Tricked Into Love (An Encanto AU)

Chapter 5: Taking Steps

Lucia POV:

It's been a week since Camillo gave me the magic journal. We write to each other all the time now. Surprisingly, you can learn a lot about a person just by the way they write. Camillo's writing is neat, while his drawing style is a bit scratchy. But it's weirdly charming and adorable.

Since we've talked daily, we've learned a lot about each other. Like how he prefers hot coffee instead of iced or blended. How his favorite one to get is a hazelnut latte. He likes wearing yellow because it makes him feel like the sun is on him and subconsciously makes him warm. His favorite thing to shift into is any animal that can fly. 

We make time for each other more now, too. We go to the cafe every morning before my shift to have coffee together. Then, on my lunch break, he just happened to be sitting at the fountain waiting for me. We get lunch at the nearby food carts and eat together as I tell him about the idiotic events that happen at work. 

"Good-intentioned people. Clumsy as hell," I remember telling him as I dipped a corn dog into ketchup. 

"Who spilled what now?" He had said as he propped himself up to hear what I had to say. 

It pains me to admit it, but I actually enjoy his company now. Before, it was nice, but felt too good to be around. That's why I was avoiding him. I didn't want to...get attached to him like I'm attached to Mirabel. But if there's one thing that both of those two have in common other than a last name, it's how fucking stubborn they are. 

I keep meaning to tell him about my power. However, I don't want to mainly because that would involve me telling him how I got it. Mirabel told me that she gave him a vague description of what happened that night. I assume he knows how bad village raids are. That wasn't what gave me the power, though. 

It was seeing my dad die in front of me while I was powerless to do anything.

I shake my head at the reminder, trying to get the image out of my head. I decide to take a cold shower to get rid of my thoughts. As I clean myself, I debate doing something I have been avoiding. 

My hair is incredibly long and often gets in the way at work. I love how it looks, but it's becoming an increasingly more difficult obstacle. Cutting it...

I gag as I try to get that thought out of my head. 

'The last person who cut it was my father and I...I don't want anyone else to do it...' I shut off the water as I run a hand down it. 'Maybe instead of cutting it, I could braid it..."

I dry myself off and put on a short-sleeved light blue dress that reaches down to the lower half of my legs. It's tight on my waist but flowy around my thighs. On my feet are white esmeralda shoes that hug my feet comfortably. 

Holding my hairbrush, I go downstairs and look for my mother. She is sitting at the table drinking coffee while reading a small book. 

"Good morning, mija. Are you going to work?" She asks me, not even looking in my direction.

"Um...yeah. Hey, mami...can I ask you something?"

My mother looks visibly worried. It's the same face she always gave me whenever I tried asking about my father. Her face crinkles like a piece of paper and her eyes get glassy. Her eyebrows are furrowed while her lips are pursed. She gently places the book on the table before taking another sip of her drink. 

"Yes? What is it?" She asks slowly. 

A part of me wants to ask her about him just to see if I can manage to get something out of her. But that will only make her hurt and pissed off at me. So instead I hold out my hairbrush to her. "Um...can you braid my hair?"