Tempting Fate

Chapter 1

Camila began to feel chills on her neck and shuddered as people scurried around her, leaving a trail of wind causing her to get goose bumps. She sat there, in a big,
comfortable chair trying to remain calm.
Breathing in and out. She looked to her left
and saw Grace her stepsister trying to cut off the loose
thread on her dress. She looked right and saw
her frantic mother trying to fix her already
perfect hair. Camila couldn't figure out why
her mother was concerned with something so
unimportant at this moment. 'I guess we all do
different things in stressful situations,'
thought camila. She looked around and felt the
room getting smaller and smaller. She decided
to look straight ahead. Straight ahead was
safe. There was nothing going on in front of
her. She could just focus on the white wall.
"Camila, look over here!"
Camila turned her head and was nearly blinded
by the flash of a camera.
"Okay, but smile next time."
Camila smiled and was blinded yet again.
She looked back over at the wall and began to
see spots where the flash had blinded her.
Her eyes were trying to adjust when she saw
Zoe run across her line of vision with Lily
trying to help find her necklace, which
apparently had fallen off. Camila began to
slowly breathe in and out again. Her stomach
dropped. 'Where the hell is lauren?' she kept
asking herself. 'What if she doesn't show up? I
need her.'
She looked up to see Eli her older brother walk into the door,
making his way past Grace, while subtly looking
her up and down. Grace looked up and caught
Eli's glance just before he looked away and
walked toward his sister. He knelt down next to
her.
"Hey mila."
"Hey Eli." Camila turned to look at her brother.
Eli put his hand on camila's shoulder. "You
nervous?"
Camila shrugged. "I'm trying not to think about
it."
"Trying not to think about it? Mila, this should
be all you're thinking about right now."
"I know. I'm just trying to not hyperventilate.
Plus.....well...."
Eli nodded. "Don't worry, mila. Lauren will be
here. She hasn't let you down yet, has she?"
Camila shrugged. "I guess." But she knew that
wasn't exactly true. She looked away from Eli.
"Hey," said Eli, bringing her attention back to
him. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just overwhelmed."
"Well, you know you don't have to-"
"I know," Camila interrupted. "I know, Eli."
Eli looked at his sister. He knew what she was
thinking. He knew what she was feeling. He
always had that kind of a bond with his sister.
He decided not to press the matter and got up.
"You look beautiful, mila."
"Thanks, Eli."
As Eli walked away, camila's stomach became
more uneasy. The smell of hairspray was in the
air as Zoe started using it abundantly. The
room was way too small for so many people to
be in here, but camila didn't say a word. She
just looked over at the door, hoping a familiar
face would walk through. Lauren always had a
way of making everything okay, no matter how
stressful the situation.
"Camila, how are you doing?" Lily her stepmother broke camila's
concentration.
"Oh, I'm fine."
"Do you want some water or anything?"
"No thanks."
As Lily walked away, Sinu came up to her and
touched her hand. "Karla, do you need
anything?"
"No mom, I'm fine. But thanks."
Sinu smiled and went to go find Eli.
Camila closed her eyes for a moment and tried
to use her mind to will lauren to walk through
the door. It wasn't working. She kept her eyes
closed and tried to drown out the sound of
everyone bustling around her. Every so often,
she would see flashes of light coming from the
camera, but she refused to open her eyes.
Suddenly, a sense of calmness swept over her.
Her body became fully relaxed and a smile
crept up on her face as she heard a familiar
voice whisper in her ear.
"You thought I wouldn't show up, didn't you?"
Every fear and every doubt evaded camila as
she felt that warm breath on her skin. Camila
would know that voice anywhere. She opened
her eyes and turned to see lauren kneeling next
to her. Camila smiled as she breathed a sigh of
relief.
"I thought maybe you weren't-"
"Camz, I promised you I'd always be there for
you when you needed me. I'd never break a
promise to you." Lauren leaned in to give camila a
hug and for one moment, camila knew
everything would be okay. Lauren was here.
Everything would be fine.
As they pulled away, lauren looked at camila.
"You look really pale. Are you okay?"
"Really? Because most people are telling me I
look beautiful," said camila.
