The Party (GxG) (Camren) **EDITING**

Chapter 14

Normani was exhausted. It was as if Lauren was an enormous vacuum that enjoyed sucking every ounce of energy out of her weary body. She felt so completely powerless and angry that she could barely contain it. After their confrontation, she was left petrified of the vicious beast that had awoken within her as she pounded her fist into Veronica's face. She was aware that her thanks should be owed the guy a floor below, whom after having heard the scuffle rushed upstairs to save Normani from her inner monster, yet a large, rather sinister side of her still wished that she had reduced the deserving girl to a bloodied pulp.

She could feel the blood on her hands – both Veronica's blood and Lauren's – and they shook uncontrollably with the knowledge that she could have done more. Her fear and her guilt manifested into emotions that she was barely able to contain. There was so many conflicting and rather ugly emotions that had decided to rear their head at the most critically dire of times. She could scarcely think straight with the wild circus flinging acrobats through her mind and having lions roaring down her nerves. And now she had Camila to deal with on top of everything else.

She could recall how Camila had screamed and howled when the medics had torn Lauren's motionless body from the younger girl's vice-like grip. Her cries echoed hauntingly around Normani's mind, trapped and searching for a release that Normani was not prepared to give. She was forced to restrain the distraught girl to allow for the paramedics to attend to the unconscious body, despite her own heart seemingly having fallen out from the new large gape in her chest. Camila was too hysterical to acknowledge the raw pain that Normani herself was attempting to deal with, and therefore Normani was left with the responsibility of reassuring both the girl in her arms and herself potentially falsely.

It physically pained Normani to allow Camila to ride in the ambulance with Lauren rather than herself, but she was aware that now was not the time for petty jealousy. She just had to continue praying that Lauren would wake up to find the girl of her dreams attending to her lovingly, and if Lauren's happiness meant giving her place up in an ambulance, than so be it. Normani had always known that she wouldn't continue to be the number one girl in Lauren's life. They had always been close, and loving even, but it had never really sparked between the two of them...and then she had met Dinah. Granted, Lauren was essentially taken when they first met anyway – Camila had already sunken her claws in well and truly by that stage.

She let out a puff of air in an exaggerated sigh as she lifted her face towards the night sky. There was almost a ghost of a smile upon her lips as she gazed up at the rare sight of stars, the warm Miami breeze playing gently with her hair as she watched them twinkle.

"It's so tragically beautiful," a voice muttered softly from her shoulder. She could feel the warm breath glide across her skin as warm arms wrapped themselves comfortably around her waist.

Normani turned her head to the side, tilting it back slightly to stare into her girlfriend's eyes. "Do you mean the stars or the two girls?"

Dinah stared back at her silently before breaking it thoughtfully, "Both."

Normani was almost shocked to hear such insightful and deep words coming from Dinah's mouth. The girl often gave some good advice, but Normani had always been under the impression that her girlfriend was more of an impulsive and spirited nature than a wise and deliberated one. Perhaps, though, she had overlooked a major facet of personality that made up the beautiful girl comforting her. "Hm..."

"She'll be fine y'know?"

Normani just stared out silently, not wanting to jinx such a precarious situation.

"That girl has already stared Hell down in the face and lived to tell the tale – this is nothing. How she isn't dead by now is nothing short of a miracle." Dinah paused and shook her head, joining the star-gazing taking place beside her. "I don't know exactly what games the Gods are playing right now, but she's here for a reason. She can't die like this."