Perfectly Wrong

26. One-Thirty

Camila wakes up thinking the window in her room is on the wrong side, but when she tries to reach for her phone on the nightstand, she realizes she’s not in her own bedroom. She sits up and rubs her eyes, but quickly lays back down and pulls the blanket over her when she remembers what happened. She’s not sure if it has been minutes or hours when she hears someone calling her name.

 “ Camila.” Shawn’s voice is distant, but it wakes her up. The sun is not as bright as before, but she still pulls the covers tighter over her head. “ Camila, wake up.”

 She groans and holds the blanket even tighter when he tries to pull it back off her head. She would fight longer if her bladder wasn’t screaming at her, so she throws the cover off her and finds Shawn sitting on the edge of the bed.

 “ You’re really not a morning person.” Shawn says.

 “ Bathroom.” Camila mumbles. “ Where’s the bathroom?”

 Shawn points across the hall and Camila jumps out of the bed and runs to the bathroom, locking the door before sitting down on the toilet and nearly falling in because the seat is up.

 “ Ughh.” She mumbles, letting the seat down. “ Boys.”

 Camila walks out of the bathroom after washing her face and pulling her hair up in a messy bun, finding Shawn sitting in a stool at the kitchen. He smiles at her and places a cup of coffee in front of the empty seat next to him, so she takes the seat and the coffee.

 “ What time is it?” She asks.

 “ One-thirty.”

 “ Oh.” Camila feels her cheeks blush slightly. “ Your bed is really comfortable.”

 “ Apparently.” He smiles, nudging her shoulder.

 They drink their coffee in a comfortable silence before Shawn takes both of their empty cups to the sink.

 “ I’m taking Aaliyah and Sofia to a matinee.” Shawn says, washing their cups. “ We’re leaving in a few minutes. I’ll probably take them to dinner afterwards, so we’ll be back around six. It should give you and your mom time to talk.”

 Camila hates how he subtly threw that last sentence there, like she was going to be easily manipulated by him.

 “ What if I don’t want to talk?” Camila says. “ What if I want to go to a matinee?”

 “ You don’t need to watch a movie.” Shawn says, walking to where she is. “ You need to talk to your mom. Let's go.”

 She watches as he grabs his keys and jacket, walking towards the door.

 “ I just woke up. The caffeine hasn’t even kicked in yet.” Camila says, preparing herself to make her best puppy face. “ Can I just stay here for a while?”

 She’s lying, of course, she just wants to crawl back into his comfortable bed.

 “ Fine.” Shawn walks to her and places a kiss on her forehead. “ But not all day. You need to talk to her.”

 Shawn puts his jacket on before walking out of the house and Camila walks to the window to watch Sofia and Aaliyah climbing into his car before he drives away. She looks at her house across the street. She knows her mother is in there, but she has no idea what she would tell her if she walked there right at that moment, so she decides to wait. She hates that she’s mad at her mom because she knows it’s not her fault, but she has no one else to blame.

 Camila’s eyes focus on the gnome with the broken hat grinning at her from their garden across the street. It’s like he knows she’s there, too scared to cross the street and face the reality of things. Just as she’s about to close the curtain, she sees Maisie’s car pulling up to their driveway, so she walks to Shawn’s front door.