Till The Stars Go Blue (Camren)

Chapter 5

Once the dinner dishes had been cleared away and the horses bedded down, they sat together in front of the fire – legs extended out in front of them, heads leaning back against the bench. Lo was still cradling her hand in front of her. It was more to remind herself not to try and use it than from actual discomfort.

"Does that hurt," Camila asked, doe-eyes staring at her bandaged hand. "That must hurt." She winced.

"Not really, it's fine as long as I don't put a lot of pressure on it," Lo answered honestly.

"I'm so..." Camila started in but Lo cut her off.

"Camila Cabello, so help me, if you apologize to me one more time...," Lo snapped much more sharply than she intended, one eyebrow arching to a fierce peak.

Camila looked at her, then folded her arms across her chest and stared sullenly into the fire.

Oh lovely, Lo thought to herself, pouting.

"I'm sorry, Camila," Lo said after a moment. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to be so...harsh. I don't know why it came out like that. I'm not used to people being so attentive. I'm not very good at being taken care of, I guess."

She saw Camila shift her weight, cross her legs and trace her tongue across her top lip. After a moment, her shoulders softened.

"What were you going to do?" she asked, flickering her gaze over at Lo.

"What do you mean?" Lo asked cautiously.

"You said, 'So help me' like you had a... punishment in mind. What was it," Camila queried, her voice more curious than curt.

Lo chuckled softly. Of all the questions.

"Gosh, I don't know. I hadn't really gotten that far," Lo admitted.

"You weren't going to put a spider in my bed or a snake in my shoe or anything like, were you?" she implored.

"Of course, not," Lo remarked, seriously. "That would be mean. And, well...totally lame. I'm sure I could come up with something better than that."

"Oh, swell," Camila muttered, then chortled softly.

The fire crackled and sputtering sending sparks swirling up into the darkness over their heads. Lo watched them float out of sight, disappearing into the endless spray of stars stretched out across the sky.

"I miss..., Camila started and then stopped.

"What do you miss?" Lo asked after a beat, recognizing the pattern now.

"Just noise, I guess. It's so quiet. I miss conversations going on around me. I miss music. I miss my cell phone, " Camila whimpered. "Don't you miss things?"

"I don't live in a cave, Camila." Lo chuckled, "I'll have you know I like music and movies and all those kinds of things. I just find this all peaceful, soothing, relaxing."

Camila stared at her as though she'd just eaten a bug.

"Do you even have cable," Camila asked pointedly.

"Um, no, " Lo admitted reluctantly."But I'm hardly ever there."

"I suspected as much." Camila chuckled knowingly. "And a cell phone?"

"Yes, but only because it's a necessary evil." Lo confessed. "I will admit that I do like Twitter."

Camila gasped audibly in mock surprise and Lo rolled her eyes.

"Hey, wait a minute." Lo said suddenly and jumped up to rummage through her things. She came back a few moments later with a deck of playing cards.