Paper Scars || camren

Chapter Two

Clara had excused herself early from dinner to return to the hotel where her daughter was, afraid something had happened as she realized Camila never showed. When she arrived to the hotel, she went straight to the elevators, leaving her car open for the valet. She wasted no time in quickly returning to her hotel room. Walking down the hall, she saw a small girl sitting outside of her room. As she got closer, she realized it was Camila sitting with her head in her hands, having fallen asleep.

She squatted down to her level and rubbed her shoulder. "Wake up, Camila." As she brushed some of Camila's hair behind her ear, a motherly instinct, she smiled as Camila opened her eyes. "Care to tell me what you're doing?"

Camila stood up quickly. "Is Lauren okay? Did she come out?" She knocked on the door. "Lauren." She called. With no answer, she looked back down to Clara. "Help me out, please. What's going on?"

Clara took a moment to register what happened. She opened the door quickly with her room key and apologized to Camila as she shut it in her face. Looking around, her daughter was nowhere in sight. She tried opening the bathroom but it was locked. She banged on the door and called her daughter's name.

"Mom?" Clara heard. "Lauren, open the—" Without even finishing the sentence, she felt her daughter in her arms. Sighing in relief, she looked back at her daughter and wiped the fresh tears from her face. "I thought you—"

"Mom, stop. I didn't, okay? I'm just glad you're back." They hugged for a while before speaking again.

"She knows what's up, Mom. She knows there's something wrong. She can't know, Mom. She can't." Lauren felt the hot tears sting her face again. She heard her Mom shush her as she stroked the top of her daughter's head.

"We'll figure it out." Clara reassured her daughter. "It will be okay."

This time, Lauren wasn't so sure.

-

When Lauren had appeared to be late to rehearsals the following morning, Camila took it as an opportunity to discuss the previous night with the girls. They listened intently, sharing quick glances at each other, giving off the impression that they knew something Camila didn't.

"I mean, she lost it. Why are you guys being so laid back about this? She couldn't even look at me. She was sobbing." Camila looked at the three girls in front of her.

Normani decided to break the silence. "Well, you two have a lot of history together, Mila. It didn't exactly end in an ideal way."

Ally nodded her head. "I know you're trying to figure this out, but maybe you should be more patient."

"Don't push it, Mila." Dinah half smiled. "She'll come around." The three girls looked at each other regrettably when Dinah spoke. "Just give it time."

Lauren appeared behind them with a huge smile on her face. "Give what time?" The four girls looked up at her instantly and said nothing. Lauren's eyes flashed with a hint of sadness as she realized they'd been talking about her. She wasted no time in changing the subject without a glance in Camila's direction. "Well, I guess it's time to learn the choreography."

The three girls stood up and smiled at Lauren, each giving her a sincere hug before they walked off. Camila walked over to Lauren and took her hand comfortably. "I want to talk." She forced a smile to disguise the hurt feelings.

Lauren gently took her hand back and turned to face the three girls prepping for rehearsal, flashing a reassuring smile to her mother across the room. "Sorry I was late." She spoke softly.

"You know that's not what I want to talk about." Camila never took her eyes off Lauren, fearing she'd miss the small glance Lauren used to give her every once in a while. "Look at me." Camila breathed. "Why won't you even look at me?"

Lauren took a moment to recompose herself, getting Camila's hopes up for something so small. "Okay, ladies. Let's dance." Lauren walked off and positioned herself to begin the dance.

They all waited on Camila. All eyes, except one pair, were on hers. "Hurry up, Mila." Dinah laughed. "This position is starting to hurt."

Lauren prayed silently that she would just forget about it and move into her starting stance. She remained looking at the ground for what felt like forever until she heard a "fine" from Camila. She breathed a sigh of relief although she could feel Camila's eyes burning into her. Lauren knew she had to talk about the distance that happened between them, but she wasn't ready for it. She had tried so hard to build back up another wall that Camila had torn down before. She wasn't ready to let it break again.

-

What Camila had waited for all rehearsal was finally here. They were finally on break, and Camila was eager to try to talk to Lauren again but as she looked over in her direction, she saw Lauren quickly meet up with her mom and exit the room. It usually only lasted five minutes or so, but this felt longer. She found herself growing impatient with every second. Beginning to pace back and forth to forget this familiar feeling, she couldn't help but be brought back to her history with Lauren. They never really figured out, or talked about, what they went through and what it meant. There was a lot of unfinished business and now, with Lauren's odd behavior, it was weighing on Camila more than usual. This feeling was something Camila had tried so hard to bury. All of her effort went into pushing these feelings and thoughts back. Her breathing increased as she thought about losing Lauren for good. She had to sit down to even be able to take a breath. Her lungs ached, her thoughts raced. She hadn't even noticed when Lauren walked back in the room. Not here. Camila thought to herself. Not now. She had worked so hard to put those mixed feelings behind her, whatever they were. She was unaware of the eyes on her, flashbacks of her and Lauren dashing through her mind rapidly, all at once. She hurriedly stood up and walked out the door. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. She noticed Lauren out of the corner of her eye, but kept her head focused on the exit point. She couldn't talk to Lauren. Not like this.

Lauren watched as the petite girl rushed out of the room. She looked around at the other girls and realized they were all staring at her, waiting for her to go and talk to her. "Me?" She asked, shocked.

The three girls nodded simultaneously with a look of pity on their faces. "It's something only you two would understand. We aren't you." Normani stated. "She would do it for you."

Lauren shot a pointed look at her, but knew she was right. She slowly got up, all eyes on her. When she reached the door, she stood there trying to build up the courage. She finally, after what felt like forever, opened the door and walked down the hallway. "Camila?" She called. "Camilla, where are you?"

"Lauren?" Camila had a touch of hope in her voice. She appeared from around the corner with a tear-stained face.

Lauren stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do. "Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly, looking everywhere but Camila. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Camila walked towards her. "We were a little worried when you left so suddenly." She said again to break the haunting silence.

Camila stopped right in front of Lauren, their faces inches away. Lauren felt Camila's hot breath on her neck and remained paralyzed. "They..." Lauren began. Camila looked up into Lauren's wandering eyes. "They... wanted me to make sure you were okay." Lauren's eyes fixated on an object in the back of the building, her hands fidgeting, exposing her nervousness. She knew the moment she looked at Camila, her progress would deteriorate.

Camila's eyes remained locked. "I just had a moment, that's all. I was remembering the last time we were together. All the stuff that happened between us." She felt tears swell in her eyes again. "The memories were racing. I couldn't make them stop."

Lauren stayed silent. She was at a loss for words. She'd spent her entire break attempting to confront the things that had happened with them, but never in front of Camila. Camila leaned upward, their lips centimeters apart. "Look. At. Me." Her voice faltered.

Lauren took a deep breath and directed her glance downward. She heard Camila stifle a sob which brought tears to her own eyes. "I can't." She put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry." Her mind teased her with the memory of how emotionally damaged before the break she was. She couldn't let herself get that bad again. She refused. "I'm sorry." She repeated. She turned to walk away but felt Camila grip her arm.

"No." Camila stated. "Don't walk away. Not again."