Camila and Allyson picked McDonalds, I apparently, had no say on where we go, and I was just the driver.
Camila had actually decided to sit in the back of my car with Ally and spoke to her excitedly, it was so easy and so soft the way she spoke to her, Camila also spoke with her hands making everything seem bigger and brighter. Every time I stopped the car I was turning around to look at them talk to each other.
When we finally got to Mickey Ds, I actually wasn’t surprised when Camila got two kids meals. One for Ally and one for herself, but I quickly decided to order for myself and got a burger and fries, when I tried to pay for my food Camila fought me on it.
“I said my treat remember?” Camila said not backing down
“I remember!” Ally cried from my hip, I gave her a mock-frown
“Traitor” I said and Ally just smiled at me
When we got our food Ally begged for us to eat inside, closer to the play area. Camila and I both surrendered after one pout.
We sat down eating in silence, mainly because Ally and I were both too busy stuffing our faces to do anything else, all the food we ate was homemade, or for Ally mainly baby food, her teeth were still sensitive and was still teething so when we could sink our teeth into burgers and French fries that weren’t good for us we hopped on the opportunity, since it didn’t happen much.
Camila just sat, eating slowly and quietly watching us, and when she wasn’t she was making funny faces at Ally who laughed at everyone, spraying half chewed food everywhere but we didn’t really care. When Ally finished she threw off her shoes and ran to the play area slide.
“Be careful!” I yelled after her, but she wasn’t paying enough attention to listen to me, just running wildly on her chubby legs. I smiled after her then turned to Camila.
“So, how are you so good with kids?” I asked before picking up another fry.
“Well, I have a younger sister, she’s sixteen now, but with the five year age difference she was always pretty small, and I would treat her more like she was my daughter more than my sister. I love her, she’s great.”
I nodded my head as she went on about her sister, sofi, she sounds like a sweetie
“So… can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” I say
“Where’s Ally’s dad?”
I stiffened but forced myself to relax “He left, when she was about six months old, she doesn’t even remember him, no phone calls, no messages, just a lousy check every few months… he was my husband.”
“Oh my god…” Camila said “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine now; it’s been a year and a half, I’m OK. We hadn’t been together for long time before Allyson; it wasn’t some deep connection we had, just a short relationship and too much sex, to be honest.” My voice was hard, rough it wasn’t that I wasn’t over Arin, but he had disappeared and I had no idea where he was for a while, but the thing that hurt me the most was that he hadn’t seen his daughter once since he left.
Camila put her head in her hands “god, I feel awful I’m so sorry I brought it up.”
I nodded and tried to smile “It’s okay, Camila, I should probably should talk about it anyway.”
She nodded and went back to being silent sipping on her chocolate shake.
Ally came running back to us a few minutes later, cheeks pink and huffing out breath but smiling brightly “Fun slide!” she yelled up at us I smiled at her
“So are you ready to go?”
Her eyes went wide “Nooo!” and then ran away, right back towards the slide. I laughed and watched her go, then turned back to Camila.
“So what about you what’s your family like?”
“Well,” she says putting down her shake “I was born in Cuba and a lot of my family is still there, like cousins, aunts, uncles. But my mom and dad and sister are all here, at first we were in Mexico, but we moved here to the United States where my grandmother said she always wanted to go before she died. So that’s how we ended up in Atlanta.”
“And you’re friends?”
“Well, you have already met Niall and Harry, we are insanely close the three of us, we were like a pack, you never saw one without the other.”
“That’s so nice, that’s how I feel with Lauren and Dinah.”
Camila smiled “I can tell, when Lauren told me about you a lot when we were in school, and she was not joking when she said you were insanely beautiful.”
I smiled and rolled my eyes, “Damn that, Lauren. Thank you though.”
We continued talking for another half hour when Ally came back rubbing her eyes and walking slowly over to us, she looked up at me and rose her arms. “I tried,” she stated.
I smiled and pulled her up onto my hip “It is past your nap time, ready to go?” I asked her and she nodded then put her head on my shoulder
“Love MommyBear” she said and I smiled back at her before answering “Love AllyCat” then I turned to Camila whose big brown eyes were staring at my daughter with a small smile on her face. “Is it alright if we go?”
