August

day sixteen | wanting was enough

Moving her hands softly over the keys, Camila plays a melody Shawn has been teaching her the last few days. She thought it was complicated at first, but she tried it so many times that now she can do it perfectly even with her eyes closed. Her father still hasn’t gotten ridden of her mother’s piano, which she’s really grateful for, but she knows it’s just a matter of time. She’s been playing a lot lately and she knows he saw her there a few times, all of them by herself of course, so she hopes she can slowly change his mind.

 Shawn has been gone for just a couple of hours, but she already misses him like crazy. She wouldn’t believe in the beginning of the month if someone told her she would feel like this about him. Of course she thought he was perfect the second she laid eyes on him, but she didn’t expect to feel this much. She didn’t know it was possible. A smile crosses her lips as she remembers how two hours ago he kissed her in front of his friends and they had to pull him away from her in order for them to leave. She knows he feels it too, which only makes it all even crazier. It was one thing to feel like that at all, but then for it to be reciprocated? It sure felt like a dream most of the time.

 Camila spends the rest of her morning practicing the songs Shawn has been teaching her, smiling every time she would recall his voice singing for her softly. He keeps asking her to sing something for him, but she would always brush it off. She’s quite aware she’s not a bad singer, she didn’t lie when she told him she could sing, but she has always been really shy when it came to that. It’s kind of ironic really. She’s quite confident about almost everything in her life, but singing reminded her of her mother, which means she feels really vulnerable doing it. Taylor and Carlos are the only ones that had heard her sing, but both of those times they weren’t really meant to. They’re always trying to make her sing for them, saying her voice is amazing, but she never gives in. Maybe she’ll sing for Shawn when he comes back, but she knows her voice is just okay compared to his.

 In the afternoon, she takes a walk by the pier on the other side of the resort, stopping to take a look at the waves crashing against the rocks. She can hear kids laughing while walking nearby with their parents before someone stops next to her. She looks up and is met by her brother’s face.

 “ How long?” He asks as she looks back at the dark blue water in front of them.

 “ How long what?” She asks, confused.

 “ How long is he staying away?” His voice sounds worried and not amused as she thought it would. “ He just left this morning and you’re already miserable.”

 “ Just four days.” Camila says, wishing he didn’t have to be gone at all. “ His name is Shawn by the way.”

 “ I know.” Carlos says quietly. “ We talked the other day.”

 “ Yeah, he told me.” She says, laughing softly.

 “ What happens when he leaves for real?” So that was why he sounded concerned. They hadn’t talked about that. She knows Shawn will leave by the end of the month and go back to Yale, which is one thousand and three hundred miles away from Miami. She knows that because she googled it. “ I never seen you like this, Mila. You look so happy and I don’t want you to have your heart broken when he leaves. I also know that’s not his fault, but I can’t help but worry about you.”

 “ Since when you became this soft?” She asks in a teasing tone of voice, trying to change the subject to something lighter.

 “ What can I say? I have my moments.” He says, knowing she’s not ready to talk about that yet.

 They stay there watching the ocean for a while before Carlos has to go back to help their father in something business related. Almost like it was synchronized, her phone starts ringing in her hands the second her brother walks away. The second she reads Shawn’s name on the screen, she immediately accepts the call and places the phone on her ear with a smile on her lips.

 “ Took you long enough.” She says without giving him a chance to talk. “ I’ve been dying over here.”

 “ I said I would call, didn’t I?” He says with a laugh. “ I miss you already. Is that crazy?”

 “ A little bit, but I miss you more, so you’re good.” She whispers softly. “ How is camping going so far?”

 “ Kind of a disaster to be honest.” Her heart warms by the sound of his voice, no matter what he’s talking about, she just needs to hear him. “ Liam has been complaining about mosquitos from the second we got here. He’s such a baby, it’s really annoying.” She laughs, knowing he’s not exaggerating. From the little time she spent with his friends, she knows he’s telling the truth. “ Connor has been fighting with one of the tents for a while now, Luke ate most of our food already and I forgot my flashlight.”

 “ That does sound like a disastrous camping trip.” Camila says, laughing at how bad they are at it.

 “ I knew I shouldn’t have come.” He says chuckling, but she can tell he means it.

 “ You'll be back in a heartbeat. Four days isn’t that long.” Her voice sounds almost foreing to her as those words leave her lips. Who is she trying to fool? These are about to be the longest four days of her life. The thing is, she wants him to have fun with his friends, so she keeps her real thoughts to herself. “ Promise me you’ll try to have fun and when you come back I’ll have something for you.”

 “ Oh, I’m sure you will.” He says with confidence, making her laugh.

 “ Not that.” She says, feeling her cheeks burning. “ I promise I’ll sing to you when you come back.”

 “ For real?” He asks with hesitation.

 “ Yes.” She says quietly. “ I’m not as good as you, but since you’ve been asking for awhile now, I thought I should.”

 “ I’m sure you sound ten times better than me.” He says from the other line. “ I can’t wait to hear it.”