The Annoying Dreamer and the Artistic Doubter

How to Dream A Story Part 3: Turn it into a Story

Camila woke up, apologizing to Silas with her phone closed.

"He's long gone, said he had to wake up for some place he goes to today," tossing her paper.

"Wait, these are," picking them up, "he wrote examples for me?"

"Well he couldn't print them out so he asked me to write them for you, only took me a few minutes after we talked."

"Oh, thanks dad." She quickly turned around.

"What did you two talk about?"

"Oh, how do I put this," rather lackadaisical. "He confessed to me."

She coughed while his cheeks grew. "What?"

—

"Write down this much for her?"

"Normally I'd love to help on Saturday mornings, but I have to get up early for my program, and I don't get off till like one. But I don't want to leave her hanging so if she follows the steps, I know she can pass, so we'll have our project last."

"She didn't ask you to do it for her?"

"Nah, she works really well with groups, even better than me. I believe in her."

"Silas, let me ask, if I may be so blunt. You have a crush on my daughter?"

His eyes lit up, looking away from the screen, taking a while to return but covering his face with a notebook.

"A crush? It's a bit more complicated than that," fidgeting with his fingers to Carlos' amusement.

"But," trying to stare at the screen, "ever since I've met her, I feel like waking up every day just to smile with her," bowing to him.

"Thank you for being such great parents to her. You raised an amazing person that makes me smile every day."

A door burst open. "Silas, why are you talking to a grown man, what's going on here?"

"My friend fell asleep," turning back to him, "tell her I said good night."

—

Camila covered her face, flustered. Carlos laughed.

"He even made my heart skip a beat. So you like him?"

She sighed, rolling on the bed. "It's not that I don't. But Arden wants to make things work."

"Well you're not the first person to be torn between two people. You could date them both," earning a pillow to the face he admitted he deserved.

"What did you do?"

"Easy, I asked myself: do they make me happy as I am when I'm with them?"

Camila pondered that.

Silas left his teammates in awe at the speed of completion and justification he needed to be free.

All five ladies in his group put it together immediately. "It's a girl, isn't it?"

The moment he denied it, Dinedyi snatched his phone, finding a picture of them. "Wait, you're into spanish girls? Guess you want her to be your spicy Latina," staring down at Camila. "Her? She's too pretty for you."

"First of all, I would never call her that. She's a human being, not a Dorito flavor. Second of all you're not spicy: you're mild at best and arrogant at worst!"

"I have been in way more relationships than you!"

"I guess in your case quality doesn't equal quantity!"

"Here we go again with you two," Genesis sighed.

"Feels like you two should be dating," Kali joked.

"Us?" He borrowed Kali's brush as the two brushed their hairs back and flicked the front. "Hmpf. As if, we're nothing alike!"

Videl chuckled. "Riiight."

"Silas, can I see," Tanya asked kindly. He snatched his phone back, reluctantly offering it to her.

"You two look so sweet together. If you don't mind, how do you feel about her?"

"I don't know, I like being around her, but," giving her a cliff notes of what's been happening and their latest dilemma. "I trust her, but I don't her to feel I'm taking over with my input."

"Well it's good she realized she was using you, but it's your project too. She still has to do it, but your input matters just as much. It's like having a baby. Both of you care about it, right?"

"Yeah. So I'll just polish and flesh it out. That's perfect!"

"Then, if you both get an A, use it to ask her out."

He winced at the thought, but Tanya grabbed his hand.

"Dindyi's right. If she's why you're smiling, you should tell her. You got this."

He matched her beaming face. "Thanks Tanya."

"Oh, forgot you're into good girls. So she probably's like Tanya," she teased, leading him to suck his teeth.

"I'd love your confidence if you weren't so damn cheeky all the time!"

"Wait, say that again?"

He sighed. "I wish I was beautiful, smart, and assertive as you all. I'm lucky to even have you all as acquaintances, let alone friends. And her. I'm scared."

The next thing he knew, all of them had huddled around him with hugs and pats.

"You're our teammate, group mate and our friend. Do your best and we'll cheer you on."

"And if she breaks your heart, we'll pick the pieces," D said, scratching his head.

With that amount of support, how could he refuse?

----

Camila's brain was fried when she got a FaceTime call from Silas, finding him at his desk with his jacket on.

"Hey, you just got back from your program? How was it?"

"Good, Had an interesting talk with my group," deflating his growing cheeks. "Though I've seen that hobo on the same train I've been on every single time," shuddering.

"Hold on, how did that happen?"

"I don't know. Every ride of that train, he's always there! I don't think he's stalking me but it's so creepy that it happened so many times. I used to think coincidental train encounters were supposed to be romantic," rubbing his arms.

"Hey, I'd be scared too."

"Do you want my help with math?"

"No no, I'm literally almost done. On the last one. It's just," yawning, "taking me forever."

Oh, dope she did it on her own. "Good, I mean it's annoying when you first do it. You thought I liked it from the jump?"

"Good point. I just need to take care of myself afterwards."

He cleaned off his glasses, spotting that she looked like a mess.

"Yeah I know."

"Hey, I'm ugly as shit. You look fine, just sleepy."

She yawned, writing the notes and plugging in her answer.

"Ten out of ten! Thank you, finally!"

Silas clapped. "You wanna take a shower?"

She raised a finger. "Absolutely! Meet back here in twenty."

"Aye aye, pelirroja!'