From The Very Beginning

Chapter Sixteen, Exploring

I woke up the next morning to see Cami on the couch drinking coffee. "Morning sleepy head." I smiled at her. "Morning, what time is it?" She laughed. "8:46" I sat up in bed. "Really??" She nodded then laughed at something she found amusing. "What is it?" She could barely speak through her laughing fit. "Your.....Shirt....." That was all I got out of her. I decided to look down to see what was so funny about my shirt, then I realized it wasn't that I had something on my shirt, it was that I didn't have my shirt on. "Oh-" I went to bed with it on...where did it go? I look around the bed and then I spot it wrapped up in the sheets. This makes Cami burst out into a full on laughing fit to the point she is rolling on the couch. I stand and walk over to take a sip of her coffee while she loses her mind. As I go to pour it into my mouth all of the sudden Cami's foot pokes me in the side and I lose my balance for a second and coffee spills onto my bare chest and down my waist onto my shorts. "AHHHH!!!" I scream in shock and partly in pain. Cami can't stop laughing even when she tries to grab a napkin to wipe up the mess. She freezes right in front of me with the napkin on my chest. "Ummm...." I am now the one laughing at her sudden awkwardness. "I can wipe my own chest, thank you." She nods and then sits herself back on the couch. "Are you ok?" She finally has regained control over herself. "I'm fine, it felt kinda like a hot shower but well a lot hotter than I would like." She laughs and so do I. "What?" I shake my head. "I have no idea I think I'm rambling... speaking of a shower though I need to take one." She nods and smiles. "Yes, because we're already ten minutes late to breakfast." I had completely forgotten about that "OH! Can you throw me an outfit on the bed please?" I don't wait for her response. I hop in the shower. I walk into the room to find a pair of khakis and a light blue shirt and a pair of tennis shoes on the bed. "I see you picked blue." She smiles, blue was always her favorite color on me. She steps out of the bathroom a few minutes later in a navy blue polka dot knee length dress with criss cross straps on the back and a pair of navy blue and tan wedges with her short curly hair wetted so it looks less curly. "You look amazing." She smiles and twirls in front of the mirror. "Thank you, but could you help me put this necklace on? It goes with my silver butterfly earrings." I nod and clasp the necklace around her neck. "There. Are you ready?" She nods and we head out to get to the bike when I realize she's wearing a dress. "Oh...." She reads my mind and looks around then turns back to me and lifts a corner of her dress up enough for me to see her black biker shorts underneath her dress. "Look at you." She smiles. "I know how it works. Also I want the black helmet." I stood there for a second thinking about this, the black helmet had always been mine, the red one was for company. "Ok." I put the black helmet on her head and then put the red one on my head. We got to the restaurant around twelve minutes later. We walk in and find my family all sitting at the biggest table. Everyone turns their heads to see us and then the talking begins. Michelle speaks up first. "Oh you came together?" I know she knows that I stayed with Cami but she still wants me to say it to the whole table. "Yes." Tina speaks up now. "I KNEW IT!" I watch as Cami sits down beside my Dad and they start talking about something. In the old days Cami used to get embarrassed by his kind of stuff but after so many years I guess she's adjusted to it. I sit beside Casey. "Hey big bro, how was your night?" She can't help but giggle when she says this. "Hey Casey, it was good....I slept really late." She smiles at me. "That's good, so did anything big happen?" I know she means if we are back together and I realize suddenly I want to say yes badly. Instead I grab one of the rolls and shove it in my mouth. Casey looks at me and nods sympathetically. "It will happen soon enough if it's meant to be." I nod my head and continue to chew my roll. Tina is on the other side of me and she grabs my hand and pulls me aside. "Are you ok?" She nods her head and smiles. "What?? Spit it out!" She laughs at my impatience then finally she talks. "Cami is moving back home." I stare at my sister in disbelief since when did this happen? "What?" "Dad told me last night at the hotel he said that Mr. Sanchez had called him a few days ago and mentioned that they had sold their house because Cami decided she was gonna move back and buy or rent something." I can't find words so my sister pats my shoulder then walks back to the table. Is this my