Together

Chapter 7

I'm finishing my last bite of spaghetti when Charlie strolls over with a receipt. He lays the paper on the table, setting a pen on top the receipt.

"15 dollars and 32 cents," Charlie says, pulling on his apron. "That's the cheapest lunch I've seen all day."

"Amazing," I gush, setting my fork down as I finish chewing. Camila starts to pull out her wallet when a thought strikes my mind. She can't pay— her ID would say 'Camila Cabello' and not 'Walz Jauregui'. I grab her wrist and she jumps slightly from the sudden contact.

"You can't pay." I whisper to her, glancing up at Charlie. He isn't paying attention to us as he is staring at some girl who just walked through the door. "Your ID in your credit card wouldn't match your name."

Camila's features change from confused to relived that I remembered that. She tucks her wallet away and I go to dig mine out, but my hands grasp at nothing and my heartbeat quickens.

"Camila, I—!"

"Don't worry, Lo," Camila smiles, grabbing my wallet from her coat pocket. "We traded jackets. Remember?"

"Oh, yeah," I chuckle nervously, taking my wallet from her hand. "Thank you."

I take out my credit card, setting it on the receipt. Charlie flinches at the sound of the plastic hitting the table, looking away from the girl. He takes the paper and my card into his hand.

"I'll be right back, Lovebirds." Charlie smiles jokingly and ducks away into the back room.

"I haven't ate spaghetti in years." Camila shares suddenly, causing my head to turn to look at her. She runs her fingers through her brown locks, causing her to have that 'sexy stressed out' effect. We meet eyes and find ourselves both smiling. "I refused to eat spaghetti without you."

"Me too." I nod, tucking my wallet into my jacket pocket on Camila's body underneath the table.

"Here we are." Charlie walks up to our table, setting my credit in my hand. I hand Camila the card and she slips it into my wallet. "Have a wonderful night."

"Thank you, Charlie," I say gratefully, standing up along with Camila. "Have a good one."

"Goodbye," Camila says shortly, interlacing our hands as we walk out of the restaurant.

The sky is almost completely dark as we walk to our car. I turn so I'm facing Camila but walking backwards at the same time. She smiles when we connect eyes, her eyes shining brighter than the city lights. Small strands of her hair had fallen out of her beanie, making her seem younger and less stressed than she really is.

I take her hands in mine, spinning us around. Camila laughs as I pull her into a hug, wrapping my arms around her neck. She places her hands on my waist, then moving them to the small of my back. She puts her face on my shoulder, melting against my body.

"I wish I could be this carefree all the time." Camila sighs into my neck. I pull her closer and lean against the car. "Just imagine, Lauren. We could go to the mall together and dance around with our friends. Or we could go to the park and point at clouds that look funny."

As she is saying this, she is pulling me away from the car. Walking over to the street side, she waddles back and forth while we hug and walk slowly.

"We could bake cookies together and sing while doing so." Camila continues, sitting down on the side of the curb. I sit down beside her, wrapping my arms around her. She sets her hand on my knee. "We could go out a buy a Christmas tree, as it's almost that time of year. Or we could dance around in your room to our song as we did so many years ago."