Come Back, Be Here (Camren)

Chapter 16

Trigger Warning

"Hey Chanch, I'm headed to Normani's to spend the night! You okay here by yourself?" Dinah asks as she slings her overnight bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, of course. I think Austin is coming over for a late dinner tonight when he gets off work at the Auto Shop so I won't be alone." Camila assures her roommate, but little does she know that that information doesn't make Dinah feel better at all. The Polynesian grimaces when she hears Austin's name slip from Camila's lips. She wants nothing more than to just shake the young girl in front of her, but she knows that will not do any good. Camila has to want to leave Austin. It has to be her idea and Dinah has come to terms with that.

"Be careful." Dinah quickly embraces her best friend.

"Dinah, I'm just going to be at the apartment with Austin." Camila tries to play it down.

"That's why I'm worried." Dinah mumbles as she lets go of the girl and walks to the door. "You know you can call me if you need anything right?"

"Of course." The brunette nods her head.

"Good. See ya, Walz." Dinah holds up a peace sign before exiting the apartment and heading to her fiancé's place.

Camila gets started cooking dinner as soon as the Polynesian leaves and luckily she gets started early because it ends up taking her about 3 hours to prepare Austin's favorite dish. Once she takes the homemade lasagna and garlic bread out of the oven, she hears a knock at the door. When she opens it, she sees her boyfriend standing on the other side of the door wearing his grease-stained jumpsuit.

"Hey!" She greets cheerfully. The boy just offers her a half smile and pushes into the apartment.

"I'm going to shower! I want beer to drink, not wine." He calls out before slamming the bathroom door, which causes the younger Latina to flinch. She immediately pours his glass of wine back into the bottle and grabs a beer from the fridge.

Dinner goes the same as it always does, Camila talks while Austin just plays on his phone. When both of their plates are empty, she scoops them up and takes them both to the sink. While washing the dishes, she hears her phone ding, but she doesn't think much about it.

Austin, on the other hand, reaches out and grabs it off of the table. He quickly unlocks the phone and opens the text.

[10:00 pm] Cheech💖 : Thought you might want this picture. I took it yesterday morning. #Camren

Austin immediately clicks on the picture attached and drops the phone to the table when he sees a picture of his girlfriend snuggled up to Lauren. When Camila hears the abrupt screeching of the chair on the floor, she immediately drops the dish in the sink and turns around. Her heart sinks to her stomach when she sees Austin's fists and jaw clenched.

Meanwhile, Lauren is sleeping soundly in her bed. Teaching today wore her out. Monday's are always the most tiring days for her so she always gets in the bed by at least 9 pm. Tonight, she stirs awake at around 10 pm when she feels her arm being nudged. She groans and turns on her bedside lamp. She sees Cam sitting by her bed crying and so she just turns off the lamp and pats her bed telling him to jump up on it if he wants to sleep with her. The green-eyed girl turns over to lay back down, but Cam just starts barking loudly.

Groaning, Lauren sits up in the bed and turns on the lamp once again. "What is it, boy?" She asks and Cam just continues to cry as he looks at Lauren and then looks at her bedroom door. "Show me what it is." She says a little more cautiously when she fully wakes up and realizes that this is not normal behavior for her dog. The brunette slowly gets out of bed and Cam leads her into the living room.