Talk To Me (Camren)

Chapter Eight

*trigger warning*

Chapter 8

Day twenty-one, another day lacking verbal contact with Camila.

Lauren stepped out of the school building after staying behind after the extra period. Her and Ally had been chatting about their plans for movie night at Dinah's house later on.

"See you later," Ally waved and jogged to her car.

Lauren waved back and headed towards her own car which was parked around the corner of the building. It was just Lauren's luck that she'd gotten the furthest space in the whole parking lot this morning because she couldn't get out of her warm bed.

Just as she was rounding the corner, she heard violent shouts that made her halt.

"You know why? Because if you don't, no one fucking will. Do you want her to be alone...Are you going to say something? Hasn't your mother affected you at all or are you just too fucking stupid?"

The green eyed girl inched forward in order to see what was going on. There she watched the scene unravel, frozen to her spot.

The man was gripping a brown eyed girl's cheeks. His big fingers were forcefully rapped around her jaw, pushing her closer to his face. She had opened her mouth, looking like she was going to say something, but quickly shut her it at the man's words. The girl was Camila.

"Fucking waste of my time," the tall man aggressively let go and turned around to start pacing.

Camila stood in the same spot, looking as small and fragile as ever.

He started muttering to himself, "My daughter is a fucking mute and it's her mothers fault. I never deserved this shit."

More pacing.

"You know what," a large hand swung at Camila's face. There was a loud smack as her head snapped to the right from the power of the blow. Lauren jumped and gripped the bottom of her shirt.

The middle aged man, whose hair was beginning to whiten, addressed Camila in a gruff voice, "Don't bother coming home."

With that he left, muttering profanity and balling his fists in anger. Lauren watched in horror and fear as he got to his car and drove off, definitely not going the speed limit.

Dread washed over Lauren and she wasn't sure what to do after what she had just witnessed.

Bright green eyes landed on Camila who hadn't moved a muscle.

Cautiously, Lauren stepped into view. Chocolate brown orbs had not become aware of the pale girl yet so she continued to get closer. Each step was taken as if it would trigger a bomb to go off.

As the older girl got closer she began to see Camila clearer. Her eyes were shiny, staring blankly at the white wall of the school. Her hands were shaking, a controlled shake as if it took extreme effort to keep the shaking to a mild tremble. She was lucky the blow hadn't knocked her out.

Lauren's POV

"Camila." My voice sounded strained.

It felt like seconds or minutes before she slowly turned her head towards me. The beautiful pools of brown finally landed on mine and I couldn't describe the flood of relief I felt. The familiar shade of warmth eased a small part of me. They were no longer hollow pits when she registered my presence.

"Lauren?" It was so vulnerable. Such a small, weak sound that should never leave Camila's lips, but it did.

I don't remember moving but I somehow found myself directly in front of the trembling girl.

There were red marks where the man had gripped her cheeks. An even darker hue of crimson covered her right cheek where the blood vessels had broken beneath her skin.

He had slapped her.

Salty tears touched my lips as I reached my hand out. Camila flinched but never left my eyes, which I took as consent to continue. No words had to be spoken, for her eyes told more than any words could have at that moment. My fingertips glided over her creamy skin that was heated more than it should have been.

"Camila," I whispered as more tears blinked from my eyes. I felt like I should have been giving her a brilliantly eloquent speech to make her feel better, but I couldn't. All I could do was murmur her name.

I enveloped her in my arms and buried my head in the crook of her neck. I just wanted to hide from the harrowing world and breath Camila's scent forever. She didn't reciprocate, only shook.

"Your coming home with me."
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"Pick a song. Go on, you choose," I told her as I threw my sweater into the back seat, while keeping one hand on the wheel.

Camila started fiddling with the radio until landing on a familiar beat. She looked over at me for approval.

"Yes!" I exclaimed unexpectedly. The overwhelming need to lift the mood and surge of joy came all at once. I just wanted Camila to forget about what happened earlier and be happy. I wanted to make her happy. The thought made me happy. 

I turned up the volume so that the beat filled up the entire car.

"I freaking love this song! Woo! Thank you so much for finding this song, you are my savior, Camila Cabello. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't," I leaned over to her side to give her a quick hug. Camila's stiff aura seemed to melt in my arms.

Okay, maybe I was being a little overenthusiastic and sarcastic, but Camila was smiling and laughing so I say accomplishment.

I started yelling along to the lyrics as I stuck my head out of the window.

"If there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down.
I’m latching on, babe, now I know what I have found."

I giggled and looked back at Camila how was letting out carefree laughs and bopping her head to the beat.

She looked beautiful with strands of hair flying wildly around her face from the wind blowing in through the rolled down window. I looked back at the road and heard her singing along.

"Now I got you in my space,
I won’t let go of you.
Got you shackled in my embrace
I’m latching on to you. Da da da da da."

