Trials and Tribulations

Chapter 50 (part 2)

When Lauren returned from dinner forty minutes later, she found Camila softly singing to herself, her low raspy tone tackling Kodaline's 'Latch' as she continued to read Ernest Hemingway's classic tale of 'The Old Man and the Sea.' Camila had shifted position on the bed so that she was now lying on her back, the top of her head the only thing visible on the computer screen in front of Lauren as she lowered herself back on to her own mattress beside Jasper, who was fast asleep, curled up on the duvet. "You lift up my heart when the rest of me is down, you, you enchant me, even when you're not around. If there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down. I'm latching on babe, Now I know what I have found. I feel we're close enough, I wanna lock you in my love. Ifeel we're close enough, I wanna lock you in my love, your love..." Lauren watched Camila for a moment, a smile on her lips as she admired the way her girlfriends' head rocked slowly from side to side as she sang, contently lost in the fictional story at her fingertips and enjoying the musical sound of her own voice as she conveyed the lyrics movingly, seemingly absorbed in the words as they left her lips. "Now I've got you in my space, I won't let go of you, you got me shackled in my embrace, I'm latching on to you..." Lauren sat and listened to Camila, closing her eyes for a while as she stroked Jasper mindlessly out of habit, appreciating the dulcet tone of her girlfriends' voice, remembering when Camila had first played the song for her after declaring her love to her for the first time. The memory made Lauren's chest ache, not

painfully or uncomfortably, but in the familiar way that it did whenever she thought about Camila, a deep sense of longing and of love spreading throughout her from limb to limb. "I feel so encaptured, got me wrapped up in your touch. Feel so enamoured; hold me tight within your clutch. How did you do it? You got me losing all my breath. How did you get me to have my heart beat out my chest?" Lauren opened her eyes and cleared her throat loudly in an attempt to get Camila's attention, her girlfriend practically falling off the bed at the sound, her body lifting inches off the mattress, jumping with fright at the unexpected noise and rolling out of view to the accompaniment of a loud thud and audible groan. "Shit!" Lauren gasped, moving closer to the screen and waiting anxiously for Camila to appear again. A moment later, Camila's sprung back in to view, flopping back down on to her front on the bed with an amused expression on her face. "Fuck I'm so sorry," Lauren apologised as Camila's grin grew wide, evidently unconcerned by the start she'd just received. "Are you alright?" Lauren asked, picking up the laptop and resting it on her knees as she leant back against the head of the bed. "I'm ok," Camila replied, laughing at the worried expression on her girlfriends' face. "Solid as a rock this noggin'" she told her, knocking on her head lightly for effect before moving her hand down to rest over her heart for a brief instant. "I think I might have had a minor heart attack though," she commented, sucking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly. "Shit, you Jauregui's

are like ninjas...do they teach you to sneak up on people or is it some kind of instinct you just develop as you get older?" "I think it's an instinct thing," Lauren laughed and Camila smiled reflexively at the sound of it as she settled back down to resume their conversation. Over the course of the next four hours, Lauren and Camila interacted via Skype as they did every day. They discussed a multitude of different subjects, including Normani's most recent dating catastrophe, the imminent start of Lauren's softball season and the upcoming Taylor Swift concert this Saturday. Camila also spent some time helping Lauren complete her English homework, explaining the important themes of George Orwell's '1984,' the smaller girl having already completed her own assignment on the same book a few weeks before. As the afternoon progressed first to evening and then decisively in to night, Camila once again broached the topic of experimenting, as they had done only once before over webcam, apparently eager to celebrate their fast approaching reunion in advance. "Camz surely you can wait just one more day?" Lauren laughed, having just returned to her bedroom from brushing her teeth. She had changed in to her pyjamas and clambered under her duvet, the alarm clock on her nightstand reading just after ten thirty. "I really don't think that I can," Camila told her seriously. She was lying on her side in her own bed, her laptop resting on the nightstand beside her pillow