Mirabel's Doppelganger

Chapter 17: Joys of Being a Side Character

I closed the small amount of distance between Camilo and I, and I hadn't been wrong about how soft his lips were.

It wasn't as all consuming as my older sister had talked about, then again her stories always included tongues wrestling for dominance. I had once thought that sounded messy but now I could see the appeal.

It was a sweet warm kiss, and it filled my stomach with so many butterflies that I didn't know how I would ever get rid of them.

It was everything I had wanted and more.

It ended way too soon though. As we jumped apart at the sound of people talking and getting closer to our hiding spot.

Isabella was no longer in sight and the stairs were clear.

Camilo was smiling ear to ear as he grabbed my hand and we ran up the stairs.

We had just reached the top when I heard someone say Mirabel's name, so I crouched behind a plant and forgetting I was holding onto Camilo almost pulled him down on top of me.

I thought about letting go of his hand but I was still buzzing from our kiss and I didn't want to lose that contact so I just looked at him apologetically. It made me smile when he simply shrugged and crouched beside me to listen.

Still holding my hand, I noted happily.

We watched through the balcony as Abuela, and Mirabel's parents came into veiw.

"The Guzmàn's may call off the engagement. I tried to make Mrs. Guzmàn reconsider but she seems to be undecided as to whether it's a good match!"

"Tonight cannot get any worse," Abuela exclaimed in an exasperated tone.

Julieta was looking strangely at her husband as he seemed to be fully listening to Abuela pretending like something wasn't bothering him.

She turned back to Abuela to listen as they walked over to the foyer that was directly in front of the front door.

We heard Pepa and Félix asking what was happening from inside the entrance, we couldn't see them from where we were hidden but we could hear them.

I let go of Camilo, trying to inch over to where we could see better but quickly realized that by Abuela's room there were zero plants to hide behind. Sighing I crouched back down in our hiding spot. I felt Camilo look at me quizzically before turning to listen again.

If nothing else we could still hear them clearly.

I heard Abuela begin to speak and I leaned forward to listen better.
"We need to find Mirabel! I don't know how the vision was only uncovered now but we need to look at it from every angle. It's important to see what we can do to save the magic!"

I heard Julieta cough followed by Abuela asking Agustin if he was alright. Though I couldn't see them, I figured by his face from before, he was feeling guilty for not sharing the prophecy with the family when he first learned about it.

"I kind of got a better look at the prophecy tablet and it really doesn't have anything helpful on it," I hear Agustin say cautiously.

"We still need to make certain that there isn't something we can do." Abuela replied, "How would you have gotten a better look than us anyways? It stopped right in front of me and you were far down the table."

I heard Julieta sigh and question quietly, "When Agustin?"

I could physically hear him hanging his head as he answered, "Right before dinner, I was looking for Mirabel and found her and Y/ n putting together the peices."

Abuela seemed shocked,"You should have told me the second you saw that vison! Think of the family!"

I have rarely heard Agustin raise his voice but he did then, "I was thinking of my daughter!" Unlike you, he seemed to imply.

Abuela said something to Pepa but a distinct "shhh" came from behind us startling me. Whipping around we came face to face with something unbelievable.

It was Antonio with his big cat but beside him stood Mirabel and the source of the tiny noise was the green shrouded man standing beside her, frozen amid shushing the rat he held gently in his hands.

At first I didn't recognize him but then from beside me I heard Camilo whisper gasp, " Tio Bruno?" Then it clicked, this was the same guy that was painted as part of the Madrigal family in the village, but also the one no one talked about.

Mirabel just took one look at us gawking at Bruno, Abuela dangerously close and talking in the background and shoved us both into Antonio's room.

Antonio held onto Bruno's hand pulling him inside behind us. Bruno seemed to act like this was his first time out in the real world, and though he did so with purpose he still seemed to walk like a newly born colt.

I suppose considering no one had seen him in years that the new to the real world thing made a lot of sense.

Mirabel carefully shut the door and leaned against it with a breath of relief. She seemed to close her eyes for a moment to mentally prepare before opening them.

"Okay, ask your questions, but hurry we have important things to do!"

Camilo was the first to take her up on that offer.

"You're still alive? Where have you been Tio Bruno?! My Mama misses you and it makes her upset to even think about you being gone, how could you do that to her?"

He was obviously switching between being amazed and being irritated with the man...and I couldn't really blame him.

Camilo stopped to take a breath before continuing, without letting anyone have enough time to answer any of his questions.

"Even though you had a bad vision of Mirabel you still shouldn't have left! Ugh I get why you did but still!"

Mirabel was stiffling a laugh as Camilo's rant turned from one emotion to another in split seconds. I had to cover my mouth to stiffle one of my own.

I looked over at Bruno and he seemed to be processing what was happening almost in disbelief. He stood like a statue and he seemed to really want to leave the situation altogether.

Camilo finally puttered himself out and Bruno simply blinked at him.

As if to reply Bruno opened his mouth and held up his hand to wave a finger but almost immediately returned his hand to his side and stopped. He took a few seconds to rethink his reply before finally thinking of the right words.

"Umm yeah I don't think this was such a great idea..." he said as he slowly backed away towards the door out of Antonio's room.

Mirabel caught his arm and firmly stopped him. I couldn't hold in my laugh anymore and started giggling uncontrollably at the entire situation.