After the conversation with John, Camilo and I headed back to Casita. We got bombarded with questions from both the Madrigals and my own family. The Madrigals were decidedly less calm about asking the questions than my family but we were still both practically being buried in questions. Camilo decided that we would answer the questions during dinner. He specifically asked that our families ask us in a calm manner so that both he and I don't get overwhelmed.
Now, Camilo and I were in my room, dreading how dinner time was nearing. The room was in the form of a meadow. The room's magic seemed to have grown more powerful since we moved to Encanto and our house merged with Casita. Back where we used to live, my room seemed to have trouble transforming into a place that was outside. But now, the walls of my room seemed to disappear entirely. The grass underneath us felt like it really was sprouting from soil and the sky and the clouds looked real.
Camilo and I were laying in the grass that my room had conjured up for us, his head resting on my shoulder. He was fiddling with the hem of his ruana.
"What's wrong, Cami?" I asked.
Camilo leaned more into me and shot a puzzled look towards me.
"Hm?" Camilo hummed "Nothing's wrong. What made you ask?"
"Well, you were playing with the hem of your ruana again," I explained. "That's usually a sign that you're nervous or you're thinking about something that makes you nervous."
"Well, there's nothing wrong, mi vida" Camil reassured me "There could never be anything wrong when I'm with you, Y/n."
I smiled and began to relax again.
"But..." Camilo began.
"But?" I asked, sitting up to look at him.
"Well, talking to John about his travels and stuff makes me sort of...sad?" he said.
"Sad?" I repeated "I thought you enjoyed talking about travel and stuff."
"I do!" Camilo exclaimed "It's just...When I think about how Senor John has been all over the world, just like how I want to, and how I'm probably going to be stuck here forever...It's just upsetting, I guess."
My heart sank for him.
"You don't have to be 'stuck here,' you know?" I replied "If you want, we could travel the world...We could."
"What?" Camilo asked "You do realize who I am, right? The family that I was born into? I have a responsibility to stay in this town and help! The town depends on us!"
"Yeah, but there are other Madrigals! You shouldn't have to give up your dreams because of the family that you were born in" I replied "If you want to, we could just...Leave."
"Really?" Camilo asked softly, "You mean that? What would we do?"
"Everything!" I answered "We could travel across Colombia and maybe get another hot air balloon so we can go all over the world!"
"You would do that?" Camilo asked "You actually meant it when you said that you would travel the world with me?"
"Yeah!" I answered "Of course I did."
Camilo stared at his hands as he played with the hem of his ruana. I could tell that he was deep in thought. Maybe he was simply thinking about the possibility of us travelling the world together.
"Okay, well..." Camilo began "Thank you. That actually means a lot to me."
"Of course!" I replied, "You're not gonna be able to get rid of me for a while."
Camilo let out a soft, airy laugh. Sometimes, I forgot how pretty he was when he smiled.
"I love you," Camilo said softly.
"Aw, I love you too, Cami," I replied with a smile, before kissing him on the forehead.
Then we heard footsteps outside of my room. It really ruined the illusion of being in a grassy meadow to hear them giggling excitedly outside.
"Camilooo!" I heard Mirabel call as she knocked excitedly on the door in a rhythmic way.
"Uh, yeah?" Camilo yelled back in response.
"It's time for dinner!" Mirabel answered excitedly.
"You know what that means, don't you?" I heard Isabela chime in.
Camilo sighed and flopped backwards onto the grass.
"I know what it means..." Camilo replied.
I heard Isabela and Mirabel giggle outside. Then I heard their footsteps get farther and farther. Eventually, they were out of earshot.
"Well, I guess it's time," I said.
"Unfortunately, yes," Camilo said.
"Oh, come on!" I encouraged him "They're your family, they won't bite!"
"It's like you haven't met my family," Camilo sighed.
I rolled my eyes and stood up.
"We can do it, Camilo" I began "Now, get up!"
Camilo sighed and held out his arm towards me. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up until he was standing. We made our way downstairs and entered the dining room to see that we were the last ones to arrive. Everyone else was already waiting for us, all of them with sickeningly smug looks on their faces. There were two seats left, they were right next to each other.
Camilo and I took our seats and braced ourselves for the questions that were going to be asked. It was nearly silent, the only sound being the cutlery clinking on the plates and the sound of people shuffling in their seats.
I took a deep breath.
"Okay..." I began "So does anyone have any questions?"
Immediately, the dining room burst with the sound of everyone asking their questions at the same time. Camilo thoughtfully looked towards his older sister to see if she was doing okay. Luckily, Dolores was doing just fine because she had put on her ear muffs, she probably brought them knowing how loud this dinner was going to get. She still looked really uncomfortable despite having her ear muffs on though.
"Okay, can everyone just quiet down for a second?!" Camilo asked "I can't understand you and this isn't exactly great for Dolores."
Everyone took a quick glance towards Dolores and calmed down. Even the birds that Antonio had brought into the room stopped squawking.
"Okay, good," Camilo said "You guys can ask your questions one at a time."
"Me first!" Mirabel exclaimed.
Camilo sighed.
"Okay, what's your question, Mirabel?" Camilo asked dejectedly.
"Pretty basic question but what did you guys do on the hot air balloon?" Mirabel asked, smiling.
"A hot air balloon?" Pepa asked in a distressed tone "Did you guys leave the Encanto? Camilo told me that you would be just by the river!"
"We didn't go anywhere, mami" Camilo answered "We were tied to the ground so that we couldn't drift off."
"Camilo doesn't know how to use a hot air balloon anyway" Dolores chimed in.
"Hey! You haven't answered my question yet!'' Mirabel exclaimed.
I laughed a little bit at that.
"We just ate some strawberries, Mirabel" I replied "They were the ones that Camilo grew himself! It was really relaxing, we just hung out! I really appreciated the effort that Camilo put into getting the hot air balloon and filling it with my favourite flower."
"You guys just hung out, right?" Miguel asked "So he wasn't being all touchy or anything?"
"Miguel, ew" I said "We are eating."
"Ay, Miguel" mi mama said, giving him a firm shake of her head "We don't ask questions like that at the table."
"Camilo isn't like Miguel, no need to worry" Dolores said, defending her younger brother.
"He better not be!" Felix exclaimed "We raised him better than that!"
"Better than what?" Marcos asked, causing everyone to tense up for a bit.
"Uh, yeah!" Antonio exclaimed "Better than what?"
"Oookay!" Camilo exclaimed to move the conversation along "Moving away from that topic, I have an announcement."
"An announcement?" Mirabel asked "How important on a scale of one to ten is this announcement because we don't really have announcements at dinner."
"This can't really wait," Camilo said before pausing. "Actually, I'm just excited about it."
"Go on, mijo," Felix said softly.
Camilo took a deep breath before standing up from his seat. I wondered about what the announcement could be. If he was standing up for it, it must be important.
"Ahem" Camilo cleared his throat before hesitating to actually say anything.
It wasn't like him to get nervous. He glanced at me and I gave him a soft smile. He smiled back at me before finally speaking.
"I've decided..." Camilo began "That I'm going to be leaving Encanto."
------
Oh? Camilo has decided to leave? Hmmmmm...
-Kolour