Para Siempre

Chapter 3

CAMILLA POV

                                                                    2 DAYS LATER

It had been two days since me and Usnavi went on our walk and two days since Vanessa went off on me. It was about 12pm and Vanessa and I were just lounging around our apartment since the salon doesn't open till 1pm on Mondays. "Damn how come you never told me this story before?" I was telling her about this one racist bitch who threw a milkshake on me while I was working at Wendy's just cause I was speaking Spanish, "Honestly you should have told me when it happened I would have tracked that bitch down and killed her." Vanessa says annoyed as fuck. "That is the exact reason I didn't tell you because knowing you, you would have beaten her up pretty bad or like you said killed her." I say while laughing as she threw a pillow at me hitting me in the face. This made me stop laughing immediately and I picked up the same pillow throwing it back at her hitting the side of her face. This started something we haven't done in years, a pillow fight. We were acting like 6 year olds laughing uncontrollably while hitting each other with pillows. It was honestly the most fun I've had in a while. But everything must come to an end like our fight had to because of my phone ringing. We stopped almost immediately. I walked over to my phone to look at the contact.

It was the hospital. I looked up at V and said "It's the Hospital" her face automatically dropped and she was by my side in seconds holding on to my arm. I put the phone on speaker right after I picked up, "Hello is this Camilla Santos?" a male voice asked, he sounded older maybe 40 or 45. "Yes, who is this?" I responded right away wondering what could have happened. "Well sweetheart, your mother Enarda Santos was in a terrible car accident," oh my god no. please god let her be alright. I already lost my dad. Please let her be ok. I can't lose her too. Vanessa's grip on my arm tightened slightly. My mom was always there for her when her mother wasn't. Since her mom was an alcoholic it was always hard for V to talk to her about her problems so she always talked to my mom about whatever she needed help with, "We got there as soon as we could but sadly that was too late. I'm so sorry for your loss." he said his voice low. No, no, no, this can't be happening it has to just be a bad dream. Right? She can't actually be dead. I stayed silent for about a minute and that seemed to get the doctor to speak up, "Miss. Santos are you alright?" he asked. "Yeah, yeah I guess." I respond quietly. "Well I need to ask you do you want your mother cremated or are you thinking of her being buried without cremating her?" he asks. (I have no idea how this shit works i'm so sorry lol) "Cremated please. That's what she always wanted anyways." I respond barely above a whisper trying my best not to cry. "Ok well I'll send her over to the coroners and I guess they'll call you when her ashes are ready keep in mind this could take up to a week" he says, "Ok thank you sir. I should go though. Have a good day" I say hanging up right after "Cam you should take the day off," V says after about a minute of silence. She was crying but I refused to cry. At least right now I need to be alone or with Usnavi since he understands he lost both of his parents. "yeah I think you're right. I'm probably gonna be at the bodega." I say trying so hard to stay strong. "Ok, Cam I'll see you when I get home or when you get home whoevers here first. I'll tell the girls that you couldn't come for personal reasons that you aren't ready to share. They'll know to back off and if they don't then I'll just shut them down. Does that sound good?" "yeah that sounds good. Thanks V for covering for me." a small smile resting on my lips cause of how kind she is. "Of course anything for you Cam. Especially when it comes to stuff like this. Now let's get going. I'll walk with you since the bodega and the salon are so close. Ok? She asks. "Ok thank you again V." I say softly. Vanessa just smiles at me sadly. After our short silent walk to our destinations we split up. V crossing the street to go to the Salon.

