There's No Way

Scrabble & Surveillance

[Shawn's POV]

I walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, my heart sinking at the sight in front of me. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, stiller than a statue. Her face was pale and gray, her eyes completely glassed over. I immediately ran over to her and knelt in front of her so my face was level with hers.

"Camila, hey, what's wrong? What's happening?" I asked frantically. I knew I shouldn't seem panicked, but I was. Her mouth was slightly agape; as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She looked scared, she looked...mortified. "Baby please, you can talk to me." Her lip quivered as she used all of her strength and energy to tell me what was plaguing her.

"The cameras, Shawn. If they saw us kissing at my desk then they also saw..." her voice trailed off. "Shawn, they saw." The moment the last word left her lips she broke down into sobs. I didn't know what to say; I didn't know what to do. All I could do was hold her while she wept, and so that's what I did. I don't know how long we stayed like that, but soon enough her broken voice spoke up again. "Why didn't they do anything? If they saw, why didn't they do anything?" she questioned.

"I wish I knew," I sighed. "When I mentioned that I didn't know about the cameras they did mention that they were new, but they didn't say how new. Maybe they didn't do anything because they didn't see anything." I squeezed my arms around her tighter, wishing I could squeeze out all of the pain she was feeling.

"Shawn...I-I need to know," she mumbled. "I need to know if that video exists, I need to know if they saw." All I could do was nod.

"I'll find out," I promised.

"How?" she questioned.

"I-I don't know...but I will. I will, Camila. I promise."

The rest of the night was hard for Camila and it killed me. The times when things were good were so good, but the times when things got tough for her were so tough - for both of us, but especially her. When things were good it was easy to believe that there was never anything wrong, but when the harsh reality of what actually happened would come crashing down on us it would crash down hard. And the worst part of it all was that I felt helpless - like there was nothing I could do to make her feel safe and comforted, but I always tried. I always tried my goddamn best to make her feel safe and loved. Even if that just meant holding her in my arms as she cried, which is exactly how we ended up this time.

----

I had attempted all day to come up with a way to find out if the cameras would've caught Lucas that night, but honestly the thought of having to see that footage that may or may not exist terrified me. Hearing her describe it shattered me, but actually seeing it? There was no way I could handle that. Finally, I came up with a plan - and silently cursed myself for taking so much time struggling to come up with such a simple plan.

After lunch I walked into our boss' office, knocking on the door frame to get his attention. His eyes flashed up to mine.

"Shawn! What can I help you with?" he asked.

"Um, well, yesterday you mentioned the security cameras and I was curious as to when those got installed? I had some cash stolen from my desk a few months ago and thought maybe I could find out who took it." I silently prayed that my high school drama classes paid off and my acting was somewhat believable. Fortunately for me, it seemed to have worked.

"Sorry, Shawn. We only installed the cameras a few weeks ago - a month ago, at most. If it was a few months ago we wouldn't have anything." A wave of relief rolled over me at the confirmation that there was no footage of that night. There were obviously thoughts swirling in my head about what the next steps would be if it had been recorded, but I also knew that all Camila wanted was for there to be no record of what happened to her; what he did to her.

I walked away from his office and over to Camila's desk. I happily wrapped my arms around her from behind as she tapped her fingers on the keyboard of her computer.

"Hi," I whispered quietly into her ear.

"Hi." Her voice was sad and exhausted.

"The cameras were installed a month ago at most." She quickly turned around to face me.

"Really?" she asked. This time her voice wasn't sad and exhausted, it was relieved and hopeful.

"Really." She looked around cautiously before leaning up and kissing me.

"Thank you for checking," she whispered against my lips.

"Anytime," I whispered in return as I pressed my forehead against hers.

----

It became some kind of tradition at this point for Camila and I to sit in the living room and play Scrabble together after work. It didn't happen every evening, but it did happen several times a week. I was currently beating her score, as I usually did. Since we've started dating I've remained undefeated in our Scrabble games, but that never stopped her from talking smack whenever she could.

"I'm going to win," she said very matter-of-factly.

"You've said that every time we've played since we started dating and you have yet to win once," I reminded her. She glared at me but didn't have a retort. She knew I was right.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of her as she fumbled around with the little wooden block letters. Even in the most simple moments she absolutely amazed me. Her eyes glanced up at me, catching my stare.

"What?" she asked shyly, almost as if she was embarrassed. I just shook my head.

"Nothing. Just admiring," I said with a grin. Her cheeks grew a pink tint as she tried to hide the smile that was creeping up onto her face. "I hope we always do this," I added. She looked up at me with a questioning look.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"This," I said gesturing at the game in front of us. "I hope even when we're 80 we still hang out and play Scrabble together like this. I hope you still talk shit about how you're gonna beat me, even though we both know I'll probably still be undefeated." The usual sparkle in her eye shone a little brighter as I spoke.

"Well," she sighed as she brought her attention back down to the wooden tiles. "I guess I'll see if I can pencil you into my schedule," she said as she looked up at me through her lashes, a devilish smirk appearing on her lips.

The vision of us growing old together was burning into my mind. It wasn't anything that hadn't crossed my mind before, but the more time I spent with her the more the idea of spending forever with her seemed like a dream come true.

"I love you," I stated as she continued to shuffle through her tiles. She looked up at me and smiled, confirming the words I had just spoken to her.

"I love you, too. So much."