"Well you do, but also white as a ghost. Are you
sure-" Lauren grabbed camila's hand and looked
up at her. She was completely captivated. This
happened every time she was in camila's
presence. She'd begin to speak, and then
suddenly just by seeing camila's face, she'd
forget everything that was going on around
her. Camila has had lauren under a spell from
the moment they met 7 years ago.
"Am I sure...what?" asked camila.
"Um...oh. Are you....are you sure this is what
you want?"
Camila looked at lauren, grateful to finally be in
the same room with her again. She searched
Lauren's eyes, trying to find the answer she was
looking for. "I...um..."
Lauren interrupted, "Because I have my car
outside. The engine's running. You know... in
case you want to get out of here. We could just
run away."
Camila began to caress lauren's hand. Lauren
could feel the other girl begin to tremble.
"I...don't know what I want. But I think this is
right," said camila.
"You think?"
"I know," replied camila, more adamantly. "I
KNOW it's right."
Lauren nodded. "Okay."
Camila continued. "I mean...look around.
Everyone is here. EVERYONE. The money's been
paid. There's nothing to do now but wait."
"Wait for what?" asked lauren.
"Four o'clock," replied camila.
Lauren looked at her watch: 3:53pm. She looked
up at camila. It had been 4 months since she
had last seen her. Lauren showed up, late as
usual, to camila's college graduation and went
to the after party, but didn't stay long. But
the entire time she was there, they were
inseparable as always. Then lauren had to go
and camila cried, as always. (Of course lauren
cried, too but not until she was on the plane.
She refused to upset camila any more than she
already had). She had to hop a flight to
Boston. There was no particular reason other
than the fact that she happened to just have a
plane ticket and it happened to be for Boston,
a place she had never been to before. Well, she
did have another reason for leaving right
away. Camila had told her something that night.
It was something that lauren was dreading.
Something that lauren was not ready to hear.
Something that lauren didn't want to deal with,
so she left, making up an excuse that she had
to meet her brother in Boston that night, when
in reality she had no family there.
"I missed you, Lauren," said camila.
She missed camila, too. She tried to call as
often as she could, but found it difficult to
find the right things to say to her. Lauren could
feel her eyes start to water as she slowly let
go of camila's hand and stood up to straighten
out her dress.
Camila started to get up. "Are you okay?"
Lauren nodded while trying to wipe the tears
from her eyes. "Five minutes."
"Camila?"
Camila turned around and saw her father
standing at the door.
"You ready, sweetie?"
"Yeah dad. Just give me a minute." She looked
back over at lauren, who was trying to keep her
tears from falling.
"You really do look beautiful, camz," said lauren.
Camila hugged lauren . Lauren hugged her back,
wrapping her arms tightly around her. She had
to force herself to let her go. She leaned in
and whispered to camila, "Everything's going to
be okay. I promise. I'm here."
Lauren began to walk toward the door.
"Laur-"
The older girl turned around to hear what
Camila had to say.
"I..." Camila couldn't get the words out. She
looked at lauren, trying to form a sentence.
"Remember, I've got the car running if you
wanna leave."
Camila smiled. "No. I just...."
"Camz....it's time. Let's do this," said lauren.
"I'll see you in a few minutes."
Lauren smiled sweetly at camila and walked out
the door. Camila turned and walked over toward
Alejandro. He looked at his daughter, beaming. She
was breathtaking. Camila watched as one by
one Zoe, Grace, and finally Lauren disappeared
through the double doors. Alejandro then escorted
Camila over to the doors, as camila used this
final moment to smooth out her long, white
dress. Then, the doors opened up and she
heard the organ play and watched as the entire
church stood up to watch her walk down the
aisle. She was the center of attention at this
moment. And she really didn't want to be. She
never wanted to be. The only time she could
ever really be comfortable with people staring
at her was when she was on stage. Other than
that, she didn't really care for the attention
very much. She tried to focus. She caught
glimpses of familiar faces as she and her
father made their way down the aisle. Family
members, friends from high school, friends
from college, and some people she had never
seen before. She looked straight ahead and
saw lauren standing at the end of the aisle
watching her with a grin on her face. Lauren
couldn't take her eyes off of her. Camila
smiled to herself and began to feel a lot less
nervous. She reached her destination as Alejandro
kissed his daughter on the cheek and stepped
back. Camila's eyes rested on her fiance as
they joined hands and the priest began to
speak.
"We have come together to witness and
celebrate the marriage of camila and David."