Camila nodded and stood up, throwing all the trash away and looking back at Ally “Did you have fun miss Allyson?”
Ally nodded “had fun! Lots!”
Camila smiled “I’m glad,”
We headed out back to my car where I slipped Ally back into her car seat making sure she is strapped in before heading back to the front, where Camila was sitting unlike the first time we rode together, it made me smile.
“I had fun with you today Camila” I said to her and gave her a smile, which she returned.
The ride back to the car was silent if you don’t Ally singing along with the radio but it was comfortable and I felt relaxed.
I got out of the car with Camila when we made it back to her car which was still parked at my dance studio. Her cheeks were pink from the breeze and she was running a hand through her hair, she leaned up against her car door and looked at me with a small smile.
“So, this date wasn’t a total train wreck … right?”
I laughed and nodded “Right.”
“So… will see each other again, another date?”
“If that’s what you want.”
Camila smiled and took my hand “I, for sure, want to go out on another date with you again.” Camila closed up the space in-between us and pressed her lips to mine, I slouched against her lips and wrapped my arms around her tiny waist keep her close and let the butterflies in my stomach go free.
I pulled back, breathless and smiled, putting my forehead on Camila’s.
“I gotta go,” I whispered.
She nodded “I know,” she whispered back
I pressed my lips to hers one more time and let them linger there before letting her go and walking back to my car, with a smile plastered on my face.
“It’s official, you are going to have a day out with your friends and you’re going to love it,” My mother says pulling Ally out of my arms “Go get dressed, I am more than happy with staying here and taking care of Ally for the day.”
“Mom, no, I don’t want to go out today. I’m fine with staying in with Allyson.”
“I, am not.” My mother says and begins doing the evaluator to Ally. Picking her up high over her head and bending her knees, then going back up straight legs, making Ally giggle every time. “I want you to go out and have fun, it’s another Friday night and you’re not doing anything but staying home with your baby? You’re not even 25 and you’re a house wife to your daughter.”
I sit down on the bed and put my head in my hands “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
My mother sighs and sits down with me “Yes, it is.” She says softly “You shouldn’t of grown up so quickly, but you had too. So I am willing to take this beautiful baby off your hands for one night for you to be a kid again, or at least a teenager. Don’t take this from me Normani.”
I look at my mom and her pleading eyes, I know she doesn’t want to be like this, just a mom, and dance teacher, she wants me to love my life, which she doesn’t think I do. I love Ally, I love my dance studio, and though it may not come out as smiles and laughter I do love what I do, as a mother and as I teacher.
“Okay, mom.” I say and sit up “Just for a few hours.”
My mom smiles and kisses my forehead “Thank you sweetie, now, I think I’ll take Allyson back to my place with me, so you can get ready in peace, if that’s alright.”
I nod “Sure mom, whatever you want.”
She smiles and again and looks at Ally, who has been silently sitting in her lap “Sleepover at Grandmas?”
Ally, nods excited “Yes! Yes!”
We all hopped out and headed to the closet to grab Ally’s coat, hat, and gloves, because she doesn’t need to get a cold and it’s not even winter yet. As soon as we put the gloves on her little chubby hands, she pulls them off and looks at her grandmother with her big brown eyes. I give my mother a look.
“Don’t spoil her, let her know she needs to wear her gloves.”
My mom bends down and faces Ally. “You need to wear your gloves, sweetie.”
“No! They scratchy!”
My mom sighs and looks at me, I shake my head “She has to wear them mom.”
She looks back down at Ally “Well, you need to wear them you don’t want cold hands.”
“Cold hands over scathed hands!”
My mom sighs, and then brings a smile on her face “I know! Why don’t you wear those out but we can go to the store and get you some new ones that aren’t scratchy!”
Ally jumps up “Yay!” and then grabs the gloves from the floor and puts them on
“I said, don’t spoil her mom.”
“I’m her grandmother,” she says and kisses my forehead “I’m supposed too.”