Serendipity Remastered

• Chapter 29 •

Y/N's POV

My fingers gently plucked the guitar strings, my feet pressing against the ledge of my deck. The ocean breeze sweeping around me while I soothed my thoughts with my music. Not caring if it would eventually be a hit or not and I breathed in deep with the waves coming in and out. Camila had called me last night after our Ellen performance and finally we had a long conversation that was normal. For the most part.

She gushed over the song and for just a moment in my overworked brain I was convinced it was just me overreacting. But just as my butterflies started to swarm full force I heard Lauren make her presence known. Camila stuttered away as she suddenly lost focus on what I was trying to tell her. I heard her voice turn from sweet and alluring to giddy and restless- Lauren was very close to the phone which only led me to believe that she was right next to Camila's ear. My heart ached when I sat in my studio waiting for her to come back to me. Her attention just automatically went to the green eyed woman without fail and I no longer had the energy to get angry.

After what seemed to be almost ten minutes straight of her telling me to hold on she came back. I mentioned how I didn't feel comfortable anymore with them two together again. Reminding her that Lauren was the girl who manipulated Camila into giving up herself whenever Lauren wanted. But that only pissed her off for some reason. She got upset at me saying that she knew that but it wasn't on the lines of manipulation or sexual tension. It was just friendship. But I knew it wasn't just friendship and I could no longer fight her on that.

Another phone call ended up with her hanging up on me and me sleeping alone when she stayed in her own apartment. My emotions were deteriorating ever so slowly while I wept only at night so I could finally get some sleep. I texted a good morning to her today but she didn't respond as usual. I had the day off so I decided it was best for me to just stay back and get in tune with myself again. I was at a constant point of wanting to cry or throw something at a wall but it was such a battle that my body just settled on dissociating.

It happened so fast. I barely blinked and almost eight months started to go down the drain. I could blame myself for not dropping everything to be with her and to listen to her troubles but I knew it would end up hurting me more. I did my best to balance our relationship and my work but she didn't think twice before putting all of her attention to the next person when she didn't get what she needed from me. All it took was one missed opportunity and one missed flight to Miami. A flight that Lauren actually ended up taking and taking my love with her.

I wasn't here. My heart really did belong to her and she was ripping it out of my chest like tape on skin. It would hurt less if she just got it over with and fucked her ex. Save me the emotional neglect she had been giving me the last month. It was just getting worse and it hurt so much knowing I was most likely going to have get off of this ride. For the both of us. Our mental health wouldn't survive each other especially when she didn't know what she wanted anymore. But she'd fight on me that as well.

"Bubs?" I heard the voice of an angel and I squinted my eyes under the California sun.

Erica appeared right in front of me as she blocked the sun from reaching my eyes and I smiled up at her very lightly.

"Hi." My voice lightly cracked and she cocked her head slowly.

"You okay?" She wondered and I knew she knew that I wasn't doing well.

She came over every day to check in on me and bring me some of her food just to end up showing me all of the dumb videos she saw throughout the day. She kept me company to keep myself from drowning myself in work again. She remained her distance from me and I really wished Lauren was like Erica. Erica never once hit on me or tried anything with me or told me anything about how she felt. Then again... she most likely didn't have feelings for me like that anymore despite our relationship that lasted a little bit over a year straight.