Freefall ✓

40 | forgive

You'll never know how strong your heart is until you learn to forgive who broke it.

—unknown

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AUDREY

The next month seemed to whiz past me within a snap of the fingers.

Between spring break, school and its finals, and supporting Syd in her newfound obsession with TikTok dances (I actually went to the length of downloading the app) — I didn't stop to realize how close we were to the end of this momentous life stage.

Don't get me wrong— I was ready and excited for the upcoming phase. But I couldn't help a bittersweet feeling prickling at me as I flipped through the files of my school notes. It was just May and the summer break separating those two phases now. And I was set on relishing every single moment of that short period.

I rocked my hips and hummed to the lo-fi song rippling from my speaker, as I tidied my room up. 

The window was open, the curtain covering it. I'd actually thought I'd gone bananas for a second, when it started talking to me, in a male voice.

"The window's open but I don't wanna scare you off so I'll knock on it?" 

I wish I could've said I was too used to this to have felt any fright, but no sire, that wasn't so. I jumped up with a brusque yelp.

"For crying out loud, Cam! Can you stop randomly appearing out of windows to scare the crap out of me?"

"Sorry, love. I tried my best not to," he edged towards me for a kiss but I dodged him, straightening my back. 

"I'm not joking! I could've thought you were a thief!"

"No worries, princesa. I'm not here to steal anything. Well, save for, maybe. . .your heart," he winked.

Okay, I'll admit, that was a smooth one. Hands on my hips and shaking my head at him, I surrendered into a smile. "What am I gonna do with you, Alvarez," I muttered through it, in an undertone.

"I brought you something. . ." he revealed the plastic container he'd been concealing behind his back all this time.

"What's this—" he opened the lid, drawing the box closer to me. I gasped.

Lemon bread. My favorite. How did he know?  It was among the scarce sprinkling of things I don't actually remember telling him about me.

"Did you make this?" 

Cam winced, ever so slightly, not meeting my eyes. "I did help." I smiled. "My abuelita came for a visit." 

I dropped my face down to sniff it, ". . .smells divine."

"They want to meet you, by the way."

I perked my head straight up. "You're invited to dinner this Friday."

"I am?"

"Yeah. Don't worry— my abus are really friendly." Whenever Cam spoke about his grandparents, I noticed his face light up with this warm hue of endearment. It was clear that their relationship meant a great deal to him. He had to miss them terribly when they weren't around. 

"Okay," I finally settled on, already looking forward to this.

* * *

Friday evening in all its splendor, I found myself skipping down the stairs in a maxi skirt and a linen button-up top, my loose hair held back with a ditsy hairband.