Trials & Tribulations

Chapter 32. "Bye,"

Lauren stirred awake slowly, her consciousness gradually returning to her with each passing second, her eyes flickering open hesitantly, the light in the room almost blinding compared
to the all-encompassing darkness of sleep. She tightly shut her eyes closed for a moment, forcing her lids together in order to prepare for the sudden and inevitable influx of light before inhaling deeply, her lungs sucking in a deep, content breath and opening them again, this time fully, to greet the new day. Lauren frowned briefly in response to the view that first met her eyes, the unfamiliar bedroom décor confusing her momentarily before she recalled that she was in fact at Normani's house and not in her own bed at home. Awareness of the events of last night slowly began to return to her as she lay there; the memories of the school dance, of her night spent with Camila, the profoundly honest conversations that they'd had, extending throughout the night and into the early hours of the morning, culminating with the first time that they'd ever pleasured each other. 

The memory made Lauren blush and she became astutely aware of the tangle of limbs around her, the weight of something heavy pressed against her chest, the numbness which was slowly creeping up her right arm towards her shoulder. Lauren angled her head a little to look at the cause of her symptoms and she smiled as they fell over Camila's sleeping form which was pressed closely into her side. Lauren's arm was enveloped around the smaller girls' torso protectively, wedged between Camila's body and the mattress, the blood vessels and nerves compressed and protesting uncomfortably, as a result of their confinement. She pulled her arm out from under Camila carefully so as not to wake her girlfriend, who's chest was rising and falling steadily as she still slept. Once free, Lauren flexed the fingers and elbow of her arm rapidly, trying to encourage the blood to return to the now somewhat ischaemic limb, causing pins and needles to spread throughout it. Having finally restored some sensation to her arm, Lauren returned it to rest across Camila's shoulders, hugging her girlfriend closely.

Lauren's fingertips started to play mindlessly with the long dark locks of Camila's soft hair which was spread messily across her own chest. Camila's head rested just beneath Lauren's right collar bone, her face turned away towards the window as she dozed so that it was obscured from Lauren's view. Camila's arm was draped across Lauren's stomach, her hand hanging limply on the other side of the bigger girls' trunk, suspended loosely in the air above the bed. One of Camila's legs was wrapped around the pair of Lauren's, her small foot tucked between Lauren's ankles. Lauren lifted her left hand to rub small gentle circles on Camila's lower back where the skin was exposed, her t-shirt having ridden up as she moved around in the night. The duvet had slipped down so that it was burying the back of Camila's thighs and Lauren paused for a moment to pull it up a little so that it covered the smaller girl, enveloping her body completely until just below the shoulder blades. Lauren leaned down and kissed the top of her girlfriend's head, her lips lingering there as she inhaled the sweet smell of Camila's coconut shampoo. Lauren moved her right hand slightly from around Camila's shoulders to play soothingly with the loose strands of hair at Camila's temple, her fingers brushing the skin beneath 0them softly.

She felt Camila stir a little beneath her touch, her chin dropping down a little so that her face buried further into Lauren's chest. They stayed like this for a while, Lauren loathing the idea of waking Camila up with the knowledge of how difficult she often found it to experience an undisturbed sleep. Half an hour must have passed in contented silence, Lauren's arms wrapped around the sleeping form of Camila until, as is inevitable, peace was broken suddenly, Dinah
erupting into the room unannounced, pushing the door open noisily.

"Morning!" Dinah exclaimed when her eyes fell on Lauren and Camila knotted together on the bed.

"Shhh," Lauren hissed. Her voice was low, barely above a whisper. "Camila's still sleeping."