Open the door. {Camren} ✔️

Nine.

"Thanks for letting me come here." Camila told Dinah as soon as she entered the apartment. "As weird as it sounds, I kinda don't wanna be alone when I listen to it."

Dinah waved her hands dismissively. "No need to thank me. I'm actually curious to hear this."

Camila sat down next to her on the couch, and pulled up the audio of the phone call.

"Deep breaths, Mila." Dinah warned.

She hadn't even realized that she wasn't breathing. She was way too concerned with playing the audio.

"Right." Camila answered, doing as she was told. "You ready?"

Dinah nodded. "Always. Go ahead and play it."

Hesitating only slightly, Camila pressed play on her phone, and the call began.

"What do you want, Camila?"

Lauren's voice was the first thing that could be heard in the conversation.

Then came Camila's reply.

"Lauren, you don't have to go. You're drunk, and you shouldn't be driving. Where are you even headed right now?"

"Don't matter." Lauren snapped back.  "Go away and leave me alone."

"No. Tell me where you're going, Lo. Please. Nobody's gonna hurt you."

"Are you fucking blind, Camz?" Lauren slurred. "This whole life is fucked up. I don't wanna live it anymore. I don't wanna be Lauren Jauregui. I wanna be free. Let me be fucking free."

Camila could hear herself sighing.

"You can't just leave. There are people who care about you here, Lauren. We can talk about this, we can talk about what happened at the bar-"

"No we cant! We can't talk about it!"

"Why not?"

"Because none of you can make me stay. Not my family, not Lucy, and especially not you."

"Lauren, I-"

"They won't even let me be happy." Lauren was crying. "Why aren't I allowed to be happy with you? I love you, and they won't let me be with you."

Camila's eyes widened as she was listening. She felt Dinah's empathetic gaze on her.

"You can be happy with me, Lo. I'll make it happen, I promise you. I don't care how much the world might disapprove of us, because it doesn't matter. I love you, and you love me."

"If you loved me, why did you let me go to the bar with her?" Lauren asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"You told me it'd be a good time to catch up with her. And then she tried to.. she tried to.."

Camila could hear herself sniffling.

"Lauren, you had it under control though. You punched her when I got there."

There was a long pause.

"She said she wanted to take me home, Camz. Like in a sexual way. I thought I broke up with her ass."

"Where are you?" Camila tried asking again.

"It doesn't matter!" Lauren yelled in frustration. "I'm not coming back! I already told you! Ugh! What don't you get about that?"

"Lauren, don't you dare-"

That's where the call ended. Lauren must've hung up.

Out of every single time she'd cried during those past few months, Camila never cried as much as she did in that moment.

Because that call meant quite a few things.

One of them being that Lauren and Camila must've confessed to each other that day.

Dinah was already engulfing her in a hug, but even she knew better than to interrupt. Camila needed to let her emotions out.

"I-" Camila tried talking. "I remember- what happened-"

"Take your time." Dinah cooed to her. "Easy now."

"After she-" Camila wailed. "After she hung up, I- I drank a bunch because-"

"Because I thought I lost her forever."

Dinah's face faltered. She hadn't expected it to have been so bad for her best friend.

"And I- I can't believe I forgot everything. It was- so important- and I- I forgot about her."

"You didn't mean to forget, though." Dinah told her. "It was from all that alcohol."

"But I- still forgot- I still forgot about her!" Camila wept. "I.."

She wiped her eyes, and burrowed her face in Dinah's shoulder.

"It was Lucy." she concluded. "Lucy Vives. That's the mystery girl. Lauren said her name in the phone call, and that's... that's how it all started to make sense in my head."

Dinah nodded. "I figured as much. Do you remember what happened when you arrived at the bar?"

Camila shrugged, wiping her eyes once more on Dinah's shirt. "I never went inside, I'm pretty sure I went out to the parking lot and I saw them fighting. I don't-"

"I don't remember why."

Dinah held her even tighter. "Stay here with me for the night, then tomorrow you can head back down to Miami to turn in the audio to the police."

"Dinah, I can't-"

"You aren't driving back until tomorrow. I want your mind to be as clear as possible. Besides, you need rest."

Camila sighed. "Okay."

"Hey," Dinah said. "Look at me."

The Cuban-Mexican shifted her gaze towards the Polynesian.

"This isn't a bad thing. This means that the chances of her still being out there have shot through the roof. We're one step closer to finding her."

Camila knew that Dinah was right. And better yet, they practically found out the truth about that night, despite a few other missing details.

The real problem left to solve was figuring out how and where to find Lauren.

And time was slowly running out.

~