Wait For Me To Come Home

Chapter 51

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Fun fact, I let my mom shave all of my hair last night. Now I'm looking like Eleven in season 1. Can somebody please come and kill me?? 🙃

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They were sat in Sinu's living room, drinking peppermint hot chocolate at Sofi's insistence – apparently, it was a Cabello family tradition. The snow outside blanketed everything, but they didn't feel the chill inside as a fire roared in the fireplace and they sat cuddled up underneath blankets. Winter in Palm Bay was a completely different Christmas to what Lauren had previously experienced – part of that she attributed to the fact that the house was completely decked out in all sorts of decorations, and because for the first time in forever, Lauren wasn't spending it alone. Of course, she'd spent Christmas with her family when she was younger, which had entailed a single bare looking Christmas tree, a room full of gifts and Clara sat in silence. Her father was never there for Christmas, and it wasn't until Lauren was a teenager that the huge pile of presents stopped being enough to distract her from everything wrong with her family.

They were watching a Christmas movie when Sinu had a call off Camila. As the call connected, everyone shouted hello to Camila, and Sinu smiled widely at her screen. "Hi sweetie," Sinu said. "How was your day? We're all missing you here."

"Hi, mom! Work was fine. I had a pretty relaxing day building sandcastles," Camila laughed, and Sofi groaned.

"Shut up, Camila. I'm still mad at you," she said, rolling her eyes. Lauren bit back a smile as she listened to the two of them bicker for a moment.

"Oh come on Sofi, I said I was sorry. And I told you, I'm not going back. If I go back I can't marry Lauren, I promised her. Ask her," Camila told her and three curious pairs of eyes turned to face her.

Lauren shrugged. "Her words, not mine."

"Well, we all know I wouldn't risk that, so it's safe to say I'll be home in a little over two months," Camila said excitedly, and everyone smiled. Lauren couldn't help but think that it was the best possible Christmas present Camila could give her – just that promise was enough.

They all talked to her for a while, and then Sinu handed the phone off to Lauren so she could talk to Camila for a bit. Lauren asked Camila to give her a moment, and she hung up, handing Sinu back her phone and excusing herself from the room. She had to talk to Camila alone. Racing upstairs, Lauren powered up her laptop and sat in the middle of Camila's bed while she waited for it to turn on. As soon as she logged in, she called Camila, who answered straight away.

"Are you wearing the sweater I knitted you?" Camila asked, smiling hopefully at Lauren.

Lauren looked down and pulled at the front of the sweater. "Yeah, it's comfy. I love it. It makes me feel, I don't know, safe? Closer to you. Is that stupid?"

"No, that's not stupid at all," Camila said, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "So ... what do you want to talk about alone?"

"Ah, right," Lauren muttered. "Um, well, we haven't really talked about things. Like, properly. I wanted to wait until after Christmas, but I think we need to talk now."

"Okay," Camila said slowly. "Where do you want to start?"

"Um ... I don't know. I didn't get that far ahead," Lauren admitted. "I guess I, uh, well, you're not going back?"

"No," Camila said firmly. "You mean everything to me, Lauren. And so does my family. I'm not going to let something like a war I don't believe in stand in the way – even if I'm scared of the future. So no, I'm not coming back here. I'm done."