colours. (camren)

Chapter 11

Camila POV

Finally finding my way out of Lauren's house, we get back into her car. I give her the directions to my house and we head off in a rather rushed manner. It's not that I don't want to get there soon, because the longer I take, the more pissed my parents will get, but I want to spend a little bit more time with Lauren, and also, the less prominent reason, I'm scared of what my parents will do.

"It's this gap right?", she asks pointing ahead of us to a left turn, not taking her eyes off the road. I simply nod but then I remember that she's driving so she can't see me.

"Uh yeah just turn in there and it's the third house on the right", I said looking down at my fingers and playing with them nervously. This is the point that Lauren took her eyes off of the road for a split second to look at me, catching my nervousness in her gaze. She responded by placing her hand on my thigh and rubbing the pad of her thumb up and down my thigh.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. I'm not going anywhere, and I'll be sure to take any blame they place on you. I won't let them intimidate you", she says continuing her motion but keeping her other hand on the steering wheel, finishing the journey.

She pulls into the driveway, bringing the car to a stop. I let out a long sigh and involuntarily close my eyes while doing so. You'd think I'd get used to being yelled at by now, but it stings as much as it did the very first time.

"You ready?", she asks pulling some of my hair behind my ear and cupping my cheek which, once again, causes an involuntary act of closing my eyes, focusing only on her touch. I gulp loudly and simply nod as my response, because frankly, I'm not sure if I'm ready to face my parents. Sometimes they can go a little overboard, depending on their mood prior. Hopefully they had a good morning at their respective work places.

"Let's go", I say unbuckling the seat belt and sliding out of the passenger's seat, trying to push all my anxiety away with a small stretch of my muscles. I walk towards the front door not waiting on Lauren because I was pretty sure she was going to catch in a matter of seconds. I dig around for my house key in my pocket and quickly open the door to push the anticipation down to zero.

"KARLA CAMILA CABELLO ESTRABÃO", my mum says with her Spanish accent protruding through her newly-developed American accent. When she says my full name, at any time, I flinch. Let alone in the original Spanish accent. I follow her voice coming from the kitchen with Lauren right behind me. She doesn't give me time to reply before yelling again.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING. YOU HAVE A FUTURE TO THINK ABOUT. WHAT MADE YOU THINK THAT SKIPPING SCHOOL WOULD HAVE A GOOD OUTCOME", she said at the same volume level the entire time. I couldn't help but hang my head in shame. She was right, but at the time nobody was thinking about the future, we were only thinking about the present and what we wanted just then.

"Mrs Cabello, with all due respect, it was my fau-", she was cut off by my mum.

"Who are you?", she asks Lauren glaring at her with a look that could kill. Her reaction to Lauren didn't even make Lauren bat an eye. She held her ground, without even flinching. I was astonished, my mum was small but she was intimidating. She clearly had no effect on Lauren, and in that moment, I have never found Lauren more attractive and appealing.

"I'm Lauren. As I was saying, before I was interrupted, it wasn't your daughter's fault. It was all me", she said slowly walking forward towards my mother.

"So you're the one that has my daughter behaving in such an unacceptable behaviour", she said closing the gap between them and placing her index finger on Lauren's chest. Lauren gently removed her finger from her chest.

"With all due respect ma'am, it was in no way unacceptable. You can't expect us to be perfect. Plus, we all need a day off every once in a while. If you paid a little bit more attention to your daughter, you'd see how hard she was working and in desperate need of a break", she said rather matter-of-factly to my mum. At this point, I mentally grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed my face.