Chapter 19 #4
Valeria looks around. “I guess the girls aren’t back yet.”
Camila shrugs, easy. “I guess not.”
They move around camp until they reach the food table, make themselves sandwiches, and pour massive cups of water before settling side by side on the lounge chairs. Their shoulders don’t touch, but Valeria feels the warmth of her body just the same.
“How are you liking the book?” Camila asks before taking a big bite of her sandwich.
“I love it. How are you liking yours?”
Camila smiles. “It’s wonderful. I love the world-building so far.”
“You better say that,” Valeria says, unable to stop the pride that swells in her chest. “My best friend wrote it.” God, she’ll never get tired of saying that.
Camila blinks. “What?”
“Lily Harper is our Lily. You didn’t know?” Valeria asks, staring at her in disbelief.
“Oh wow. No, I didn’t.” Camila laughs, shaking her head. “I didn’t know her last name or what she did. That’s . . . actually really cool. I don’t know how I’m supposed to not fangirl over it now.”
“God, she’ll love that,” Valeria says lovingly. “Talking about her characters is one of her favorite things. The love interest in that book is based on Isabella.”
Camila laughs again. “Yeah, now that you mention it, I can see that.” She tilts her head, thoughtful. “She’s a wonderful writer, and it helps that this book has one of my all-time favorite tropes. Friends to lovers.”
Valeria’s heart gives an unhelpful little jump. “Oh, same.”
Camila smiles, almost to herself. “The longing always gets me.”
Valeria suddenly feels shy, and a question starts to burn on her tongue. It scares her how badly she wants to ask it, but if she’s ever going to muster the courage to talk to Camila about her crush, she should at least know where she stands on fiction becoming reality.
“Do you think,” Valeria begins, then clears her throat and tries again. “Do you think it would work for you in real life?”
Camila tenses—not much, but Valeria notices. There are a few seconds of silence, and Camila stares ahead, eyes unfocused, as if sorting through every possible version of her answer. Each passing second winds Valeria’s nerves a little tighter.
“Yeah,” Camila finally says, and Valeria breathes easier.
“Honestly, maybe I’d prefer it,” Camila adds. “The chance to get to know someone slowly as feelings develop, sounds . . . nice.” She smiles. “It definitely worked for your entire friend group.”
Valeria laughs, a little breathless. “Yeah, I guess that’s true.”
Camila bites the inside of her cheek, then asks, “Would it work for you?”
“Yeah,” Valeria says immediately. “Absolutely. I think it would allow me to go slow, ease into that feeling of safety with someone new. After Brooke, I think slow is the way to go.”
Camila nods, still not looking at her. “Do you think you’re ready for that?”
Valeria swallows. “To get to know someone and date them? Yeah. Maybe I wouldn’t jump straight into a relationship, but I would see where things go.”
Camila turns to her, eyes searching Valeria’s face. “Do you already have someone in mind?”
Valeria nods, forcing herself to swallow past the lump in her throat.
Her nerves are buzzing so loudly that she’d be surprised if Camila can’t hear them.
The conversation she’s been worried about having is unfolding with such ease that it feels orchestrated, like the universe is pushing her toward it.
Valeria can’t bring herself to ignore it.
Camila lets out a slow breath. “Who?”
Valeria opens her mouth, but nothing comes out.
Her heart hammers a frantic rhythm, making it almost impossible for her to focus, and her pulse is so loud it’s embarrassing.
She glances down at her hands, twisting the edge of the lounge chair strap between her fingers, buying herself a second even though Camila isn’t rushing her.
She’s just waiting, patiently, with soft eyes that invite Valeria to be brave, and she wants to fall into that.
Somehow, she knows with aching certainty that Camila has her.
Valeria exhales a quiet, shaky laugh. “It’s you.”
Camila’s breath falters, and her eyes widen. “What?” she says, voice barely an exhale.
“I’m never going hiking with you again!” Clara’s voice booms, shattering the moment, and Valeria’s heart slams against her ribs.
Camila and Valeria turn just as the rest of their group walks toward them.
Fuck, Valeria thinks. She needed one more minute. Now she’s going to be agonizing over Camila’s answer until she can get her alone again.
“Oh, sorry, are we interrupting?” Alejandra says with a big smile.
Only then does Valeria realize that she and Camila are facing each other, knees touching, bodies leaning into each other’s space.
“Oh, uh, no. How was hiking?” Valeria asks, doing her best to throw on a smile.
“Fine, Isabella got us lost, or we would have been back an hour ago.”
“For the record, I was taking the scenic route, and I did not get us lost. We ended up back here, didn’t we?”
“Yeah, because you ended up plugging it in on your phone, and we course-corrected; otherwise, we might be in Canada right now.”
Isabella rolls her eyes. “How was your guys’ day? Get tons of reading done?” She adds bunny ears to “reading.”
Valeria should have known that the second Alejandra and Lily were alone with their girlfriends, they’d tell them all about their chat this morning.
Not that Valeria minds; it saves her the conversation, but she would have liked to threaten Clara and Isabella out of making jokes similar to the one she just made—for Camila’s sake, not hers; she’s grown painfully used to it.
“We did,” Valeria answers, narrowing her eyes at Isabella; however, she seems unfazed.
Once the girls get back, there is absolutely no time alone; they put on music, grill up some burgers, and start up a game. A game Valeria needs to be told three times how to play because she’s so intently focused on Camila and what could be swirling in her brain.
God, the girls couldn’t have picked a worse time to get back.