. She has a used tissue wadded up in her hand and her eyes are puffy.

Before she can ask what we're doing here I rush up and hug her. It takes a minute before her arms wrap back around me. She sobs into my shoulder and I rub my back.

From the corner of my eye, Dinah closes the front door and looks around. Clara finally pulls away from me and wipes at her eyes.

Dinah raises her eyebrows, "Where's Mike at?" she asks looking at Clara.

Clara shakes her head and wipes her eyes again. "He..he got arrested for putting his hands on a police officer"

"What?" I ask in shock. Clara only nods her head in response.

It's silent for a minute before Taylor and Chris emerge from up stairs. Both have tears in their eyes. Surprisingly Chris's are redder than Taylor's. He looks like he could use a hug.

I pull him into one before he can object. While I hug Chris, Dinah hugs Taylor tightly.

"Are you guys okay?" I ask once I've pulled away from Chris. Taylor nods but Chris says nothing in response.

I watch Clara shuffle into the living room and plop down on the sofa. I follow her inside and sit beside her. I place my hand on hers and she looks up and smiles sadly.

"Is there anything you want me to do?" I ask when Dinah, Chris, and Taylor enter the room. Clara starts to shake her head but stops.

She sniffles loudly. "Can you get a lawyer on the phone for me?"

"Of course," I reply smiling at Clara. I look at Dinah and nod. She pulls out her phone and begins the search for a lawyer.

We all sit quietly while Dinah calls several numbers. Chris taps his foot nervously and chews his thumb. This is the fourth lawyer we've called. No ones answering considering it's still really early out.

I sigh when I hear the phone ring for the 6th time.

"Hello?" the voice from the line says. Clara looks up and I pass her the phone. She takes a deep breath before answering.

"Hi, Mr. Harold, I'm in desperate need of a lawyer."

I can't hear what Mr. Harold says because Clara took it off speaker.

"Well I need you as soon as possible.." she says then goes quite. Mr. Harold makes a long reply before Clara answers again.

"Okay. Go to the police station, that's where my daughter and husband are... Thank you so much." then she hangs up the phone.

"Can he help?" Taylor asks after being quite for so long. Clara nods and rubs at her brow.

"Anything else you want us to do, Clara?" Dinah asks when she stands up from the couch.

Clara looks at me and takes both my hands. "Promise me you'll be there for her."

I nod. "I promise." I smile at her then Dinah and I make our way outside.

Lauren's PoV.

"Take a seat, Lauren." Sheriff Hernandez says and I obey.

I sit behind a shiny metal table and he sits on the other side. I can't help but feel a little scared. At this point the handcuffs are really digging into my skin and hurt more than earlier.

"Can you please take these off me." I state more than ask.

Sheriff Hernandez only looks at me and reluctantly pulls out a key. I sigh with relief at the sight and stretch my hands across the cold table. He unlocks them quickly and places the key in the safety of his pocket.

I rub at my sore wrists for a minute before looking up at him again. He's just about to speak when Mr. Harold burst through the door. I raise my eyebrows at him when he sticks his hand out to Sheriff Hernandez.

"Hello sir, I am Miss Jauregui's lawyer." Mr. Harold says before taking a seat beside him. The sheriff says nothing just nods his head. He looks a bit confused. He probably wasn't expecting me to have a lawyer.

"Well alright, Lauren, how do you know Austin Mahone?" he asks while taking out a pen and a pad of paper.

The question stunned me at first. I rub my brow and think as hard as I can. I couldn't remember the exact place I met him just the words he said that day.

"We went to grade school together." I say suddenly remembering. I watch as he jots nots down and he looks back up at me.

"When did the conflict start between you two?"

I bite my lip and choose my words carefully. "We've never liked each other and we both knew it so we kept away from one another."

He nods slowly taking in what I just said. He says nothing in response and I take that as my cue to continue.

"We ran into each other at the store a few months ago," I take a deep breath and Mr. Harold puts a hand on my shoulder. He smiles kindly and play with my hands before speaking again.

"He seemed angry about something,"

"What was he angry about?" Sheriff Hernandez asks while scribbling more notes down. I look around and notice that his partner isn't in here. There's a two way mirror so I assume he's behind it. I chew on my thumb nail trying to avoid the question or at least pretend I didn't hear.

"Lauren?" he asks looking up at me. My mind wanders again and I notice his brown eyes have flecks of gold in them. How unique.

"Um.." I say while still chewing nervously on my thumb. "He was mad because Camila and I were getting married."

The room goes quite again while I try to figure out my next words.

"He kept saying Camila was his and he would kill me if I married her." I said as a single tear fell from my eye. I wiped it away as soon as it dropped.

"His? As in Austin and Camila were together?" Sheriff Hernandez asks before raising his eyebrows.

I shake my head and almost laugh."No. Austin is delusional, they were never together." I wipe my nose with my sleeve and continue. "Camz.. I mean Camila has only been with one person since she's moved to Miami."

Sheriff Hernandez nods. "Can you tell me exactly what happened the day of the wedding?"

My eyes go wide at the question. I really hoped he wouldn't have asked that, but deep down I knew he would.

"Can I use your restroom?" I ask trying to stall as long as possible. I wasn't ready to face the facts of what I did. I am a murderer.

I Lauren Michelle Jauregui am a killer.