The Girl Nextdoor

Chapter 67: Part 2

Narrators POV

That night Lauren couldn't sleep. Every time she tried to close her eyes she saw the blonde girl's face and she could almost feel her toxic touch skimming over every portion of her body underneath her girlfriend's hold. She tried to forget about what happened today. She did. She really did. But she couldn't forget her face. The second she opened the door, it was as if her memory took a permanent snapshot of the girl and now, couldn't find a way to destroy it. But what really kept Lauren thinking was the fact that she wasn't the same person anymore. Or atleast she didn't seem to be.

Her look, her hair, her personality, it all changed. She changed. But maybe, she had simply just become more herself. Perhaps the person she pretended to hate had been the person she had been all a long. Maybe it was all an act. A well devised plan to ruin her life. But why? Why did she have to ruin hers?

Lauren couldn't wrap her head around it. She couldn't begin to understand why she was her target. Whether she had always been this way. And why she gave into the thing she said she'd never do: become the heir of her own father's business.

The Cara she knew would have never accepted it. She'd run away from her fate. Just like Lauren's been doing for years. Cara was the type of person who would rather eat a bowl of nails for the rest of her life than subject to the system. But there she was. Running a multimillionaire company in a body that didn't seem to be hers.

She looked like a robot. Like she had been brainwashed. Her existence...it just didn't seem real.
And Lauren knew that. But what she didn't know if what they had was real or just one big lie. She didn't know. And she hasn't known for years. And the fact that maybe she would never know enraged her.

This person was the reason why she hasn't been able to live. She's been stuck in the same treacherous memory of that night since. And the only person who's been able to make her forget it was her girlfriend. But even she wasn't enough. Because when their day would end, the memory would come back and haunt her all over again.

For the whole night, Lauren watched her girlfriend sleep. Her calm rhythmic breaths was the only thing that kept her distracted. Hearing her breathe was music to her ears. And it wasn't just because she loved her, but rather because each breath signified the life of someone so beautiful.

Moments later, when the sun was peaking through the curtain, Camila began to stir.

In response, Lauren tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She then caressed her cheek as a warm smile traced her lips.

Camila slowly opened her eyes and smiled back at Lauren, "Hey."

"Hey."

"How did you sleep?"

"I didn't."

Camila furrowed her brows in concern, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Not really...I just couldn't stop thinking about what happened."

"That's understandable...I mean what she did, just reappearing like that...it wasn't okay."

"She always liked surprises."

"You hate surprises."

"I know."

"Ugh, I should've punched her when I had the chance."