RAGE (BWWM)

25

Five weeks later...

Everything's been good on my end. I ditched the hospital life, and now I have two clients that I care for throughout the week. I'm still doing Monday through Thursday, but my hours are significantly shorter—from seven in the morning to three in the afternoon. Luckily, it's not as demanding as the hospital, but it is a lot more intimate. It also pays better, and I'm on a strict contract with both of my clients.

It's not only the start of August but also the untimely end of summer break. Kids have already started returning to school, and as expected, Camila had to spilt up her siblings. The twins went back to their grandparents, Jonathan is looking to get his own place with his girlfriend, and Sofia is permanently living with Camila.

And although the change took some stress off of Camila, she's still somewhat annoyed by the situation. Supposedly, her grandparents were reluctant to take the kids back. And even though they downsized their home in an attempt to cut costs, two kids were still more than they wanted to handle. Camila insinuated that their reluctance might've come from the fact that they still had unresolved issues with Ana, Camila's mom—the daughter they disowned. Thus, Camila had to practically beg her grandparents to keep their word, and she's been rather moody ever since.

But today, Camila and I were supposed to go shopping once I got off work. I hadn't heard from her in a while, but I went home to shower and change anyway. It's been extra hot lately—not excruciatingly hot but definitely uncomfortable. So I picked out the shortest denim shorts that I could find, and I also pulled out a simple graphic t-shirt.

Camila called me saying that she was outside, so I slipped on my shoes, grabbed my purse, and locked everything up behind me. I then went down to the front of my building and spotted Camila parked off to the side. I wanted to drive my own car, but she insisted that I be a passenger today.

"Hey," she smiled, greeting me first.

"Hi," I replied back, quickly getting in and closing the door.

"Don't Hi me," she mimicked. "I already told you about that shit—I don't like it."

"Would you rather I say, 'Hey bestie, how are you,'" I spoke in a fake high-pitched voice.

"Yes, I'd take that over a dry-ass Hi any day."

"No you wouldn't," I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe not, but still," she shrugged, pulling off. And I laughed as I grabbed my seatbelt. She then dropped the subject altogether and pressed start on her GPS.

The one thing that will never change about Camila is her inability to follow directions. Her driving skills were already questionable, but her ability to multitask was especially debatable. Both of those things plus the fact that traffic was horrible certainly made for an eventful ride. I ultimately had to take over and basically recite the GPS's directions as if I was reading from a teleprompter.

Once we made it to the mall, we ventured into a few stores: Sephora, American Eagle, Foot Locker, Bath & Body Works, and Pink. I stopped buying fragrances from Bath & Body Works, but their candles are amazing, and I couldn't help but buy a few of them. Otherwise, I mainly bought clothes, shoes, and some makeup brushes.

"I've been meaning to ask you about Rachael," I said, carefully stuffing my bags into the trunk.

"What is there to ask?" She dropped her bags in as well.

"I haven't heard you talk about her in weeks. Plus I haven't seen her. Did something happen?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, closing the trunk. "It just didn't work out."