Oh Love

“So, tell me about Camilla.” Alex said taking my hand.

We were lying on my bed just hanging out and talking. I had just finished work when he called and I wasn’t in the mood to go on any adventure. He decided to bring me dinner and I’m not really sure how we ended up in my room. But I didn’t care. It was nice having him here.

I laughed. “What do you want to know? And why? Gonna go try and win her heart?” I snickered.

“No. I’m just curious. Besides, I’m too busy trying to win your’s.” He laughed.

“Mmm. Sure.”

“I am! Promise. I’m just curious about her. She seems kind of cold. I don’t know.”

“She has her reasons.”

“And what would those be?”

I sighed. “I don’t think she’d want you to know.”

“I won’t tell a soul. Promise.” He stuck out his pinkie and I laughed.

“A pinkie promise? Really?”

“Duh. Those are legit. You can’t break a pinkie promise.”

“Yes you can! You can’t break unbreakable vows.”

“Did you really just bring Harry Potter into this?” He laughed.

“Yes I did. You can’t break those. You will die.”

I could tell he was rolling his eyes. “Well, do you have a wand and magic powers to create the unbreakable vow?”

“Technically I have a wand.”

“Something you wanna tell me?” He smirked.

“Yes. Alex, I’m a witch.” I laughed.

“Sweet. I’ve always wanted to date a witch.”

I started laughing and I could feel him laughing under my head. I rolled over so I could kiss him before I rolled back and continued playing with his hand. “You’re an idiot.”

“Oh I know.” I looked at him and he grinned. “So anyway, about Camilla?”

I bit my lip again. “I still don’t know.”

“How about this, if I could, I would make the unbreakable vow.”

“Seriously? You’d make the vow just to know about my best friend? You really are an idiot.”

He laughed. “I would. I’ll take her secrets to my grave. Promise.”

I sighed. “Fine. But I swear, if you tell anyone I will kill you with my own two hands.”

“Deal.”

“Well, I guess we start from the beginning. She was technically born in Uruguay. That’s how she met Gabe.”

“Really?”

“Mhmm. For some reason her parents thought it would be some great adventure. I don’t know. But right after she was born her dad jumped ship and ran off. She’s never met him and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t want to.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah. I think her mom really loved him. She didn’t take it well. They stayed until Camilla was eight. Her and Gabe were inseparable. Well, according to her. And then one day her mother decided she wanted to move back to the states. I know she was upset. I may not have known her then but I’ve known her for a long time. Camilla doesn’t get upset that often.”

“They moved to Seattle?”

I laughed. “Right down the street from me. Literally, they were two houses down from mine. She didn’t talk to anyone at school for at least the first week. So I figured I would try. I mean, she was quiet and probably a lot like me. I was excited she had an interesting name.”

“Question. Did you get made fun of for your name?”

“A few times. But it always came as a relief when no one else in the class had my name. And after the first lunch I had with Camilla when we were eight, some stupid kid made fun of me and she stood up for me. I like to believe that was the moment we became friends.”

“Aww. Cute. Did you guys have lunch everyday after that?”

“Mhmm. Even when we got to high school.” I bit my lip. This was the worst part of the story.

“Go on.” He urged softly.

“When we were sixteen her mom started to drink and got really into drugs. I still don’t know how they kept the house. Her mom spent all the money she had on alcohol and drugs. I think a lot of it was Camilla. She very rarely had time to hang out because she was always working in her spare time.”

“That’s really sad.”

“That’s not even the worst part.”

“Really?”

“Her mom was still upset that her dad had left her. She brought home a lot of guys. None of them were good for her or Camilla. And Camilla tried to stay away from her house as much as possible. If she wasn’t working she’d be at my house on weekends. But the weeknights were different. I don’t know what went on in her house and I swore to never ask. But there were nights she would show up at my house crying and she always slept at my house that night.”

“Wow.”

“I know. One of those nights I promised her we’d get away. Far away. And as soon as we were old enough and out of school we were gone. We both came to school here in Baltimore and we’ve lived together since. We found this apartment with the help of my parents and we’ve been living in for years.”

“Are you sure she doesn’t need therapy?”

I shook my head. “She tried it. It didn’t help. She always left pissed off and upset. Eventually she moved on. I don’t know if she’ll ever forgive her mom, though.”

“I don’t blame her.”

“I know. I don’t either. She’s my best friend and basically my sister. And until she’s ready to move in with someone else, we’re a package deal. We couldn’t live without each other.”

“That’s really sweet. So she doesn’t hate me?”

I laughed. “Why would you think that?”

“I don’t know. The way she stared at me when we met.”

I giggled. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s protective over me as I am over her. Even though I am not scary one bit.”

“That’s debatable. You have an attitude that is kind of scary if you catch it at the wrong moment.”

“I do not!”

“You do. You looked ready to kill everyone at that bar when we met. I was terrified to come talk to you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, okay.”

“I was! But Jack was convincing and you were cute.” He laughed. “And I had a decent amount of alcohol in me.”

“Thanks, Alex. Good to know you needed alcohol to come talk to me.”

“No! Just needed a bit of a confidence boost.”

“You’re an idiot.”

He grinned. “I know.”