Touched By You

"I'm working on me."

"I didn't really think you'd ever show." Her eyes roamed over the green-eyed girl, noticing the distinctive change in her nature since the last time they'd been in each other's presence.

"You're my best friend's wife," Lauren rolled her eyes. "It's kind of my job now to make sure you're okay."

"And here I thought we were friends."

"We're family, Veronica." Lauren let herself into the girl's new apartment and felt a weight in her chest disappear. She'd half expected all of Lucy's things to still be littering the apartment, and yes, she still saw a few hints of her best friend, but everything about the place felt new. There was no sadness in this apartment, it knew no loss. It was...fresh. "We're always gonna be family."

"Didn't seem like you wanted to be last time I saw you." Vero closed the door behind her and followed Lauren to sit down on the couch.

"Didn't feel like I could be last time you saw me." The raven-haired girl met the eyes of a woman who felt a loss as profoundly as she did. "I didn't really...feel anything."

"I know." A small smile played on the widow's lips. "I missed you."

And it was true. Lauren had always been such a constant in the duration of Lucy and Vero's relationship. From the start she was there to give Lucy advice when she was acting crazy, to be the shoulder to cry on for the girl when the pair fought. Lauren had been there through the ups and downs and, yes, admittedly there'd been a few years where she'd been out of the picture, but upon coming back together, she'd taken on the role as Lucy's sister once more. Lauren had been the one person Vero could turn to when she needed questions answered that Lucy refused to give her. Vero could look to Lauren to verify if she was being stupid or if Lucy was.

In retrospect; Lauren wasn't simply Lucy's best friend, she'd wormed her way into Vero's heart as well. Lauren was the only one out of the girls that knew Vero from the get-go. The first of Lucy's friends that Vero had met upon touching down on U.S soil once more.

"I missed you too." Lauren reached for her friend's hand and gave it a soft squeeze. "I'm sorry I wasn't around when you needed me."

Because Lauren knew that Vero did need her. She needed that shoulder to cry on; the one that felt the pain she did and Lauren hadn't been there in the way that she'd always silently promised her best friend she would be. She let Lucy down. She let Vero down. And she knew there was nothing she could ever do to make it up to both of the girls, but she'd work her entire life to try.

"I didn't mean what I said," The older girl looked to the green-eyed girl. "About Lucy deserving Camila more. That was...it was wrong."

"You were right," Lauren shrugged, eyes downcast. "She did deserve Camila more, she was the better choice and I don't think I'll ever live up to be the person Lucy or Camila want me to be." She felt Vero's hand tighten in her own and looked to her friend. "But I'm gonna try, Vero. For Camila and for her and for you and the rest of our bat-shit crazy family. I'm fucked up, I've always been fucked up and I'll probably still be a little fucked up for a while," And when Lauren saw Lucy's smile reflected in Vero's eyes, her heart felt lighter. "But I'm working on it. I'm working on me."

"I know," Vero nodded softly. "I know you'll be that person, Lauren. I have to believe that. Now go home and be with your wife. Have a family, a home...all of it. Be more than the person they both thought you could be."

"And what are you going to do?"

"The same, I guess...one day. I should, I owe it to her to have a life. But not now, now I work and secretly cry and try to mend myself."

"I'm here," Lauren reminded Vero. "I'm here now, so...for anything...I'm here."

"Good, I'd hate it if you went anywhere again. But," Vero offered her friend a soft smile. "I want you to travel everywhere with your art, Laur. Don't pause your life, grab that shit by the balls like you used to, make life your bitch."

"I've been thinking about it," Lauren nodded softly. "I've been thinking a lot about what I actually want from my life and...I love art. I love the beauty in it, the complications and simplicity in it. But...I love Camila and I love you and Lucy and...I'm learning to love myself, you know? I have worth, I know that. My point is...I love women, we're these strong, fierce creatures that get overlooked so often. I want to be someone who makes sure no one is overlooked ever again."

"Politics," The other Latina ran a hand through her hair. "Wow...that's...brave."

"The shit I went through, there are so many other little girls going through it and they need a voice, I want to be that voice. I want girls to have a better upbringing than Lucy and I had."

Vero nodded along to Lauren's words, hearing them and feeling them flow through her with a confidence she didn't know Lauren would ever gain back. But she was glad to hear it. The determination in Lauren's voice told Vero that she was healing, slow as it might be, she was. And she was creating a new life that would be liberating for so many.

Vero had all the faith in the world in her friend.

Because for the first time in a long while, she saw her wife reflecting in her best friend again. She saw Lucy's spark revived in Lauren.

Lauren left Vero's apartment after that and surprised herself by finding herself standing outside a tattoo parlour. The same one she'd promised Lucy they'd get matching tattoos at right before she'd moved into the penthouse with Camila.

She never got the chance to do it though.

So she crossed the threshold of the parlour and the familiar ding alerted the artists inside of her presence. It didn't take them long to slot her in due to the small size of the tattoo she'd asked for. They got her settled into the chair she was familiar with and she watched as they prepared the needle, ready to mark her body with a reminder of why she would be doing what she was doing in her future. Why she would, from that day forward, work her ass off to be better.

Not just for her and not just for Camila and Lucy.

But for every forgotten eight-year-old girl whose teacher turns a blind eye, for every sixteen-year-old girl who finally fought back and was rejected by her family for doing so.

Lauren would work through sleepless nights and speak words that would threaten the stability of the complacent society for the all the girls she saw when she looked in the mirror.

And when her new tattoo was shown to her in a mirror, she smiled. It was perfect. Two words that spoke for thousands.

For Us.

Hi, it's a short one but that's because I'm super focused on a story I'm currently working on that I'm planning to send off to a publishing house. So please forgive me.

And I'll reveal more details on said story later on, when things are in the final stages and I've hyped myself up enough actually send it in for someone a lot smarter than me to read.