The Girl Nextdoor

Chapter 22

Camila's POV

So my party was everything I didn't ask for. It definitely wasn't small, I can tell you that. It looked like Lauren's party, actually it was even worse. I literately only knew 5 out of the 500 people here. Apart from it being HUGE, it was nice. Ally had decorated it very nicely, Mani clearly did her job, Siope fulfilled his promise, and Ariana had managed to bring all the food and hire a great DJ. It was going great, until I heard the door bell ring on my way to get a cup of water from the kitchen. I thought that it was odd that the person behind the door didn't just barge in. Because I mean, there was a party going on after all. None the less though, I approached the door. And to my surprise, behind it stood Lauren.

When her eyes met mine suddenly everything disappeared. Her mouth dropped as she analyzed me. And as much as I tried to control myself, my jaw dropped too. Again, Lauren had not failed to impress me. She was wearing a white Let it roll crop top, black leather shorts and black opened toed strap heels. On her face, she wore minimal make up and her cherry pigmented chap stick. Her eyes pierced through mine thoughtfully. I could tell that she wanted to say something but her body was not responding and neither was mine.

"..."

We stared at each other for what seemed a long time, until she finally broke the impending silence, "Hi."

"Uh...hi."

"Happy birthday..." Lauren congratulated me with a small smile.

"Thanks...but um... if you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

"I heard you were having a party and I just wanted to check up on my favorite nerd to see how everything was going."

"Why would you need to check up on me?"

"I mean I would imagine that this is your first party right?"

"Yeah..."

"That's why. You're very inexperienced Camz, and I just wanted to make sure that you're okay."

"Well thank you for you're concern Lauren, but I'm fine."

She nodded her head, uncertain of what to say next. "You look great by the way..."

I shook my head at her cute attempt to continue the conversation, "Thank you Lauren. Do you want to come in?"

"Well, I was planning on coming in anyways, but now that you offered, sure." Lauren quipped.

I shook my head lightly and stepped aside to let her in.

When I closed the door behind me, I realized she was gone. She must of been doing her thing already, after all she was Lauren Jauregui. I did find it weird that she showed up though. I mean I understood that my "small" party had become an open party but she was the last person that I thought would show up. It both scared and overwhelmed me. When I opened the door and met her captivating eyes, it brought back so many memories. Not just of Siope's party, but everything. Its hard looking into the eyes you fell in love with because no matter how much you refuse too, you see everything that was left behind. You see all the things that only live on as memories and nothing else. In that moment, I felt like it was right on my part to let her in. It was a way to show myself that I could live without her, even when she was under the same roof as me. I guess you could call it practicing but it was a good way of testing my self control. So far I had done a pretty good job of forgetting about her. That is until she showed up today. Something about the look in her eyes was different, something about her intentions, smile, the words that escaped her mouth... was different. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was something different about Lauren Jauregui. And...it was bringing me back to her again.