Tricked Into Love (An Encanto AU)

Chapter 4: A Discovery of Sorts

Camillo POV: 

I sigh deeply as I make my way towards the café. I want to try the coffee. I ended up oversleeping and missed breakfast so now I'm walking over there very hungry and half asleep. 

It's been a few days since I've seen Lucia. She's been pretty busy, so busy that I haven't even seen her around. I asked Mirabel how she was doing and she told me that she was good, just really trying to work on her art.

I still haven't been able to stop thinking about her. I can focus on my work and my tasks during the day. I can manage not to get distracted while helping other villagers. But then once I'm heading home for the day, Lucia comes back into my mind. 

Around her...the world seemed brighter. More colorful. More beautiful. When she smiles, she seems to bring a light into the world that wasn't there before. The way she danced with me. The way she jokes around with me. Teases me. The fact that, unlike every other girl who had a plate full of food in their hands, she actually eats. She wasn't even shy about it and somehow, that makes me feel extra happy to know she was comfortable around me. 

"You good little primo?" A voice calls out to me. 

Looking behind me, I see my cousin Luisa standing there. Her hands are on her hips and she seems to be in a good mood. She is wearing a navy blue short-sleeved shirt with a short white skirt that stops around her knees. On her feet are simple black espadrille shoes. Around her arm is a blue bag with something in it. 

"Yeah, don't worry I'm alright," I say, nodding at her. "Just tired. I need some coffee."

My cousin smiles at me. "Perfect. I was going to get one. Heard from a couple of people that the coffee is great! Let's go."

She opens the door. I would have insisted she go first, but from experience, I know she would kick me inside. With no holding back. 

I shake my head at the reminder of my back hurting for weeks. We place an order of coffee each and sit down at a nearby booth. 

"So, what's new with you Camillo?" She raises an eyebrow at me. "You have been weirdly quiet lately. Kind of keeping to yourself. I heard that you have a little crush on someone?"

"No," I say, feeling my face flush. "Okay...maybe a small one. She's...really pretty. And smart. Clever. Witty. Funny. A little bit of a trickster herself actually. Maybe not to my degree, but she can mess around with me. Makes me laugh."

I hesitate, then decide to tell my cousin something on my mind. "Normally, I'm the one giving laughter to people. Hell, I make myself laugh and put myself in a good mood. But...Lucia makes me feel embarrassed. And shy. And...I don't know how to deal with this. I've never felt like this before and it really weirds me out. She's not like any other girl here in Encanto."

"Well, she wasn't born here. She and her mother were the two survivors of that raid that occurred in the village outside the mountains." 

My eyes pop open as I look up at my cousin's face. A pit forms in my stomach as I process the information. 

That day was haunting to say the least. We were all having dinner when we were told by the locals that they heard shouting. I remember walking outside and seeing...so much smoke in the air, beyond the mountains. Abeula sent out my Tia Julieta, Mirabel, Isabella, and Luisa to go check it out. When they returned...they all looked like they had seen something horrible. I've never seen any of them so pale and so unwilling to speak about something. 

Mirabel eventually opened up to me about what she saw. Dozens of families were murdered. Women, Children, babies, and men all laid out dead. Blood was all over the ground and the grass around the area was just red with no hints of green on it. There was a large crater on the ground that looked like it was blown up.