CC7

CC7 - Part 10

Hey. I am so sorry for not taking your calls. Like you said, I am at bootcamp right now and need to focus but I will call you as soon as I am back home so we can talk. I promise. And I miss you too – Lauren

I hit the button and sent the message to Emily. It was not the best reply but I couldn’t think of something else. Usually being better-spoken, I had no idea what to say to her at this point. And that was pretty pathetic considering I had spent hours thinking about my girlfriend and how to make this right. I didn’t want to hurt her. For crying out loud, I liked her and maybe I would be able to love her in the future.

If there wasn’t that weird knot in my stomach when I thought of the younger girl and only person I had fallen for until now. My conversation with Camila from last night still had my head spinning.The memory of her pleading with me to say that it was over made my hurt beat erratically again. Even now at breakfast the next morning, I was staring into space and rehashing her words. She wanted to move on, I repeated in my head. And I should probably let her. But hadn’t I already? I was trying to be her friend without being too involved but that was a very fine line.

“Hey Camila, sit down with us”, I heard Normani suddenly snapping me out of my thoughts. I dropped my spoon like an idiot when I looked up and saw my brown-eyed teammate. She held Lara’s hand and used the other to carry her meal tray. Our eyes connected for a second and I thought the pumping organ in my chest would genuinely explode.

“Morning”, the husky voice answered with a surprisingly relaxed smile. The way her voice sounded so raspy in the morning was not helping my beating heart to calm down.

“Good morning”, I replied and tried my best to smile as well.

Camila took the seat opposite of Normani with Lara in her lap. The little one seemed sleepy and not as energetic as usual. I watched the young mother stroking her daughter’s hair lovingly. Her slender fingers ran through the light-brown strands expertly, making the three year-old relax and close her eyes in bliss. Even though I saw the two of them together a lot, that image of motherly affection caused more inner turmoil if that was even possible at this point. It was undeniably touching how close they obviously were and how deeply Camila cared and loved Lara.

“Lauren?”

“What?” I asked confused and realized Camila and Normani were both eyeing me questioningly.

“Are you deaf or something?” Normani laughed and I wasn’t sure what she meant. “Camila just asked how you were feeling after the first practice round”, my friend explained and made me understand I had been so in thought that I hadn’t noticed the question being posed to me.

“Oh sorry”, I stammered almost and tried regaining my poise quickly. “Um, I’m feeling okay actually. A little sore here and there but nothing too severe. How about you?”

“Either you are some sort of robot or I am just really out of shape”, the youngest remarked nearly giggling and I was astonished that she was being so casual after last night. “I have to admit that I have never been this sore. Everything hurts.”

“Mommy, are you hurt?” Lara spoke up unexpectedly and furrowed her little eyebrows, her head still resting against her mother’s chest.

“No, sweetie”, Camila instantly appeased and planted a tender kiss on the child’s forehead while continuously stroking her hair. “Mommy’s fine, just a little exhausted. Like, when you play too much at the park? Sometimes your feet and legs hurt, right?”

“Yeah”, the muffled response came.

“It’s like that. So it’s nothing bad, don’t worry”, the left-midfielder explained and I looked over to Normani who seemed just as endeared as I was. “You need to eat some breakfast. Do you want some scrambled eggs?”