mending the pieces ~ camren

chapter sixteen

Camila's POV

We've been driving for nearly an hour. We hardly talked but surprisingly, that didn't feel weird at all. We felt comfortable with how things were between us, nothing was forced.

But the growl coming from my tummy broke the silence and both of us chuckled.

"You hungry?" Lauren asked.

"Always." I responded immediately. She chuckled again.

"Look, there's a drive thru over there. Wanna stop? I need to pee anyway." she suggested pointing at the gross building on our right.

"Sure."

I took the right turn and parked the car. The restaurant looked incredibly scruffy and I could feel burnt food from my car. But food is food, and I wasn't going to discriminate. We headed to the place and Lauren was obviously in a rush.

"You do have to pee indeed." I stated and laughed.

She gave me an unimpressed look and quickened her walk. Damn.

"Do you want me to order anything for you?"

"Any burger is fine, I gotta go." She said with a grimace on her face as she walked in the direction of the restroom.

"Oh, grab me some coke too." she called.

Sure.

I walked up to the bar and a waiter looked at me, he was sort of handsome. He got closer and smiled lightly. I smiled back, not wanting to come off rude and waited for him to take my order.

I sat at the stool by the bar, waiting for our food and for Lauren. She appeared a minute later with relief written all over her face.

"Better?" I asked amused.

"Much." She responded shortly. "How much do I owe you?"

"What do you mean?" I questioned puzzled.

"For the food, how much was it?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. Today it was my treat." I answered easily.

"But you paid for the fuel already, and god knows how much longer we'll be riding around." She argued.

"I said don't worry. You'll make up for it next time." I said with hope for a next time.

"Okay." She smiled. She seemed pleased, so that must have been the confirmation of my hopes. Yay.

"There you go." The waiter appeared from the kitchen and put the paper bags on the counter.

"Thanks."

"Thank you." Both of us said.

"Let's take it outside, it smells here." Lauren suggested.

"My thoughts exactly." I breathed.

After I'd finished my French fries, I took out my salad and started eating that. Lauren was almost done with her burger and she was looking around, taking in our surroundings.

"It's beautiful out here, I've never been here." She spoke up.

I looked around myself, and it was indeed beautiful. We were surrounded by nothing in general. But if you looked closer, you paid more attention to the details.

There was a river making its way along the road, a dessert with all kinds of bushes spread farther than my eyes could reach, I also noticed a forest on the horizon and then there was the sleazy restaurant and the never ending road.

"Mhm," I agreed. "Me neither. Are you satisfied with your choice?" I asked.

"Definitely." She smiled.