While I walk into the bodega. I don't see Usnavi or Sonn at the counter. "Usnavi? Sonny? Where are you?" I shouted trying to sound ok but my voice broke at the end of my sentence. Usnavi walked out from the back of the store looking extremely concerned. "Cammy are you ok?" his voice is full of concern just like his facial expression. I simply shake my head not being able to get any words out. He walks over to me and hugs me tightly. I rarely ever cry around people the last time I cried in front of people was my dad's funeral. I always forced myself to act like I was ok except when I was around Usnavi he was the one person I could actually talk to. I was crying now and he was just holding me running his fingers through my hair trying to calm me down a bit. " Cammy what happened? You obviously don't have to tell me, but I was just wondering cause I don't like seeing you in pain. I swear to god if one of those guys who catcall you laid a hand on you I'll fight them-" ''Usnavi," I cut him off looking up at him and pulling away from the hug slightly, "no one hurt me don't worry. Plus I wouldn't let you get in a fight and risk getting hurt." I say looking him in the eyes. "Yo if I got hurt it would be ok cause if it meant teaching them to stay away from you I would do it. But what's wrong, come on and sit down, Sonny is at school right now so you don't have to worry about him coming for another 2 hours or so." Usnavi says, leading me behind the counter and sitting on the ground with me. "Eh it's fine if he sees me crying. I've known him since he was a baby. You two are the only ones I'm comfortable crying around." "I thought you were comfortable around your mom also" Usnavi said Obviously not knowing about what happened with my mom. But that caused me to start crying even more. Usnavi grabbed my hand and started rubbing circles on the back of it with his thumb. "That's what's wrong 'Snavi. My mom she-" I had to pause and take a breath because of how much I was crying, "she got into a car accident this morning and-and she d-di-died. She's gone and I don't know what to do." I say stuttering slightly. "Oh shit Cammy I'm so sorry" Usnavi mumbles, pulling me into a tight hug. "Let it all out I understand how you feel and I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere." he whispered in my ear. We just sat there for about 10 minutes until we heard the bell ring, signaling someone had entered the bodega. Usnavi stood up putting a fake smile "I'll be right back ok? You can go to the back if you don't want anyone to see you." Usnavi says quietly kissing the top of my head. "Ok I'll be in the back just tell me when whoever is here leaves." I walk into the back room looking around. I haven't been back here in a while. It's been a few years probably. Then I hear Dani's voice, she's by the counter I'm assuming considering the fact that I could hear her clearly. "Hey Usnavi! Have you seen Camilla? Apparently something is wrong with her at least that's what Vanessa said." Dani asked Usnavi. She sounded really concerned which is understandable considering the fact I haven't missed a day of work ever. "Nah I haven't seen her. Sorry Dani." Usnavi replies I can easily tell when he's lying but for other people I don't know if it's that easy. "Usnavi I swear to god if I find out you're lying to me you won't just be dealing with me. You'll be dealing with mi amor Carla y Cuca. we're all worried fucking sick about her. She's never missed a day of work before and something is obviously up. Vanessa has been acting weird refusing to talk to any of us. She seems like she is going to break if you simply touch her." Daniela says concern lacing her voice. Oh god I hope V can make it through today. If she ends up crying she might end up telling Dani, Carla, and Cuca. Who knows what would happen if they found out. I mean they obviously will eventually but I don't want them finding out this soon. My thoughts were cut off by the bell ringing again and the sound of heels running across the Bodega's tiled floor. "Dani! Dani!" Carla shouted she sounded like she was crying or at least upset, oh shit V must have broke and told them what happened. "Dani, it's Vanessa she started crying and then told me and Cuca what happened with Cam and why she isn't at the Salon today." Carla cried. God damn it Vanessa. I know she didn't mean to but now that means they're gonna be all over me trying to comfort me and they'll be babying me which will honestly just make me feel worse. "Well go on mi amor what happened?" Daniela asked. "Camilla's mom, Enarda, got in a car accident and- and- she died. Now everyone in the salon is freaking out over it. Can you come back and get them to calm down and help Vanessa. You need to leave Usnavi alone for right now." Carla says in between sobs. Shit everyone in the salon knows which is at least 15 people. This is gonna spread like wildfire. Well there goes the idea of keeping it a secret for a few days. "Shit ok. Sorry for that Usnavi." Dani shouts "it's all good" he shouts back as the door closes. "Cammy you can come out now no one is here it's just me."  "People know now Usnavi. I wanted it to just be between you me and V. I understand Vanessa slipped up and I'm not mad but I'm just stressed now because people are gonna baby me like they did when my dad died. It will honestly make everything worse for me" I said hugging him and burying my face into his chest. "Listen Cammy, they just don't want to hurt you anymore or they want to make you feel better. Even though that won't help you they think it will. They just wanna help." Usnavi whispers, returning the hug. The bodega was really quiet today so we spent the next hour and a half talking about memories we had with my mom. When the bell rang, I immediately sat up ready to head to the back room. When I heard Sonny's distinct voice shout, "Hey Usnavi where are you?" "I'm at the counter in the back with Cammy." he says while Sonny walks up to us. "Why's Cam here?" Sonny asks then he looks at me realizing how that could sound, "not that I don't like you or anything I'm just wondering why you're here," he pauses for a second I'm gonna assume he finally saw my puffy eyes and tear stained face, "yo are you ok? Que paso? Do I need to kill someone cause we both know I'll kill someone for you and I can get Pete to spray paint their property and shit-" "Hey watch your language Sonny" Usnavi says slapping him upside the head "sorry cus. But for real what happened. Can I help you in anyway" Sonny says, he is such a nice kid, always worried about other people trying to help out well for the most part. "I mean there isn't really anything you can do to help besides be here for me. Cause my mom she- well she passed today and I don't know what to do because Dani and everyone at her salon found out cause of V." I say looking down at my feet. "Shit Cam I'm so sorry," Sonny says, taking me into a tight and caring embrace. "Thanks sonny it means a lot." I say messing up his hair. "Yo cut it out" he says while swatting my hand away.

                                                  TIME SKIP!!

USNAVI'S POV (OOOH SOMETHING RARE LMFAO)

"Hey Sonny?" I say sitting next to him getting ready to close up shop. "Yeah?" he asks, turning to look at me. "You're right." I mumble "About what i'm right about a lot of things actually" he says acting all cocky. "Bout me liking Cammy. You weren't always right or at least I don't think you were. I know I liked Vanessa for a while but I can't tell when I started to fall in love with Camilla. It was like I didn't even notice till today when she came in crying because of what happened with her mom. It made my heart ache seeing her like that. I was so worried since I didn't know what happened at first I thought someone did something and I was ready to fight whoever I had to and make them pay for what I did to her. Right after I helped her and made sure she was ok." I say looking down at my feet. "See I told you. You're in looooveeeeeee with her. You even admitted it." that's when realization dawned on him and he started squealing and jumping up and down like a five year old, "ohmygodohmygod you admitted it you're in love with her and y'all are gonna be such a cute couple when you get together. Oh I need to tell Benny about this he's gonna freak out oh my god." he says finally calming down. I was beet red I could tell because of how hot my face felt. "You done now?" I asked. "Yeah sorry." he says and with that we close up shop and I drop him off at his dad's apartment and head to me and abuela's. Once I get there I head straight to bed since I know abuela is asleep. I just face plant on my bead and fall asleep immediately