Serendepia

Camila was not used to going out partying on a Sunday night, especially if she had some homework due, but JC had insisted ad nauseam that she accompany him to a friend’s fraternity party.

JC said it was her only option since Ava would be staying at the orphanage until the nuns kicked her out again because it was Diego’s birthday and she wouldn’t miss it for anything.

In the end, Camila had agreed and realized too late that it was all about JC’s plan to get her to meet fer friend Todd and see if something would finally come up between them.

Todd was cute, Camila liked him, he was attractive and tender, the two of them got along well, they had been talking animatedly for the last couple of hours while having a few drinks in the middle of the party.

She understood why JC believed that she and Todd could be more than just friends, they were similar in many ways, but Camila wasn’t entirely convinced of that, even though she enjoys talking and spending time with him.

Camila was actually listening to Todd and his story about something his friend Michael did, but her attention was drawn to familiar one walking through the crowd of inebriated collage guys.

Lilith walked to the kitchen to pour herself something to drink, she was wearing a black jacket, though no the one she had lent to Camila as she had yet return it to her, and was generally wearing all black; the bomber style jacket was surely only there to cover up all the tattoos along Lilith’s arms.

One of Todd’s hands came to rest on Camila’s shoulder, which brought her attention back to the boy in front of her.

“Hey, is everything okay?” Todd questioned with a slight tone of concern in his voice.

“What? I mean, yeah, everything’s fine” Camila affirmed with a smile on her lips.

“Are you sure? Because you seemed a little off this planet a second ago”

“Yes, I only saw one friend… I think”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I might be keeping you from talking to more people” Todd replied, looking truly embarrassed. “I didn’t mean to”

“No, it’s not that at all”

“Are you sure? Because I can leave you alone and…”

“Really, it’s okay” Camila interrupted, placing her hand on Todd’s arm. “I’m sorry I got distracted; now, what was it you were telling me?”

Todd smiled and continued his story a different point that Camila didn’t remember, but didn’t want to interrupt; her gaze drifted unconsciously back to the kitchen in search of Lilith, but she couldn’t find her.

About thirty minutes later, after finishing her third beer, Camila excused herself to Todd and went upstairs to the second floor hoping she wouldn’t have to wait too long to use the bathroom.

She had been to that frat house before at another one of her parties, so she knew the way and the exact door well; however, to her bad luck, when she tried to open the door it remained locked.

Camila sighed in exasperation at having to wait, took a deep breath and rapped her knuckles on the door three times before getting an answer.

“One second!” answered a boy’s voice from inside.

“Cam!” JC shouted, running towards her. “I’ll go first”

“Busy”

“Hell, I’m pooping my pants”

“You can go in before me” said Camila with a smile as she tried to contain her laughter.

“Thanks, thanks, thanks!” JC replied as he jumped up and down. “How about Todd?”

“Very subtle”

“I managed to convince you to come without you getting suspicious, didn’t I?” JC said with a victorious smile. “I thought you were interested in Todd, because he’s clearly interested I you”

“Yeah, I was interested…”

“So what happened, is Todd, is he being a jerk? Because I can beat him if you want”

“No, it’s not him”

“Is this about Ava’s girlfriend’s scary friend?”

Camila left her cheeks heat up, she was sure she was blushing and the smile on JC’s face only confirmed it. “This isn’t about…” the bathroom door suddenly opened, interrupting their conversation. “Lilith…” she said as she saw the brunette appear behind the door.

Lilith face paled as she met Camila’s gaze as if she caught her doing something that no one was supposed to see.

Lilith averted her gaze to her right hand that was holding onto the door frame, though she specifically looked at the clear plastic bag between her fingers; Camila also looked at the small bag and what it contained inside.

Lilith hid the plastic bag in her jacket pocket and walked out of the bathroom avoiding Camila’s gaze as she passed by her.

“Sorry to late” commented a boy following Lilith’s footsteps as he finished buttoning the buttons on his shirt. “All yours, guys. Have fun”

“I think we should really talk about this, but I really have to go to the bathroom” JC started before entering the bathroom as fast as he could and closing the door behind him.

