The Exchange Student

Epilogue

[A few weeks after Beatrice, Ava and their friends returned from their trip to Albufeira]
28/08/2022

The situation looked oddly familiar. Beatrice was standing in the middle of the El Prat Barcelona airport, waiting for her little sister to arrive.

According to her calculations and from the message she received a couple hours earlier, her plane must have landed twenty minutes ago, which meant she should be here any minute now.

When Camila's cute little face popped out of the main arrivals gate, her expression immediately turned to glee.

She dramatically let go of her suitcases and ran towards Beatrice. Only to completely ignore her and wrap her arms around Ava.

Ava almost stumbled backwards with a loud squeal, quickly followed by a genuine laugh, but Beatrice was fast to steady her with the palm of her hand.

When Camila took a step back, she proceeded to give the same amount of attention to Beatrice.

Her touch was warm around Beatrice's neck, and that was exactly and precisely all she needed.

"Hey, Cam," Beatrice whispers, her voice slightly shaking because she was too content. Her eyes were even watering out of joy.

Beatrice quickly and discreetly wiped the single tear away, but gave her little sister a little kiss on her hair.

As to be expected, Camila and Ava spend most of the drive to the university gossiping.

Ava told Camila about their trip to Albufeira at the beginning of the summer. She told her about their new apartment – and showed her some pictures. She also helped Camila keep tabs on all of Ava and Beatrice's friends. Lillith, who Camila liked to refer to as her substitute older sister, after the week vacation she took in Leeds last summer and Lilith gladly lended Camila her apartment.

So Ava told Camila that Lilith had a girlfriend, Chanel, and how she was excited about starting a thesis on quantum physics, to quote Ava : "About the cat left for dead in the box", about Yasmine dropping out of college to finally open her own bar, and how Miguel is spending all of his free time helping her. How they found out in Albufeira that Miguel wasn't even his real name, but he chose a Spanish-sounding version of his name to better fit in. Camila would have also probably loved to hear about the whole JC drama, but honestly, since the restraining order, nothing new happened. He stayed away, never to be seen or heard of ever again.

Rumour had it he left Barcelona, and another rumour spread that Lilith had been the one to scare him away.

It never ceased to amaze Beatrice how Ava and her little sister got along. Her two worlds, joined together, was something she knew she'll never get enough of.

And by the end of the ride, Ava had talked Camila into taking Portuguese class. And since it's a little and secondary class, she'll probably end up in the same as Ava and Lilith's.

So of course, when the taxi opened the trunk, Ava and Camila were already long gone.
Beatrice, amused, sighed and grabbed Camila's very heavy suitcases and followed their steps.

It felt weird to see Ava's dorm room completely empty, but to know Camila will be its next occupant was heart-warming. Beatrice knew Ava had grown to like that room and that it had an important emotional value for her. It was the first place Ava had that was hers only, and besides, Beatrice had a lot of fond memories here as well.

Camila was on an exploratory mission in her new room – which was roughly twenty metres square, so not a very long mission.

Meanwhile Ava was sitting on the window sill, contemplating the view as if it was the last time she'd be able to. Her face looked like nostalgia.