The Pursuit of Camila Cabello

Chapter Twenty One: The Climax

Lauren didn't know what to do. What the fuck was she supposed to say? All she could do was sit with her jaw hung open and struggle to breathe. All the air in her lungs vanished at the sight of her.

She barely registered Julian's words. It was something about leaving them, she thought. All she clearly knew was that she swaggered passed Camila — no, this was Karla — and shut the door behind him. Then it was just the two of them.

Karla took a step towards her, smirk still in place and a smug grin on her face. Lauren tried to say something but found that she couldn't force out anything. All she could do was stare.

The sound of Karla's heels clicking against the stone floor echoed off the walls and assaulted Lauren's ears. She took Julian's seat, her eyes never once leaving Lauren. She was raking her eyes up and down her body as if to memorise the sight of her.

"Hello, Lauren," Karla said, the words rolling off her tongue easily, "I'm sure you have a few questions."

Lauren had a thousand questions. Why was she here? How did she know Julian? Why did he call her Karla? Just what the fuck was going on? But she couldn't utter a word. She simply sat there, jaw hung and eyes bulging.

Karla raised a perfect eyebrow, asking, "What's wrong? Cat's got your tongue?"

Lauren didn't understand her own reaction. She didn't understand why she suddenly straightened her back against the chair. Why she clenched her jaw and scowled at the woman opposite her. She supposed it was because of the tone, the mocking and patronising tone. She remembered mirroring this exact pose as she established herself into a community that inherently never took her kind seriously. She supposed this was her automatic response to this tone.

All she knew for sure was that this was not her Camila — this was a woman named Karla Estrabao. She wore Camila's face but instead of making her heart flutter, it shrivelled up and turned to stone.

"Are you waiting for something?" She asked, tilting her head to the side, "A villain's monologue? I know you Morello's are fond of dramatics."

Lauren said nothing, just continued to scowl. It felt so wrong for a creature who resembled her Camila so strongly to be speaking such a way. It made Lauren's skin crawl.

Karla hummed, then leaned forward to place her elbows on her knees. Lauren struggled not to move back in revulsion.

"Perhaps I should start at the beginning." Karla began, talking with her hands like most latinas did, "Back to before I was even born."

Lauren breathed in deeply through her nose and held back vomit. This abomination before her made her stomach turn.

"Papa used to be consigliere to Julian's grandfather way back when. I guess that kinda makes us family." Karla mused, "Anyway, that's how Papa met my Dad and later introduced him to my Ma — yada, yada, you know the fuckin' story.

"At birth I was named Karla Estrabao, daughter of Alejandro and Sinuhe Estrabao. Growing up, of course I figured out that the big men knocking on our door every other night weren't just 'daddy's friends'. We just never brought it up. But everyone fucking knew that we were living the Cuban version of the Godfather."

Bile rose in Lauren's throat. She couldn't hear anymore of this but what choice did she have while restrained?

"After you and I broke up," Lauren froze, "your dumb ass decided to get a job at the Cat's Meow. Of all the fuckin' places in Miami, that's the one you pick."

Lauren couldn't believe what she was hearing. She'd never met this Karla person before yet she claimed they dated and broke up. She had only ever been with Camila and this person, although they looked so much like her it hurt, was not — couldn't be — Camila. She didn't know why she looked like her, maybe a long lost twin or a clone. She really didn't know.