This Is the Safest Place I've Ever Known

8

A/N: Hello. This sort of spiraled out of control and turned into a slightly angsty chapter. Eventually fluff will happen, I swear. 

Also, the POV switches around some, and I'm sorry that it does so in an awkward fashion. I am terrible.

Hopefully you read and enjoy though. :)

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Lauren jumped at the loud buzzing that came before the apartment was shrouded in complete darkness. She was standing in front of the pantry in the kitchen trying to find something to make for dinner. Carefully, she navigated towards the small living room where she knew her phone laid on the coffee table. As she picked it up, a knock on the door sounded.

"Lauren? Camila? You guys home?" the voice of their neighbor across from them called.

Lauren turned the flashlight on her phone on and went to answer it. "Hi, Brittany," she greeted as she opened the door.

"Hey. Just wanted to check on you guys if you were home," her neighbor responded.

"It's just me. Camila is elsewhere for the night."

Camila had left an hour ago to spend the weekend with her caregivers as per usual of a Friday night. Normally Lauren wouldn't have minded, but now that the power was out and everything was dark and kind of creepy, she didn't like being alone.

"Well, it might be a good idea for you to find somewhere to stay for the night," Brittany said. "I'd offer to let you stay with us, but Anna's out of town, and I'm working a night shift at the veterinary hospital."

Lauren shook her head. "It's fine. I'll figure something out. Camila's parents will probably let me stay the night if needed."

Part of her wondered if she could call Camila and ask to stay at the trio's house again, but she didn't want to do that. She didn't want to take advantage of anything, and the three didn't need to worry about her anyways. She'd either suffer through the power outage alone or call Mrs. Cabello.

Brittany looked down at her phone, and Lauren could see a small frown on her face in the glow of her screen. "Sounds like the power might be out for a while. Someone hit the transformer and damaged the power line," she said.

Lauren looked down at her own phone and saw an email notification from the building's landlord.

"Hopefully power's back up by tomorrow," Brittany stated. "But I would still suggest seeing if you could stay somewhere for the night, just to be safe."

Lauren nodded. "Yeah, I'll see," she said.

"Good. I'm headed to work, but I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

"Thanks, Brittany. I'll see about staying with Camila's parents for the night."

Lauren stepped back inside the apartment and shut the door, latching the lock behind her. She hadn't actually planned on calling Mrs. Cabello, but if the power was going to be out for hours, possibly a whole day, it would probably be better to do so. She really didn't like the dark.

Before she could place the call, her phone rang. Camila's name flashed on her screen.

Lauren answered and frowned slightly to herself. "Camz?"

"Are you okay?" Camila asked in lieu of a greeting. "I saw the email. The power's out?"

"Yeah. I don't know when it'll be back. Brittany stopped by to make sure we were okay. She said I should consider finding somewhere to stay for the night. I was about to call your mom."

"I'm sure she would let you stay with them for the night. Sofi would probably love that. Wait, hold on."

Lauren could hear someone talking on the other end of the phone, but she couldn't quite make out what was being said.