Smile Sunshine

Chapter 8

Word Count: 1206

Marisol walks towards where Casita once stood, the happy feeling in her chest slowly fading. She knows she needs to help the Madrigals but she can't help but feel nervous about seeing Camilo again especially after all the hurtful things he said. With all the work that needs to be done however, Marisol is sure she will be able to get through the building process with little to no interaction with him.

Walking up to the Madrigal's place, she sees the family and her parents already starting the repair of their beloved home. The girl is relieved to see Mirabel standing lovingly beside her grandmother. It seems like Mirabel is safe and unharmed and has also managed to patch up the falling out she had with the oldest family member. Marisol runs up to her parents, "mom, dad. We brought some more hands to help out." She tells them.

Pepa sees Marisol and hesitantly walks over to the girl. "Thank you for all your help dear. I wanted to apologise for what happened earlier." She says placing a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.

Marisol places her own hand on top of Pepa's, "it's okay."

"No it's not. But we'll be having a stern talk with our boy." Felix says walking up to the young girl. "I thought we raised him better than that." He is clearly disappointed in his son.

Marisol bites her lower lip, "I'm not saying what he did is okay. It definitely hurt," she starts off but seeing Camilo's parents get visibly angrier she quickly continues, "but I also know he was going through a lot of emotions at the time." The girl can feel herself start to ramble so she quickly tried to end her mini speech. "Anyway, my point is, what's done is done. All we can do is move on."

Pepa holds Marisol's face in hands, "even after all that's happened you're defending him. I know he's not a bad boy but I didn't expect you to be so forgiving." With a sign Pepa pulls the girl into a warm embrace while stroking her hair. "I was so hoping to have you be part of our family. Maybe one day that can happen if you two kids make up." Marisol isn't sure what the older woman's last comment meant but she can hear her parents chuckle at the comment agreeing with her. Pepa gives Marisol a kiss on the cheek while Felix gives her a pat on the back before they both get back to work.

Marisol looks at her parents slightly confused thinking they would be mirroring her expression at the strange interaction but instead they were beaming with joy and excitement. Odd. Marisol shakes her head and heads to one of the carts to help unload the supplies to get to work. She sees Luisa struggling to carry some of the lumber out of the cart indicating none of the Madrigals have their power back. As she helps Luisa carry the lumber, she wonders if any of them will get them back or not. "Thanks for helping." Luisa says, tearing up a little bit. Marisol goes to pat Luisa's back. "Sorry, I'm still learning how to feel and express my emotions properly."

Marisol thinks back on her life. Not too long ago she too had a hard time expressing herself freely. She rarely smiled, laughed or even cried in front of others. She's still not too comfortable with it but she thinks she's making some improvement. She gives the older girl a smile, "it's okay. I'm still learning too."

Camilo watches his cousin separate from the girl he insulted a few hours ago. Regret and guilt fills him. Even after all he did, she came back to help. She even got the entire town to come. Camilo knows how difficult it must have been for Marisol given her shy nature. The two teens lock eyes for a moment but Marisol quickly diverts her gaze and walks away to continue helping the others.

While working Camilo keeps an eye on Marisol. She doesn't seem too down, which makes him feel better. She has a smile on her face as she works with her parents and some of his family. He sees her making small talk with Dolores and Isabela as they raise a wall for the side of the house. Something seems off though. Camilo can't quite put his finger on it but even though Marisol was talking and smiling with others, there is a barrier put up around her refusing anyone to get too close.

"That's the girl you like right? The photographer?" Camilo's uncle Bruno says looking at the girl who was clearly distracting his nephew while working.

"Yeah" Camilo breathes out with a sigh. Realising what he just says Camilo shakes his head correcting himself, "I mean yeah she the photographer. But we're just friends." Then looking down he kicks a small rock near his foot, "actually I don't even think we're friends anymore. I kind of messed everything up."

His uncle Bruno sat down pulling Camilo down too. "I know, I heard." He watches his nephew groan at his words and put his face in his hands. "If you want to keep being friends, I think the first step would be to apologise. I can't read the future anymore but that tends to work in most scenarios."

"If she'll even talk to me." Camilo mutters out. The boy is sure Marisol is avoiding him, not that he can blame her. She looks away if they make eye contact and he's almost certain she purposefully moves to the other side of the house from where he is. Even if he were to approach her to apologise, would she even listen? Or worse, would she yell at him and cuss him out? He definitely deserves it but he doesn't know if his heart would be able to handle harsh words from the gentle girl.

"By the way," Bruno says after a while breaking Camilo out of his thoughts. "I don't feast on anyone's screams."

Camilo gives his uncle a sheepish smile, "sorry about that."

Marisol wipes her forehead of the sweat that's formed from all the hard work. The entire town has been working tirelessly for the past few hours trying to rebuild this house. The sun is starting to set and everyone is settling down to take a break. Marisol watches some of the townspeople head back to their homes to bring food back for everyone. She's excited for food to come. After all the work, her stomach grumbles thinking of all the good food that will be coming in a few hours.

"Hungry?" Marisol stiffens at the sound of the familiar voice. She doesn't turn around to face him. She's not sure if she even wants to talk to him right now. "Marisol," this is the first time he says her name. It sounds foreign to both teenagers. "You don't have to, but I would love it if we could talk? I really, really need to apologise to you." Camilo nervously rubs his arm awaiting the girl's response.

Marisol slowly turns around to face him. "Okay," she says with a soft sigh, "let's talk."