Wait For Me To Come Home

Chapter 47

Camila had been gone a month.

It was strange to Lauren that it had already been a month because it had flown by so quickly, yet every second of it had dragged when she thought about the last time she had held Camila in her arms. The fact that they were roughly a quarter of the way through this was a small consolation prize for the daily struggle of wanting to be next to each other, to be able to kiss each other good morning and good night and hold hands while they took Athena for walks. All the small things that others took for granted. Sometimes Lauren would catch herself watching Sofi and Maggie, and she couldn't help but feel a little bit envious that they got to spend every day with each other, but it also made her happy to think that that would soon be her future.

Over the past couple of weeks, Lauren had discovered more of a social life, and at Camila's encouragement, she found herself spending more time with Ally, outside of work, and with Normani as well. They'd decided on a weekly poker night, with Sofi and Maggie of course, which instead had turned into the five girls sitting in Lauren's apartment playing all sorts of games while they drank and wound each other up with their teasing. Lauren was truly happy to think that she finally had friends. It hadn't been hard at all, and with some surprise, Lauren realized that it wasn't that no one had wanted to be friends with her, it was that she had never wanted to let anyone get close. When she told Camila this realization she had laughed, saying she had already known that, but was happy that Lauren had changed her mind. She didn't say it, but Lauren knew she would still be wallowing in her misery if she hadn't met Camila. She'd kick-started something into action that had triggered a series of events in Lauren's life that had completely turned her world upside down – all of it for the better.

It was the day of Jauregui Corp's Christmas party, and Lauren had invited Sofi and Maggie to come along too, considering that she didn't have any family to bring along. She had a sneaking suspicion that her mom would turn up anyway, after all, it was the Christmas party for the family company, even if Clara didn't have much involvement anymore. Lauren had also invited Sinu, but she was already working at the hospital and Lauren knew better than to try and tear a doctor away from their patients. She knew Sinu would've found a way out of it if it had been important to Lauren for her to be there, but Lauren wasn't really looking forward to it anyway. Every year she just stood in the corner with Ally while she watched a couple of hundred employees she didn't know get drunk off the free alcohol.

She'd had her hair and makeup done professionally, and was waiting around in her apartment for Camila to call when Sofi showed up at her apartment. Lauren gave her a puzzled look as she opened the door and let her inside.

"What're you doing here?" Lauren asked, setting a pot of coffee on.

"I had specific instructions, which I can guarantee you're going to hate," Sofi said, presenting Lauren with a parcel. Frowning in confusion, Lauren took the wrapped gift and read the tag attached to it. It was off Camila, and Lauren could feel the softness of the gift and was curious as to what it was. Quickly, she tore open the paper, exposing the red knitted wool of a sweater. She pulled it out and held it up in front of her, her eyes widening as she looked at the sweater.

"So, Camila knitted it for you," Sofi explained. "She thought it would be nice for you to wear something Christmassy to your Christmas party. I don't know in what world she would think you'd wear a sweater to a billion-dollar company's business party but she left me with instructions to give it to you."

Lauren looked up at Sofi and gave her a horrified look, before looking back down at the sweater. It was bright red, and there were snowflakes, reindeer and snowmen patterns knit all over it. "She knitted this?" Lauren asked. "I didn't even know she knits!"