Triple Point

Chapter 56: The Halfway Point

Day 7 of 14

At some point overnight, Camilla received a message that some of her belongings from the Barracks were recovered and able to be picked up from Base. Since Camilla hadn't been able to sleep anyway, she left Elsie a note and went straight to get her things, borrowing Elsie's car in case it ended up being too much to fly back.

She ended up only having about two boxes worth of things to transport, but it was better than nothing. At least she had no trouble carrying them both up to Elsie's condo and could easily let herself in with one hand.

Surprisingly, Elsie was already awake when Camilla returned, if the smell of eggs cooking was any indication.

"Milla?" Elsie called from the kitchen, having evidently taken a liking to the nickname Mack had given them. "Is that you?"

"Yeah," Camilla replied as she set the boxes down on the living room coffee table. "Do you need help?"

"No, I'm just about done," Elsie said. "Want to eat out there?"

"Sure."

Today's breakfast was supposed to be reminiscent of one of their meals from Hawaii, according to Elsie. She had been surprisingly successful at making sunny side-up eggs lately, so she decided to challenge herself by joining it with a hamburger patty, rice, and brown gravy, just as they had while in the islands for filming.

The dish looked impressive, but Elsie bashfully admitted she had to substitute the hamburger patty for a breakfast sausage, the rice had come from a microwaveable pack, and the gravy was from an instant mix that was still a little lumpy. Regardless of her concerns, Camilla thought it was delicious, and she told Elsie just as much.

They sat on the couch as usual, Elsie in one corner with her back leaning on the armrest and Camilla on the center cushion next to her. While they ate, Camilla sifted through her boxes.

One of them contained her old travel duffel and the clothes she had taken with her to the Games, filled with warm clothes for Japan's chilly early spring. She thanked her past self for being too tired to unpack them when she returned to LA, freshly out of comatose and having no need for warm clothes when LA weather had been heading into summer at the time.

The second box contained belongings that had been in a metal lock box in her Barracks bedroom. Most of the things were those of sentimental value, such as trinkets from her late classmates at the Academy and a box of her dad's possessions she had snuck from her home in San Francisco.

Among them was her camera, the most expensive luxury good she ever bought herself. It was a little dusty and scratched up, but the battery apparently still had a charge and a quick test proved everything was still functional.

"You should test it out," Elsie suggested, her mouth full of food.

"You got some rice on the couch," Camilla pointed out, and continued talking as Elsie searched for the grains that had fallen out of her mouth. "And that's an idea... would you let me take pictures of you?"

"Absolutely," Elsie agreed instantly, just as she found the missing rice hidden by one of her thighs. She was about to eat it too, before glancing up at Camilla's blank stare and guiltily placing the rice on the edge of her plate to throw away later. "Where do you have in mind?"

Camilla thought for a moment before an idea came to her.

"The park at the pier is still open, right?" she asked.

Immediately, Elsie looked surprised by her suggestion. "I think so?"

"Can we go there then?" Camilla asked, slightly tentative. "There's still a bunch of food we haven't tried yet."