Camila tapped the piece of paper wh

Camila tapped the piece of paper which was face down on the bed and then her own head again meaningfully, Lauren understanding this gift even more when she related it to the letter before her. Camila didn’t like looking at pictures of herself, especially if they were from before the accident. She barely even had any on her bedroom wall besides the single strip of photo booth pictures which had been taken the afternoon of their ‘group date’ so, Camila sharing this with her, as someone outside of her immediately family, was important. It wasn’t an insignificant gesture, it was purposeful and momentous. It was because Camila trusted Lauren with everything, including her past, her irrational and unfounded resentment of herself now, her deep sense of loss for the person she was. No, this gift wasn’t just a cute offering, it was important and it was substantial. Lauren would cherish it all the more because of that.

Lauren went to lean forward to kiss Camila again but her girlfriend put a hand on her chest and pushed had back lightly, preventing her from doing so. She held up one finger and pointed back to the box, causing Lauren to return her attention to it and take out the remaining item inside, a small thin, rectangular object. Lauren unwrapped it and found a small notebook, creased around the edges from constant use.

“What’s this?” Lauren asked opening the book and noticing the familiar scrawl of Camila’s writing inside, filling the notebook from the first page to the last.

Camila lifted up the new personalised book that Lauren had gotten her for Christmas and pointed to it.

“Wait…” Lauren said, flicking through the book again and studying the three gifts Camila had given her, noting their common theme. “Is this your…diary?” Lauren whispered and Camila turned her hand over and back in quick succession before Lauren ‘kind of.’

Lauren opened it up to the first page of the book, noting the date Camila had scrawled in the corner, the start of the school year. She’d started to read the entry in her head when she felt Camila’s hand on her arm, drawing her attention from the page. Camila shook her head; ‘later’ she interpreted her meaning to be. Lauren closed the book, placing all her presents back in the box and leaning over to kiss Camila appreciatively for her gifts. She carefully took Camila’s facemask off, lowering it down in front of her neck as she kissed her lips, virtuously at first, but deeper after a moment, truly thankful for the thought her girlfriend had evidently put in to what she’d gotten her for Christmas.

“Camren! Camren! Camren!” Sofi sang from her position beside Camila on the bed and Lauren lifted her head, turning to look at the small girl and amused expression on her face as Dinah reached her hand out to clamp it over the youngsters’ mouth.

“Yeah ok I see what I created,” Dinah acknowledged chuckling. “Sorry,” she apologised. “Who knew she’d turn in to the captain of this ship so quickly?”

Lauren placed the mask over Camila’s face again and sat back down on the chair by the bedside, taking her girlfriends left hand in her own and stroking the back of it with her thumb. Over the next hour, they stayed like this, Camila opening the remainder of her presents, which included a couple from Dinah, and one from Normani, Ally and Sofi; Camila’s parents and grandma planning to give her their gifts tomorrow when they visited. Dinah had bought Camila a sheet music book of Demi Lovato’s new songs so that she could use it to help her practice the guitar along with a Christmas sweater which she insisted the smaller girl put on now. Normani had bought Camila a couple of dance lessons, which, Lauren was surprised to find that her girlfriend was really receptive of and eager to try. Ally had given Camila a new book, knowing how much she enjoyed to read and was trying to practice, as well as a friendship bracelet which she’d made herself. Sofi gave Camila a stuffed pink unicorn teddy which she immediately removed her oxygen mask in order to kiss on the nose. Camila hugged it close to her chest, evidently cherishing it.

After finishing the exchanging of gifts and knowing that Normani and Ally had both been worried about leaving for Texas to visit their family whilst Camila was still so unwell, Dinah had pulled her laptop out of the sack and placed it on the bed in front of Camila, so that it was resting on her legs. She logged onto the hospitals free Wi-Fi and signed in to Skype, dialling both her friends simultaneously as she started a group conversation.

“Camila?” Ally asked as the call connected and her picture appeared on the screen in front of the smaller girl. “Oh my God,” she said, her voice pleased to finally be able to see her friend now that she was awake. “I’m so glad that you’re doing better,” Ally told her sincerely. “I’ve been so worried. I was praying every night that you’d wake up soon. I was so happy when Lauren text me and told me that you had.”

Camila smiled at Ally’s kind words as