The Fall (Camren)

The Moon is a Friend for the Lonesome

She wondered if it would become a thing, sitting on the bus roof when she was upset.  A reprieve in the bad weather meant that Danny would allow another rooftop visit, her watery eyes and trembling lip probably helped. It was freaking cold though; Lauren’s butt was freezing on the cold plastic. It was -7 with a high chance of snow according to Siri, which Lauren guessed probably meant a heatwave was coming, lying little fuckwit.

She pressed send on the text she had written out to Brad, the third one so far. It just simply said, ‘SOS.’ None of them had been read, so with a huff of annoyance she stuffed her phone back into her sweatshirt pocket.

Shivering, Lauren wrapped her scarf more tightly around her, covering her face and pulling her grey beanie down to cover her ears. She was regretting her decision to forego a jacket in lieu of her oversized sweatshirt.

The stars weren’t as visible tonight as they were on her last rooftop excursion, in fact she couldn’t see any through the cloud coverage. The moon however was extremely prevalent. It seemed bigger now than she had ever seen it, shining down and illuminating the area in iridescent blue.

She liked how it was always there, the moon, even when you couldn’t see it, it was there. Hidden, invisible, sometimes halved, sometimes full and strong like tonight.

Camila was like the moon to her, sometimes she was so open and visible but there would always be a side of Camila that remains hidden. You only see a small percentage of the moon just like you only certain parts of people, especially the people you like. You never see all of who they are, not really. The rest, the dark side of the moon, is all imagined, you create the parts you can’t see in your head, dreaming up their hidden parts and it’s never what you expect.

Imagining the parts of Camila that are hidden are nothing compared to the things she imagined she was doing on her ‘date’ with that wanna be Bieber boy. Lauren couldn’t stand the thought of her hand in someone else’s. The thought that Austin might put his arm around her, compliment her, delicately push a lock of her hair behind her ear. It made her feel physically ill.

The echo of voices nearby sounded, she groaned and reclined back on the roof and willed them to go away, she needed to be alone at times like this. However, the voices neared and suddenly she recognised the lilt and tone of Camila’s voice.

Then the low tone of Austin’s laughter rang in her ears and she felt the distinct urge to punch a hole through the polyfibre rooftop. Austin and Camila stopped directly underneath her, continuing their conversation. Lauren panicked slightly unsure of what to do, should she make her presence know? It’d look a tad odd, she decided to remain hidden.

‘…so the string can get tangled and stuff but it can never break.’ Camila finished. Lauren bolted upright; Camila was telling him about the red string of fate? Lauren didn’t know what to feel, her heard hammered in her chest, she felt something distinctly like disappointment rise in her chest.

‘That sounds ridiculous,’ Austin said and Lauren could hear the mocking in his voice. ‘It’s just so unrealistic.’

Lauren rolled her eyes, it wasn’t supposed to be taken literally, it was hyperbole. Numbnuts probably wouldn’t even know what that meant.

‘So, you never answered me when I asked about a second date.’ Austin continued, Lauren bit down hard on her lip. She yanked her beanie down over her eyes willing this to just be some kind of nightmare.

‘Because I was trying to tell you that my string is attached to someone else, not you.’

Lauren’s ears pricked up at Camila’s words, she peered back out from under her hat.

‘Also, this wasn’t a date Austin.’

Lauren did the world’s quietest fist pump, letting a grin slip onto her face.

‘Come on Camila, we had fun right?’

‘I like you Austin, I do. Just not like that, okay?’

Lauren breathed out a sigh of relief; it came out as a smoky mist due to the cold. She wafted it in a panic, hoping they didn’t notice.

‘Fine, I get it you don’t want to date me but I’m here all night,’ Austin’s voice lowered, Lauren had to slide to the edge to hear better, risking a peek over the ledge of the roof, ‘we can have a little fun right?’ He moved into Camila’s personal space.

‘I don’t think so.’ Camila said, pushing him back with a gentle hand.

As soon, as Lauren saw him brush her hand away she immediately went on the defensive, if he didn’t leave in two seconds she would have to do something, her fists clenched unconsciously.

‘C’mon you know you w-‘

‘No, I really don’t.’ Camila interrupted, he didn’t budge however. Lauren swivelled around on the smooth plastic and made her way to the ladder; she slipped down and made her way around the bus quickly.

Austin’s hands were now either side of Camila, effectively pinning her against the bus. He was whispering something to her that Lauren had no desire to hear.

Lauren came up behind the boy and grabbed his ear then twisted sharply and tightly. Austin let out a pained yelp and dropped immediately to his knees, Lauren kept a firm hold on his ear the entire time.

‘Ow! Fuck, stop it, stop!’

‘She said no you skeezeball.’

‘Lauren!?’ Camila said sounding shocked.

Lauren crouched slightly so she could talk into Austin’s free ear. Her voice came out much calmer than her internal state was feeling. ‘If you try anything like that again, if you talk to her, even look at her funny I will do this-‘ She twisted harder, he let out another shriek, ‘to your balls. Understand?’

‘Yes, yes, ow fuck, yes!’ Austin whimpered.

Lauren let go of his ear and watched as he stood quickly and rubbed his reddened appendage, turning to glare at Lauren.

‘Crazy bitch.’ He muttered, ignoring Camila and stalking off into the night.

Lauren walked over to Camila; the younger girl looked shook up. ‘You okay?’ She asked.

Ignoring her question, Camila asked, ‘Were you spying on me?’

‘What? No,’ Lauren saw the smaller girls frame start to shake, ‘You’re shaking Camz.’ Lauren reached out, but Camila stepped away.

‘I’m fine.’

‘No, you’re not.’

‘He almost stole my first kiss.’ She looked accusingly at Lauren, and Lauren struggled to understand what exactly she had done wrong.

Camila pushed herself from the bus and started to walk away.

‘Where are you going?!’Lauren yelled after her.

‘For a walk.’

Lauren sighed up at the sky watching as the moon became completely hidden by dark clouds; sometimes she really didn’t understand Camila.