Authors Note: Please be aware guys things will be getting a smidge angsty from here on out. Not too dark i promise! but as Florence and The Machine says 'It's always darkest before the dawn.' Or something less cheesy...Anyway enjoy. (and review if you fell so inclined :))

It seemed only fitting really, that the roof or the tour bus (a place of so many pivotal moments between them) be the place where she destroys them.

It's early, really early. The deep, engulfing dark that happens before the break of dawn swept around her. A new day was coming, everything was about to be different.

Lauren loves Camila but she also isn't naive enough to believe love is rainbows and puppies and fucking sunshine. That isn't love. Love is the bad parts; it's the arguments and the flaws. Love is the imperfections; it's in the cracks in-between all the good stuff. It's putting them first before anything else, especially you. Love is wanting them happy even if it means you're not.

The sun is just peeking out over the Hollywood hills in the distance when she hears Camila exit the bus and start climbing up the ladder. Lauren had sneakily activated the drop down ladder whilst Danny was asleep. She hoped he wouldn't find out, the last thing she needed after this would be somebody else mad with her.

As the sky was dripping into a lighter hue, the royal blue seeping into magenta, as Camila clambered onto the roof.

'Got your text.' She said, her voice still thick with sleep. Like every other time she had heard that timbre in Camila's voice something dropped in her chest and puddled. 'What's going on?'

Lauren took a breath, gulped and offered a hand to help Camila sit down next to her. She had made the choice to get this over with quickly, to not tiptoe around the decision. Quick and fast, like ripping off a Band-Aid.

'I've been thinking that maybe this, us... that maybe we're not working.' Deep breath. 'I think that we should break up.' She froze facing forwards, looking cowardly at the rising sun in the distance. She could not look at the woman next to her.

In all the scenarios in which she had played this out in her head, not a single one had resulted in Camila laughing and yet that was what was happening.

Lauren shot her a questioning look.

Camila quieted her giggles and raised an eyebrow at Lauren. 'Seriously, what is this about?'

'I-I just told you, I think that we should end this...our relationship, I mean.' Lauren's voice sounded foreign even to her own ears, she did not want to be saying these words and it was like her subconscious coped by detaching herself from the words.

Camila's response was her second eyebrow rising to join the other. 'Okaaaay,' She dragged out the word. 'Any particular reason?'

Lauren had spent the last hour going over and over fake reasons to tell Camila but in the end she decided to tell her something as close to the truth as she could muster. 'I just think that we should concentrate on our careers for a bit.' She couldn't hold the steady gaze any longer and turned away. 'This is a crucial time for us right now and any distractions might jeprodise that. I care about you, I really do, but we should prioritise the group over our relationship.' Lauren sighed in relief that she got the words out without breaking down, and they were true to an extent.

A sigh of irritation sounded from next to her and Lauren squeezed her eyes shut preparing for the fallout. But it never came.

'And the real reason?'

Lauren should've known it wouldn't be that easy to fool Camila. 'That is the real reason.' She lied.

'Yet you can't even look me in the eye.'

Lauren pinched the bridge of her nose and slowly turned back to the woman she loved. Camila looked genuinely confused and hurt and Lauren wanted to sink down into the earth and never come out, she wanted to storm into that office at Epic and rip David's heart out and feed it to him, she wanted tell Camila everything, that it was all to protect her, she just wanted this to be over.

'Have you cheated on me?' Camila asked.

The accusation felt like a punch in the gut. 'No! God no, how could you even ask me that?'

Camila laughed, dry and without an ounce of humour. 'I don't know, maybe because my girlfriend has just done a complete one eighty overnight for no apparent reason.'

'Camz, I haven't cheated I would never- I just – I think it'd be good for us to take a break.'

'So you don't care about me anymore?'

Lauren bristled, no matter what she would never allow Camila to think that she didn't care about her. Not when the reason for all of this was probably because she cared too much.

She made purposeful eye contact, 'I will always care about you.'

'Just not enough to tell me what's really going on though, right?'

All Lauren could do was stare, she had no response. Camila shook her head in frustration.

'Tell me.' Camila reached out and took Lauren's hand. She noticed her own was trembling and Camila held it in both of hers until the shaking stopped. 'Just tell me.' She whispered, it was so gentle and asked so sincerely that Lauren was struck, not for the first time, by the beauty of Camila's innocence.

Her eyes were burning into Lauren's now, they were brimming with confusion and frustration and something horrendous that Lauren recognised as resignation. Like she had been waiting for this to happen, like she had been waiting for the other shoe to drop, like this was completely unwanted but entirely expected. It made Lauren feel sick.

Suddenly she felt like she couldn't do this, suddenly the pros didn't outweigh the cons. Breaking Camila's heart wasn't worth anything. Lauren took a breath ready to explain everything, the truth about the blackmail perched precariously on the tip of her tongue-

Then two people in the distance caught her eye. The morning light making them less visible but she could tell that they were two guys. One of them talking quietly on a cell phone. Lauren wondered if they were working for David, listening in to their conversation, ready to tell him everything. Then what, David would call Camila in to the office the next day, tell her that she wasn't right for the group, that they were replacing her? No, she could never do that to Camila.

Lauren didn't realise she was crying until Camila pulled her hand from Lauren's to gently cup her jaw and use her thumb to swipe away the fallen tears.

'I need you to tell me what's wrong,' Camila whispered, 'because you're unhappy, and all I want is for you to be happy.'

Lauren's breath hitched, and isn't that the point? That is all she wanted too, for Camila to be happy. Lauren knew that singing was what made Camila happy; it was all she had wanted to do since she could walk. All the stories Camila's parents had told her of Camila singing night after the night into the bathroom mirror, in secret, because she didn't know how great she was. There was no way Lauren could be the one to take that away from her. She knew that she had to do this.

A shuddered breath passed her lips and she felt something chip away from deep within. 'I will be happy,' she started, 'When we spend some time apart.'

Camila pulled away, startled. She looked pleading into Lauren's eyes searching for something.

With another soft shake of her head Camila got to her feet and looked down at Lauren. 'Fine. If that's what you want.'

Lauren clenched her fists, physically trying to stop herself from reaching out and pulling her back. Another piece of her heart seemed to chip and float away.

'I'm so-'

'Don't you dare apologise!' Camila interrupted, the harsh words stung deservedly.

The Cuban stared down at her, her face was hard and her eyes dark and wet. 'I know you're hiding something from me, I'm not stupid.'

Lauren felt her lungs contract painfully as she tried desperately to hold in the sob she felt threatening to break out. Tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

'I know you're not.' She shuddered out.

'Then what the hell are you keeping from me? Why would you do this?' She kneeled down so she was back at eye level with Lauren. 'Please Lo, what aren't you telling me? We can figure this out together.'

All Lauren could manage was a small shake of her head.

Rage flared in the brown eyes in front of her and Camila stood again taking a step backwards on the roof. 'You're pathetic.' She spat.

The words hit like a hammer to a chisel against her already chipped heart, shattering it completely. She nodded in response because she agreed, she was pathetic, a failure, a coward.

With one last look of disappointment, Lauren watched Camila turn and walk away, descending the ladder back to the ground.

She was numb, a Lauren shell. Empty save for her destroyed heart strewn about like a broken glass.

The sun continued to rise. The dawn broke and so did she.