Buzzed Hearts

16: a new senior goal

THEY TRAVEL IN AN organized fashion as they go from park to park. Jeremy takes the head, map in his hand though everyone knows he has no clue how to read it. Camila and Laurent follow his lead while Elle and Roma wander a bit behind them.

    Camila hopes all is well with them and peers over her shoulder every once in a while, only to see them smiling or taking pictures of each other in front of animals.

    "Stop checking up on them. I'm sure Elle doesn't need your help with Roma," Laurent says.

    This takes Camila by surprise as she wasn't even aware he'd been looking at her—walking face forward and chin tilted up.

    "I know," she says. "I just want—"

    "You want Elle to be happy, yeah yeah. But it's out of your control," he says.

    Reluctantly, Camila agrees with him.

    "What about you? Need any help with someone?" she asks when she catches up to his long strides. Laurent doesn't answer right away as his stained-glass eyes are focused on Jeremy, who's waving at them a few meters ahead.

    "Pretty birds or gorgeous marsupials?" he yells at them.

    "Kangaroos!" Camila shouts back. Jeremy backtracks, looking at his map, and finds his way again.

    "No." Laurent laughs at her question. "There's no one. But sneaky though, asking if I'm single."

    "Wasn't sneaky. You look like you'd need some help."

    "Me? Have you seen me?"

    Before she can find a witty answer, he continues.

    "The thing is, Miss Heartbreaker, that I don't want to be with someone. Relationships don't do it for me."

    "So what does it for you?" she asks, no time to be crestfallen. Camila's determined to figure him out. "Soccer? All those balls?"

    "Wow, Elle has really rubbed off on you," he says. "Okay, take yourself as an example. How many people have you been with?"

    "Uh—"

    "Exactly. And how many of those were meaningful?"

    "Two."

    "So why don't you just wait until you find someone worth it?"

    "You never know what's worth it until you try it out," she says.

    Laurent doesn't say a word and only guides her back to Jeremy's trail. "You're right but I'd rather just wait. Relationships don't mean anything at this age. Soulmates don't exist, by the way."

    Camila wants to protest but Elle, with Roma locked in her arms, bounds up behind her and asks her where the koalas are. All is forgotten but Camila's already found a minor senior goal: to prove Laurent wrong.