For Me This is Heaven (Camren)

Chapter 14

You lose track of time in a hospital. I tried not to compare it to solitary confinement, unaware of the minutes, hours, days passing. But I almost forgot how long I stayed. The small, two seat couch had become my new home because I couldn't bring myself to leave her.

I ignored every protest, especially when she said she felt bad that I hadn't gone home even when she would be sleeping for half the day. I would stay up and watch her and look at the machines and monitors as if I had any idea what any of them were indicating. But they all stayed the same and that was comforting to me. It meant she was still the same as she was when I first saw her. She was still okay.

Well, as okay as she could be.

It was probably around three days straight I hadn't left the hospital but it felt like I had been there forever. I remember waking up uncomfortably with the worst pain in my neck and I opened my eyes only to realize that Lauren and I weren't alone in her room.

I was used to her doctors and nurses coming in every now and then or Taylor and her father. Chris had gone back upstate to go back to school but that was all I had ever heard from Lauren's family for as long as I had known her. To me she just had a brother, a sister, and a dad.

I wasn't opposed to meeting her family nor was I pushing her to introduce me to any of the other members. It's just I had always just found it odd that I never knew anyone outside of her immediate family when she knew my entire family tree.

I chalked it up to the rest of them not being as accepting but we never talked about it. So naturally I had no idea what to do when I woke up from an impromptu nap to find a woman who looked to be in her late sixties sitting in a chair beside Lauren's bed holding her hand.

I sat up straighter and stretched, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and watched as the woman's gaze landed on me and she smiled my way. I couldn't explain why I felt nervous but I did and I offered a smile back but said nothing at all.

"You must be Camila," she started. "Mike told me I would most likely run into you."

"He did?"

"I asked how I would know who she is and he told me to look for the girl who looks like she lives on the couch," she explained and I couldn't help but laugh a little. I stood from my spot and put my messy hair up in a ponytail to look somewhat presentable.

"Yeah, that's me."

"It's nice to finally meet you."

She offered me her hand and I took a shot in the dark as I shook it carefully; I still wasn't sure of how people in her family knew me or if they knew me at all.

"You're Lauren's grandmother."

"And you're the girlfriend no one has met," she said and I opened my mouth to say something but she continued before I could. "It's okay, sweetie. I don't expect Lauren to come all the way to Florida to pay visits anymore; I come when I can. She always talks about you though."

"You came from Florida to see her?"

"Well it was tough last minute but I thought it would be a nice surprise for her."

I smiled and looked down at my sleeping girlfriend. She had the thin hospital blanket up to her stomach and her hand laid across it. She didn't look as pale as she did the other day and she had showered so she looked more put together which was a nice change over the last few days.

"I'm sure it'll make her so happy that you're here," I told her and she let go of Lauren's hand.

"Well she can't be too sad with you by her side the whole time."