Camila nodded and stood silently in the middle of the hallway; she wasn’t naïve, she knew what Lilith and the other boy surely did inside the bathroom, she also knew what Lilith tried to hide in her jacket pocket on her way out.

She had feeling that something was wrong with Lilith, despite the few seconds she saw her before disappeared form her sight and the short time she had to het to know her, Camila couldn’t help but feel worried about the taller girl.

“Sorry, I’m ready now” JC commented as he came out of the bathroom while drying the excess water in his hands on his t-shirt. “We can talk now”

Camila smiled warmly towards her friend and was silently grateful to have met him.

“I’m fine, she’s definitely very attractive, but it’s not like I have feeling for her; besides, she has every right to do whatever she wants with whomever she wants whenever she wants”

“Good point”

“Now go back to your friends and let me use the bathroom”

JC nodded with a smile before replying. “Let me know when you want to leave, I can walk you to your dorm”

“No need to leave first just for me”

“It’s okay, it’s no problem, I can go back to the party if I want to”

Camila thanked her friend before going into the bathroom and finally being able to use it after all the time she had to wait.

When she returned to Todd a couple of minutes later, he was talking to a blond guy who introduced himself as the aforementioned Michael and then said goodbye and left them alone again.

They picked up the conversation right where they left off, Camila tried to put all her attention on Todd, she didn’t want to be rude, but it was practically impossible when she found Lilith in the crowd again.

Lilith was now on the opposite side of the house, playing on the pool table next to other boys who seemed to be losing to her.

Camila diverted ger gaze to Lilith from time to time during the next few minutes, watching her play, without the other girl noticing, although she wasn’t the only one because most of the people around also watched from time to time.

Everything was going well, Lilith seemed to have no problem defeating the boys who challenged her in the game and it was obvious that she enjoyed it, but her cocky smile was replaced by a frown when a blonde girl approached her.

It took her a moment, but Camila finally identified her as the girl Lilith seemed to be arguing with after the last game, one of her teammates.

Lilith exchanged a few words with the blonde and ended up nodding while still showing her annoyance before starting a new game of pool.

It didn’t seem to be a friendly game, it was obvious that the blonde was saying things just to annoy Lilith and Camila doubted that it was a dirty strategy to distract her in order to get a little advantage.

Besides the tense posture and clenched jaw, Lilith wasn’t letting her annoyance be too obvious; quite the opposite to the blonde girl who was frowning with every answer the taller girl gave her without even bothering to look at her.

Despite the unsubtle argument between the two girls, Camila didn’t expect thing to end up escalating to something physical from one second to the next.

The blond had approached Lilith to whisper something in her ear with a mischievous smile and that, whatever it was she said to her, ended the last shred of the taller girl’s patience.

Lilith gripped the pool cue tightly with her right hand while her left hand clutched a fistful of fabric from the blonde’s blouse just as tightly.

The look on Lilith’s face was menacing and whatever she replied to the other girl, it didn’t make the smirk on the blonde’s lips disappear or diminish in the slightest.

A boy approached the pair and began to act as a mediator; it turned out to be the same boy who had been inside the bathroom next to Lilith before Camila interrupted them.

The boy was taller than Lilith, had a beard at least three days old and his long hair tied in a ponytail, though some strands of hair were over his face; he placed on of his hands on Lilith’s lower back and the other on the brunette’s hand holding the blonde’s clothes, finally he brought his face close to Lilith’s and whispered something in her ear.

Whatever the boy said to her caused Lilith to push the blonde away from her and say something that sounded like a warning before dropping the cue, rounding the pool table and heading for the front door of the house to leave.

“Friend of yours?” Todd asked after having completely lost Camila’s attention in his conversation.

“Yeah, something like that…” replied Camila, feeling a little embarrassed at being caught concentrating on someone else. “Or so I think”

“Hey, I get it, friends are important, so go with her”

“Do you think I should go with her?”

“Yes, she’s your friend and she looks like she could use someone right now”

“Maybe you’re right” Camila murmured before giving Todd a quick hug. “Thanks” she exclaimed with a smile as she walked away.

|||||||||||||||

Lilith left the party more annoyed than when she had arrived, which was the exact opposite of what she was looking to achieve in the first place.

