Who You Are: Camilo's Story (After Encanto)

Finding Yourself

The following day, the Madrigals, once again, went out into the village to mingle with and help the citizens make the festival decorations and gather the crops needed to make the food. The Casita was completely empty apart from Camilo who said he would stay and clean, despite Casita being perfectly capable of cleaning itself. In reality, he wanted to have some time alone outside of his room. He stared out into the blue sky through the kitchen window. It was another cloudless day, yet he felt gloomy on the inside. He grabbed an arepa from a nearby basket and took a bite. Julieta's cooking was simply divine but, as he suspected, it did nothing to ease his mind.

"Oh! Hey, Camilo."

He turned around to see Mirabel entering the kitchen, carrying two large sacks of freshly picked potatoes. "Good to see that your appetite's come back a little, "she added, noticing the arepa in his hand. "Oh...yeah," Camilo said. But then he set it down on the counter. Mirabel placed the potatoes in the open pantry and Casita closed it.

"So..." she said, approaching her cousin. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"'About what?" Camilo asked her.

"About whatever's bugging you," Mirabel replied.

"Nothing's bugging me," said Camilo.

"I'm not so sure," Mirabel said slowly.

Camilo leaned back against the counter with his arms folded.

"Shouldn't you be following Abuela around?" he asked.

"Oh, getting defensive now, are we?" Mirabel asked with a slight grin. "Abuela was our matriarch for over 50 years. I think she can manage things herself for a few minutes. Casita?"

Casita conjured up a chair for each of them. Camilo's knees buckled from under him as he was forced to sit down. Mirabel sat on her chair backward with one leg on each side of it.

"So, what's up?" she asked. But Camilo remained silent. He just sat in his chair with one leg crossed on top of the other.

"Come on, Camilo. It's okay. Spill! Just let it out! Say what's on your mind," Mirabel said kindly. Then she peered at him from the top of her glasses and asked, "Is it about her?"

Camilo sighed and finally said, "Only half of it."

Mirabel raised her eyebrows.

"Alright," she said. "Then, what's the other half?"

There was a pause before Camilo answered her.

"Me," he said.

Mirabel didn't expect that. "Go on," she said.

Camilo took a deep breath and began to explain.

"It seems like ever since I met her... and started having these feelings...all kinds of other thoughts are coming up to the surface. I mean, they were always there...in the back of my mind... but it's like they're more prominent now."

"Like what?" Mirabel asked.

"Like, besides my Gift, there's nothing to like about me," said Camilo. "Nothing attractive at all. So how could someone like her... possibly like me?"

"What are you talking about?" Mirabel asked in complete surprise. "That's ridiculous! 'You're more than just your Gift', remember?"

"What's so great about me? Huh?" Camilo asked, bitterly.

"Uh...lots of things!"

Camilo and Mirabel looked up to see Dolores standing in the doorway. "You heard what Mami said. You've got everything to offer in a relationship, Camilo. She was telling you the truth," she said.