When you're ready

13. Group project

Shawn has his back against his locker, trying not to make it obvious how he was waiting for Camila to show up. He had a perfect view of her locker from where he was and he wasn’t even sure what he was doing, but he wanted to at least see her face. The selfie she had sent him the night before wearing his hoodie and the kiss she had gave him on the cheek would cross his mind more times than he would like to admit to himself.

 “ You’ll burn a hole in her locker if you stare for much longer.” Brian’s voice makes Shawn quickly look away from Camila’s locker.

 “ I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Shawn said, looking down at his phone and pretending he wasn’t waiting for her to show up.

 “ So… how was your birthday?” Brian asked, not trying to hide the fact that he was actually asking about Camila.

 “ Just like every year.” Shawn told him, a text coming on his phone right at that moment. It was Camila. He hadn’t texted her anything after the selfie, he was mostly too distracted with the picture, but he also didn’t know what to say. Now she was clearly second guessing her decision of sending him the picture.

 “ She’s here.” Brian said, making Shawn finally look up and spot Camila a few feet away at her locker. She had her hair up in a ponytail, still wearing his hoodie over a pair of jeans. “ Is that your hoodie?”

 Shawn smiled at Camila when she looked at him, trying to ease her tension for not getting a text in return for the picture. He wanted to talk to her, but she quickly disappeared down the hallway to her first class while Brian kept asking him questions.

 “ Yes.” Shawn simply said, conforming Camila was wearing his hoodie. He didn’t even know why he insisted on her keeping it, but he weirdly liked to see her wearing it.

 Brian kept bugging him with questions all morning until Shawn admitted he had seen Camila on his birthday, which he knew he had Brian to thank for. He didn’t reveal anything else though. He knew Brian would have a lot to say about Camila spending the night at his house, but he wasn’t ready to hear any of it. 

 When he finally had a class with Camila, she sat at her usual spot in front of him. With her hair up in a ponytail, his eyes kept looking at her exposed neck. He let his fingers touch her hair that was falling over his desk and eventually, touched the skin on the back of her neck. Camila flinched slightly, getting chills and turning her head to look at him in surprise before turning back around to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. However, he noticed a small smile on her lips before she looked away, so he kept his hand on her, his fingers drawing patterns on her skin the whole class.

 Shawn sat as close as possible to her during lunch, their arms and legs touching as they ate in comfortable silence. Their last class of the day wasn’t different. They sat side by side and Shawn watched for a few minutes as Camila tried to work on her painting, but she still struggled a lot. He could see she was trying not to get annoyed by how her hand kept shaking and he started wondering if that had anything to do with why she didn’t speak. Before he could stop himself, he was asking her if she wanted his help. She immediately agreed to go to his house after school and he tried not to show how excited he was about it.

 Shawn could see Brian smirking at him from the other side of the parking lot when he opened the passenger door of his car to Camila, but he ignored it. He wasn’t even sure himself what the hell was happening between him and Camila, so he didn’t have answers for Brian’s questions at the moment. The drive to his house was filled with music when Camila turned up the radio and he was a little surprised to catch her mouthing the lyrics of the song. He wanted to ask about that but wasn’t sure what exactly to ask or if that could possibly bother her.

 As they walked into his house, Mrs. Miller seemed to recognize Camila from the other day and Shawn could tell she wanted to ask him about the girl but kept it to herself. Camila insisted on seeing his grandpa and the old man didn’t remember her, which resulted in a do-over of his birthday where Shawn introduced Camila again. They eventually ended up in the garage, which was now more like Shawn’s little art studio. It was open, so they could see the street and everyone who walked by as Shawn helped her. 

 When she had a simple painting finished, she seemed so excited about it that she hugged him. Shawn held her in his arms and tried not to think about that feeling on the pit of his stomach. He never felt butterflies on his stomach before, but he was pretty sure that was it. When she pulled away from the hug, he was in shock to see her mouth the words ‘thank you’ to him. Just as he was thinking about how to ask her about that, they were interrupted by a car pulling up on his driveway.

 “ Group project I’m guessing.” Brian said in a teasing tone of voice from his car. Shawn laughed as Camila looked at his best friend and rolled her eyes in annoyance. Turns out Brian had been bugging her with questions as well. “ Don’t worry, I won’t bother you much longer. Ali said you promised to give her some magazines.”

 “ Right.” Shawn said, taking a box from the corner of the room filled with teen magazines he had promised to Brian’s little sister. They were from his sister’s collection, but he decided she wasn’t there anymore so he might as well let someone else have it. Shawn gave the box to Brian, who kept looking at him as if wanting to ask him about Camila, but Shawn ignored him again.

 “ Are you sure about this?” Brian asked, looking down at the magazines.

 “ Yes.” Shawn said, walking back to where Camila was before hearing Brian’s car drive away.

 Camila was looking at him with so much curiosity in her eyes as Shawn sat down next to her. He still wasn’t sure what she knew about his family, if she had heard anything at school, but he got the impression she wanted to hear it from him. He rarely talked about it, but he knew he would eventually open up to her. She seemed to care for the right reasons and he wasn’t used to that.