thin walls (are calling me home)

Chapter 8

"Earth to Mila." Shawn laughed, bringing Camila back to the present. "I asked you a question like two minutes ago, dude."

Camila shook her head to clear it of her many thoughts. "Sorry, I zoned out a little there."

"It's fine, as long as you don't do that during the interview." He teased.

Camila chuckled. "Don't worry about that. And to answer your question, it's been great. She's great." The Latina smiled again. She wasn't lying, she just wasn't explaining everything, especially since she felt some details were too personal to share with anyone without Lauren's approval.

"Happy to hear that, sis." Shawn started, smiling.

He opened his mouth to say something else but was cut short when the interviewer, a woman with short brown hair in her mid-thirties called Barbara, entered the room again with a notebook and a recording device on her hands, taking the seat in the couch across from them and the coffee table that separated both sofas.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting." She said with an apologetic smile while opening her notebook. Camila and Shawn nodded politely. "So, before we get started, do you two need anything? Snacks, water?"

"I'm okay, but thanks." Camila answered, her own water bottle sitting on top of the table.

"Me too, thanks." Shawn agreed.

"Okay then. Well, for starters, please tell me your full names and ages." Barbara requested, picking up her pen and pressing the recording button on her device before placing it on the coffee table.

"Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao, I'm twenty two years old." Camila stated.

"Shawn Peter Raul Mendes, twenty one years old."

"Okay. I had a different first question, but this caught my attention: aren't you siblings? Why do you have different last names?" Barbara asked, tapping the pen on the notebook.

Camila took a deep breath to answer the sensitive question, meeting Shawn's supportive eyes for a moment before doing so. "Well, I'm not bound to Shawn by blood, even though he absolutely is my brother. His parents have been my legal guardians ever since my own died on a home invasion when I was eleven. They didn't really adopt me at the request of the rest of my family, who lives in Cuba, and I wanted to keep my last name to remember my parents, so, yeah. But he is my brother and his parents are my parents, so we are siblings." Camila explained.

"I see." Barbara had her eyebrows furrowed in a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry for your loss, Camila."

"It's okay, it was a long time ago." Camila reassured her, who nodded and wrote down a few notes.

"So, Shawn, how was it to have Camila suddenly be a part of your family, when you were only ten?" The older woman asked. "You don't have to answer that if it's too personal, though." She added after a moment.

"Nah, it's okay." Shawn answered with a small smile. "Our parents had always been close, so I knew Camila basically from the moment I was born." He chuckled. "I was really sad when Camila's parents, Alejandro and Sinuhe, passed away, but not much changed in our relationship. We saw each other every day before that and we kept seeing each other after. She'd always been like a sister to me anyway, we only made it a little more official back then, though I was nine when it happened."

Shawn took Camila's hand in his after speaking, squeezing it to comfort her, which Camila immensely appreciated. Even if she truly had made peace with what had happened, it was always nice to have that kind of support, and she loved Shawn to no end for providing it for her.