Should Have Known (Camren)

Chapter 31

August, 2013

Luis stayed even after my family left. We spent every waking moment together, and Camila even offered to move out of our original room so he would have place to stay while he was with us. He stayed through Fourth of July, Ally's 20th birthday, and the release of our second single. June turned to July and soon enough July turned to August. I never got tired of having him by my side. There was never a dull moment with him. It seemed as though all the girls supported me- even Camila- and it was nice to be in a relationship where I wasn't always being observed by the public. In fact, for nearly two months the girls and Luis himself were the only ones that knew we were dating. He was a breath of fresh air.

He was so entertaining. He always made me laugh, always kept me interested, always kept my mind reeling with intelligent discussions. He kept me on my toes and filled the better half of my summer with excitement.

Of course, as summer came to a close and his senior year rolled around, he had to return to Miami. As reluctant as I was to let him go, I had no doubt in my mind that we wouldn't have any trouble maintaining our relationship long-distance. We cared about each other far too much to let something so insignificant come between us.

...

I waited by the front door as Luis collected the last of his luggage and hauled it downstairs.

"Let me help," I offered, watching him struggle with the heavy bags.

"No, I've got it," he insisted, pulling the last of the bags down the stairs.

I turned away from him and towards the girls who were all sprawled about in the living room.

"Would any of you like to come with us to the airport?" I asked. "I have a feeling Luis will need help with his bags considering he decided to pack his entire closet."

"Pass," Dinah answered bluntly.

"Yeah, I'm kind of tired," Ally agreed.

Normani's eyes remained glued to the television and I assumed that she had no interest in joining us.

"I'll go," Camila huffed, pushing herself off the couch and straightening her messy hair with her fingers.

My heart jumped in my chest as she approached. The last thing I needed was my ex and my current boyfriend in the same vehicle for an hour. Talk about awkward.

"You don't have to," I shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm sure we can manage."

"Did you not just ask for help?" she questioned, furrowing her brow in confusion.

"I mean, I did but..."

"Okay then," she said, a hint of finality in her tone. "I'm coming to help."

I backed away from the door as Camila relieved Luis of a few of his bags and pushed her way through the front door. I followed behind the two of them as we made our way through the building and out to the car, wondering why in the world Camila had voluntarily placed herself into quite possibly the most awkward situation of her life. I knew she had some kind of beef with Luis. Maybe it wasn't something on the surface that everyone could see, not even him, but I wasn't naive enough to believe that she didn't resent him for practically taking her place in my life. Maybe she was looking for an opportunity to speak to both of us at once about how she felt, but it was unlike her to confidently walk right into a potentially emotionally harmful situation. What was she up to?

We placed Luis's bags into the trunk and got into the car, Camila in the backseat and Luis in the front with my hand in his. I pulled out of the lot and began the drive, turning up the radio to avoid conversation. Eventually the music switched over to obnoxious commercials and I turned the volume down, more interested in the silence than whatever the advertisements had to say.