Camilla

BONUS: EPILOGUE

G I L L I G A N 

Five years later

Cheers erupt all throughout the stadium, but mine is the loudest.

Maybe not technically, but if we are measuring based on pride, love, and awe, then I'm ahead of everyone else by a mile.

Mae screeches sounds of what I presume is near-equal excitement for her big sister, and my mom is right there with her howling at Camilla. Her hand is still held by the referee's, raised in the air. Camilla isn't smiling with her lips, but I can see the grin in her eyes.

Everyone stands, then, and as they shuffle past us from where we're sitting in the front row, my view of Camilla is obscured by the nameless bodies blurring past Mae, my mom, and me. People are still flooding by, but someone squeezes their way through to us, a lanyard around their neck and an earpiece wrapped around their head. "Come with me," the man says. He's far too scrawny to have ever been inside the ring himself, but he starts walking away, confident we'll follow him. The way he strides makes it easy to see how he got to us so quickly. People would have stepped out of his way because, despite his small form, he doesn't look like he has any intention of waiting for someone to get out of his path. I'd almost thought he was traveling staff, someone who came with Camilla wherever she went, but it's obvious by the way that he maneuvers the halls that he works at this stadium.

He leads us to a room in the back with Camilla's name taped to it on a piece of paper. It's a temporary thing, something that would probably get thrown away, but I peel it off the door and fold it in half twice before tucking it in my pocket. No matter where we go, I'll steal her name. I like to keep them as mementos of everything we've done together. Everything she's done, with me at her side, smiling so wide you can nearly see my molars.

She's waiting in the room for us, and before I've even made it all the way through the door, Mae and my mom have already pulled her into a hug, jumping up and down and squealing in a way so girly I know it must make Camilla want to throw up. But she just holds them to her, letting their jumping bodies lift her into the air, too. Over both of their bodies, her eyes latch on to mine, and finally that smile she refused to wear in the ring springs to life.

My heart feels like it's cracking in my chest as I look at her.

When Mae and my mom pull away, I finally move out of the doorway and press Camilla against my body. I feel her shoulders relax against my weight, her body sinks into mine, and I know that just as she is my home, I am hers, too. I catch my mom's attention from above Camilla's shoulder and mouth, get out of here. I have things to do. Plans, some might call them. Plans for the future to enact.

But my mom knows exactly what I'm talking about, and I know Mae does, too. We've already discussed what's going to happen today, and both of them loved the idea. I was a bit hesitant to tell Mae, scared she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret from her big sister, but I did want her permission first. She earned that right. Even if she wasn't Camilla's father, she was her family. Her sister.

Camilla and I break away and my mom clears her throat. "I think I'm going to take Mae out for ice cream," she says. "She's been bugging me about it since we got here." My mom meets my eyes, a smile barely contained on her face. "Is it okay if we take your car, Gilligan? You can just ride back to our house with Camilla, can't you?"

"Of course he can," Camilla says. Then, almost hesitantly, she adds, "I've missed him." She still doesn't like showing vulnerability, but she's getting better about it. It's easier, now, than it was five years ago.