Chapter Eleven
I have a date with Samuel.
This thought was enough to lift Camila’s spirits up, bringing her out of the funk she’d thrown herself into for the past several days. Suddenly feeling full of energy and without any other way to use it up, she turned to work. She wasn’t any more effective than she was before, since she kept humming to herself and derailing her thoughts as she thought about Samuel, but at least she managed to get something done before her mom bothered her to come out for dinner.
“I’m coming!” she called out, jumping to her feet and tidying her things up.
Her phone vibrated, but she only gave it a glance to be sure it wasn’t Samuel or her boss, and otherwise ignored it. There wasn’t anyone else she needed, or wanted to speak to right then besides those two.
She was humming as she left her room. Heck, if it wasn’t so childish, she would be skipping through the house.
Of course, her mom didn’t miss her sudden good mood.
“What happened to you suddenly?” she asked with an amused curve to her lips. “Or are you just really happy to help your mother cook?”
Camila grinned then moved behind her mom, giving her a back hug that startled the other woman. But then she chuckled and patted Camila’s arm where it was around her.
“I’m just really happy,” Camila answered honestly.
“Well, go on?” her mom prompted. “What has you so happy? Did you get a bonus at work?”
Camila wrinkled her nose at that and snorted, pulling away from her mom to stand beside her and help with cutting up the veggies that would go into their dinner. She took the knife from her mom and shooed her away to start cooking while Camila finished with the cutting.
“As if that would ever happen,” she said dismissively. “My boss isn’t the kind of guy to give out a bonus unless it’s Christmas and he’s trying to convince us to work through part of the holiday instead of taking a week off until after New Year’s. But I do have some funds so if you’d like to eat something fancy, let me know and I’ll fit it into the budget.”
Her mom sighed. “I would never ask you for that. Who needs fancy food, anyway? Besides, to me, just the fact that I can cook for myself is pretty fancy, you know?”
Camila heard her mom’s words and couldn’t help her mood falling just a little as she remembered.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “I guess.”
Her mom sighed again, but more exasperated this time. “I didn’t say that to get you depressed, so what’s with the attitude? Weren’t you ready to break out dancing just a little while ago?”
Camila gasped at that. “I was not!” she denied, then broke out in a laugh. “I can't dance if there’s no music anyway, no matter how happy I am.”
“I can fix that,” her mom said, looking like she was about to go and do it right then.
Camila stopped cutting momentarily to keep her mom from leaving her post at the stove. Soon, they went back to cooking, and half an hour later, sat down at the table to eat.
“So?” her mom asked, arching an eyebrow, her expression curious. “Am I actually going to get to know why you’re this happy, or will you really make me guess?”
“No need to guess,” Camila said with affected nonchalance, shrugging her shoulders. “Remember that guy, Samuel Kane? I have a date with him.”
Camila looked surreptitiously at her mom to see her reaction. Her mom had been against her seeing Samuel in the first place, and she hadn't been all that happy to hear about Adrien, either. And Camila hadn't told her much about what happened between them, so when her mom looked confused, she expected it.
When her mom showed a disgruntled expression a second later, though, she expected that, too.
“Weren’t you dating the twin brother just recently?” she asked. “Adrien, right?”
Camila nodded with pursed lips. “I did, and I kinda regret it. I still wanna see Samuel, though.” Her nose scrunched at the change in her mom’s expression. “I know it doesn’t say much about me that I keep switching between them, but trust me, Samuel is the good twin. I was wrong before and Adrien is just a really good actor.”
Her mom still looked confused, but her expression had already fallen. She had her lips pressed together in a flat, grim line. But behind it, Camila could see the concern for her in her mom’s eyes.
“Is this really going to be okay?” her mom asked after a bit. “I looked into this man after you told me about him last time. Isn’t he reputed to be a total asshole? I couldn’t count how many people had bad things to say about him on the internet! If you regret going out with his brother, why are you suddenly so eager for this?”
Camila frowned. “Mom, don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Trust me, it’s all wrong when it comes to the Kane brothers.”
Her mom frowned right back at her. “What do you mean?”