Camilo and I weaved through the marketplace as Camilo dragged me by my hand. I didn't even have to look where we were going, I simply stared at our joined hands and walked. I trust Camilo. I trust him.
We soon made it to the middle of town, something of a town square I think.
"I've never been here before" I told him "Where are we?"
"Are you kidding me?" Camilo asked, raising a brow at me "This is the centre of town!"
He gestured with his hand to look around. I looked out the scene around me. It had a tiled floor and there were stands that displayed appealing goods, Julieta's stand filled with pastries, arepas and simple loaves of bread among them.
The town square was surrounded by colourful homes that I assumed belonged to the people that ran the stands. Camilo tugged on my hand and led me to a stand that displayed necklaces, bracelets and a few rings. I inspected the jewellery closely.
"Did anything catch your eye?" the person behind the stand said, their voice low and sultry.
"We're just window shopping" Camilo said, trying to see what I was looking at with curious eyes.
"Ah, I know that look in your eye, boy" the person said "Looking for a gift for your partner, aren't you?"
"M-My partner?" Camilo asked, taken back "Oh, you mean Y/n? No, they're uh, they're just a friend."
The person running the stand raised an eyebrow at him before glancing at me. They looked back to Camilo and flashed him a knowing smile.
"Of course! My mistake" they said, winking at Camilo.
Camilo got the slightest bit redder and I couldn't help but giggle. Camilo gave me a frustrated look and turned back to the person behind the stand.
"You know, this one could look good on you!" I told Camilo, pointing to a simple black necklace made of dyed twine and a single yellow bead made of crystal right in the middle.
Camilo inspected the necklace, bringing his face really close to it and scrunching up his nose and squinting. Then the sun caught the crystal on it just right and it reflected the light in a way that made it look like it was glowing. Camilo's eyes lit up and the sparkle in the crystal mirrored the sparkle in his eyes.
"This one" Camilo told the person behind the stand "I'll buy this one, how much is it?"
"That one? Are you sure?" the person asked "Most others go for the ones made of gold or silver, why this one?"
Camilo simply smiled.
"It's just the crystal on it...It looks so pretty in the sunlight" Camilo said, taking the necklace in his hand and lifting it to the sun "Sunkissed..."
"It is quite beautiful" the person replied "Well, as long as you're sure..."
The person running the stand gave him a price and Camilo paid before happily walking off with the necklace.
"Wasn't that the last of your allowance?" I asked "Why did you use it on the necklace?"
"You told me that it would look nice on me, I trust you so I bought it!" Camilo explained, smiling brightly.
I smiled back at him. Then he led me to a bunch of other stands in the town square. We were trying not to be spotted by any of the other Madrigals since we were technically playing hooky. We joined a crowd of people and hid in the middle of them to hide from Julieta as we passed her stand and we couldn't stop giggling when we had gotten away with it.
We slid around the corner and pressed our backs against the wall when we heard Luisa's voice close by. Camilo had to have his hand over his mouth to keep himself from laughing. Luisa nearly saw us but got distracted by some children who had asked her to carry them. Camilo grabbed my hand and took me to a street in town that was lined with different clothing shops run by many different families.
"Thank goodness for those kids, huh?" Camilo asked.
"Yeah, they asked her just at the right time!" I replied, unable to stop myself from smiling.
"I'm guessing this is your first time skipping school, huh?" Camilo asked me, smirking.
"And I'm guessing this isn't yours?" I retorted, flashing a mischievous smirk of my own.
"You're pretty good at not getting caught" Camilo said "You're a natural, pretty good for your first time."
"If I'm so good, how did you know that it was my first time?" I asked.
"The way you're walking gave you away" Camilo stated, clearly showing that he was an expert on the topic "You've been walking in a way that makes you look like you're guilty of something, like you have something to hide."
He straightened his back and exaggerated the confidence in his steps, he was practically strutting.
"You have to walk with confidence!" he told me "As if this is just a normal day in town for you!"
"Jeez, you seem to have a lot of experience" I said.
"Hey, I don't do this that often" Camilo said "Sometimes I just need some time out in town without the risk of anyone hassling me. I either have to help out around town and do chores or I have to be at school, I almost never get a day off!"
He was right, he was a Madrigal. A day off for one of them was rare. Even on special occasions, they couldn't get a vacation. In fact, special occasions might even be when they're their busiest. They always have to help everyone else with their preparations. I guess I understood why he would sometimes need a carefree day for himself.
"Yeah, I get that" I said "But why are we here on the street with a bunch of clothing stores?"
"Oh, I thought that we could check out some clothes for Marcos' gift ceremony and the Valentine's day dance" Camilo replied "We need two whole outfits for the two occasions and they're both pretty special so we need some good looking clothes!"
"I heard that you just wore what you usually wore to Antonio's gift ceremony, why dress up for Marcos'?" I asked, recalling the stories Dolores told me about Antonio's gift ceremony and the events that followed.
"Well, he's my own little brother, I didn't need to dress up!" Camilo explained "But all the guests wore their best clothes! Since I'm not family with the person getting a gift, I have to dress up."
"That makes sense...I guess," I said.
Then we finally stopped walking.
"Here!" Camilo exclaimed "This is where us Madrigals go to get all of our best clothes!"
I looked at the shop he was pointing at. I looked upwards and read the sign hanging above the shop's door.
It read "Valladares' luxury apparel."