know,” Camila replied. “That’s the

know,” Camila replied. “That’s the problem.”

“What?” Lauren asked her. “Why?”

“She shouldn’t have to forgive me,” Camila shared with Lauren. “You’re right, I did overreact. She was just doing the right thing…”

“You’re punishing yourself,” Lauren said in understanding. “You’re not punishing her…”

“I don’t deserve a friend like her,” Camila finally vocalised. “She’s done nothing but be there for me and I completely turned on her for continuing to do exactly that.”

“You’re an idiot,” Lauren said simply and Camila raised her eyebrow. “Would you please stop punishing yourself? You might think that you’re doing Dinah a favour and that perhaps she’s better off without a friend like you but, you know what? By being an idiot you’re actually penalizing her.”

Lauren squeezed Camila’s hand pointedly.

“You’re distancing yourself from her because you think she’ll be happier if you’re not friends,” Lauren said, “but, she’s miserable because all she does is worry about you and miss you…”

“Lauren,” Camila interrupted, not wanting to hear the truth spoken so blatantly.

“You’re an idiot,” Lauren repeated, leaning down to kiss Camila on the lips briefly. “Make up with Dinah,” she instructed. “I promise, you’ll feel better for it Camz. You two are meant to be friends….you’re both so weird…” Lauren joked and she felt her heart flutter as Camila laughed in response.

“I love you,” Camila said again, the words coming easily.

She kissed Lauren again on the lips, her hand dropping to find Lauren’s hip, her face smiling as she did so.

“I love you too,” Lauren replied as Camila hopped off the bed and moved over to plug her iPod into a docking system on her desk. “What are you doing?” Lauren asked questioningly.

“I want you to listen to something,” Camila informed her, finding the right song and then turning to look at Lauren. “You asked me earlier how I could love you,” Camila reminded her. “I want to share something with you.”

“Ok,” Lauren said interestedly.

“Well, you know how you told me that ‘Everything Has Changed’ reminded you of me?” Camila asked her.

“Yeah,” Lauren said recalling the day she’d performed it for her in the very room she was in now.

“So, I was listening to my iPod in the hospital the other week,” Camila told her. “I’d had a really bad day…the doctors had done a lot of investigations and tests. They’d taken blood and my arm was sore from all the needle sticks that I’d had. I had a pounding headache from the overhead fluorescent lights and a part of me just wanted to curl up into a ball and go to sleep forever.” Camila continued. “I was so bored and lonely. I felt like an invalid because I couldn’t get up to go to the bathroom by myself I’d get so dizzy.”

Camila paused for a moment shaking her head from side to side.

“Anyway,” Camila said noting that she’d become side tracked. “I had my iPod on and it was on shuffle, then this song came on and it reminded me of you…for the first time that day I’d forgotten all about the pain I was in and everything that was going on…and I smiled,” Camila told her. “I smiled for the first time in three days because of you, because of just the thought of you. It reminded me of the way that you make me feel and how I always hate when you have to go home and we’re apart.”

“What song is it?” Lauren asked curiously and Camila hit play before making her way back over to the bed and returning to her previous position beside Lauren.

“You lift my heart up when the rest of me is down. You, you enchant me even when you’re not around. If there, there are boundaries, I will try to knock them down. I’m latching on babe, now I know what I have found. I feel we’re close enough, I wanna lock in your love, I feel we’re close enough, I wanna to lock in your love, your love.”

“Do you know it?” Camila asked and Lauren shook her head, a smile on her face as she listened to the lyrics and it continued.

“Now I’ve got you in my space, I won’t let go of you. You got me shackled in my embrace; I’m latching on to you.”

“I feel so encaptured, got me wrapped up in your touch. Feel so enamoured; hold me tight within your clutch. How did you do it? You got me losing all my breath. How did you give me, to have my heart beat out my chest?

“Now I’ve got you in my space, I won’t let go to you. Got me shackled in my embrace, I’m latching on to you. Now I’ve got you in my space, I won’t let go to you. Got me shackled in my embrace, I’m latching on to you, I’m latching on to you, I’m latching on to you, I’m latching on to you, I’m latching on to you….”

Once the song had finished, Camila jumped up off the bed again and switched her iPod off, turning around to face Lauren who had tears streaked down her face.

“Are you ok?” Camila asked concerned, heading back to the bed and sitting down in front of Lauren quickly.

She wrapped an arm around Lauren’s shoulders, hugging her closely.

“That song reminded you of me?” Lauren asked her.

“Yeah,” Camila confirmed. “It made me realise that I loved you….no