beyond the monotonous city

thirteen

They got back home around noon time and Clara was waiting at the porch as Lauren got out of the Cabello's SUV and said goodbye to Camila and her dad.

"How was it, dear?" Clara asked as Lauren hugged her.

As she hugged her mom, she felt from the hug how much her mom loved her, the way she felt like she was being squished, and she appreciated it.

"It was really cool, I gained a new hobby now, hiking. Though I'm really bad at it. Camila saved me." They went inside and then she realized the impact of her last sentence, as it meant more than just a hiking trip.

"I'm sure she did, do you want some leftover lunch I have some pot roast left." Clara offered.

"We just ate before driving back so no thanks." Lauren remembered something. "Mom do you know where you kept my old easel?"

"It's in the storage below the stairs. Is somebody going to paint today?" Her mom asked, teasing her excitedly. Lauren smiled at her mom's response.

She got to the storage and got her old painting easel and canvas and assembled it in her room. She found her old paints, and brushes in one of her drawers.

Staring at the empty canvas, she realized how long it has been since she last touched them. The last time was probably before she was a freshman. Ever since she met Alex in freshman year, she stopped painting. She picked up her brush and dipped it in the blue paint on her palette and mixed it slowly with the black.

She put the first stroke on the blank canvas, all she thought of was the view from last night's trip. It inspired something in her, the scenery and her conversation with Camila. She realized that she was very much alive, and that she wanted to keep that memory in her head forever if she could.

She put on one of her vinyls, from Johnny Cash and continued painting. When she filled every white space of the canvas with the first layer, she smiled to herself.

Her mom knocked on her door. "Someone's come to visit."

Camila's head popped up from the door frame and Lauren felt her spirits being lifted. The girl looked well rested from the trip, her hair in a ponytail, wearing a cropped top and sweats.

"Hey Lo," She said, sitting at her bed. "I can call you Lo right?"

"Yeah you can call me whatever," Lauren said.

Camila caught the painting and stared at it agape. She looked at Lauren in amazement, the twinkle in her eyes making Lauren stare. "You did this? I didn't know you could paint wow."

"I haven't in a long time actually. I'm very rusty, I'm just testing my skills again, putting it to the test." Lauren said, sizing up the painting of the navy blue starry horizon from last night.

"Well I'm no Picasso but this is pretty good. You're like a Van Gogh, that sky is amazing." Camila praised. She laid back on the bed, and closed her eyes. "Is this Johnny Cash?"

"Yeah, it's such a classic."

"It is, I love some of his songs thanks to my dad. Hurt is amazing." Camila said.

"Wait you forgot to tell me your album review." Lauren brought up. They were so preoccupied listening to each other's stories that night that they completely forgot. Camila sat up quickly, holding out numbers in her hands as she talked.

"Oh yeah my bad. I wish I wrote it down but I'll tell you anyway. So I listened to the Florence + the Machine album, Ceremonials. I can say is that I really like her vocals, very haunting, very powerful, her music is like ambrosia I want more and more. I will definitely listen to her other songs. I listened to the old Arctic Monkeys album, and I like Favorite Worst Nightmare, it's a more raw sound, the lyrics are amazing as always. Fluorescent Adolescent remains a favorite. I might actually like it more than AM. As for Born to Die, well it's a good album and I can see why a lot of people like it, but it's not really my music though I dig some songs like Summertime Sadness and Video Games." Camila clapped when she was done, for effect.