Through Her Eyes (Camren)

Chapter 12: The Opposite of Broken

There was hair in Lauren’s mouth.

“…gurgfk,” said Lauren, batting at the offending hair. Her fingers caught soft skin instead, the curve of an ear.

The bed shifted strangely below and Lauren blinked herself awake.

Even in sleep, Lauren had not forgotten that Camila was there. Even as she dreamed, she was always subconsciously aware of Camila’s presence, the warmth of Camila’s body close to her, closer, closer. So Lauren could not say she was all that shocked to wake up with Camila beside her. Pleasantly surprised, but not shocked.

Lauren had not, however, expected Camila to be quite as close as she was. Camila’s hair was spread out in a brown, silky sheet over her shoulder and directly in front of Lauren’s face, the tips of her long hair ticking Lauren’s nose. Camila was cuddled as close to Lauren on the bed as humanly possible without clinging like a limpet. One of Camila’s feet was hooked around Lauren’s, and Camila’s fingers were still threaded through her.

Lauren blew the hair from her lips, rolling slightly away and untangling her foot. Camila huffed and when Lauren tried to unhook her fingers from Camila’s, she gave a sleepy whine and woke, blinking up at Lauren fuzzily, confused.

“Good morning,” Lauren said, voice unintentionally soft as Camila fluttered her eyelashes, staring at Lauren like she wasn’t quite sure how Lauren had got there.

“Lolo?” Camila asked, sounding strangely unsure of herself.

“Yeah.” Lauren found herself smiling because Camila wasn’t, and one of them should, right? “Lolo.”

Camila’s face broke out into a responding grin and she clenched her fingers tighter around Lauren’s. “Lolo! Good morning!”

“I think that might be the first time it’s actually been morning when you’ve said that,” Lauren observed, not all put off when Camila wouldn’t let her have her hand back.

Camila hardly seemed concerned by the time of day. She watched Lauren with fondness, her eyes bright for such an early hour. There were creases from the fabric of the pillow on Camila’s cheek, her hair uncombed and her lips dry and chapped looking. Lauren watched her back, feeling just as fond and with hair just as messy as Camila’s.

“Oh!” Camila’s eyes went big suddenly and she bit nervously as her bottom lip as she reached for something. Camila’s fingers met Lauren’s forearm and Lauren turned as Camila ran her thumb in a soothing motion against Lauren’s skin.

“Don’t hurt,” Camila said. “I won’t let you hurt.”

“What?” Camila’s eyes were big and worried, maybe scared. Lauren would have reached out to… something. To comfort her, but Camila had her fingers wrapped desperately around Lauren’s arm and Lauren didn’t think she’d appreciate her moving it away.

Camila ran the pads of her fingers over Lauren’s skin, making her shiver and recoil in turn. The shallow cut from the night before stung as Camila touched it and when Lauren flinched away involuntarily, Camila flinched back too.

“Sorry!” Camila responded immediately, hand frozen in the air above Lauren’s arm, clenching and unclenching awkwardly. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”

“It’s just a cut,” Lauren assured her, because Camila seemed truly worried, unsure of herself in a way Lauren rarely ever saw her. “Hey, it’s okay.” She grabbed Camila’s hand again, cupping her fingers and stroking Camila’s knuckles with her thumb in an imitation of Camila herself.

Lauren had never known how to comfort another person before but maybe Camila could teach her.

“I’ll fix it,” Camila said with wide eyes, slipping out of the bed before Lauren could stop her. “Come here, I’ll fix you.”