[EDITED DECEMBER2018]
"Are you going to tell me what happened? If you weren't with Felicity, where were you? You look so pasty I could use you as a chalk."
Dinah tried again after getting ready for work, trying a different approach this time. She kept her tone soft, posing her curiosity as a question that would allow Lauren to choose between answering or not despite the desire to scold her for her behavior towards Camila.
She found Lauren sitting on the dining table, hunched over her beloved sketch book, which doubled as her journal. She'd been experimenting on a new art medium, a black gel pen. Her first attempt was less than satisfactory, having found difficulty in manipulating the shade of the color and the rigid tip of the pen. The polar bear she could paint was far more superior to the one she just sketched.
Lauren closed her journal and resigned the pen atop it. She lifted her head, a satisfied smirk already in place at the thought of her brilliant plan but the rest of her body was lax, her chin propped up on an elbow perched on the table.
"So, tell me about Camila." She didn't bother to ask why Dinah was dressed for work, she was used to her working on weekends.
"She just moved out of a family friend's." Dinah humored her, holding on to the last shred of her patience. "She said she had only been there for a month, looking for a job and another place to stay."
"Has she always been in Chicago?"
"I don't know."
"Boyfriend?" Lauren continued, the glimmer in her eyes brightened as she asked another question. "Girlfriend?"
"Lauren!" Dinah exclaimed, chucking her purse onto the table, startling Lauren. "What the hell happened? I'm worried about you. Damn it!"
"She cheated, okay?" Lauren stood up abruptly, matching her stance as if to make up for the way her voice broke. Fury coursed like molten lava in her veins, air felt like poison, like every breath was choking her, squeezing her chest. She tried but the dam finally broke as the first teardrop traced her cheek. "She hated that I worked too much. That I didn't have enough time for her."
"I'm so sorry." Dinah grimaced, recoiling at the revelation. She was quick to recover and managed to draw Lauren in for a hug, clutching her tight when she felt a sob rack her limp body.
"It hurts." Lauren mumbled against her shoulder, eyes squeezed shut as she endured the onslaught, the storm in her chest.
"I know. It's going to be okay."
-
"Hey, Mom. I just called to let you know that I moved out of Aunt Susan's and I got myself a job."
Camila paced her room, a phone pressed against her ear. She looked around and smiled at what she saw, her made bed, the nightstands, the desk and the chair. The violin case still nestled in the middle of her second suitcase reminded her to keep going and the barren walls gave her a sense of comfort, seeing it as a chance for a new life, a blank slate. And she was happy with her decision.
The person on the other end of the line almost ruined it all.
She'd been dreading that phone call since she hatched her plot. It had taken her months to set everything in motion and it was without Sinu's help, the person she thought would be there through it all.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Hurt was palpable in her words and Camila could only cringe but knew she could not offer anything to appease her.
"The less people who know, the better I guess."
YOU ARE READING
The Other Roommate (camren)
FanfictionWhen Camila Cabello moved into an apartment, she thought she came prepared. But of all the things she expected, being thrown into Lauren Jauregui's ploy against her cheating ex-girlfriend was not one of them. It would have been a lot easier if she...
