ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇs { ʟᴊ x ᴄᴄ }

Chapter 2

It has been days and there has been no signs of Lauren. No text, no message, no calls. Nothing. Yet Camila can see her posting in the internet. So she’s clearly alive and well. It’s not like she can’t reach for her phone to let her know that she wants out. They are both freaking adults and they owe that to each other. Is she really replacing her with that man? In a fit of anger, Camila threw her phone on the wall, wrecking it. Not satisfied, she walked up to it and stomped on it until it was unrecognizable.

That night, after boarding the plane for the flight back to American, Camila put on her eye mask and leaned towards the window away from her mom. She felt like crying and didn’t want her mom to see. As she waited for the plane to take off, Camila can’t help but think about the last few days that Lauren and her talked. Lately, it has been 50% fighting and 50% sweet nothings. They’d argue that each is not making enough effort but no one wanted to end the call on that note. So they’ll make up for it by saying I loves you and how much they miss each other. At that thought, her tears welled up, soaking her eye mas. She missed Lauren. She missed her so badly that she felt like both throwing up and curling into a fetal position. It was only when she felt her mom’s hand on her shoulders that Camila realized that she was shaking uncontrollably. And instead of speaking, her mom pulled her closer and let her cry on her shoulder. Camila fell asleep crying.

Back in Miami at home, Camila barely left her room. Citing that she wasn’t feeling well and needed to recover before the next show, her family left her alone. During breaks from crying and sleeping, Camila would stare at her sim card. It was the only thing left of her phone. It was so small she didn’t manage to break it. She told everyone to contact her mom if they need anything from her. She hadn’t placed her sim in her new phone. She hadn’t opened her tablet nor her laptop. She hadn’t even turned on her television or radio. A part of her was hoping that maybe by ignoring all of them, Lauren would be out of her mind trying to get a hold of her. It was stupid of course. But she still couldn’t face that Lauren had shut her out… again.

The days blew by so slowly that Camila was surprised that she had to fly to Chicago already. With her mom and bodyguard, she travelled up from Miami. She greeted Taylor with a tight lipped smile that her friend already knew that something was bothering her. Since they had to rehearse the show, check the blocking and sound system, it was only that night that they got to talk alone.

“Spill. You have been incommunicado for the past few days, you arrived her with dark circles around your eyes, and you look like you are almost about to cry all the time. What’s the matter?”

Camila tried to laugh off her friend’s concern. “I’m fine. I’m just recovering, you know, still recovering from last week. Trying to conserve my strength for the actual concert.”

Taylor raised her eyebrows at Camila.

“Okay fine,” Camila said with a sigh. “There’s this boy ---“

“Boy?”

“Yes… a boy.” Camila answered in a much higher tone that she planned to as she looked to the side. “We have been talking everyday and suddenly he just stopped. You know, without warning. Just stopped cold. And I don’t understand, why.”

Taylor tilted her head to the side as she looked at Camila curiously.

“I thought we were doing okay. Well, maybe not perfectly okay. But, you know, nothing to indicate that he’ll suddenly ghost me. We’ve shared too much for too long for this to happen.”

“Of course, you tried talking to the boy?”

“Yes. The first few days, I called, I texted, I messaged. He was just not replying.” Camila said as she ran her fingers through her messy hair. “He should atleast tell it straight to my face that he doesn’t want me anymore. He owes me that.” Camila stopped talking as she felt tears threatening to spill once more. She looked away from Taylor and started biting her fingernails.

“You know you’re family, right?” Taylor said as she scooted over to Camila and placed her arms around her shoulders. “Do you want me to put a hit on ----“

“Oh my God, Taylor!” Camila stood up as her eyes widened in shock.

“I’m just kidding, Baby C.” Taylor said as she pulled Camila back to the couch. They sat quietly side by side. Camila leaning on her friend’s shoulder as Taylor gently rubbed her arms. “If you think it will help, I can talk to…” Taylor paused as she glanced at Camila, “I can talk to Lauren.”

“What?” Camila exclaimed nervously as she sat up. “Lauren?” She let out a scoff. “What does Lauren have to do with all of these? That’s… that’s just crazy. I’m talking about a boy... a man… maybe I was talking about Matt.”

“I thought you only met him last year.”

“Ah… I said… maybe…” Camila stammered.

“Camila… it’s okay. You don’t have to hide it from me. I understand.” Taylor said as she looked up at her friend kindly. “I just want to help. But if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine too. Just let me know how I can help you.”

Camila stared at her friend, trying to see if she was just saying those things but finding nothing but acceptance she sat back down. “Was I that obvious?”

“Let’s just say, I know how to read the signs.