The Girl Nextdoor

Chapter 16

Camila's POV

It was Friday night. Darren was working his magic on me. I had asked him the night before if he could come over today, to do so and he agreed with the condition that I reveal what's been going on between Ariana and I. When Darren had finished, he silently glared at me.

"What?"

"Spill."

"Hold on let me see how I look." I turned around in my chair and faced the mirror. Darren had applied minimal makeup and curled my hair into loose waves. I decided to keep my glasses on since I was going as myself tonight. The clothes I decided to wear depicted who I was. I wore a Ed Sheeran grew crewneck, jeans, converse and a floral snap back. It was one of the outfits that Darren had given me for my birthday a few months back. It wasn't just my favorite just because of that, but mostly because it was actually one of the few fashionable things I liked. I nodded in approval. And turned back to face Darren who was staring at me with his arms crossed.

"Well?"

"Oh yeah. Okay so where do I start?..."

"Um how about how you got a date with one of the hottest girls at Bal Harbor?"

"Oh. Well, if Dinah hasn't told you already, we first started talking when she became my partner in English. And after that we've gotten closer and-"

"How close?"

"Not very. I mean we're going on a date right now. If that answers your question."

"MILA!?" Darren slapped my arm.

"Ow! What?!"

"How are you just going to forget about Lauren like that?"

"By turning the page. I need to get over her."

"You're not going to get over her by dating another person."

"Says the guy whose been on 20 dates with 20 different guys in the past week." I huffed.

He pointed at me, "Hey that's different. Michael and I were never a thing." He defended.

"Neither were Lauren and I." I countered.

"Uh yeah. You guys were messing around....a lot. What happened with Michael was a one time thing."

"So you're over him now?"

"No. But that's my point. Dating other people will not help you cope with what you're really feeling inside. The thing that sucks about loving someone is that no matter how hard you try, you can never shake them off. Not even when they're gone. Or even when they totally reject you. Or even when they pretend like nothing ever happened. The feeling's there. It always will be."

I shook my head lightly as I processed his words. He was right and so right. And I hated that. But it was worth a try. I needed to try to get over her or else of find myself running after her forever.

I heard a car honk outside my window. "Thats me." I told him gathering my things and then tried to make my way towards the door.

I stopped at the doorway because I felt like he needed to hear it, "Dar?"

"Yeah?"

"Talk to him."

"Mila..." He began to protest.

"It's the only way you'll find out. You can't run after him forever. You need to turn the page at some point. So, talk to him."

"Okay." He simply said, before he became thoughtful again.

I let him be, because I knew that it was what he needed. He needed to be alone to figure things out. I left him in my room and made my way towards Ariana's car. There she stood leaning against her car. When she looked up and saw me, her jaw dropped.