Trials and Tribulations

Chapter 80

The storm was over. Lauren was almost certain of that. She'd known that it had been slowly passing overhead these last few months; in fact, she'd known it had been receding ever since she and Camila had sat down with Rachel at Jimmy's diner and agreed to put their troubled past with her behind them. Lauren had felt that indisputable shift in weather almost immediately following that day. She'd been acutely aware of the subtle change of tide; how one day at a time the skies had gradually been clearing, the wind dying down around them both, the waves settling beneath their feet. However, it was the evening that she and Camila had

laid with one another on the beach following prom that had truly marked its end. They'd stayed together that night under the stars (the two of them nestled against one another on the blanket that Camila had brought with her) until the sun had risen low on the horizon and bathed them both in its glorious light. Side by side they'd watched a new dawn break and with it, the storm that had been harassing them for the best part of the past year. At last the turbulent water that she and Camila had been sailing had settled completely and instead of the ferocious waves that had been coursing against them at every turn they were faced with a sea so smooth that they had practically glided through it towards their ultimate destination. They had finally made it. Their difficult voyage had come to an end and they were no longer sailing to the promise of an idyllic paradise because they'd reached it. They'd weathered the storm together and all that was left for them to do now was moor in the harbour and step on to solid ground where the land was firm and unyielding beneath their feet; where the glow of the sun was warm against their faces, the bird's song music to their ears and the landscapes undeniable beauty a compliment to their eyes. The only obstacle that still remained between them and this magnificent utopia was the impending trial, and it was so close now that Lauren could almost smell the sweet scent of the flowers which adorned the Garden of Eden that awaited them on just the other side of it. "Ow," Lauren complained as something solid collided with her ribs painfully and

succeeded in swiftly diverting her attention away from her silent reflections. "What was that for?" she questioned, turning in the direction the assault had come from to find Dinah eyeing her closely. Lauren had a mild look of annoyance on her face and couldn't help but sound more than a little aggrieved by the sudden disturbance to her meditations. "You're staring," Dinah laughed, her eyes flitting in the same direction that Lauren's had been focused to find Camila building a sandcastle with Sofi closer to the shoreline of the beach. "I am not," Lauren said as her gaze returned to her girlfriend again. "Yes you are," Dinah disagreed, a throaty chuckle escaping her lips. "You're staring at her and you have been for the last ten minutes." "I'm not allowed to stare at her?" Lauren asked her incredulous. "Not at Sofi," Dinah teased playfully. "She's six. It's a little bit inappropriate don't you think?" "God, you're such an ass," Lauren said, hitting Dinah on the arm and rolling her eyes at her friend. She returned her gaze to Camila, a content smile appearing on her face as she studied the small brunette who was tousling her younger sister's hair playfully. Lauren saw Sofi whisper something in to Camila's ear in response to the gesture and the older girl threw back her head and laughed animatedly at whatever it had been. "You're smiling too," Dinah observed; her voice soft as she studied Lauren. The corners of her mouth turned up in to a similar expression reflexively at the

greeneyed girl's obvious contentment. "It's nice to see her so happy isn't it?" Dinah asked, placing a hand on Lauren's shoulder in understanding. "Yeah," Lauren said quietly, lowering her hand to Dinah's knee and squeezing it lightly in acknowledgement, her eyes never leaving her girlfriend. "It is." They continued to watch Camila as Sofi scooted closer to her, the smaller girl wrapping her arms around her sisters' shoulders affectionately as Camila levelled out the sand that they'd collected in their bucket in order to create another turret for their sandcastle. When she'd finished, Camila lifted one hand up to rub Sofi's forearm tenderly and the smaller girl kissed her quickly on the cheek before taking the bucket from her grasp and tipping it upside down next to the rest of their creation. Camila leant forward on to her knees and carefully helped Sofi to lift the bucket up, the six year old jumping up and down excitedly on the spot when it came away and left a perfectly formed and ideally shaped pile of sand behind it. Camila held up her hand for Sofi to high five and the younger girl obliged enthusiastically, Camila's fingers enclosing around her sisters for a brief moment before she released them again. Lauren felt her smile grow wider as she admired the obvious transformation that Camila had undergone since she'd first met her. She was so different now that she was almost unrecognisable as the person Lauren had first encountered almost ten months ago. The deeply troubled girl that she'd approached in the school hallway had completely disappeared that night on the beach following prom,