The Chameleon's Grin ll Camilo Madrigal

Chapter 25 : Blackmail

Carmen's pov:

The rest of dinner went smoothly, and I listened to the adults balance which Madrigals would be in the center of town and who was in the poor regions.

Camilo had a weird tenseness to him, and he and Mirabel kept making eye contact, non-verbally saying something to each other.

His tenseness only grew every time we brushed hands or went for seconds at the same time.

"Are you okay?" I asked him in a whisper, "You seem... bothered."

"Who me?" He tried to play it off. "I'm all good, why would you ask that?"

"What's wrong?" I knew something was off, I just couldn't understand why. "Did I do something?"

"What? No!" He rushed, dropping his fork and it landed under the table. We both went to grab it, but ended up smashing our heads together. We both recoiled quickly, slamming the back of our heads on the underside of the table.

This grabbed the rest of the Madrigal's attention.

"Carmen? Camilo? What are you doing?" Pepa asked.

"Nothing," I answered, holding the fork up and standing up. "Sorry to interrupt, I'll go grab a new one."

"Carmen you don't have to-" Camilo tried, but I cut him off.

"No, it's alright, I got it."

As I walked down the hallway, I couldn't help but think, Man, that was awkward.

Why was he acting so strange? He was normal earlier, what was different?

I was deep in thought while I cleaned the fork in the sink.

What I didn't realize was that I made one of the bar stools at the island drift slowly across the tile. I only figured it out when Mirabel came in, dragging the chair in midair.

"Carmen, it's happening." She reminded me, a small smile on her face.

"Oh sorry," I snapped out of my thoughts and closed my eyes, trying to stop the spike of confused emotions.

Slowly, it's legs found the floor, making it the first time I had done that on my own.

"You're lucky I stopped Camilo from coming in here."

"Why?"

She snorted. "Have you seen him? He's a nervous wreck."

"Well yeah I noticed that." I retorted. "I also noticed you two continually making weird eye gestures to each other. Is he alright? What's up with him?"

She shrugged. "It's anyone's guess. I was trying to figure that out myself, but with no prevail."

"Hmm." I tapped my finger to my chin. "He looked on edge, which was strange, considering that usually he has a huge ego. So what deflated it?"

My friend pushed her green rimmed glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "If it's really important, he'll tell someone, so I wouldn't worry on it too much. You're forgetting he's also just a flat out dork."

"HEY!" Camilo walked around the corner, coming into the kitchen with us. "I was listening in for you guys to say something nice about me, but no. I'm a 'dork'." He air quoted the last word.

"Well..... you are so..." Mirabel said, and I chuckled.

Camilo however made a show of looking downright outraged. "Fine, but at least I don't wear glasses!" He shifted into Mirabel so they could see eye to eye.