By Your Side

One.

"Straighten your back, and don't put it down too close to the wall or you'll scratch the paint."

Camila Cabello all but dropped the cardboard box of shoes that she was carrying down onto the floor, turning to face her father with a disgruntled scowl on her face. Moving into college was supposed to be new, exciting, the start of the rest of her life; instead, he was making it feel like a military operation.

"I can do this myself, you know," She huffed, spinning on her heel so as to make her way back down the stairs as soon as possible. "I really don't need you and mom to help."

A short laugh came from the bottom of the stairwell as Camila watched her mother approach, three of the same sized boxes stacked up in her arms. "You sure about that?" She joked, "I mean I knew you had a lot of clothes, but this is taking it to a whole other level Camila." After placing the boxes, all labelled 'tops', down next to Camila's, Margaret Cabello turned to face her daughter and husband with a sad smile on her face, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Well, that's everything."

"I guess so," Camila shrugged her shoulders, looking down the corridor for any sign of her new dorm-mates – there was six rooms in her dorm, each of which would house three people, and she was still yet to see another student.

"I saw two girls in that room at the end when we came in," Margaret pointed out after noticing the way in which her daughter was scouring the building, "Why don't you go and say hi?"

"It's fine," Camila waved her hand out in front of her, "I'll come to the car and say goodbye to you guys first, I don't want you to have to wait for me, you have a long drive home."

Margaret shook her head, "Sweetie, it's fine," She assured her with a smile, "Your father and I will stay as long as we have to." She picked up a big carrier bag full of bed linen and pillows, "Want us to help you unpack?"

George Cabello cleared his throat, a bit too noisily for Camila's liking. "Uh, actually, I have a meeting tomorrow morning, so I was thinking that we could head off a little earlier than we'd planned?"

Margaret raised her eyebrows back at him – she should have known that taking him up on his offer of a joint ride was a mistake. This was the day that they were taking their eldest daughter to NYU to begin the rest of her life, and yet he still couldn't find a way to take some time out of his day to be there for her.

"Sure," She agreed with a tight smile, though both Camila and George could see straight through it. "Honey, why don't you come down and have your photo taken outside before we drive off?"

Camila rolled her eyes, "Mom, that's embarrassing," She laughed, though she still followed her mother down the stairs to the car as per her request, "I don't want my new roommates to think I'm a loser before I even get to meet them."

Margaret pulled her camera out of her bag as they exited the building, tugging on Camila's arm until she turned to face her, a distinctly unamused look gracing her features. "Smile," Margaret encouraged, "The sooner you get this over with, the sooner your dad and I will head back to Miami."

As much as she loved her mom, that was all of the ammunition that Camila needed to plaster a huge fake grin across her face.

•••••

"So, you just got put in the same room by chance?" Camila asked in total disbelief, throwing back a shot of some disgustingly sweet alcohol that her new roommate Emma had offered to her. She had only met the girl, along with her other roommate Aubrey, about an hour ago, but they were already getting along like a house on fire. Though, maybe that had something to do with their now mildly inebriated states.

"Yep," Emma confirmed, turning towards Aubrey, "We had no idea that we were gonna be put in the same dorm, let alone in the same room."

"Sounds like fate to me," Camila laughed, raising her eyebrows, "So do the university know that you guys are..."