Cariño

35

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to Savanna! Happy Birthday to you!"

The whole room erupted in cheers as Savanna blew out her candles.

Natalia was sat a few spaces down from her next to Savannah's friends.

She was currently at Savanna's Birthday party in the back garden of her house. She saw sitting on a long table full of children and a couple of adults.

Natalia watched as her mother stood behind Savanna, helping her cut the chocolate cake.

Natalia's eyes landed on her father who was smiling proudly at his daughter.

She felt a pang of jealousy in her chest as she looked at him and so she decided to stand up.

Natalia walked away and Joaquin was the only one to notice it. He immediately stood up and followed her inside into the kitchen.

Natalia sat down at the counter and picked up a green apple.

Joaquin appeared in front of her as she took a bite. He didn't know what to say to the girl but then noticed a single ring on her finger.

He laughed "I didn't think you liked jewellery."

Natalia chewed her apple and looked down "It was my friend's. The one who died. She gave it to me the night of the murder and I promised her I wouldn't take it off."

Joaquin smiled "You're a good friend...for keeping your promise, I mean."

Natalia wiped her mouth "I wasn't at the end. I wasn't there to protect her from her killer. I let her run off and I should have followed her."

Joaquin walked closer to her "Don't blame yourself for what happened. You didn't have anything to do with it. Why don't you come back outside? Your sister is opening presents."

Natalia took another bite of her apple and shook her head "No, I'm good. Screaming kids aren't my thing."

Joaquin laughed "You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I can cover for you." Natalia's eyebrows rose "Really? You would do that?"

Joaquin shrugged "Yeah, I mean...if I was you, I wouldn't want to be at a party full of kids. Go and get out the house."

Natalia put the apple in Joaquin's hand and smirked "Thanks." She stood up and walked towards the door.

She put her shoes on and pulled out her phone. Natalia scrolled through her messages and clicked onto Valerio's name.

Natalia
Can we hangout? I'm bored

Natalia waited a few seconds and she could see that Valerio started to type back

Valerio
Meet me at our spot.

Natalia knew exactly which spot he was referring to.

When the two were together they would always sneak off with each other in order to distance themselves from everyone else.

They would spend time hanging out at the lake.

The two would swim there for hours everyday and watch the sunset together. Natalia put her phone away in her bag and her chauffeur opened the door to the car.

The drive was 20 minutes long and Natalia made sure her chauffeur would park a couple of minutes away so that he wouldn't say anything to her mother about hanging out in such a dangerous place.

She walked through a private lane and reached the top of the lake. She looked around and rolled her eyes when she saw that there was no sign of Valerio. She huffed and sat down, crossing her legs.

She was about to take her phone out of her bag until she heard a loud shout coming from behind her.

Valerio ran past her and screamed as he jumped into the lake creating a giant splash.

Natalia's eyes widened and she stood up. Valerio came up from the water and smiled at Natalia "Don't worry, water's warm. You won't get hypothermia."

Natalia threw her bag down and cannon-balled into the water.

Natalia came up from the water and pushed her hair back. Valerio laughed at her and swam towards her "I haven't been here forever."

Natalia shrugged "I'm surprised you haven't taken your new companions." Valerio nodded sarcastically "Good idea! I'll take them next time."

Natalia splashed Valerio playfully and he put his hands up in defence "I'm joking. You're the only person I'm taking here."

Natalia blushed at his comment and Valerio smirked "What made you wanna meet?"

Natalia sighed "My sister's having a birthday party right now and I'm not in the mood for annoying children."

Valerio giggled "That makes sense. At least you can have fun here. The sun set's in an hour so we can have some fun until then."

Natalia smiled "Okay, fine. But I can't swim with my shoes on." Valerio laughed as Natalia swam to the rocks and sat down facing the water.

Valerio brought her feet up and gently pulled her shoes off. He put them to the side and Valerio's hand then lingered near her legs.

He grinned at the girl and then pulled her legs back so that she slid back into the water.

Natalia gasped when she fell into the water and Valerio wrapped his arms around her waist.

Their faces were centimetres apart and Valerio kept his gaze on Natalia's lips.

Valerio suddenly grabbed Natalia's wet hair and smashed his lips onto hers. Natalia worked her mouth against his and the two continued to kiss passionately.

Valerio didn't care that he was with two other people. In that moment he realised that Natalia was the one for him and he wouldn't break her heart again.

***

Natalia rested her head on Valerio's chest as they laid down next to the lake.

Valerio was playing with her hair and he looked at the beautiful sunset forming in front of them.

"Are you still going to London?" Valerio looked down from the sunset and sighed "I got busted for selling drugs to Carla...so Polo isn't speaking to me."

Natalia looked up at him with a frown "If he dropped you that quick then it wasn't worth it in the first place."

Valerio nodded in agreement and he then licked his lips nervously "I think I'm gonna end it with them."

Natalia sat up and turned around to look at Valerio with a confused look on her face "Why?"

Valerio sat up as well and smirked at the girl "Because I love you, Nat." The girl stared at Valerio and then matched his expression "I love you too."

Natalia's outfit: