yellow ➸ camren

three

Lauren was glad none of her roommates had tried to follow her. She'd only walked across the street to the small park. Lauren always came here when she needed to think. And boy, was there a lot to think about.

She knew she should give Camila a chance, but it was just so hard. When she looked at the girl, she saw the same face that had read her private texts aloud in front of the entire cafeteria. She should be allowed to resent her, right?

But at the same time, the Camila who'd shown up at their door seemed completely different. All four roommates knew something was up, but none of them had any idea what it was.

Lauren groaned, sitting down on a bench in the back of the park and bringing her hands up to comb through her hair. She lifted her head, pausing for a moment. A patch of daisies along the edge of the path caught her eye. It was a miracle they were still surviving, considering how close they were getting to winter. Immediately inspired, Lauren pulled her sketchbook out of her backpack and held her pencil in-between her teeth while she flipped to a clean page.

The reason Lauren loved drawing was because she could capture the essence of a moment. She enjoyed having to take the time and study her subject matter, to know every curve and line, every highlight and shadow, and every small imperfection. It was how she found beauty in things.

She started off with the curved stem of the daisies, making sure to highlight the glare of the sun against the grass surrounding the flowers. Her pencil scratched against the thick paper, working at an impressive speed. Her hair hung down in front of her face and she took her bottom lip in between her teeth in concentration.

Her hand froze when she looked back up, though. Her view of the flowers had been blocked by a small figure. Lauren instantly recognized her shirt.

"Camila, what are y-?" Lauren's voice trailed off when Camila turned around, holding a handful of flowers. The daisies that Lauren had been drawing were now gathered together into Camila's hands. The smaller girl looked more than pleased with herself, and she held up the flowers happily for Lauren to see.

"I found them," Camila smiled widely, walking over to Lauren and practically shoving the flowers in her face. Lauren snapped, shoving Camila's hands out of her face, which caused the flowers to fall to the ground.

"Ouch," Camila mumbled, bending down and picking up each flower individually, holding them up to the sun as if to check if they were alright. Lauren crossed her arms and stood in front of the younger girl.

"Why would you pick those?" Lauren huffed, slamming her sketchbook shut and tossing it back into her backpack. Camila stood up and hugged the flowers to her chest.

"They were pretty," she smiled, looking down at the daisies and giggling.

"Yeah, well guess what?" Lauren asked, not waiting for a response. "You just killed them." The green eyed girl motioned to the patch of grass where Camila had found the flowers.

"What?" Camila whispered, looking concerned. She knelt down next to the patch of grass and patted it gently. "Oh," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Sometimes you just need to admire pretty things from far away," Lauren sighed. As if she already wasn't frustrated, this only made things worse.

Camila looked up from the grass for a moment, meeting Lauren's eyes. "Like you?" she asked, tilting her head to the side like a confused puppy.

Lauren just rolled her eyes. "Goodbye, Camila," she muttered, grabbing her bag and storming off down the path before the other girl had a chance to respond. Camila watched Lauren walk away until the girl was merely a speck in the distance.