TOGETHER | shawmila

five.

The end of exams meant the start of Christmas break. Camila was so relieved to be done with the semester, but she knew Shawn was even more relieved. He'd taken his make-up exam and Camila was nervous the whole time, until she saw him walk out of the room smiling. He'd given her a thumbs-up and told her he was confident he'd passed.

Camila was pretty sure she'd passed her exams as well, even though she had to pee the entire time she was taking them. Shelby whispered to her when the week was over, asking why she didn't ask the teacher for accommodations. Camila just didn't want the teachers knowing yet.

But with every day of Christmas break, Camila felt like she was getting bigger and bigger. She remembered the way it used to be on Christmas break with Shawn. He would drag her ice skating and skate circles around her while she clung to the wall and tried not to fall.

Even before she realized what she felt for him, she remembered those moments. The way their freezing fingers intertwined when he grabbed her hands to keep her from falling. The way his cheeks would always be flushed when they finally took a break for hot chocolate. Then, Camila would go off with whatever guy she was seeing at the time, wondering why they never made her heart race the same way.

This year was different. Camila got to spend the whole break with Shawn, and though they couldn't skate, they could kiss under the mistletoe for the first time instead of both of them trying to pretend they hadn't just walked under it.

Camila knew they were saving their money, so they mutually decided on homemade presents for Christmas, and Camila had the best idea—matching lists of potential baby names.

They were to write out a list of names, ten boy names and ten girl names, and then compare, and Camila took her list very seriously. She would hide it whenever Shawn was around and she would spend hours pouring over it, thinking carefully.

She liked unique names. She always liked being the only Camila at school, and she wanted their child to have a unique name too. Shawn seemed to be more content with simpler names. When they finally swapped lists on Christmas Day, they didn't have a single name in common, and Camila laughed.

"James? That's so basic. There's like fifteen different guys named James at our school."

"So?"

"So, I dated two of them." She smirked.

"Okay, crossing that one off then." He took his list back and she laughed again. "What about you? Ophelia? Cordelia? These girls all sound like they're living in the eighteen-hundreds or something."

"Excuse me?" She blinked. "I want our child to stand out."

"Well, why not name her something like Salami? That'll really stand out." He giggled to himself and she crossed her arms, feeling her hormones flaring up.

"If you're not gonna take this seriously—"

"I am taking this seriously!" He assured her, though he laughed when he placed his hand over hers. "Come on, babe, you have to admit that Huxley sounds like a dog's name."

"Whatever, I guess I never realized how different our tastes are." Camila knew she was hormonal, but she couldn't believe she was getting sad over this. "What if we never come to an agreement?"

"Of course, we will." Shawn smiled, squeezing her hand. "Okay, I'll lighten up some. What name on your list do you absolutely love? Maybe I can come around to it."

"Caspian."

"Oh my God, you're joking right?"

Camila would up balling her list up and tossing it at his head. She loved him, and she loved their baby, but that's why she wanted them to have a special and unique name. Shawn seemed to immediately regret teasing her and he spent the rest of Christmas Day being extra attentive to her, and though she almost died of happiness when he offered to rub her feet, she had to admit she liked that he was still teasing her and that had never changed between them.