weak ➸ camren

chapter 11 ➸ powerless

Lauren knew as soon as Camila disappeared down the hallway that she wasn’t going to the bathroom, considering she went in the complete opposite direction. Her first instinct was to get rid of the other girls and go make sure Camila was okay. She should’ve known better than allowing them to come over.

“What’s up with her?” Ally asked. Lauren knew she was trying to be understanding, but she couldn’t help but get annoyed. Maybe she understood Camila better than the other girls, and maybe that’s why they weren’t being as intuitive as she was.

“She hasn’t been feeling too good today,” Lauren shrugged. “You guys should probably just go… I doubt you’ll get anything out of her right now.”

“But we just got here…?” Normani asked.

“I know… I just, I should’ve told you ahead of time,” Lauren shrugged.

“She’s not going to get better here, Lauren.”

“Well then we’ll deal with that when the time comes, okay? But for now she’s been eating a little bit, and I’m not about to interrupt that,” Lauren said, finality in her voice.

“Lauren, we—”

“Guys, really, you should leave,” Lauren said. She shook her head and stood up. “Please.” Anxiously, she glanced back at the hallway where Camila had disappeared down.

Dinah rolled her eyes. Lauren tried not to snap at them. She related to them in a way. None of them fully understood what Camila was going through. Lauren just felt as if she was making a greater effort than her other three bandmates.

“I’ll text you guys later today, okay?” Lauren bit her lip. The other girls just nodded and followed Dinah out the front door. Lauren sighed when the door closed, and seconds later she was jogging down the hallway and up the stairs.

“Camz?” she called softly, tapping on the bedroom door. Camila hadn’t closed it all the way, and the door slowly creaked open. Lauren quickly hurried over to the small girl on the edge of the bed, holding her head in her hands and breathing heavily.

“What’s wrong?” Lauren asked, biting her lip and sitting down next to Camila.  She reached over, taking Camila’s hand, but the small girl flinched and nearly fell off of the bed, yanking her hand out of Lauren’s reach.

“I, uh, s-sorry,” Lauren stood up and took a step backwards. She was confused at what had gotten Camila this worked up.

“Leave me alone, Lauren,” Camila groaned. She was trying hard to hide how shaky her voice was, but failing miserably.

“I got the girls to leave… I figured that would help, I—“

“Shut up!” Camila snapped her head up, revealing just how bloodshot her eyes were. She shook her head and grabbed a pillow, burying her face in the fabric and groaning. Lauren noticed how fast she was breathing.

“Camila… you need to calm down…” Lauren said softly.

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Camila muttered. “I-It’s not that easy.”

“I don’t know why you’re so worked up…”

“Exactly. Go away, Lauren.” Camila huffed and stood up, throwing the pillow aside. She stormed out of the room and into the bathroom. Lauren just sighed when she heard the door slam.

What was she supposed to do? Camila wouldn’t even let her touch her. She couldn’t seem to say anything to calm her down. Lauren was powerless.

For some odd reason, this really bothered her. Lauren was always the kind of person that wanted to fix things. And when she couldn’t, she got frustrated. So that’s probably the reason why it was taking every ounce of strength in her to fight back tears.