"(Y/n), your father has a gift."
"A... a gift?" You spluttered. "No. No, that's impossible, only the Madrigals have gifts."
"You believe that?" Dolores narrowed her eyes. "What about what you found?"
"The candles!" You blurted. "Oh my gosh. Those were real miracle candles. My father has a gift." You desperately paced back and forth. "But they had no flames! Isn't the whole point of the candle is that it always burns?"
Dolores shrugged. "I don't know everything."
"Oh. Wow. That's a lot." You blew air through your lips, your head reeling. I bet I don't even remember my own life. Why would he do that to me?
Dolores crept back to the others, and you followed. Your footsteps felt clunky and awkward compared to hers.
Did I have an entirely different life before? What, and who, did he make me forget? Did I have friends? A mother?
You and Dolores rejoined the others. Camilo and Mirabel were intensely locked in a debate about Antonio's frog, laughing and waving their hands. When you miserably sunk into the flowers next to Camilo, he fixed his full attention on you with concerned eyes. "Is everything okay?"
"I really don't want to talk about it right now." You murmured back, trying not to cry. Nothing is okay. Nothing I know is real.
"Okay, okay," Camilo soothed, his eyes widening when he saw how shaken you were. "You don't have to say anything." He linked his pinky finger with yours. Feeling sick, you sincerely hoped that you hadn't been in love with someone else.
"Anyways," Camilo coughed, making an effort to shift the spotlight elsewhere. He continued his heated amphibian discussion with Mirabel, but kept his pinky comfortingly wrapped around yours. "Let the kid keep his frog! Who cares if it's poisonous?"
"You, if you touch it," Luisa honestly contributed. Camilo exploded into peals of laughter, and Luisa blinked delightedly.
"Think about it later," Dolores quietly advised in your ear. She was right. Your father had ruined everything else. Why let him ruin this slumber party?
Isabella yawned prettily, as if exceedingly bored by the idea of Antonio's frog. She delicately lifted a vial of rose pink nail polish and started painting your nails.
Mirabelle enthusiastically commenced the games when Isabella had finished her impromptu manicures.
Isabella cackled at an embarrassed Camilo when he'd bashfully rated you a 10/10 during truth or dare.
Dolores adored a whispering game that she, unsurprisingly, always won.
Luisa's expression was horrified when she learned from a game of M.A.S.H. that she would be cursed with 30 children.
Camilo was no fun at sleepovers. Around 11, he crashed, relaxing his head heavily on your lap. You played with his hair, gathering his dark curls between your fingers and letting them slide through.
"I'm gonna be creepy and watch you sleep," you warned Camilo, leaning closely over his relaxed face. Camilo grunted to acknowledge he'd heard you, his breath blowing softly against your cheeks. His thick eyebrows were closely knit together underneath his tanned forehead.
Mirabel attacked Luisa with a mascara wand and an eyeshadow palette and hungrily searched for her next victim.
"Mmh, no," Camilo sleepily protested, batting Mirabel's stealthy makeup brush away with closed eyes.
Mirabel huffed a sigh. "Come on, Camilo. Just the eye shadow. Please?"
"No, I hate it," Camilo grumbled, but he held still while Mirabel brushed dark brown eye shadow over his eyelids.
"You look beautiful," You laughed. You had meant to sound sarcastic. But with his thick hair messily splayed out on your lap against the lilting backdrop of petals, your voice had come out more admiring than you'd intended.
"Oh, I know." Even with shut eyes, Camilo managed to look smug.
Tomorrow, you'd have to confront your father.
But tonight, you giggled and whispered with your best friend while the prettiest boy you'd ever seen dozed off in your arms.
Author's note: New cover by @missysenorita !!