My heart fluttered and beat faster than I had ever felt it beat, even faster than all those times I was afraid, angry or sad. My breath was trembling and my whole body felt weak and wobbly like jelly. I couldn't seem to take my eyes off of Camilo. His charming smile, his twinkling eyes, his freckles splattered across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, his bouncy, curly hair.
"Y/n?" I heard Mirabel ask "Are you okay?"
Her hand waved in front of my face, blocking Camilo from my sight for a bit. That small, quick gesture was all I needed to snap out of my trance. I blinked a few times, my eyes needing to re-adjust to the light.
"What?" I muttered quietly "Y-Yeah, I'm okay."
"You sure?" Camilo asked, "You were zoning out."
"Mhm, just dizzy!" I assured him.
"Probably because of the dancing!" Camilo replied, his worried tone gone. "Must be all the twirling."
I laughed with Camilo for a bit. His laugh was oddly soothing. Unfortunately, his laugh was only making the dizziness that I couldn't quite explain worse. I ignored the butterflies swarming in my stomach and the fogginess in my mind as the laughter died down.
I looked at Mirabel to see her smiling cheekily at Camilo and I. I did my best to ignore her and scanned the rest of the town square, looking for Camilo and I's friends like we were supposed to before Mirabel interrupted. I spotted Amelia and Ruben standing near another one of the buffet tables. Amelia noticed me looking at them and began to wave wildly for us to go to her.
I smiled and nodded at her before tugging on the sleeve of Camilo's blazer. He tilted his head to the side as he turned to look at me.
"I think Amelia wants us to go over there" I said, jerking my head in her direction.
Camilo moved his head to the side to look over my shoulder. Sure enough, he saw Amelia trying to get our attention and Ruben looking around nervously. He let out a soft chuckle before taking my hand in his and leading me towards them.
The two of us walked up to them and Amelia let her arms fall to her sides. She let out a groan and started massaging her own tired shoulders.
"Finally!" Amelia said "My arms were dying!"
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Amelia" I said with a small giggle.
"You guys look great!" Camilo exclaimed.
He was right, they really did look great. Emilio was wearing a shirt that he had tucked into his high waisted grey pants. The shirt was a light, baby blue colour with a navy blue, flared collar. The shirt had short sleeves that were grey, the same grey as the pants that he was wearing. There were three buttons that started at right underneath the collar that went down to the chest area. To top it all off, there was a pocket on his chest with a little, white pocket square in it.
Amelia was wearing a dress that was all the same colour, a dark powder blue. It had a low turtleneck and a simple ribbon tied bow on it. The dress had short, slightly puffed sleeves and buttons that started from the collar all the way down to where it cinched at her waist. Below the waist, the dress had many ruffles and lace at the hem.
"Thanks!" Amelia replied "Emilio, what do you say when someone compliments you?"
"Huh?" Emilio said, looking at Amelia for once instead of looking around the town square "Oh, um, yeah thanks."
"You alright, dude?" Camilo asked, "You seem distracted."
"Um, yeah, I'm fine..." Emilio answered "It's just...I can't find Ruben."
"Amelia, he didn't come here with you?" I asked, turning to look at Amelia.
She shook her head and frowned.
"I'm kind of getting worried," Emilio said, shivering and rubbing his arms even though it wasn't cold.
"Oh jeez, are you okay Emilio?" Camilo said, sounding very concerned.
Judging from the way he sounded, Emilio acting like he was cold was some sort of great concern! It seemed like such an overreaction, I couldn't help but ask.
"What's wrong?" I asked "He's just cold, isn't he?"
"Emilio gets like this when he feels scared or worried," Amelia answered, trying her best to warm Emilio up.
Despite the situation that we were in being sad, a small, soft smile tugged on my lips. It warmed my heart to see that they were so close and knew each other so well that they knew each other's little habits. I quickly shook the happy expression away from my face though, it wasn't the time for that.
"I'm fine, just nervous" Emilio answered "Or worried...God, where is he?"
"Em!" we all heard someone say.
I whipped my head around to look at where the sound was coming from to see Ruben running towards us. He eventually joined us in the small circle that we had made and put his hands on his knees, catching his breath.
"Em, guys! I'm so sorry I'm late!" Ruben said, after he caught his breath "Oh, shit! You're shivering! I'm sorry-"
Ruben was cut off when Emilio ran up to him and squeezed him hard in a tight hug. Ruben's face softened as he wrapped his arms around Emilio, gently hugging him back.
"Stupid!" Emilio said, pushing Ruben away and flicking him in the forehead "Never ever do that again!"
Ruben chuckled and smiled at his babbling boyfriend. He moved his face very close to Emilio's, stopping his rambling in its tracks. Emilio's face grew warm and red and he turned his head to the side to try and hide it. Ruben took his chance to kiss Emilio's cheek, the one that was facing him. Emilio stumbled backwards and buried his face in his hands, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Ruben, oh my god!" Emilio whined "I'm trying to be mad at you!"
Ruben let out a loud, somewhat obnoxious laugh.
"Oh, come on, Em!" Ruben exclaimed "You know you love meee!"
"...Shut up" Emilio replied, reluctantly.
"Oh my god, you guys are so mushy!" Amelia said "Ugh, so...lovey dovey!"
Everyone laughed at Amelia's outburst.
"Ruben! You look great!" I exclaimed, noticing his outfit.
He was wearing a dark brown blouse that resembled the chef's outfit that Camilo and I had seen him in at Roberto's but the collar was flared and the first two buttons were kept open to give it a wilder look. Over the blouse, he wore a green velvet blazer, with a white pocket square that matched Emilio's. To go with the blazer, he was wearing formal shorts in the same colour.
"You took off your bandages!" Amelia commented, pointing to his arms, which were bare.
I had noticed that Ruben always wore bandages on his arms and his right knee, even during school which often got him dress coded. It was strange seeing him without them.
"You...You don't have any injuries or anything under them?" I asked.
"Uh...Yeah, I kinda just wear those for show!" Ruben answered, rubbing the back of his neck.
"He thinks it makes him look cool" Camilo said, earning him a punch in the arm "OW!"
I laughed at their antics. It had been a while since I had a solid friend group. The dynamic was strange but it worked somehow. Ruben was the wild card, a bit of a troublemaker but he was also loyal and courageous. Emilio was the shy one, but thanks to Ruben, he was learning to come out of his shell. Amelia was the mom of the group, a little bossy but she meant well and always kept us out of trouble. Camilo was the leader and tied the whole group together and always entertained us with his dramatic stories and theatrics.
All of us were busy laughing at Camilo's distress when we were interrupted by someone with a deep voice clearing their throat. I turned around to look at them to see Hugo, or at least I think it was him, shifting uncomfortably.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt anything" Hugo said, his eyes oddly soft, lacking the usual stone cold stare "I just wanted to ask if I could borrow Y/n."
I was just about to say something but Camilo opened his mouth first.
"Why?" Camilo asked, gripping my hand even tighter.
Hugo's face flashed an annoyed expression before quickly looking back at me, his face softening again.
"For a dance, Camilo," Hugo answered with a passive aggressive tone in his voice "Are you really that stupid?"
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Ooh...This shit's about to blooow-oh oh oh oh oh oh ohhh!
-Kolour