Camilo walked into my room, fiddling with his ruana as he did. The two of us took a seat on my bed. Camilo looked nervous and was avoiding eye contact with me. Everytime we did, he would nervously laugh to himself.
"Camilo?" I asked "Are you okay?"
"Hm?" Camilo hummed "Oh, I-I'm alright! Just...Nervous..."
"How come?" I asked, giggling a bit "It's just me, Cami."
"I know! It's not you that I'm worrying about!" Camilo replied "It's Hugo..."
I gave Camilo a sad smile and nodded at him. I tried to show him that I understood.
"Didn't you say that you wanted to ask me some questions?" I asked.
"Right! Um..." Camilo exclaimed "Well, first of all, why were you talking to Hugo?"
I thought back to when Hugo had come over.
"Oh, he just knocked on the door and I happened to answer," I replied.
"So he just needed help!" Camilo exclaimed, cheerfully "Phew, good! For a second, I thought that the two of you were-"
"Oh, he didn't need any help" I corrected him.
"He didn't?" Camilo asked "So why did he stop by? To see you? Are you two...friends?"
I shook my head.
"No, he's too much of a bully for me to be friends with him" I replied "He just got the date wrong for Marcos' gift ceremony."
Camilo gave me a sad smile and pulled his knees close to his chest. He looked like he was scrunched into a ball. I was confused as to why he was acting like this.
"Cami? Are you okay?" I asked, putting my hand on his back.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I just..." Camilo replied "Hugo, he...Makes me uncomfortable."
"I get that" I said "He's said such rude things about you..."
Camilo hugged his knees closer to his body.
"I hate it so much because he doesn't even care to say it quietly..." Camilo said, giving me a forced laugh "He knows I can hear him but he doesn't care. He insults me loud enough for everyone to hear."
It must've felt horrible to hear bad things being said about you, especially since the people saying the bad things didn't care if anyone heard. I don't know much about Hugo but...He must be terrible if he makes Camilo feel like this. So anxious and upset. It hurt me to see him like this.
"Maybe he says it so loud because he's right," Camilo added, his voice shaking "Or maybe he doesn't care who hears him because everyone else thinks it too."
Camilo buried his face into his knees. I heard him let out a sob and I felt his body shiver as he let out a shaky breath.
"Camilo..." I began "He's wrong. Hugo is so, SO wrong about you. He only says what he does because he's jealous of you, he and his friends practically confirmed it today!"
Camilo turned his head to look at me but most of his face was still hidden in the fabric of his ruana. I gave him a soft smile to show him that I meant what I said. I could only see his right eye but I could tell that he was smiling back at me.
He let out a soft laugh then sniffed and wiped his tears away on his ruana. It was nice to hear him laugh.
"Yeah?" Camilo asked, clearly holding back a smirk.
"Yeah! And nobody else other than Hugo and his friends thinks those terrible things about you" I replied "Everyone loves you!"
I nudged him with my elbow.
"Maybe a little too much," I added, jokingly.
Camilo and I laughed at that. I could already tell by the look on his face that he was back to his usual self.
"Yeah, I am pretty well-liked," Camilo said, a familiar smirk appearing on his face.
"Yeah, with Valentine's coming up, I'm sure you'll get a few more confessions and people asking to be your valentine," I said, rolling my eyes at him.
"Maybe, but I don't have to worry about that anymore," Camilo said.
"And why is that, Camilo?" I asked, teasingly.
"Because..." Camilo said.
He brought his face really close to mine, our noses were almost touching. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me.
"I already have you!" Camilo continued.
My face grew hot.
"What? Me? Wha- What do you mean?" I asked, clearly flustered.
"As my valentine!" Camilo answered "What did you think I meant?"
I shook my head.
"Nothing" I said as I smiled at him and moved my face away from mine "Just that you shouldn't be so happy to reject people."
He gave me a soft chuckle as he relaxed back onto the bed.
"You know that's not what I meant!" Camilo exclaimed.
"I know, I know, I was just kidding, Cami" I said "But really, you seem a little too excited to tell people that I'm going to be your valentine."
"Of course I'm excited!" Camilo replied "I've always had to spend my valentine's days without a valentine!"
"Why didn't you just go with one of the many people that asked you?" I asked.
"Well, all of them assumed that if I agreed, that we would end up being more than friends afterwards but..." Camilo answered "I just didn't want to get people's hopes up, you know?"
"I get that" I said "Well, not from experience, I've never had a whole town lusting over me."
"It's not...lust..." Camilo said.
"No? So if you just walked into school shirtless, people wouldn't fawn and drool over you as you passed them in the hallways?" I asked.
"That's not what-" Camilo exclaimed "What?!"
I let out a hysterical laugh. Camilo pouted and sinked into my bed.
"I'm kidding, Cami" I said "I thought you of all people could take a joke!"
"That's not funnyyyy!" Camilo whined "You shouldn't say things like that, what if Dolores hears!?"
I laughed even harder at the fact that he was always just a tiny bit paranoid that his sister would hear him. It was nice to joke around with him like this. The entire day was chaotic, some parts of it were intense and super serious and other parts were the total opposite and were just of Camilo and I having harmless fun. It was nice to just relax and joke around for a bit.
"Thank you for today, Camilo" I said, rather suddenly "I enjoyed hanging out with you a lot!"
"Oh" Camilo exclaimed "Me too!"