Bonded (Camren)

•chapter 13•

It was early evening when Lauren and I were disrupted from our long, flowing conversations about anything and everything by the sound of the front door slamming and heels clicking along the wooden hallway floor.

"My mom's home," Lauren sighed from next to me, lying beneath a bundle of warm blankets that neither of us had moved from all afternoon.

"Sh—should I...should we...?" I didn't know how Lauren's mother would feel if she walked in to see her daughter cuddled up to a stranger on the couch, so I stretched lightly and widened the space between us, which had been nonexistent before.

The sound of the heels grew closer until the door of the room swung open to reveal a woman who I knew must be the green eyed girl's mom. She was beautiful, just like Lauren, and had light brown hair with bangs that were swept back away from her eyes. The woman's eyes were pretty, but not anywhere near as pretty as her daughter's. I could gladly spend all day drowning in Lauren's emerald orbs.

"Um, hi," I greeted timidly, clearing my throat and smiling shyly up at the woman, who was donned in a pencil skirt and fitted blouse; clearly she had been in some sort of meeting despite the fact that it was Sunday. "I'm Camila."

"She's a friend of mine," Lauren hastily cut in, noticing the flashing tone of warning in her mother's eyes as she stared down at the two girls on the couch.

I felt like I had to say something to the older woman to make things a little less awkward, even though I was internally battling with myself not to stand up and smack her for being the reason Lauren was feeling so hurt and overwhelmed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Jauregui," I lied with a wider smile.

The businesswoman nodded curtly. She didn't say, "Call me Clara", or, "Hi, mija" like I knew my mom would have done if the situation had been reversed. This made my dislike for her intensify greatly, and so I stopped trying to impress Clara and simply stared at the ground.

"How was the meeting, mom?" Lauren asked brightly. It pained me how hard she was trying to impress her own mother; especially because she received nothing in return every time except neglect and more pressure on her shoulders.

"Fine, but it would have been better if I wasn't stressed out," Clara snapped back, still scanning both of us with narrowed eyes that she suddenly focused on Lauren with a glare. "That was your fault, Lauren, for being out so late last night. I had to do housework when I got back that should have already been done. And then you spent the entire morning talking back to me." The badly-suppressed anger in her tone made my blood boil. How dare she blame this on Lauren?

After another minute of Clara continuing to tear the beautiful girl next to me down, I couldn't stay silent any longer.

"Actually, Mrs Jauregui, it was my fault. She was at my house last night comforting me because I was upset. So don't blame Lauren if you're going to blame someone. Blame me."

Lauren's face displayed consternation at my confession, but she reached out under the blankets and squeezed my hand softly. The breath hitched in my throat due to the unexpectedness of the action but I managed to keep a straight face, my eyes locked with Clara's beady ones as she took in what I'd just said.

"Oh," was all she uttered. There wasn't any kind of apology from her to Lauren, but I was grateful that she didn't start yelling at me too. A shadow of suspicion crossed her features for a split second before a frown took over her face. "Lauren, I'm having a small dinner party tonight with some work colleagues. I'll need you to help me with cleaning the house and preparing the food. And will you put on some decent clothes for when they arrive? What you're wearing at the moment gives a very bad impression."