The Chameleon's Grin ll Camilo Madrigal

Chapter 16 : After Dinner, Okay?

Carmen's pov:

If I could roll my eyes further into the back of my head, I would.

But the gesture was sweet.

I'm not sure what it was he was trying to accomplish, but it was entertaining nonetheless.

Camilo and I walked out of his room, bumping into our little siblings.

I could feel the shapeshifter's eyes on me to see my reaction to seeing Diana.

I forced my lips into a smile. "Hey guys, where are you headed?"

They exchanged a quick glance. "Nothing!" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"Pft, like we believe that." Camilo said, poking his brother. "What're you guys actually doing?"

"We'll keep it a secret." I added in a hushed tone.

Antonio shook his head, pressing his lips together. Diana saw him and copied, crossing her arms.

"Ugh, please hermanita?" I begged my sister, making her laugh. Then I loudly whispered, "I won't tell Camilo."

"Hey!" He exclaimed indignantly, putting his hands on his hips. "I heard that!"

This time Antonio broke into a grin. He walked over to me and cupped his hand around my ear. "We were seeing if you and Camilo were..." He giggled evilly. "Kissing!" He said the last word very loud.

"Wait, what about kissing?" Camilo asked desperately.

I hid my faint blush. "We weren't."

He looked at me like he couldn't believe it. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

The conversation drove Camilo up the wall. He took my form and keeled down next to Antonio. He spoke in a shrill voice, even though my tone was almost as low as his. "Oh Antonio please tell me! I'll even let you have my darling sister too," He pointed to Diana. "Just tell me the secret!"

They both laughed, and ran off with Antonio screaming "NO WAY!"

Camilo turned back into himself, in all seriousness, and asked, "Now what about kissing?"

***

Camilo laughed loudly as we walked downstairs, "And they thought what?"

I chuckled. "I'm not repeating it!"

When we entered the dining room, the room was silent, but everyone (with the exception of Diana and Antonio) were sitting there.

We both dropped out smiles.

All of their faces were gaunt, and then Felix spoke up. "Carmen, could we please excuse Camilo for a moment, we need to talk as a familia."

Camilo and I exchanged a confused look, but I replied "Of course." and awkwardly walked out of the room. I went upstairs, observing everyone's doors.

After a minute Antonio was called into the dining room as well, so Diana joined me in my examination of the glowing wood.

"What happened at the house?" Diana asked.

Tears immediately spiked my eyes, and I had to bite on my other cheek to focus on the pain of it rather than the question.

My little sister must've noticed my delay in an answer, because she put a small hand on my forearm. "What's wrong?"

I looked down at her perfect face that I've always been so jealous of. Her rosebud lips that were drawn in a worried frown, her tanned skin and the raven coloring of her hair, with streaks of golden brown highlighting them in the candle light. Her wide and innocent doe-eyes, black like a dolls.

I stroked her hair, twisting her loose curls around my finger. "It's about Mamá, Di."

Her brows furrowed slightly. "What do you mean? Is she still at work? Is that why you're so sad?"

I turned my face away, taking deep breaths. "You know what?"

She perked up as I looked back at her kneeled down. "I'll tell you after dinner, how about that?"

Diana pouted slightly, gripping onto my skirt. "But why?"

"So you can eat something first!" I tried to lighten the mood by poking her stomach, but she didn't even give my the slightest hint of a grin. I straightened my face, this time full on sitting on the ground. "Please, Diana, I need you to wait. It's only gonna be an hour or so, and it'll go by so fast you won't even realize it!"

The slightest hints of tears were beginning to trail down my cheeks.

Without a word, Diana reached her hand out and wiped them away. The innocence did it for me. I thanked everything above when Abuela Alma called for dinner.

"Alright," I said, standing back up. "Let's go eat."

Camilo's pov:

This time at dinner me and Mirabel offered to sit on either side of Carmen, and Diana next to Antonio and Dolores across from us.

Carmen didn't seem to mind the arrangements, her mind clearly elsewhere.

Mirabel noticed too, "Hey, what's up?" She asked.

"You know what's up." The baker muttered knowingly.

My cousin and I exchanged a quick glance, and continued to put food on our plates.

Seeing that Carmen had yet to put anything on hers, I offered her some sancocho.

When she hesitantly nodded, I scooped some into her bowl. She picked at it, but still took small bites.

It was majorly different from her usual large appetite. Of course, I knew what was wrong, and I didn't expect a different reaction from her. I just felt terrible for the girl.

The table held a tense silence, everyone keeping an eye on the Cortes hermanas, our previous conversation lingering in the air.

"Carmen," Abuela said, and waved her over.

Carmen walked to where she sat, and the old woman whispered something in her ear.

In response, she shook her head.

"I think it would be best if you did it soon." Abuela advised, then motioned for her to sit down.

"After dinner." Carmen agreed, and went back into her seat, more tense than ever. You could tell her jaw was moving, and she flinched slightly went she bit down.

Did she just bite her cheek?

I elbowed her slightly.

She looked at me, disgruntled.

"Whatever you're doing, stop it." I muttered to her.

"No."

"Yes." Mirabel added. "It's self destructive, you need to stop."

Slowly, the tension in her jaw subsided, but mi prima and I stayed aware of what she was doing, disregarding out food. Out family conversation only a few minutes previous had made my appetite evaporate.

I'm not sure why though, because the news wasn't bad at all.

Carmen's pov:

Once I saw that Diana had finished her meal, I shared a look with Abuela Alma, and she excused us.

We went into the sitting room they had behind the opposite wall of the kitchen so almost no one could hear us.

I sat down first, and then Diana crawled into my lap.

"What happened?" The young girl asked, and I couldn't believe I was about to tell her this at the age of six, but she needed to know.

We were used to having little, but now we had almost nothing.

"Diana," I began, and she listened patiently for me to go on, even while I started to get choked up. "Something happened at the house today, and it has to do with mamá."

She perked up at the name, looking directly into my eyes. "Is she hurt?"

I hugged her tightly, holding her close to my chest. "Diana, Mamá is gone."