Haven't Forgotten My Way Home (Camren)

Chapter Twenty-Two

Miss Camila held fast to her hand – discreetly – as she and Lauren walked down the hallway of the administrative building, toward the room where Spencer said she would meet them, along with Lauren's advocate. Lauren's eyes darted this way and that, at all of the people passing by them, feeling a little nervous that someone would stop and ask her just what she was doing with Miss Camila. She still didn't really understand how Miss Camila could get into trouble with their relationship, yet she was determined to protect her as much as she could. Lauren didn't think she could be taken away from Miss Camila, but that didn't mean she was going to test that theory. But Miss Camila strode forward, her jaw set and her eyes determined, as if she was on a mission.

It had taken Lauren two hours to calm Miss Camila down after the phone call from Dinah. She'd been alternately angry and inconsolable, pacing up and down her parents' living room floor, gesturing wildly as words Lauren had never heard before came spilling out. She wanted to go to the council and demand that Normani recuse herself, but really there was no precedent for that. Normani wasn't a lawyer, she could choose to advocate for anyone she wished. That didn't make it right, Miss Camila had snapped, when Sinuhe had pointed it out. Her parents had tried to talk to her, giving various reasons why Normani would've chosen to represent the man who had hurt Lauren, but Miss Camila had been so personally hurt that she couldn't stop ranting enough to listen to their arguments.

At one point she had turned to Lauren.

"Why aren't you angry?" she'd asked simply.

And Lauren had just shrugged. "I-I'm used to it?"

That had sent Miss Camila on another bout of tears, and Lauren ended up sat on the couch in the living room, cuddling her close and stroking her hair. That she wasn't used to, but it was nice, to feel like for once she could be the comforting one, even if what she had said was true. She hadn't been all that surprised to hear that Normani would be assisting in Brad's defense. Lauren knew that Miss Camila was taking it as some sort of betrayal, but for Lauren life before had been a constant expectation of betrayal.

It was hard to be let down when you believed that's the way things were always supposed to be.

And now three days later, it was time for Lauren to start her case against the one who had let her down the most.

She was filled with nervous energy, and also a kind of dread. For the last few days she'd been trying to imagine what it would be like to finally face him. Each time she thought of it she'd ended up shaking, and had to find something to calm herself down. Miss Camila had tried to talk to her about it once or twice, but each time she'd had to cuddle Lauren and whisper soft words to her, or sing to her, to keep the girl out of her own head.

The door at the end of the hall read 108. Miss Camila squeezed Lauren's hand with a smile, knocked on the door and opened it, stepping inside with Lauren hanging back a little.

"Camila!" the dark-haired woman said, standing up from the desk. Lauren quirked an eyebrow, sure that Spencer didn't actually work there, but Spencer was certainly acting like she owned the place in the way that she came around the desk and walked over to them.

Spencer was smartly dressed in a black suit, with perfect hair and a casual, almost smirk on her face as Miss Camila accepted Spencer's hug, allowing herself to be folded up and held for entirely too long, and Lauren felt something rise in her stomach that she'd never felt before.

"And this must be Lauren," Spencer said warmly, at last separating from Miss Camila and smiling at her. "I'm Spencer; it's wonderful to finally meet the girl Camila constantly talks about."

Miss Camila had told Lauren all about Spencer, about her training and how that had blossomed into a romantic and sexual relationship. She'd been completely honest about everything, and careful to reassure Lauren that those feelings were long gone, replaced by something maybe just as strong but completely different. She wasn't a mother, Miss Camila had explained, because that would be just awkward; but she was a friend that resembled family.