I squeezed my eyes shut for a split second, just listening to her amazing runs and cracks in her voice. I felt pure bliss at that moment. So much bliss I felt as if I could float away into the clouds with Camila while busting out the lyrics to Latch.

I should have known her singing voice would sound fantastic since her speaking voice was pure allurement.

The rest of the drive was filled with off-key singing (as if we cared), joyful laughter, and affectionate side glances.
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"Here let's go through the side door."

We traveled through my driveway to a white windowed door. I didn't have my key, as per usual, so all I could do was pray at least one member of the family was home.

Camila fiddled with her hair as I banged on the door loudly. Chris appeared into view from the other side of the door and I sighed with relief.

"Calm your tits," He swung the door open and hung his head out with a lopsided grin, "What did the door ever do to you, Lolo?"

I shoved his head back in and made my way into the house with a huff.

"Don't call me that. Move out of the way jeez."

I held the door open for Camila and gave her a quick wink.

"Who's this?" Chris tried to look around me to get a clear look at the unknown girl in his house.

When he finally got a glimpse of Camila, his eyes widened.

"Oh my gosh, you brought her over here?" Chris blurted out. I wanted to smack him so hard. 

"Yes, Chris, I brought my friend Camila over. Is that okay with you? Oh wait, I don't care."

I caught Camila's hand and guided her to my room and away from my gaping brother. On the way, there were no encounters with anyone else but my dog so I assumed no other person was home.

"Welcome to my unpretentious sanctuary." I opened the door to my square room and shut it behind us.

My room consisted of a messy bed, a desk littered with my random crap, a closet, clothes strewn embarrassingly on the floor, stacks of my favorite books, my grandmas tiny old tv, and my laptop next to a million wires which were mostly chargers for all of my appliances. On the walls were band posters, old poems I had written, pictures of friends and family, and paintings I thought were worthy of being next to my Arctic Monkeys and Beatles poster. All of which Camila found very interesting.

I sat at the edge of my bed, watching Camila roam around the room. She never touched anything, just examined every single item in the room with a curious glint in her eyes. When she got to my bookcase, her head raised to grin at me.

"We basically have identical tastes in books. Also music, for the most part."

Her finger dragged along the spines then pointed to a few drawers under stacks of books.

"What's in here?"

I leaned back. An amused smile graced my lips.

"Movies."

"You keep your DVDs in a drawer?"

I shrugged then stuck out my bottom lip in a pout, "Are you judging me because I have a DVD drawer? Gosh, Camila, I thought you were different."

She scoffed as I bit back a laugh.

"How can I not judge. Only weirdos put movies in a clothes drawer," she counters, playing along and takes a seat next to me.

This playful and totally ridiculous banter between us was making me feel delightfully childish again. Just like in the car ride here.

We sat in content silence for a few minutes until Camila's soft voice cut through the air.

"He had alcohol on his breath."

The mood shifted in the room and I moved closer to Camila, giving her my full attention. Her dark, straight eyebrows drew together so that a crease appeared between them.

"Who?" I reached out a hand and stroked the side of her head reassuringly. Sleek strands of hair slipped through my fingers like sink.

She bowed her head, "My father."

The rough man was her father. I remained silent, just listening.

"He gets like that at times. I don't see him much. I only see him when my mom sends him," she swallows and continues, "I forgot to pick up my little sister today. I usually drive over to her preschool before my last period then come back in time for after period when mamá can't pick her up."

"Sofi had to wait there all alone until my mother came." I rubbed her knee comfortingly because the girl looked highly troubled by this. "She gets angry after work. Angry, tired, and pissed off and Sofi had to be with that. Sofi was probably telling her a story about her friend Wyatt, you know, excitedly and mamá probably told her to shut up. I'd always listen to her stories."

Silence.

"I deserved to be slapped."

"No, honey, no." I vocalized with absolutely no hesitation. My heart ached with every word. She was wrong. She didn't deserve to be abused. Nobody deserved that, especially Camila.

"If I had just-"

I cupped Camila's cheeks and looked her straight in the eyes.

"Camz," I surprised myself with the nickname. My steady voice became more gentle, but determined, "Honey, please listen to me. I may not know everything about this, but I do know that what he did to you was wrong and horrible, and you would never deserve that. I need you to believe what I'm saying because you are so important."

"Important to who?"

"Important to me," I paused, "And to your sister. And you're going to meet my friends and you know what? They're going to love you and you'll be important to them, too. The list will just get longer and it will start with me. I'm going to show you how much your worth, Camila Cabello," I gave her a weak smile, "As my friend Dinah would say it, your worth a hella lot."

My thumb wiped the few tears that escaped her closed eyelids.

"It's okay Camila," I finished with. 

Her eyes flitted between mine, trustful eyes bored into my own green ones.

"Okay," she whispered so quietly I almost didn't hear.

I pressed my forehead against hers. I smiled as I felt the heat of her skin against mine.

"Okay," I whispered back.

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A/N: I made a Fault in Our Stars reference at the end by accident. I'm so sorry.