Primrose ~ Camilo Madrigal x Reader

Part 18

"Primrose?" I asked in a sarcastic tone, both of us walking in a direction we assumed the rest of the family hadn't gone in. It was really early in the morning by this point, the sun just about high enough to give the sky a dark pink tone with other warm colours mixed in. "What, do you not like it? I thought you liked me teasing you" he said, gently elbowing me in the side, a small smile on his face, but it was genuine. I knew that it would take a while for him to be back to his usual self, constantly teasing and messing around, but even the small comments showed improvement.

"I do, I do" I responded, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him forward. It only took a moment for the smile on his face to fade, and I realised why almost instantly. He was staring off into a different direction than where we were heading, back to where the remains of his house were and the last place anyone had seen Mirabel. "It's not your fault. You couldn't have done anything more than what you did. And we're looking for her now, so we're doing our part. Now come on, she can't have gone far" I told him, staring at his eyes which were full of regret. He then composed himself, taking in a few deep breaths, then looked back at me. "Let's go then".

We searched all night long, bumping into other members of the family who still tried to convince me that I didn't need to help and should go back home and sleep, but eventually let it be and just let me look with Camilo.

By midday everyone was exhausted, hungry and losing hope. We'd searched through the night and the morning, but nobody had any idea where Mirabel had gone. Everyone was on the verge of giving up, but decided to head down to the town so they could get something to eat and then go out and search again. When we got to the old Casita Madrigal, Camilo slumped down onto what used to be a part of the wall, staring down at his feet in defeat. Most of the family was around us, similar looks on all of their faces, although Mirabel's side of the family all looked as though they were about to break down in tears. Only one person was missing from the festivities, Abuela, but nobody seemed to mention this. Then, we all heard the hurrying of feet on the other side of the wreckage, señora Julietta going to look and see who was there, then running over in joy. Everyone got the hint and went over to see who was there as well, and we were all overjoyed to see Mirabel and her mother standing in the middle of the broken floor.

"I think I should head back home, tell my parents that Mirabel's back. I'll be back soon" I told Camilo, then sprinted back down to the town. By the time I'd gotten home almost everyone in town was gathered together, tools in their hands and prepared to go up to the Madrigal's. "I didn't expect you to be able to get everyone on board so quickly" I said to my mother, a smile growing across my face. "Well, most everyone in town feels that they're in debt to the Madrigals, so getting them to help rebuild the house was actually pretty easy" my mother told me, wrapping her arm around my waist and pulling me in for a hug.

"Well, let's go make their day a little better shall we?" My mother asked, and I nodded frantically in response. Everyone in town began to walk up to the remains of the house, my family getting lost in the sea of people and being forced to the back of the crowd. Everyone made their way up the path, and from where I was, I could just about make out that they seemed shocked from the amount of people willing to help them.

Most people were already doing their part by that time I'd made my way to the house, already running around salvaging anything they could and discarding and reusing the things they couldn't.  "Did you plan this?" I heard being asked behind me, and when I turned around I saw Camilo, tears seeming to prick at the corners of his eyes as he talked. "It wasn't me, it was my parents. But are you ok, you look like you're about to cry. What's wrong?" I asked, and my response was him pulling me away from the crowd, and then being pulled into a tight hug from him.

"Thank you". He said. "I thought we already had words on that phrase" I told him, but he didn't seem to care, only pulling away from the hug slightly to pull me into a deep kiss.