We Found Love

TWENTY TWO

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It has been a couple days later but they still haven't seen each other again. It was as if Ethan being gone with his grandfather now was equivalent to having no reason to hang out together anymore.

When before, Camila was okay being up alone in her apartment, now it is not.

She misses the blown raspberries breaking out the dead silence, she misses the soft crying echoing throughout the room that can either mean that a toxic nuke has been deployed from that little butt, or that little tummy needs to be fed once more. She misses that mop of blond noodle hair that she keeps tidy with her own hair ties, making cute little pigtails. She misses those wide blue-gray eyes following her around and even the sticky drool that dampens her shirt too.

When before, Camila appreciates the silence that brings life to her overactive imagination, now it seems disturbingly eerie. It's maddening and making her uncharacteristically restless.

She has gotten used to hear the soft lullaby, sung by that sweet angel voice echoing from her living room until it fades into a soft hum. She has gotten used to hear the unintelligible baby-talk spoken by the full grown woman from next door in chorus with that cute tiny giggle.

All the laughs and chaos and the silly little things that occupied the silence in the room, she misses it all.

Since Ethan left, it seems like all those things went with him as well. All those little things that she didn't know mattered to her. It's been two days since she last saw him, and it's been two days since Lauren last dropped by her apartment.

They've been exchanging short messages on the phone but even that doesn't suffice for the longing Camila feels. She needs to see Lauren's angel face and hear her angel voice just as much as she misses Ethan's cherubic little pale face.

And after two excruciating days, Camila finally got her chance to hangout with Lauren.

She was bounding the steps of her building going down, carrying a box of old books and clothes. She has been meaning to donate these things for a while now, and now she suddenly got a lot of time to deal with it. Well, technically it was Ally who deals with donations and stuff like that, all she had to do was drop it off in her office.

She's using the stairs because apparently both service elevators seem to be full of people, neighbors and strangers alike that she failed to notice before. As she was going down the stairs, she heard that raspy voice that echoes in her mind in every daydream of her waking hours and every wet dream of her deep slumber.

It was like she's being hit with deja vu of their first meeting, but not quite. As much as it is one of her treasured memories, she doesn't want to end up hurting Lauren in any possible way similar to the first time she met her, where she barrelled down through her.

She had a fond smile on her face at the memory as she listened to that sultry voice. Lauren seems to be talking to someone, and when Camila caught sight of the girl sitting on one of the steps, sure enough, she was indeed talking to someone on her phone.

However, when she caught a hint of who might Lauren be talking to on her phone, her smile automatically faded into thin a line.

"I'm sorry, too . . ." She heard Lauren sniffle.

A beat of silence, perhaps the other person was saying something, then Lauren spoke again, "I don't think so. I don't think I can look at you the same way anymore after what you did. Maybe, one day we'll meet each other again, but I don't think it's this soon. Besides, it'll only be for closure and nothing more. After how things ended, you know we both need it, Ash,"