Your Love Is My Drug (Camren)

12. Echo

AN: I feel like I should warn you guys that this chapter has a lot to take in, so it's perfectly normal if you feel somewhat drained by the end of it.

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Chapter 12

She didn't know how long she sat there for, but it was long enough for her foot to fall asleep and to be certain that Camila's skin was cooling to normal.

She'd been paying close attention to the sound of each breath, so she easily picked up a hitch in the pattern just before Camila sucked in a breath deeper than the others and pushed her head back against Lauren's shoulder.

"Camila?"

Camila made a quiet sound of acknowledgement and Lauren moved away experimentally but Camila's body followed her. She held her hand next, raising it slightly before letting go. It flopped back down to carpet, upturned and motionless. Lauren frowned and covered it with her own, bringing it back to her lap.

It wouldn't be long and Camila would be back to normal, whatever that was.

Except it turned out to be almost two hours.

In that time, Lauren had moved only once, to put Camila's top back on when she felt cool enough.

She couldn't feel her right leg anymore, so she began to distract herself from around Camila, holding one hand against her back to support her while she twisted around to lean against the back of the couch instead. Lauren put her hand on Camila's thigh and slid the other down to her waist, pulling her closer.

She was in the middle of stretching her leg out and feeling a rush of heat in her calf when Camila's hand fell on top of hers. She expected it to be nothing but when she turned to look, Camila's eyes were open; glazed and unfocused, looking like she hadn't slept in a month.

"Hey," Lauren said, her voice nervous and soft. "Are you with me?" Camila nodded weakly, but other than that, was quiet. Lauren wasn't sure what to say. She was too preoccupied with the stark difference to Camila's face since only yesterday. It was scaring her. She thought it might be slightly less terrifying if she stared at it, but it wasn't. She studied her long enough for Camila to be able to speak.

"Why're you here? Didn't have plans with you."

There had been little strength in her voice, so Lauren ignored her pointless curiosity. "How do you feel?" Camila's eyes were drooping and a second later they slid shut.

"Good."

"Good?"

"Awesome."

Lauren looked to Camila's mouth. Her lips were dry and chapping. "You need some water."

"No. 'm'good."

"You're not good. You're getting water." Camila's fingers tightened slightly around hers when she made a move to leave.

"Stay." Though her mouth was mostly dry, it took her a few attempts to swallow. "Y'know when you were a kid... the coldest days of winter your Mom would put your clothes on the heater so they'd be warm when you woke up. 'S'what I feel like, but better."

The transformation on Lauren's face was clear to see. She was no longer primarily concerned.

She was about to break a promise.

"Would you like to know how I feel right now?"

Camila wasn't in any state to follow what was going on, not really, but a small part of her knew this shouldn't be happening. The rest of her didn't care. She was so tired and her body felt like dead weight. All she wanted to do was keep her eyes closed and cling to the kind of peace she only felt during moments like these.