Writing On The Wall - Text Fic (Camren)

October 7 (Part 2)

Sitting across the table at the coffee house, Camila eyed her parents with caution. They had been sitting for thirty minutes in complete silence and it was making her skin crawl. Her Mother must have stirred her coffee a thousand times by now and her Father had completely picked apart the napkin on the table. Camila on the other hand just watched them, neither would look up or speak and Camila was growing tired of the silent treatment.

"I think I should go," Camila said as she made a move to stand up. "I have homework and-"

"Karla. Siéntate," Sinu scolded, pointing at the chair as she looked up for the first time since they slid into their seats. "We raised you better than this, we raised-"

"You raised me to think for myself. To make decisions for myself and to follow my heart," Camila interrupted. "You raised me to own the choices I make and never look back. You taught me that marriage is a sacred union between two people that should never be taken for granted."

"You're eighteen, you are too young to-"

"Mami, I am not too young to understand and know what love is," Camila pleaded, looking her Mother straight in the eyes. "I would never have married, Lauren, sober or drunk, if I didn't know one hundred and ten percent in my heart that we are meant to be together."

Camila's father sighed heavily and shook his head, "So you're married, you're married on a whim with no plan for the future."

"We graduate the same year, we want to have a big wedding for friends and family and then take a year off to travel. We'll rent out our apartment while we're gone so that it will still be there when we get back. We'll settle in and Lauren will find herself a position at an art gallery or a museum and I will find myself a job at the local newspaper or at a publishing company. She will immerse herself in art and I will immerse myself in writing. We will work for at least a year and then we will decide if it's the right time to start thinking about having a family," Camila watched her parent's eyes flash with something she couldn't quite decipher, but they had yet to cut in so she continued. "We want three kids, we've even thought of names. We would eventually save enough money to buy a house, but we could still get by in our apartment with a baby for at least the first year, we'd convert the studio library into a nursery. I would work from home, because writing would give me the freedom to do that."

"Karla-"

"No, Mami," Camila said shaking her head. "I am an adult now, this is what I want. This is the life I have chosen and I am proud of it, I am happy with Lauren, Mami." Shaking her head Camila let out a heavy breath and tilted her head back, blinking away the tears threatening to fall. "We're sorry we made a rash decision in the heat of the moment, but we don't regret it and there is nothing anyone will be able to say to change that. I wasn't happy for a very long time, the anxiety, the depression, you saw me struggle. Lauren saw me struggle and she's still here, because she loves me and I love her."

Alejandro slowly brought his arm across the table, taking hold of Camila's hand with his own, "We just don't want to see you make decisions that will limit yourself."

"What am I limiting?" Camila asked seriously. "Papa, Lauren and I want the same things. We want to travel and have a family. I support her love for art and she supports my love of writing. We want the same life, this marriage isn't a fluke, Papa. You were young, very young when you married Mami, you should understand."

"Marriage is more than getting along and having the same dreams," Sinu told her, her eyes soft.

"I know," Camila breathed out. "Marriage is love and understanding. It's faith in the other person and it's comfort. It's being with your best friend every single day for the rest of your life. It's knowing how they take their coffee or that when they're sick they prefer apple juice over grape even though grape is their favourite. It's knowing when she comes home and just drops her bag by the door instead of hanging it on the back of the chair, that she's had a bad day. It's knowing to set the alarm clock a half hour early because she won't get out of bed on time if you don't. It's knowing that if I wake up at three in the morning and she's baking blueberry muffins, she's stressed about a test she has the next day, it's knowing that no matter how many sweaters she owns, she'd rather wear one of mine. It's in the details. It's every time she uses the spare key to go fill my gas tank before school because she knows I forgot, it's every time she let's me eat the last slice of pizza even if she is still hungry and it's every time she is eating her cereal dry because there is only enough milk in the fridge left for one bowl." Camila smiled at her Mom and bit her lip. "Mami, I know Lauren inside and out and if I wasn't completely sure about marrying her and spending the rest of my life with her, I wouldn't have done it. Drunk or not."