Taste [Shawn Mendes x Camila Cabello]

T A S T E

C A M I L A

"I love it when you call me Señorita..."

"¡Hola mamá!" I say brightly into the camera. It's midnight. My hair is a mess and I'm wearing ugly, days-old unwashed pajamas, but I could not care less about how I looked at this hour. I was exhausted, and I needed to sleep.

"Hola Camila," Mama replies. She's tired too, I can see it in her bloodshot, pained brown eyes. She's hurting. She speaks in Spanish, my native language, for a while. "How are you, my daughter? How is school in California?"

I sigh. My head was throbbing. I have an essay due tomorrow morning for my English Lit class, and I haven't even started it yet. Shit. "I'm great, mama," I lie, forcing a smile. "Classes are good and I'm making new friends."

Mama smiles softly and strokes the camera fondly, as if she was trying to reach out and stroke my hair like she loves to do when I'm at home in Miami. "That's so good to hear. Papa, Sofia and I miss you, my love. When do you think you can come back and visit us?"

I sigh. I worked as a part-time waitress at a small diner downtown, and my shifts were always inconveniently late at night. It was the only way I could pay for college tuition, room and board, food, and other costly expenses. Mama and Papa were struggling daily to keep a roof over their heads at home themselves in Miami, so I had to save money for myself. The trip from California to Miami was way out of my budget, but I didn't have the heart to tell her. "I will be back soon, Mama. In a few months, I promise." Aren't promises meant to be broken?

"I'm counting down the days till I see you, Camila. I love you very, very much." She blew a kiss to me, and I blew one back to her. "Call me again soon. I miss your voice."

"Okay. I'm going to sleep now. Love you!"

Mama blew me another kiss, then hung up. I sigh and toss my phone on the hard mattress. Rubbing my eyes, I stand up groggily to walk to the dirty, tiny bathroom in my dorm room to wash my face and brush my teeth. Just as I step out of the bathroom, I hear rustling from the bunk bed. I turn to face my roommate, Alexis, who sleeps on the top bed.

"Didn't I tell you to stop FaceTiming your mom?" She asked rudely, her blue eyes burning through mine.

I feel my cheeks heating up. Rubbing the back of my neck, I stare at the floor to avoid her glaring eyes. "Why... why shouldn't I call her? I just need to see if she's okay," I say.

"I was trying to sleep, bitch," Alexis said harshly.

"I-I'm sorry, Alexis," I stutter, embarrassed. "I wasn't very considerate. I'll try not to call them so late at night again when you're sleeping."

"Just don't call them at all when I'm near you," she huffed, turning her back to me.

I felt like punching her through the wall.

I apologized again under my breath, killed the lights, and grabbed my laptop from my backpack in the corner of the room. The bright blue light washed over me as I turned it on. Trying to blink away the exhaustion from my eyes, I opened a blank document and started to write my essay.

. . .

The alarm clock on my phone woke me up with a start. I slammed my hand over the screen, then tried to open my eyes as wide as possible. My English Lit essay, which I had only begun last night, was only halfway done. I must have fell asleep halfway through writing.

Panicking, I scramble to type out one lousy conclusion paragraph. Thankfully, Alexis was already out of the room to take her first class of the day, so I had the bathroom to myself. I tried to straighten out my wild, dark curls, then brushed my teeth and applied some makeup. Felling a little better about my appearance, I changed into a blouse and a skirt and threw on some glasses.

My class started in fifteen minutes. I needed to sprint to the library to print out the essay, then grab coffee on the way to class to make sure I could stay awake for the full two hours. Scurrying around madly, I stuffed my waitress uniform into my backpack along with my laptop, threw on some shoes, and headed out the door.

. . .

I felt so relieved after my long classes was over. The morning was actually successful; I turned in my essay on time to my professor, I downed two cups of coffee, and the caffeine had kept my eyes open for the whole day so far. I walked five minutes from my campus to the tiny diner I worked at downtown, as my shift started at four o'clock and ended at eleven.

There was an extra spring in my step as I realized that my paycheck would arrive in the mail tomorrow. I always saved a quarter of the money, and cashed out the rest to pay for my living expenses. Today was not as bad as I anticipated it to be.

I entered the diner through the back door. I changed into the light pink collared dress under a white apron paired with white sneakers. Twisting my long hair into a bun, I said a quick hello to the owner of the diner, Mario, before starting the day's work.

I walked up to my first table, where a young couple were seated in the booth. "Hello!" I said cheerfully to them. I hoped that they would give me a bigger tip because I was being extra-friendly. "My name is Camila, and I'm your server for the day. Can I start you off with some drinks?"

And so, my shift began. It was always tiring, boring work. All the customers were the same. I need more coffee for this, I thought as I grabbed two plates of burgers to serve to a table. Just as I set the plates on the table, I turned my head and saw someone... different. I almost always recognized the regular customers coming into the diner, but I didn't recognize him.

He was looking out the window. Curly brown hair, soft brown eyes, perfect lips and jawline. He was wearing a simple white tee shirt that hung loosely around his broad shoulders. He turned away from the window and his eyes met mine.

Who is that?

***

A/N: Hello!

This is my first story on Wattpad, called Taste (named after the lyrics "you say we're just friends, but friends don't know the way you taste"). This shawmila fanfiction is based on the Señorita music video. I hope you like it! Let me know if you like it so far, and I'll keep uploading!

read, vote, comment... cheers! xx Ally