A Light in the Dark

Chapter 21

"Your lyrics are meaningless, you aren't expressing yourself, let the light in your life inspire you," Camila grumbled and chucked the pencil away. "Stupid Barnes... I'm not going to fail some stupid class because someone can't face the ugliness of this world... ugh, this is hopeless..."

She tore another page out of her notepad and crumbled it into a ball before throwing it over her shoulder. Thankfully she had enough time until the project was due, but the words of her professor were still haunting her.

"How am I even supposed to write a happy song, when he says stuff like that?" she muttered and glared at the blank page. "Ugh, find the light... what am I? A moth?"

Camila sighed and shoved the notepad away from her. It was useless to force it. She wouldn't be able to write something, if she was not inspired. Glancing up to the clock on her wall, she saw that it was almost 6 pm. Lauren would be home soon... that was what she had said, anyway.

After their lunch in the cafeteria, Dinah had told her to spend as much time as possible with the green-eyed girl. Not that she would mind. Her mood always improved when Lauren was around. Sometimes she still had those... dark thoughts, especially when she was alone and had too much time to think, but they went away as soon as Lauren smiled at her. It was weird.

An energetic knocking made her jump, before she quickly stood up and ran over to the door. Was it pathetic that alone the thought of seeing Lauren made her so giddy?

Shrugging it off, she opened the door, smiling brightly at the green-eyed girl in front of her. "Hello stranger!"

"Good evening, m'lady," Lauren greeted her in a British accent while holding a large paper bag in her hands. "I didn't know you still wear glasses. You look beautiful."

"Oh," Camila breathed out. She had forgotten that she had taken out her contacts... "Um, thank you," she added shyly.

"Aww, you're so cute when you blush," Lauren cooed. "But seriously, they make you look so... sophisticated... and kinda sexy."

Those words didn't really help her to cool down and she felt her cheeks growing hotter by the second. Had she not known that Lauren always meant every word she said, she would have thought that she was only kidding... but did she just really use that word to describe her? Did Lauren find her sexy? Or were it just the glasses? Did it mean that she was indeed attracted to Camila like Dinah had said or was it just wishful thinking?

"U-uh... I... Y-you wanna come in?" she stuttered and grimaced. Great, why did she always have to be so awkward?

"That would be nice," Lauren said, smiling slyly at her.

"Uh... okay then..."

After a short pause, Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Well... are you letting me in or...?"

"Right!" She wanted to slap herself. What was wrong with her? "Sorry. Of course, uh... come in."

She opened the door wider and Lauren giggled as she passed her. Dinah would have killed her, if she had witnessed that scene. Camila glared at the floor. Why couldn't she just be normal for once instead of being so embarrassing?

With a heavy sigh, Camila shut the door a little more forcefully than she had intended to do. Turning around, she almost walked into Lauren. "Ugh, sorry..."

"Hey..." Lauren's voice became more serious. "Stop beating yourself up, okay? I think it's adorable when you get all shy around me."

Camila slowly looked up and met the warm green eyes that looked at her with such fondness that she wasn't sure if she was seeing correctly.