Caught (Camren)

•32•

I woke up the following morning with Sam pressed firmly to my side. We were in my room, tucked away under the silky sheets to shield ourselves from the overnight cold. She was still fast asleep, but I was more than wide awake. All I could think about was my run in with Lauren the previous day. Nearly twenty-four hours had already passed since I'd last spoken to her, and I still couldn't decipher whether or not it was all a figment of my imagination. It had to be real. The way I could feel warmth spreading through my body with each beat of my heart every time I thought of her was proof. I'd really seen Lauren again for the first time in months, only this time we hadn't ended it all on a bad note. There were still so many unanswered questions between us. Why had she even talked to me in the first place? Why did she seem so jealous when she heard about Sam? Why did she request that I keep in contact with her, and where the hell was I supposed to find her? I thought of calling her, but for what? I didn't have a valid reason. Maybe I would be lucky enough to bump into her again. After all, those few minutes at the diner couldn't have been all we were offered, right?

I must have startled Sam when I stretched under the covers, because just a split second later I heard her groan and felt her move away from me. She buried her face in her pillow and sighed.

"Good morning to you too," I chuckled.

"What time is it?" she mumbled.

"I don't know, like nine," I shrugged.

She groaned again and I turned on my side, laying one arm across her back and rubbing her shoulder soothingly.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked. "We have to leave tomorrow."

Another groan followed by a tired sigh in response.

"I thought maybe we could go see some parts of the town today," I suggested. "It's not much, but it's always pretty around Christmas time. What do you say?"

"Can I just sleep for, like, another hour?" she begged. "I'm exhausted."

"From what?" I laughed.

"I was up all night on the phone."

I shook my head and rolled out of bed, stumbling over to my bag to pull out a pair of sweatpants.

"You're always on your phone," I teased. "It's a good thing you brought your charger after all. I don't think you would have been able to survive a day without it."

I assumed she was either asleep or ignoring me when I didn't receive a response, so I headed for the door instead. I could smell strong coffee and the rich scent of cooking bacon from downstairs and felt my stomach growl. I hurried downstairs to find my dad in the kitchen, hunched over the stove where breakfast was cooking.

"Morning," I greeted.

"Oh, hey, you're up early," he smiled.

I rummaged through the cabinets and pulled out a mug, pouring myself a cup of coffee and adding the necessary amount of creamer to mask the bitter flavor. I propped myself up on the countertop and reached for a piece of the already cooked bacon.

"Do you have to work today?" I asked.

"No, thank goodness," he sighed happily. "I was curious to see if you and Sam would like to join me for an afternoon out. Maybe we could all see a movie or something."

"If she would ever wake up, yeah, I'd love to," I chuckled light-heartedly.

He smiled in response and I finished off the slice of bacon, taking a few sips of my coffee afterwards.

"I saw Lauren yesterday," I admitted suddenly.

My dad looked up at me, an unreadable but still evidently shocked expression in his eyes.