This Is the Safest Place I've Ever Known

6

A/N: Unpredictable posting schedule strikes again. This chapter is 3.5k words, so hopefully that makes up a bit for the shorter length of last chapter. 

No proofreading so all mistakes are mine.

Maybe read enjoy? :)

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Lauren looked around in awe as she took in the second floor of the house. The staircase led to an open sitting room, and then at one end there were two bedrooms. A bathroom was located next to one of the bedrooms, and then a hallway followed. In the sitting room, there was a large couch taking up the back wall, and a small coffee table in the middle. Underneath the coffee table, Lauren could see a small container that appeared to be holding a surplus of crayons, and several stacks of paper and some coloring books.

"The master bedroom and another bedroom are at the end of the hall," Camila stated when she noticed Lauren looking down the hallway. "I'm pretty sure Ally uses the other bedroom down there sometimes. I know sometimes she works really weird hours, and Normani and Dinah have complained once or twice about being woken up."

"She said she's a nurse, right?" Lauren asked and got a nod in return. "That makes sense."

"Yeah. Also, I'm pretty sure Normani once said it's also for when Ally gets wine drunk. I've never actually seen that happen, so I have no idea what that means."

Lauren scrunched her face a little in discomfort. She did not like the sound of that.

"Hey, they don't drink when I'm here," Camila assured, gently putting a hand on the older girl's shoulder. "And even if they did, they wouldn't be like him."

"You don't know that," Lauren mumbled, idly picking at the end of her hoodie.

"Not for sure, but based on the months I've been with them, and the trouble I have raised, I can almost guarantee they aren't. They're good, Lo. Even if you end up changing your designation after this, at least you'll know that they're good, and I'm safe with them."

Lauren nodded but didn't reply. She briefly considered what would happen if she chose not to change her designation in the end, but then quickly nixed that train of thought. She still needed to see more.

"What are we going to do?" she finally asked.

Camila grinned. "I wanna show you my room," she said, pushing Lauren towards one of the rooms next to them.

"Woah," Lauren gasped softly in awe as she looked around the room.

The room itself wasn't anything too crazy, but it was more than Lauren had really expected. The walls were half light gray and half lavender purple, though Camila had several movie and tv show posters covering the walls. The ceiling was decorated with dozens of what Lauren assumed were glow in the dark star stickers surrounding larger stickers of the solar system. Camila's bed was surprisingly made and covered by a striped comforter of various shades of purple, and matching pillows. A large amount of stuffed animals, ranging from teddy bears to dinosaurs and everything in between, littered the bed and filled one of the chests along the wall. Lauren assumed that the other one contained toys, but knowing Camila, it could have housed more stuffed animals.

"You really do have an army," Lauren said, taking in everything.

"I wouldn't lie about that. My stuffed animals are serious business."

"They let you decorate this room?"

Camila nodded as she kicked off her shoes and set them by the door. She motioned for Lauren to do the same. "Mhmm. A couple of weeks after I first spent a full weekend over, when we decided this arrangement was going to work, they asked if I wanted to decorate the room."