A Light in the Dark

Chapter 6

Camila sipped on her hot cocoa in silence. Her eyes darting between the clock in her living room and the green-eyed girl that was sitting in front of the table. She knew that she wouldn't have any clue what to do, but Lauren was working her way through the dozens of folders, bills and bank statements like it was her second nature.

It had been a few hours since their intense talk about one of Camila's major problems and Lauren had insisted that she could take a look at everything. Declaring that she should be able to look through simple financial stuff because she was studying business. Camila had just shrugged and let her do whatever she wanted. She was still too exhausted from the events that had taken place.

Of course, she started to feel slightly guilty when she noticed how much time it seemed to consume. Lauren had surely planned her day differently than what she was doing right now.

Camila bit her lip and shook her head. Lauren was stubborn and determined to find a way to help her out. It was the first time in her life that she actually had accepted help and she struggled to come to terms without feeling guilty about it.

She straightened up when Lauren let out a deep sigh and rubbed the bridge of her nose, leaning back.

"Okay, so... I have now a vague idea about your situation," Lauren said and rubbed her neck.

She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Vague? Lauren had studied those papers for hours, filling countless of pages with notes and all sorts of tables or charts!

"And I think you have two options, or maybe three. Personally, I wouldn't recommend the fourth one."

Well, that were more than she had thought...

"First one, you get a second job. It will be really stressful, of course, to juggle two jobs and your time for studying and attending your classes," she explained. "Though I'm not sure how – and I mean no offense – but how you will cope with the additional stress."

Camila nodded and grimaced. Lauren had every right to doubt her abilities. Hell, she was doubting herself too. "So, what's the second one?"

Lauren looked up from her notes. "That one might be more challenging. You can get a cheaper apartment, but I know that these are some of the cheapest in the city that aren't in questionable neighborhoods, so... yeah. Another option that would definitely help, but that's the one I wouldn't recommend under any circumstances, would also be to stop your education at NYU. If you only looked at it from the financial point of view, their tuition is very high and you could afford this apartment while working full-time at that diner with no problems at all. But that would be a waste of your education."

Camila sighed. She had done everything in her power to keep studying. It had always been her dream to graduate from NYU and she wasn't sure if she could find any purpose to live for when another huge part of her life vanished. "What's the last one? You said you had four, but you only told me three."

Lauren grinned sheepishly at her and ran her fingers through her hair. She was doing that a lot. And she meant a lot. But it was cute and really hot at the same time, so who was she to complain?

"Well... you could always share an apartment with someone?"

She frowned. "With a complete stranger? I'd rather not..."

"Uh, I kind of... meant with me..." Lauren mumbled, blushing furiously.

Camila's head snapped up. Did she just imagine it or did Lauren really utter those words?

"I mean, you obviously don't have to and it does sound a little creepy, now that I think about it," the green-eyed girl rambled. "But I just thought, why not? My apartment is a little bigger than yours and you would only pay half the rent that you pay for this one and... I'm really not a creep, I just..."