Chapter Text
They stopped somewhere in a forest, not deep enough to get lost or not close enough to get caught by those zombies. It was freezing and they can’t light anything up so they have to turn the engine off because who knows how many gas are still out there. Nicole and Hayley were holding each other tightly to keep themselves warm, those lucky fuckers, Lauren thought. She didn’t even want to know what Camila and Austin doing.
She decided to sleep on the trunk. She had hard time sleeping for few minutes because she was so mesmerized by the stars. The sky was so clear, it was almost purple. For a moment she thought she was high because she wore she saw the galaxy.
“How can you be so clear and beautiful when it’s the exact opposite down here?” She whispered. She hummed some lullabies she’s forgotten the titles of to sleep only to be awoken few hours later to someone calling Camila’s name. She immediately took the gun next to her and hopped off the trunk.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong with her?” She walked to the driver’s seat. Austin looked at her with wide eyes.
“Camila. She’s—she’s gone.”
“What the fuck do you mean by gone, Mahone?” She tried to calm her anger, looking around.
“I went to uh to pee and when I came back she’s gone.”
“Wow aren’t you stupid.” Whispered Nicole.
“Fucking hell.” Laure hissed, stroking back the hair that was on her face. She took a deep breath and gripped her hand. “Okay you guys wait here, just in case she comes back. I’ll look for her.”
“Lauren, it’s too dark right now. It’s dangerous.” Hayley spoke up.
“Fuck it who cares. I have flashlight with me. Only look for me after the morning hits. Stay. Here.” She said before running off the forest.
The first thing that came in her mind was foot print so she immediately started to flash the ground and glad when she saw some foot prints. While her left hand is flashing the light, her right hand is tightly holding her handgun. Whenever she heard some noises, she popped it up only to be faced with rabbits and squirrels.
“Camila.” She called, half whispering.
“Camila, please come out. Don’t do this. Please.”
“I’m begging you, please.”
Her legs were tired from the walking, her hand was tired of flashing the light and her eyes were slowly getting blurry. She was about to turn back around when she heard a cry. She thought of how creepy it was but what worst could it be? They’re already in apocalypse.
“Camila?” The crying stopped. Lauren flashed around until she saw the girl hunching down with her arms around her knees. She ran towards her, putting the gun and flashlight down and hugged Camila. She breathed in the girl’s scent to make sure she’s not hallucinating. She kissed the side of her neck.
“God, you scared me. Why are you here, god dammit?” She pulled out, looking straight into her eyes. The girl was breathing heavily and her tears didn’t stop.
“Hey hey. Hey, look at me. What’s wrong? What’s the matter?” She took out her leather jacket and wrapped it around the shaky girl. Camila shook her head, letting her fears fell again. Lauren cupped both of her cheek.
“Listen, hey. I’m here. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You’re okay. I’m with you. I’ll never leave you. We’ll be okay. This is all temporary. Things will be better soon. Deep breath, baby.” She whispered and leaned in so close that they can feel each other’s breathing. “Deep breath.” She repeated few more times until Camila started to calm down a little bit.
When she stopped crying, Camila rested her forehead against Lauren’s. The older girl kissed the younger girl’s nose and smiled. She sat next to the girl and interlocked their fingers.
“Can—can we stay he—here for a while?” Camila stuttered.
“Of course.”
Camila rested her head Lauren’s shoulder.
“Nightmare?” Lauren asked and Camila nodded.
“Why did you run away though? You could just hop on the trunk.”
“Pa—panic attack.” Lauren nodded and kissed the girl’s head.
“Can you sing something for me?” Camila asked, not looking up.
Without hesitation Lauren did as requested.
“Now it’s you and I, It’s you and me now; we drive through empty streets, in the summer night. As the sun comes up, we leave the city. Now when the lights just right, you're almost pretty.” She started her song. Camila closed her eyes, stroking Lauren’s arm with her free hand. “I wanna stay right here, here where the lights just right. For ever and ever.” She finished the song, looking down the girl and smiled when she saw the girl breathing normally again.
“When will this all be over, Lauren? I couldn’t take it anymore.”
Lauren clenched her jaw, not wanting to lie but not wanting to tell the truth either. She used her free hand to play with the flashlight, trying to somehow get an answer. She then thought of the last movie they both watched together. They were in Camila’s room and the only light that was visible in the room was from the flashlight because of a blackout. They both decided to watch A Cinderella Story, a movie Camila saved on her laptop. Lauren thought of the movie and that one scene where Austin Ames asked Sam Montgomery when can they finally meet and how Sam answered with one simple word. So with no other choices, Lauren quoted her.
“Soon.”
And she hoped that answer will end well.