Page 52 of Catching Camila

Camila pulled back. “What?”

“You mope around all the time ‘cause your life is so bad. I get it. Your life sucks. My life sucks, too. That doesn’t mean you stop living. That doesn’t mean you stop having fun.”

Anger flashed over her. “I don’t want to drink and do drugs—”

“I’m not talking about that,” Fer said. “All I’m talking about is a concert. No drugs. No drinking. Just a fucking concert.”

Camila crossed her arms over her chest. “Mama needs me.” John needs me.

Fer nodded vigorously, her ponytail bobbing up and down, a purple strand falling over her wrinkled brow. “And you love it, too.” She pointed a finger at Camila. “That's why you're always reading those psychology magazines. So you can fix everything. It gives you a purpose. It gives you an identity. Camila to the rescue. You ever ask yourself what you’d do if your mom got well?”

Camila stood now, her heart pounding in her temples. “What’re you, Dr. Phil?! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!”

“In high school, the social worker told me about co-dependency. You're the fucking poster-child. You need your mom to be sick. You’d have no idea what to do with yourself if you didn’t have her to take care of.”

Camila clenched her hands into fists and shook them. “That’s not true. I hate that Mama’s sick. I hate my life. I hate this dump.” She swung her arm around the trailer. She dropped her voice to an angry whisper. “You have no idea what it’s like to be me.”

Fer shot an angry finger in the direction of her trailer. “Have you seen my life?”

Camila opened her mouth to answer when someone knocked on the front door. Both girls froze.

Camila walked over and peered out the peephole. John stood on her front stoop, hands in his shorts’ pockets. She shot a glance back to Fer, her heart racing. “Just a second, Fer.”

She slipped through the door and onto the stoop next to John. John peered down at her with sheepish, apologetic eyes.

“Come on.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him around the back of the trailer.

As they jogged around back and out of the porch light, Camila glanced up and down the street. She caught the eye shine of a stray cat skittering under a car, but that was it. Once they were in full darkness, they stopped. They stood for a moment in the dark, the night air wet and sticky on her bare skin. Camila cleared her throat, pulling on the hem of her tank top. There was awkwardness between them that hadn't been there a couple of hours ago. What she wouldn’t give to go back to the lake before everything had fallen apart.

“You shouldn't be out here. Someone could see you.” She glanced down the street again. Then she forced herself to meet his eyes and ask a question she wasn’t sure she wanted answered. “What did Nomad say?”

John shook his head. “Nothing. What's going on? Have you been crying?” He nodded toward her face.

She touched her cheek and then shook her head. “No. Listen, you have to get out of here. The cops are looking for you. I don't have any money, but maybe we could get someone to get you a train ticket. I know that—”

He held a hand up to stop her. “What are you talking about?”

She stared up into his face. “You don't know?”

He shook his head. “Know what?”

She pointed back to the house where she'd seen the sketch of his face. “They're looking for you. The police. They came here tonight. Fer said…” She paused and met his eyes, weighing her words. “It's bad, John. Really bad.”

He grabbed her hand and gave her a reassuring smile. “It's okay. They won't be able to catch me.”

Camila tightened her grip around John's hand. “Everyone knows what you look like. And the cops around here, they might shoot you, John.”

John smirked. “I'm not worried about it.”

“How can you say that?” She stood and began pacing in the dark. “We have to think of a plan.”

“Camila, listen…” He paused, as if getting ready to tell her something. “It's okay.”

She stopped pacing and looked up at him. “It’s not okay,” she whispered.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her into an embrace.

His skin on her skin. His breath on the top of her head. She buried her face into his chest and sank into him until she could feel her heart thumping against his stomach. All the doubt melted away. Safe. That's what this was.

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