A Light in the Dark

Chapter 9

She wasn't very familiar with airports. She had actually never been in one. The night she had left Miami, she had driven her old car to New York. And despite the awful adventure she had experienced during that car ride, she had liked it more than airplanes. How could those gigantic masses of metal fly in the first place? Well, she knew how, of course, but still. To think that they were so high above the ground had made her more anxious than she had thought possible and Lauren might or might not have been the victim to that anxiety.

Camila sneaked a sideways glance at the green-eyed girl who was rubbing her hand while she looked around the terminal. Alright, so maybe she had caused the older girl a little bit of pain... it was her own fault, really. Lauren had insisted that she flew with her to Miami. Served her right.

Biting her lip, she let her gaze wander. She didn't know whom Lauren was looking for, but how could anyone find someone in that chaos? It seemed impossible.

"Ah, there he is!" Lauren suddenly called out and took Camila's hand. Well, apparently it was possible. "Come on, Camz!"

She quickly grabbed her bag and allowed Lauren to pull her along, as she dodged dozens of people. When Lauren abruptly let go of her hand, Camila was at first confused and worried that she might lose her among the masses. But then she noticed that they had obviously reached Lauren's destination.

Camila couldn't suppress a frown at the sight in front of her. Lauren had leapt into the arms of a dark-haired guy. And judging by the blatant making out in the middle of the airport, it had to be Luis. Grimacing slightly, she turned away, trying to ignore the scene they were creating. And the dull ache of her heart.

It was one thing to know that Lauren was in a relationship and obviously straight, but it was another to actually witness it. Oh, how she wished to be somewhere else...

"Babe, I missed you so much," she could hear the quiet voice of the green-eyed girl and she struggled to not roll her eyes. "I love you."

"Ditto," a deep voice replied and Camila scoffed. What kind of response was that? "Oh, who's this?"

"Oh! Right! Sorry, Camz, I totally forgot about you for a second..."

Ouch. Alright, that hurt. She turned her head back to them and forced a tiny smile. Her eyes met almost black ones. There was something eerily familiar about them... but as quickly as that thought came to mind, she shrugged it off. Of course she had seen those eyes before. Lauren had shown her a photo of that guy.

"Luis, this is my friend Camila. I told you about her, remember? And Camila, this is my boyfriend, Luis," Lauren introduced, her arms still wrapped around the guy's waist while he had one arm casually around her shoulders.

But she could play nice. She was a grown-up, she could be polite. With that thought, she extended her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Luis only raised an eyebrow and looked her up and down. "Oh yeah, your charity case. Right, Laur?"

Camila furrowed her brow and slowly let her hand fall to her side again. Before she could react properly, Lauren had already pulled out of his embrace and hit his arm.

"What the hell, Luis?!"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "What? That's the girl that had no friends and you took pity on her, isn't it? Or did I mix something up?"

Camila felt herself blushing and she looked towards the floor, trying to hide the tears that welled up in her eyes. Pity? Charity case? Was that all she was to Lauren?

"Luis, shut up! She's my friend and not because of pity or whatever you might think. Stop being rude!"

"I'm sorry, Laur. I guess I misunderstood. Wanna head to my car?"