The Second Encanto

14. The Picnic Lunch

Merella's POV

I woke up to the sun shining directly into my eyes. With a groan I rolled over and slammed a pillow over my head. My mother came up the stairs, trying to coax me out of my room, but I didn't feel like it. When I finally got up it was midday and Mirabel had come over.

"Merella you have to come out of your room. I brought my mothers arepas." She said as I smelled the air to see if it was true. I dragged myself to my door and opened it. Mirabel was smiling at me holding the plate of food. She walked right past me into my room and set it down. "Are you ok?" She asked feeling my forehead.

"Si Mirabel I'm ok. I just feel a bit under the weather." I replied trying to calm her. She said and started to fuss about my room, picking up anything she could find.

"Great so I was thinking that we could go on a little trip today. We could even bring a picnic lunch." Mirabel asked. I jumped at the chance of fresh air, quickly throwing on my embroidered dress. We laughed at the memory of our prick fingers and headed down stairs to pack.

"Oh glad to see you got her out of her room." My mother shouted from the back room. We headed into the back of the cafe, picking up small baked goods from the front. We packed some sandwiches and some of Julieta's arepas. I kissed my mother on the cheek before I ran out the door.

"Oh wow the sun is so bright today." I said squinting to look at the blue sky.

Mirabel looked up too and stated, "Oh yeah Tio Felix got Tia Pepa a new dress from the city, so she's pretty happy." I laughed at the idea of what Pepa's new dress would be like, because everyone knew that Felix's fashion choices were a coin toss. We linked arms and headed over the mountains, past the Madrigals house. Mirabel led me over the mountain, knowing where she was going perfectly.

"Ok we're here." she said pulling a leaf to reveal the prettiest river I had ever seen. I gasped as butterflies flew around and as one landed on my face. I went cross eyed to look at it, making Mirabel laugh. We walked towards the river and she sat the basket down. Then we quickly changed into pants, running to jump into the river. As soon as my body hit the water, I felt renewed. I turned to look at Mirabel bubbly over with so many questions. She laughed at the excitement in my eyes.

"This is the river that gave us both our miracle. Sadly it's also the river that my Abuelo and your parents passed away." She added. I smiled as I wiped away a couple tears. We splashed around in the water for a while longer, then finally got out with chattering teeth. We rushed to change back into our skirts.

"Thanks for taking me here." I said gratefully. Mirabel just nodded as she busied herself with unloading the picnic basket. We sat there and ate, eventually heading back to the town at sunset. As we were giggling I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned hoping to see Camilo, but was shocked to see Andres.

He looked down at me for a couple seconds not saying anything. I cleared my throat, "Hola Andres. Can I help you?" He snapped back to reality shaking his head and nodded.

"Um yeah, I, could you show me how to get back home? I was trying to find this address for my mom but I got kinda lost" He flushed while rubbing his neck. I agreed and quickly said goodbye to Mirabel. As I walked Andres back home he started up again. "So I went to your parents cafe this morning. Where were you?"

"Oh Mirabel took my for a nice picnic lunch." I replied with a smile. Andres nodded, sticking his hands in his pockets. The rest of the walk was silent until we got to his house.

He turned to look at me and leaned in like he was going to hug me. That's when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back to see Camilo. "Ah Camilo, I missed you." I said hugging him quickly. Andres kinda just cleared his throat as he waved goodbye, quickly walking into his house. I turned to look at Camilo and was kind of taken aback by the look of anger in his eyes. It soon disappeared once he looked back at me. He bent down and kissed me really quick, but then had to leave saying that his family was having a family dinner with his Tio Bruno. I smiled remember the lanky man and hugged Camilo goodbye. A slight pang of sadness hit me as I watched him run away, but I brushed it off, walking into my own house to have dinner with my family.