chance? I wonder if she'd even want me back again but why would she move back? She had a good job in New York as far as I knew she was happy there. After a few minutes of thinking I decided to head back to the table. "Hey your back." I nod my head at Casey but instead I'm looking in Cami's direction as she is talking to Michelle about baby names. I suddenly have the urge to shout out to the whole world my love for Camilla May Sanchez. I don't though and I finish breakfast with my family and Cami. After we finish eating I say my goodbyes to Dad and Tina, she has to go back to work and Dad flyed here with her so they are going back home together. My Dad pulls me aside and hugs me. "Son, don't mess it up." That's all he says and even though he doesn't say anything else I know exactly what he's talking about and I'm going to do everything in my power to not mess this up. Casey, Michelle, and Cami decided to go shopping so I was left with Mike. "Look I think we should just have a good relationship from here on?" I look at Mike who's staring at me with this look of fear and power. "I agree. Why don't we head somewhere?" "Well I was wondering if you'd want to go pick up the crib with me? We ordered it a week ago." I nod and we head to pick it up. While he goes up to the lady to get the crib I wander around the store looking at all the baby things I have never wanted a baby really badly. I mean I want a family some day but it's never been something I've wanted badly, that is until now. I suddenly have baby fever as women say and I know exactly who I want to be the Mother of my children. Mike comes out of the back carrying a big box with a crib on the side. We walked back to the apartment and put the crib in the guest room. "So, when are you going to propose to Camilla?" I freeze in the middle of the room. "What?" He looks at me dumb founded. "Well I mean clearly you're both madly in love so when are you going to ask the question?" I would have thought Michelle would have caught him up to date. "We're not together." Mike stares at me in shock. "You're not? I thought....hmm. Nevermind sorry dude." I shake my head. "Don't apologize, I am madly in love with her." I paused, startled by those words, those words hadn't left my mouth in two years and then they came out so freely effortlessly. Mike laughs and it brings me back to attention. "Dude you need to tell her that. It's obvious she feels the same." I look at him and then sit on the couch. "Really?" "Yeah, she has a glow in her eyes when she looks at you." I think about this. "Her eyes are always fiery like that, it's normal." Mike laughs harder this time and shakes his head. "I think you need to skip the dating stage and just get married already." "Huh." Was all I could think to say and then I sat there thinking what would happen if I did just that. Two hours later the girls show up with bags full of toys, books, and other stuff. "Alright well that was fun but I have to head back to my hotel and start packing. I leave first thing in the morning. Bye guys." Casey comes around and hugs me and everyone else. "Bye, sis, have fun. Call me when you're back in San Francisco." She laughs and nods. Michelle turns to me. "As much as I love you two your only hear for one more day you should go explore!" Cami looks at me and smiles brightly. "Can we?" I laugh. "I don't see why not. I'll call you later, maybe we will go out to dinner?" Michelle shakes her head. "No, not food. I was in the bathroom for the main part of breakfast this morning, how about I make a plan for us to do? I'll call you later with details." I nod and hug her goodbye then me and Cami head out to my bike and explore. We stop by a few gift shops and she gets her Mom and Dad some things and some things for herself. Where back on the bike when I ask her where to. "Hmm, are you hungry?" "Yeah, maybe we look for somewhere to eat." She nods her head and we drive looking for places to eat. "OH THERE!" Cami points to an older looking diner. "This looks cute!" I pull in and we walk in. It's very out of the 80's like. We sit and make our order and silence floats above us. "So...I heard you're moving back?" She looks at me caught off guard then nods her head. "Yeah, New York was cool and all but it's not home. You can become an author anywhere." I nod. "So this is permeate?" She smiles at me. "Yeah." We sit there staring at each other until our food comes. We eat in silence and then Cami jumps up and takes my hand. "Where are we going?" She smiles with that fiery look in her eyes then heads to the jukebox. I watch her as she flips through songs and then pauses it looks like she might cry and then she hits play. I hear the beat and stop short. It's our song.