"Why let the chemistry go to waste?"
***
When Camila met Sally the day her exchange semester in England began, her first impression of the Brit was that she was beautiful, confident, tough and honest, certainly unreachable for her.
But as a friends...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Miwa!"
A surprisingly strong 4-year-old ran out of the kindergarten and bumped against her leg full force. Mila laughed and scooped her favourite tiny human into her arms. "Remember what I taught you?"
The little girl's face scrunched up in concentration as she tried to recall how to pronounce the following words. "Buenos días," she exclaimed loudly.
Mila grinned, kissed her forehead, and placed her back on the ground. "Ready to go home?"
Sofia nodded eagerly and Mila reached for her hand as they walked. It was sticky. How were kids' hands always sticky? Almost accusingly, she asked, "Where have you been?"
"In Spain," Mila answered. "I told you that Sally and I wanted to go for a little vacation, remember?"
Sofia nodded but the frown on her face remained as if she was mad they hadn't kidnapped her and taken her along. Then, as if she only now remembered, she asked, "Where's Dad?"
"He's a little tired," Mila replied. "He needs some rest."
The girl frowned again as if it was unimaginable that taking care of two kids and doing chores around the house all day was exhausting. But she soon forgot about her displeasure and started blabbering about the nursery teacher and some other kids, leaving Mila to be quite glad when they arrived.
"Let's allow your Dad a little more sleep," she whispered as they approached the house. "Try to be quiet."
Sofia nodded seriously. Mila unlocked the door and the girl obediently and quietly tiptoed to the living room. Then she screamed, "Sally!"
Mila sighed, shook her head, and followed the girl who already was in Sally's arms. "Don't worry." Sally gestured to the baby in the crib with her nose. "Henry screamed for like 10 minutes straight and I checked, Jake's still asleep."
She followed her gaze. Henry was the cutest and most precious thing Mila had ever laid eyes on. She lifted him into her arms and he smiled the most beautiful smile she could imagine while he grasped onto her hair. She tickled his tummy and grazed his tiny feet with her fingers. Her heart swelled with all the love she felt, she smiled, and then... He began to cry.
"Damn," she mumbled and gently swayed back and forth like she had watched Jake do so often. He did it so much better than her. It took some minutes but finally, Henry calmed down. Relieved, Mila sat down, settled the baby in her lap, and glared at her girlfriend who had watched the scene with amusement on her face that she hadn't even tried to hide.
They spent the next half hour watching cartoons with Sofia while Mila tried to entertain the baby and keep him from crying. She recognized the show back from her childhood and smiled the entire time, quite enjoying the wave of nostalgia. Sally, on the other hand, hadn't been allowed to watch much TV as a kid and had rarely seen a cartoon. Mila couldn't even count the time she sighed, rolled her eyes, or muttered complaints about the animation.
