ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇs { ʟᴊ x ᴄᴄ }

Chapter 9

Camila was sitting on her boyfriend’s lap and kissing him when she suddenly felt a hand on her arm and the next thing she knew she was on the floor and glaring down at her was Lauren.

“What the fuck are you doing, Lauren.” Camila asked with a frown as she stood up a little unsteadily. The amount of alcohol she had ingested wasn’t that much as compared with other people but was still over the threshold for someone with her weight.

“What am I doing?” Lauren fired back. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Hey guys, you maybe want to tone it down.” Darrel, the boyfriend spoke up.

“Stay out of this,” Lauren hissed.

“Don’t talk to him that way,” Camila said as she sat down beside Darrel and held on to his arm.

Lauren closed her eyes as she pinched the bridge of her nose. When she opened her eyes, she had a determined look on her face. She grabbed Camila again and forced her to stand. When they were standing face to face, she cupped Camila’s face and then kissed her.

Camila

The moment Lauren kissed her, Camila forgot everything around her. She forgot the boy she was with. She forgot why she was with him.  She even forgot how mad she was with Lauren. All she can think about was how right it felt. She can almost see fireworks.

Camila opened her eyes and pushed Lauren away. It was not fireworks. It was flashes from cameras and phones. That realization flushed the alcohol from her system and Camila felt the start of panic rising up from her stomach. But when she looked at Lauren, she found her grinning at her.  

“I hope you’re happy,” Camila angrily said before she grabbed Darrel’s hand and dragged him towards club’s exit with Lauren right behind them. As they were about to leave, another group of photographers were standing just right outside, camera hoisted and ready. With an annoyed grunt, Camila made a quick turnaround and then found herself outside the restroom. She stared at the door for a second before deciding to enter it. When she closed the door behind her, her eyes widened in surprise when she realized it was Lauren with her and not Darrel.

“Where’s Darrel?”

Lauren shrugged in response still with a grin on her face.

“I’m leaving,” Camila said as she placed her hand on the knob.

“You don’t really want to do that,” Lauren said. “There are like 5 photographers hanging outside that door and another 5 outside the club.”

“Shit,” Camila muttered as she started pacing the room.

“They’ll get tired soon enough and leave. We just need to weather it out.”

“There is no we here,” Camila said as she stopped walking and glared Lauren. “There is me and there is you, but not a we.”

“Sure,” Lauren said agreeably as she pushed herself up and sat on the counter. She leaned back as she watched Camila pacing back and forth again inside the small restroom.

“Why are you not freaking out right now?” Camila asked after a few minutes. “My label is going to kill me when those pictures get out.”

“They pretty much given up on me after the stunt I pulled with Ty.”

“What about me?”

“That’s up to you. I know it is frightening to go against the grain. But maybe you have built enough fans and enough connections to survive this… if you want.”

“Or maybe not.”                             

“Of course, it is still a risk.” Lauren nodded. “But aren’t you tired? Don’t you want to be free? To be who you really are? To be with who you want to be? I see you and frankly all these shit are taking a toil on you. Are you even sleeping?”

“You don’t get to be this way with me. You’ve lost that right a long time ago.”

“I know,” Lauren said quietly. “But I can’t help myself. I care too much about you.” She added as she stared at Camila.

“I’m just tired,” Camila said, as the fight drained from her. “You know, I just want to write music and sing. Not to be trapped in this great big machinery of… I don’t even know what to call it.”

“Forget about that for a few hours. Why don’t you come up here, sit beside me, your head on my shoulder, and sleep.” Lauren said as she scooted over and patted the counter space beside her.

“Sleep here in this restroom?” Camila said as she looked around.  

“Well, this is a relatively nice and clean restroom for a club at this time of the night.”

“Well, they have multiple ones.”

“That explains it.” Lauren said with a smile. “I’ll keep you safe and when everything is quiet outside, I’ll wake you up so you can leave.”

Camila looked apprehensively before jumping up beside Lauren. “I didn’t like the stunt you just pulled out there.”

“I know.”

“I’m still mad at you.”

“I know.”

“You hurt me.”

“I know. You can get all mad at me when you wake up.”

Camila closed her eyes as she leaned on Lauren. After a few minutes, the sound of even breathing told Lauren that Camila had fallen asleep.