It was nothing new for Crimson to behave like a real jerk, she had done it since the first day they met, she had hated both Lilith and Beatrice because of what seemed to be an old fight of her parents of something to do with her fragile ego, maybe both.

Beatrice avoided physical and verbal confrontation at all costs, but Lilith had steadfastly refused to give her that satisfaction and that led her to have many fights Crimson, though none as close to being physical as a minute ago.

She was lucky that Adriel had intervened in time and prevent Lilith from punching Crimson in the face because team’s coach would have kicked her out for being the one who threw the first punch.

Lilith decided to walk down the sidewalk without a fixed direction before she took to heart her mother’s words that she should quit the volleyball team to concentrate more on her studies and nothing would stop her from hitting Crimson’s smug face, although she didn’t want to give her mother the satisfaction of being kicked off the team the same day she had demanded her to quit.

After advancing about twenty meters while taking a deep breath to calm herself, she noticed that light rain was falling on the area.

The drops of water were not enough to wet her instantly, she would have to be several minutes in the rain to get completely soaked; anyway, Lilith’s didn’t care, she kept walking for a minute more until she found a bench and decided to sit down to smoke a little and enjoy the rain.

She lit a cigarette, took a big puff while resting ger back on the back of the bench and let her head all back, closing her eyes as she left the raindrops on her face.

“May I sit down?” questioned a female voice; the sudden presence at her side made Lilith sit up with her back straight as she was surprised. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you” Camila apologized with a small smile.

Camila took Lilith’s silence and puzzled expression as an affirmative answer to her questions and stepped forward to take a seat.

“Wait” Lilith ordered as she realized what the shorter girl was about to do.

Lilith slid over bench to one side and ran her hand over the surface to make sure it was mostly dry with no traces of water.

“That wasn’t necessary” said Camila before taking a seat with a small smile.

The curly-haired girl didn’t say anything else after sitting down, she just looked straight ahead and appreciated the rain falling under the light of the nearest street lamp; Lilith knew that she was doing, she didn’t want to push her and hoped that she would be the one to start the conversation when she was ready.

It was a nice gesture, Beatrice did it too, but usually that led to a silence that didn’t end until they found another topic to talk about.

“It wasn’t important” Lilith muttered, referring to the argument with Crimson,  “you should back to the party”

“I saw what happened and it seemed important”

Lilith stopped watching the cigarette she was holding between her fingers and looked at Camila, not expecting to meet such a warm expression.

Camila was looking at her intently, surprising Lilith with how evident her concern was and the delicacy of her patience captured on her face.

Surprise quickly turned to admiration as unconsciously her gaze mover over every inch of Camila’s face until it stopped on the girl’s glossy lips that made Lilith wonder about what lip gloss would tarte like.

Lilith averted her gaze as soon as that runaway thought hit her, placed her free hand on one of her knees and gave herself a light squeeze as she took a long drag on the cigarette she held in the other hand.

Before Lilith could think of anything that could divert the topic of conversation, as she usually did, the light touch of Camila’s hand sliding over her own hand made her lose any line of thought.

“Hey” Camila said, giving her a little squeeze to make sure she had her attention, “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to, but I’m here if you need to”

Lilith watched how small Camila’s hand seemed over hers for a couple of seconds and gently slid the tip of her thumb over the proximal phalanx of the shorter girl’s little finger

“It was stupid” Lilith declared, surprising herself at her own words. “I shouldn’t have reacted like that, Crimson was just being an idiot to annoy me, like she always does” she forced herself to slide her hand out of Camila’s touch and look straight ahead to avoid the possibility of eyes contact. “I had to keep control, but…” her jaw tightened as she remembered Crimson’s threat to Beatrice.

“It’s okay to lose control” Camila said. “It’s something human, it happens to all of us, you shouldn’t feel guilty about it”

A small laugh escaped Lilith’s lips because that was the exact opposite of what she had heard all her life, her mother didn’t expect anything less than perfection from her; even when she did live up to her standards, the expectations were always rising and it was almost impossible to reach them.

She remembered the conversation she had had with her mother that morning, the disappointment in her voice that was always a constant when she talked to Lilith and how that had affected her more than it normally did.

