Your Love Is My Drug (Camren)

9. Glittering Blackness

Chapter 9

The knock at the door couldn't have come at a better time. Or worse, depending on how you looked at it. Lauren was still trying to process everything Camila had just told her. It had only been a few minutes and her eyes and eyelashes were still wet. Her heart was still broken.

She put her glass on the floor and wiped her eyes dry but it was obvious she'd been crying.

"They're early."

"Who?"

Lauren held Camila's hand with both of hers now. "Trust me?"

They both heard voices on the other side of the door: impatient demands to open up. Camila's face contorted with reluctance but she didn't make a move to suggest she was leaving soon. She should have known that Lauren would do something like this. She never stopped pushing that little bit further, but that was probably a good thing.

"Can I let them in?" Lauren asked. "If you really don't want me to, I won't, but this is about healing, okay? You need this and they need it. The longer you guys wait, the harder it's going to be."

Camila thought she needed this like she needed a hole in the head, but she agreed anyway. She would be able to handle it. After sharing what she just had with Lauren, it wasn't as bad as it would have been if they hadn't had a moment. Or several of them, by this point.

Lauren was almost at the door when she heard Camila's voice behind her.

"Wait."

Camila pulled her jacket down from the hook and swung it around her shoulders, pushing her arms through. She pulled her hair out from under the collar and then said, "Okay."

Troy and Ally were the first two people Lauren saw when she opened the door. They were standing there with bright smiles, hoping to dissolve any lingering tension between any of them as quickly and painlessly as possible. It was only a grin, but sometimes that's all it took to break the ice.

Nick, Grayson, and Justin each had their hands full of six-packs and Normani and Bebe were each holding two bottles of wine.

Lauren was certain that amount of alcohol would make an impact on the night's outcome, she just wasn't sure if it would be good or bad.

There was a loud chorus of "hey" and they were all piling through the door.

Dinah was last, cradling a box of wine under each arm. Lauren gawped at her but refrained from commenting. Dinah, on the other hand, had no such qualms.

"I see you've been blubbering like a baby, which can only mean Camila's nearby."

She wasn't wrong. One sweep of the room confirmed Camila to be back on the couch, holding her glass out as Normani re-filled it.

"You've been here two seconds and I already want to hit you. Congrats." Camila lifted her glass.

"Hey, any time you want to take this outside... God knows I have enough pent up anger."

"I didn't say I would do it, but Lauren did say you'd all matured. Besides the lines on your face, I'm not seeing where."

Dinah headed through the living area to the kitchen where Grayson and Nick and everybody else had gone. "You're right, forgot myself there," she said airily. "Like you're worth it."

Lauren huffed crossly. "We are all friends," she said loudly. "Apologise to each other right now."

It was ineffectual.

Normani settled on the couch by Camila. She brushed her fingers over the soft leather covering Camila's shoulder and smiled encouragingly. "I like this."