You Live And Learn

12 | lunch and laughs

Heavenly. That's the only word I can describe this moment right now. As we're walking on the sidewalk, Camille and I are still holding hands. I glance to my left and there's a smile dancing on her lips. Her facial expressions indicate that numerous thoughts are in her head, but all positive ones.

"You alright, Camille?" I turn my head to ask her. It takes a minute for the question to register in her brain, but it clicks eventually.

"Yeah, I'm doing amazing. Why you ask, Zo?" She responds in a cheerful tone.

" I was just reaffirming. It looked like you were pondering about something."

"Well, you can say that," She trails off.

"Please elaborate," I say sophistically. Mr. Raldo would be happy with my word choice so far in this conversation.

"I'm just finding it hard to believe where we are right now. I mean, it's a great change of pace. Who knew, at the start of our senior year, we would be here in this moment." She stops to raise our hands together. "This right here is nice, and I'm enjoying every moment of it." After her little speech, she flashes her pearly whites.

Her mood is contagious, so I can't help but smile back. She's right. At the start of this semester, I wanted high school to hurry up and finish. Now, I hope it doesn't go by so fast.

"I'm enjoying this too, Cami," I agree with her. "You just know how to make my days better." That statement probably struck a chord within her, because she stops walking to stare at me. As she looks deep into my soul, there's a joyous aura around her.

"Zo, thanks. That means a lot to me more than you realize."

"Anytime, anytime."

"Also, I'm just realizing that you call me Cami. Is that my new nickname or something?" Camille asks me with a hint of laughter in her voice.

"Well yeah, you have at least eight different nicknames for me. I need at least one," I explain.

"Okay, that makes sense. I like Cami, it's cute."

"Exactly why I chose it. It reminds me of you." That was smoother than MJ's moonwalk on a live tour. Who is this man and what has he done with Alonzo? I can tell she's liking this side of me because she's smiling from ear to ear.

As we are walking, I notice a food truck coming up ahead. I never ate from a food truck before, but from what I heard, they tend to have good food. They even went out their way to set up tables so you can enjoy the food right then and there.

"Hey, let's grab something from that food truck," I suggest.

"You went there before?" Camille looks at me with her left brow raised.

"No, but it doesn't hurt to try."

"Can't argue with that, sure.,'" she agrees with the venture. After a few moments, we reach our destination. I unclasp our hands as we go to order. I take a minute to look at their menu. Apparently, food trucks sell pretty much anything, and this one is no exception. I already accepted that Camille won't know what she wants to eat until the last minute, so I make sure my order is on point.

"Good day welcome to Bertha's Food Salon, the best food truck in town. What can I get for the couple today?" The male cashier asks us. Judging from the banner, he looks exactly like Bertha. I'm guessing he is Bertha's son and just works here part-time when his mother isn't there. Also, very bold of him to assume we're a couple. But, are we a couple? I don't know what label to put on whatever this is between us.

"Hi, good day I would like three chicken tacos, please? Mozzarella and cheddar cheese on it," Camille didn't even skip a beat with her order. Wait, let's back it up for a minute. She didn't even try to correct him. So, does that mean we are a couple? Probably. Does that make me happy on the inside? Absolutely. Is it a little shocking? Of course. Hotel? Trivago.