Color [CAMREN] [COMPLETED]

Chapter 19

Miami, Present Day III

Camila jumped out of the car. She gazed up at her house and then back at Lauren with a worried look.

"Hey, Lo?" She asked.

"Yeah?"

"We might get bullied." Camila said quietly. Lauren shrugged.

"I'll beat 'em up." She replied.

"We might get kicked off the Cheerleaders."

"Then Coach Spears can suck it. But I doubt she'll win nationals without us. We're the best, not to mention the hottest, on the team." Lauren chuckled. But she was scared too. Camila's parents were sitting on the porch and they made their way over to greet them. It wouldn't take long before they noticed the glances the two were giving each other, or the way they seemed to glow with love, or the rings. Lauren closed her eyes. Oh god, the rings. Oh god, she might have to explain to her parents this. And at some point, the choir members were going to figure it out.

"Damn that Cece. She'll probably be the first. Stupid fashion obsessed monkey." She thought angrily. Camila looked over at Lauren.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, Camz. Never been better."

"Let's go." Camila said, hand outstretched. Lauren reached over and laced their fingers together. She took in a deep breath and marched forward, hand tucked away in Camila's. There was no going back.

Lauren exhaled deeply. Finally, finally this story was over. She looked down at her watch and realized they had been sitting there for nearly three and a half hours while she recounted the past 5 years that she remembered. Miami was the first stop on her way to the east coast again, this time she wanted to visit Marielle, pick up Camren on the way back and say hello to Vero and Lucy. Both families had visited her at least once while she was in her coma. Marielle had visited once after she and the family went to Miami and found out from Camila's parents what was going on. Vero and Lucy both phoned Lauren's mother and found out. They visited twice as a couple and Lucy visited once alone. Strange, Lauren thought when she had heard but she was glad anyway.

She looked at the two girls sitting across from her, silent with shock. They tried to process all of it at once and it looked like they were failing. Lauren decided to take pity on them.

"Why don't we grab some lunch? On me." She suggested. All the initial animosity had vanished. When she first saw Dinah and Ally, she felt guilty and she had wanted to just run away and be done with it after they got angry at her for being away so long. But she was glad she had stuck around. She was glad that they heard her story.

"Lauren...we had no idea." Dinah said as she got up. Lauren dusted her trench coat off and shrugged.

"How could you? I didn't contact you for 5 years." Lauren pointed out.

"Still."

"We're sorry." Ally finished. The three of them looked at Camila's grave. Lauren would've been lying if she said there was no pain when she saw her name carved into the tombstone with the year of birth and the year of death. She'd be lying if she said she expected anything less. But the pain was significantly dulled and it came to her as if from a far away memory, like an old wound when then weather was humid. That wound, she knew, would never open again but would always be there to serve as a reminder of what she lost and some nights, she'd wake up and feel the pain. And when the pain went away, she'd go back to sleep, continue on with her life and do her best to live with it.

"Laur?" Dinah interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh, right." Lauren said. The three of them walked through the graveyard, a cold wind picking up as they reached the fountain. Lauren drew her coat around her tightly as she followed the two girls, women, she reminded herself. These were not the girls she left behind. While she matured, so did they. They looked back every now and again to make sure she was following.