ashes to ashes ➵ camren

7. all the shining lights

Listen while you read - 'Fairytale' by Milky Chance

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but, I thought your name was Lauren?"

Camila and Lauren both freeze the moment that Dinah eyes them both knowingly. Lauren's heart drops in her chest. This is it. She's dead. She has to be. There's no way she's going to be able to talk herself out of this one. But she has no other choice but to try.

"My name's Ariana," Lauren attempts to defend herself, at the same time that Camila sighs, lets her shoulders drop and announces: "She's not Ariana."

The moment they realize what the other has said, they're scrambling to correct themselves. Camila is rapidly pointing to Lauren and chanting "Ariana, Ariana" over and over, while Lauren is furiously shaking her head. Dinah just stares at the two in utter confusion.

"If your plan was to confuse me into secrecy, it's working," Dinah shakes her head, moving to sit cross legged on the bed and pausing for a few moments. Camila and Lauren are standing frozen in front of her, and Lauren slaps Camila's hand (which was still pointing at her) out of her face.

"Am I gonna have to figure this out on my own or are you going to give me any clues?" Dinah tilts her head to the side. When Lauren and Camila turn to look at one another, Dinah sighs and leans back on the bed. "I'll wait."

"She... I...." Camila stutters, looking at Lauren pleading. She knows they should have formed some sort of intricate story for her arrival beforehand, but they also hadn't expected Dinah to catch on so quickly. "She's..."

"I'm not her cousin," Lauren nudges Camila's foot with her own to silence her. "But this isn't her fault," she jumps to defend Camila.

"Yes it is," Camila shakes her head, literally pushing Lauren aside so she can step forward and gain Dinah's attention. "I'm the one who told her she could stay here. I'm the one who let her pose as my cousin. I'm—,"

"Okay, woah, not all at once," Dinah stands up, putting her hands on Camila's shoulders to silence the smaller girl.

Camila is visibly more stressed than Lauren. While Lauren stands quietly against the wall, Camila's face is turning bright red and she looks as if she's seconds away from tackling Dinah to the ground.

"Yo, breathe, Mila," Dinah laughs, carefully removing her hands from Camila's shoulders and holding them in the air as if she's surrendering. "I'm not going to rat your little friend out or anything. Just tell me where the hell she came from?"

"O'dell," Lauren steps up and shakes her head. "You guys were attacking right next to our town and it wasn't safe, we had to l—,"

"Woah, woah, okay," Dinah holds up a hand to stop Lauren from talking any further. "First off, don't say 'you guys' when referring to the government, yeah? None of us have any control over what they do."

"She's right," Camila adds quietly, nervously tugging at the hem of her shirt. "I-I... we... I'd never support anyone who did that. If I had the choice, I mean."

"Yeah," Dinah nods once. "And secondly, how the heck did you manage to get all the way over here by yourself..." she looks Lauren up and down. "In one piece?"

"I wasn't by myself," Lauren shakes her head. She feels Camila glaring at Dinah, as if she's asked some sort of intrusive question. For some reason, the brown eyed girl has been growing increasingly protective of her. Lauren's not sure how she feels about it.

"You weren't?"

Lauren subtly moves to the side to block Camila after Dinah asks her next question. Lauren doesn't mind answering them.