there's a big old moon shining down at night

Chapter 7

She's surrounded by, genuinely, every person she loves in the world, and yet somehow Camila has never experienced so much cognitive dissonance in her life.

As soon as Harry was directed where to park by a very friendly John ("Parallel parking, love? What do I look like, a driving instructor?" Harry had laughed at the amused-looking doctor), two more chairs are pulled up to the mass of tables and Dinah and Harry are settled next to Camila and Lauren, with Louis on their other side.

Dinah and Harry are here. In Slave Lake. Dinah and Harry are in Slave Lake, looking distinctly out of place in their designer clothes, and it makes Camila wonder if that's how she looked when she first got here. Pressed and polished, overly corporate next to the faded jeans and baseball caps of her new life.

Either way, here they are, and they're looking at Lauren and the arm she still has over the back of Camila's chair with far too much interest.

"This is a surprise! Camz talks about you all the time, but we had no idea you'd be visiting," Lauren says genially once everyone has been introduced, and Harry's answer is pretty much the exact opposite of what Camila was hoping it would be.

"We've come to rescue our CEO from her hermitage!"

Lauren looks over at Camila quizzically, and Camila's heart sinks to the soles of her leather boots.

"Cabello Inc., is probably on fire with all three of us gone, but we had to see what was keeping our dear Mila here," Dinah says, raising an almost Cabello-worthy eyebrow in their direction. But her smile is genuinely friendly, and Lauren reacts in kind.

"Well, we're just happy to have her!" Lauren says, smiling, but Camila can see across the table that Adriana's face is slowly changing. It's turning from pleasant curiosity to slow, stunned realization, and Camila's heart is now back in her chest and pounding at a mile a minute.

She's seriously regretting not letting her friends know more about her life here. Namely, that nobody in this town knows she's a CEO, much less of a Fortune 500 company, much less that the company is Cabello Inc.,, so recently manned by her homicidal sister.

No. No, no, no -

"...Cabello Inc.,?" Adriana says, and the conversation quiets at her surprised tone. Taylor looks surprised too, and follows up.

"CEO?"

"Yes," Harry drawls, looking perplexed. "Mila, did you not –?"

Adriana makes a tiny, disbelieving noise of surprise, and Dinah's eyes widen just a little bit too late.

"Oh. Oh, no –" Dinah starts, touching Harry's arm, but Adriana is already speaking.

"Oh my god. Cabello."

Dinah and Harry have been here all of 10 minutes, and already everything she built this summer is being swept out from under her. Camila is fairly sure she's on the verge of a panic attack, and everyone's eyes suddenly on her are making it worse.

"What?" James asks, and Camila wants so, so desperately to have everyone just stop asking questions.

"You're Camila Cabello," Adriana says, her voice tinged with a little bit of respect. Even in her panic state, Camila can sense no vitriol in her tone – but it's still a secret being spilled, still the one thing she didn't want everyone here knowing.

"Yeah, where have you been? She's been Camila Cabello all summer," Louis says, his thick brows knitting in confusion.

Camila feels like she's going to be sick.