Imaginary Lover // Camren Fanfiction

Chapter 35

 A/N: I am going on a vacation tomorrow and I won't have my laptop for 3 weeks so I uploaded 4 chapters today for you guys, its all the drafts I have already prepared, bye loves ! <3 see you in 3 weeks (:

Lauren passed a gobsmacked and disapproving Mrs. Bracken, who was standing at the door with two other elderly women, all with pieces of fabric in their hands. They tutted as she trudged by with paint in clumps in the ends of her hair, which was rubbing against her back and causing a beautiful multicolored effect.

"Is she losing her marbles or what?" the woman beside her whispered loudly.

"No, quite the opposite." Lauren could hear the smile in Mrs. Bracken's voice. "I'd say she's been on her hands and knees looking for them."

The other women tutted and wandered away, muttering about Lauren not being the only one losing her marbles.

Lauren ignored the stare from Vero and the shout from Keana, "That's more like it!", and marched into her office, closing the door softly behind her. Shutting everything out. She leaned her back against the door and tried to figure out why her body was shaking so much. What had been stirred inside her? What monsters had awoken from their slumber and were bubbling away under her skin? She breathed in deeply through her nostrils and exhaled slowly, counting one, two, three times until her weak knees stopped trembling.

Everything had been fine if not mildly embarrassing as she walked through the town looking like she had dipped herself a pot of rainbow-colored paint. It had all been fine until Camila said something, what did she say, she said . . . and then she remembered and a chill ran through her body.

Flanagan's Pub. She always avoided Flanagan's Pub, she said. She hadn't noticed until she had brought it to her attention. Why did she do it, because of Taylor? No, Taylor drank in the Camel's Hump, on the hill, down the road. She remained leaning against the door, thinking, until her head was dizzy with all the thoughts. The room spun around her and she decided she needed to get home. Home to where she could control what went on, who could enter, who could leave, where things had their own place and where every memory was clear. She needed order.

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"Where's your beanbag, Camila?" Dinah asked, looking up at me from her yellow-painted wooden chair.

"Oh, I got tired of that," I replied. "Spinning is my new favorite thing now."

"Nice." She nodded with approval.
"Ally's really late," Brad said, wiping his runny nose along his arm. Dinah looked away in disgust, fixed her pretty yellow dress, crossed her ankles, and swung her white patent shoes and frilly socks while she hummed the humming song.

Normani knitted in her rocking chair. "She'll be here," she rasped.

Jamie-Lynn reached out to the center table to grab a chocolate Rice Krispies bun and a glass of milk and as she coughed and spluttered, her glass of milk spilled all over her arm. She licked it off.

"Have you been playing in the doctor's waiting room again, Jamie-Lynn?" Normani asked, glaring at her over the rims of her glasses.

Jamie-Lynn nodded and coughed again on her bun and took a bite.

Dinah wrinkled her nose in disgust and continued combing her Barbie's hair with a small comb.

"You know what Ally told you, Jamie-Lynn, those places are full of bacteria. Those toys you like to play with are the cause of you being ill."

"I know," Jamie-Lynn said with food in her mouth, "but someone's got to keep the kids company when they're waiting for the doctor."

Twenty minutes passed and eventually Ally showed. Everyone looked at one another with worry. It looked as though Ally's shadow had taken her place.