She thought she was used to it by now, she had endured the same thing her whole life, but lately it seemed like it was finally about to boil over, only this time she had a feeling it would be different and she wasn’t sure if she could recover from that.

Taking the last puff of her cigarette, she stubbed it out on the damp surface on the bench before putting it int her jacket pocket and finally turning to look at Camila.

“Thanks” Lilith whispered before the other girl could notice what was behind her. “Go back to the party, your boyfriend must be waiting for you”

“What?” Camila questioned with a confused expression on her face before understanding what the brunette was referring to. “Oh no, it’s no what you think, he’s not my boyfriend, we’re just friend” she hurried to clarify. “I’m not dating anyone” she added before blushing at that last statement.

Lilith smiled at she, the curly-haired girl’s sudden nervousness was a bit funny to her. “Too bad for him” she muttered before finally standing up. “Come on, my car is that way” she said extending her hand towards Camila.

There was a second of hesitation, but Camila accepted the little help and also stood up next to the bench.

“In fact, I think it’s time for me to go to sleep, I have an exam in the morning”

“Do you want a ride?” Lilith offered, surprising herself for even caring like that.

“It’s not necessary, although I appreciate the offer” Camila replied with a broad smile on her lips. “Besides, I’m going in the opposite direction and it’s a nice night to walk”

Lilith nodded silently, deciding not to insist any further. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later” she said with some discomfort, not sure how to end the conversation and say goodbye.

Camila smiled and just when Lilith was about to take a step back, the shorter girl held her by the shoulders, preventing the taller one from pulling away, and finally got rid of the distance between them to embrace her.

At first, Lilith didn’t know how to react as she felt Camila’s arms around her neck and felt another torso pressing against hers, but a couple of seconds later she allowed herself to enjoy the warm feeling of the curly-haired girl’s body and wrapped her arms around Camila’s waist.

The hug felt good, it was gratifying, Lilith couldn’t remember the last time she had received such a hug from anyone else or, in general, she couldn’t remember any gesture involving physical contact that made her feel as relaxed and warm as she did at that moment.

“I was serious” Camila murmured, resting her chin on her taller girl’s shoulder. “I’m here for you if you need me, no matter when”

Lilith felt against Camila’s neck, lingering there for a second longer before pulling back, still with her arm wrapped around the shorter girl, and flashing a small smile of thanks.

“You can also look me up if you need me”

“I know” Camila replied with a smile. “I saw how you worried about Bea the other night outside the bar”

It was unexpected for Lilith that the curly-haired girl had noticed the motive behind her actions two night ago; the boy was an idiot, she would surely have ended up hitting him in any possible scenario, but she took care to do it quickly and make sure he left immediately after so he couldn’t say anything else that would affect Beatrice.

“It’s not easy for her, she still has a hard time accepting herself” Lilith commented, being sure it was something the other girl already knew. “That’s why I’m worried about her relationship with Ava”

“She also cares about Bea, she doesn’t want to push her, she tries to keep up with her even though she wants to jump on her all the time”

“Maybe I should try to be less hard on her” Lilith muttered to herself.

“Ava’s afraid of you, she thinks you’re a little scary”

“Just a little?”

Camila noticed the smile on the brunette’s lips and caught it. “Maybe much more than that” she ended up admitting after a second.

“Well, I have a reputation to uphold”

“I think you’re cute, it’s sweet that you care about your friend like that”

That statement caught Lilith off guard, she wasn’t used to people thinking that about her and she didn’t know how to respond to it; she felt her cheeks heat up a bit and it was until that moment that she noticed that her arms were still around the shorter girl’s waist and that Camila’s arms hadn’t left her neck either.

Camila seemed to realize the exact same thing the second Lilith did too because they both pulled their hands away from each other simultaneously, though the blush on the brown-haired girl’s face was more obvious and intense.

Lilith took a step back and avoided mentioning anything about it. “I should let you go, it’s getting late”

“Yeah, right” replied Camila looking down slightly to hide her discomfort. “See you later?” she questioned uncertainly.

“Of course” Lilith took another step back and smiled again. “Bye”

“Bye”

Getting one last smile from Camila before saying goodbye felt like a small victory, so Lilith turned around and started to walk away.