Me Without You

"You're finally gonna see that you're worth the fight."

The packet sat on the table before her untouched. It was clear, the substance inside easy to identify in its stark whiteness.

And the temptation for it was blatantly there in her eyes. She wanted it, everything in her body was telling her she needed it. She didn't need it, she knew that, she was smart enough to know it was her brain tricking her into thinking this was a necessity when it was simply a want.

The word craving popped up into her head and she remembered the countless times she sat awake, her sweat running cold against her overheated flesh as the word craving rang through her ears, flashed past her eyes and stayed stuck on her tongue.

The very taste of the word was like soap, distasteful and repulsive.

But it was so very there. She was craving the powder in that packet as if it were her last resort. It looked like her salvation from the pain burdened on her heart. The pain was suffocating, it beat at her every waking moment. And in her dreams the pain was personified into a face.

And the face had dark eyes, near black. And the face was smiling at her. And she trusted that smile.

And then she woke to the reality that left her dream but a little glimpse of bliss.

Lucy promised Lauren and Camila and all her friends that she would never touch drugs again, at least not the hard ones, everyone had accepted that perhaps asking Lucy to quit pot was a bit of a stretch.

But Lucy promised her friends never to touch hard drugs again.

So why then did she go into her father's bedside drawer and take one of the four baggies inside? And why then were her fingers aching to reach out for that baggy?

Why then could Lucy think of nothing more freeing than allowing her body to fall prey to the freeing sensation of the high the powder provided?

Lauren and Camila finally found an apartment they both liked, it wasn't excessively big but Camila argued they at least have one spare room because she wanted Dinah and Normani to visit soon.

Lauren had yet to find a job, something Camila told her not to stress too much about, but Lauren did get her acceptance letter from UCLA to which the Cabello family took her out for dinner to celebrate, Lauren responding to the light conversation Sinu had initiated and being rewarded that night in bed for her efforts.

The pair were happy, more happy than they'd ever been previously. And they still fought over trivial things, like Camila insisting Lauren go with her to buy things for the apartment Lauren was sure they didn't need or Camila feeling slightly irritated with her girlfriend when she left her shoes just laying by the door instead of in the spacious wardrobe Lauren had raved about.

But come night and in each other's arms were where they both found solace. Camila could rant for days about the shoes situation and Lauren could go dry in the throat trying to explain to Camila that she hated not having money to buy nice things for the apartment, but the arguments were short-lived and never held enough strain in them to warrant concern.

Lauren had stepped out for the day to enroll in her classes for her first semester which left Camila alone in the apartment for the very first time. And needless to say; the Latina was bored. She didn't realise how much she depended on the company of her girlfriend until she didn't have it anymore which led her visiting her family.

Sofi was overjoyed to see her sister, nowadays it seemed she would take every opportunity she got to spend time with Camila and it warmed Camila's heart seeing her sister's excitement just to play some stupid dress up game with her. Periodically throughout the day Camila would receive updates on how Lauren's day was going and so far Camila had learned that Lauren had gotten into arguments with three separate people already, though that didn't really come as much of a surprise to the brunette.