Walk A Mile (Camren)

XV

"Oh, you are. My favorite fruit has got nothing on my favorite girl," Lauren affirmed smoothly, wearing a smirk that matched her tone. She was being a smooth little shit, and she knew it too.

While Camila sat there grinning at Lauren, the front door handle jingled. Both heads turned in the direction of it and anticipated who would walk through. None other than Alejandro appeared with his head bowed and several worry lines etched onto his forehead. He sighed and set his case against the couch as the two girls watched him drawing nearer to the kitchen. Lauren gave him a half-smile as he entered. Internally, she was hoping that his mood wouldn't rub off on Camila. They were both happy, for once.

"Good evening, Daddy," Camila greeted her father cheerfully, despite his demeanor. She thought that maybe her bright spirit would be infectious.

"Good evening," he mustered a halfhearted smile for his daughter.

"How was your interview?" Camila asked hopefully.

"It was fine..." Alejandro said to appease her and to get rid of the any doubts she might've had.

"Then what's wrong?" Camila asked intuitively.

Her question prompted him not to lie for once. His biggest problems came from sweeping things under the rug. He wanted to try being open for once. "Actually, it didn't go very well..."

"Why? What happened?" Camila continued sympathetically. Lauren was silently eating her soup and trying not to interfere with their conversation.

"Well, I don't think I answered their questions correctly," he said vaguely, excluding the part where he atrociously answered and subconsciously dismissed each of the questions regarding volunteering and customer service skills. He didn't work well with people. He was best in a position of power. Why he was applying for average, minimum wage, unskilled jobs was beyond him. But he was growing desperate. "But it's fine. Walmart doesn't seem like the job for me anyway..."

"Well, it's okay. You tried your best. You can just go apply somewhere else," Camila said optimistically.

"Yeah, I can," Alejandro agreed distantly as he ventured over to their refrigerator. He helped himself to a bottle of water and closed it. "Back to the drawing board, I guess."

"You'll find something eventually," Camila continued to encourage him, knowing he was becoming discouraged by now.

"Yeah. Eventually," Alejandro smiled at her and took a swig from his water bottle. "Anyway," he said after gulping a big portion of it down. "I'll leave you ladies to it. I've got to go see about some other jobs and handle some... Adult problems. Have a good night."

"Good night," Camila waved from the table as he exited the kitchen.

"Are things getting a little better between you two?" Lauren asked, now having finished most of her soup.

"A little," Camila nodded.

"That's good. I'm happy about that," Lauren smiled supportively. "At least something's working out for him."

"Yeah. But I feel so helpless. I wish I could do something to help out..." Camila mumbled more so to herself than to Lauren.

"Did you want to see if you could try to apply for some jobs?" Lauren suggested and spooned some more of the soup into her mouth.

"Yeah, I told him I would if I had to... But I don't really want to, you know?" Camila admitted with a little laugh.

"I know. But like... Money..." Lauren animatedly weighed the two options and laughed. Then she realized that in Camila's past, money was always supplemented. There was no need to work because she's never had to. This could prove to be a challenge in the future, but Lauren was sure she could manage.