Into You

Chapter 39

The memory of her very first distance rifle shooting lesson came flooding back as she set up the sniping rifle on the firing line, little more than a thin strip of white chalk painted onto the grass. She wasn't going to make the same mistakes that the young Lauren Jauregui had made when trying to learn the discipline of accurate distance shooting.

Captain Horan had been right all along. She was a loser. She was like a bull in a china shop. She didn't have any patience at all. She had fucked up her precision shooting course in the army by being impulsive, eager and stubborn.

Funny, but it was like her love life. Everything was impulsive. Like Kendall, the ANC nurse she had met in Germany and dated briefly in the UK, like Lucy and everything that happened with her. She had no patience... no patience at all, until Camila came. Hopefully, that level of restraint would serve her well; if she could transfer it to the range, that was.

As she waited to get the go signal to shoot, she hunched down on the grass and made herself comfortable. She slipped the butt of the rifle into her left shoulder, adjusting her position until her cheek rested on the pad, her eye peering down the sights. A couple of seconds of shuffling around and she was ready, everything felt right.

Repeating her shooting mantra in her head, she opened both her eyes, looking down the sights at the target. Taking one last glance at the computer, she adjusted her aim.

Knowing she was now free to shoot her ranging shots, she adjusted her position just one more time and began the process of controlling her breathing.

With a muffled thump, she set the bullet on its way, reaching supersonic speeds in the blink of an eye. As she ran through her target shooting mantra one more time, she looked through the sights for signs of success.

Finally, like it had when she told Camila that she loved her in the pool, like it had when she told her that she loved her only minutes before, the moment felt right. With a simple pause in her breathing, she settled the sights on the center of the target and lovingly squeezed the trigger.

She had suddenly, for the first time in her life, become a winner in love. Maybe she could become a winner here, too.

o+o+o

"Great score, Lauren," Camila said as she finished the loading and preparation of her HK gun, "You kicked ass out there again!"

"I kicked ass, did I?" she asked sniggering at how silly the girl sounded saying that.


"Yes, you totally did," Camila replied, shoving her playfully. "Dinah's got a six-point lead over you now, but you'll get that back in the next round. I know it."

She looked over at Dinah talking animatedly with the other competitors, thinking that her ego had taken a bit of a knock after losing the pistol round to her, but she seemed much happier now she was out in front, the defense of her title back on track.

"What's up?" Camila asked as she stared over at Dinah in the corner. "What's the matter? You know you can win this,"

"I know I can now, Camz. I'm just not sure if I want to. It's not been an issue before, I never thought I stood a chance. Now, though, well look at her... she is my fucking boss, after all,"

Camila looked over at Dinah, her head whipped around to her, her perfectly painted lips open in shock.

"You're not seriously considering..." she started, understanding Lauren's thought pattern instantly.

"No, not really, Camz," she interrupted quickly, hoping the girl would believe the half-truth.
"You can't, Lauren, not after all your hard work. You just can't!"