When It Comes To You [√] BOOK TWO

10

Camila

“Cami! Get down here!” Andres’ voice came from the stairs.

I turned away from the mesmerizing gaze of the beautiful boy standing in front of me and muttered an “excuse me” before going to look for my brother.

I felt Cyrus’ eyes on me as I raced down the stairs.

“What were you doing up there?” Andres asked when I reached him.

“Oh I was just fluffing up my hair. How’s the party going?” I smiled up at him, hoping he couldn’t hear the loud thumps of my heart.

He squinted his eyes at me suspiciously and led me to the kitchen.

"It’s ok. Melissa didn’t show up because she has to babysit her sister but we have new neighbours.”

“Really? New neighbours? Are you sure they’re not just cops?” I asked him.

Our neighbourhood wasn’t exactly the safest and police roamed around the streets in failed attempts to try and stop the illegal drug circuits. We definitely didn’t take or sell drugs but there had been incidences where our enemies planted stuff on Andres for their revenge.

“I don’t think so. Hey Sky!” he called to a blonde I spotted at the drinks’ table.

“This is my sister, Camila and Cami this is one of our new neighbours, Sky.”

The blonde smiled at me but the smile didn’t reach her eyes. I had a feeling she didn’t like me and that was odd because we hadn’t even met before. She was probably one of the chicks that had a humungous crush on my brother and didn’t like the fact that the two of us were so close.

“Hi.” She greeted.

I nodded back and looked around, anxious to leave the uncomfortable situation.

“Cyrus! Over here!” Andres called to the boy from before.

He walked over to the three of us, a light smirk playing on his lips. I couldn’t help smiling-he was just that cute.

“Camila.” Cyrus said to me, humour glinting in his eyes.

“Sup. You following me, now?” I asked him.

“You two know each other?” Andres asked, looking between the two of us.

“We just met a few minutes ago.” Cyrus explained.

“So you are the other neighbour?” I asked casually.

He nodded. “Yeah, Gem- Sky and I are here for the summer.”

“Why would you do that? This isn’t the nicest place in Miami, I can tell you that.” I said.

“I dunno. It’s more...exciting here and I’ve met a couple of interesting people already.” Cyrus answered while shoving his hands into his jean pockets.

I stomped out the little spark of hope that had ignited in my gut and shrugged casually. Well at least I tried to but being the socially awkward person I am, it probably looked more like a grimace.

I mean, he couldn't possibly have been talking about me.

 “I dunno about interesting but there are a whole lot of gangsters around these parts so be careful.” I blurted out.

 “I’m not scared of anything, but thanks for the tip.” He winked at me.

 “I love the way you two are talking as if we’re not here.” Sky interjected.

A small blush crept up my neck when I realised she was right: for a moment there it felt as if Cyrus and I were alone.

“Hey she is way more interesting to talk to thank you so you can’t blame me for preferring her over you.” Cyrus said, rolling his eyes.

Sky laughed but it sounded forced.

"Shut up, you. C’mon let’s go meet everyone else.”

Before any of us could reply, she yanked hard on his arm and led him into the living room.

Geez, jealous much?

I decided to leave them alone and went to pour myself a drink. Andres was crazy for hosting a party so early but despite me telling him it would be a flop, it turned out pretty successful. By successful I meant everyone was drunk and having a good time.

Everyone except me of course.

I didn’t like crowds and much preferred to stay in the shadows where no one could see me. I wasn't necessarily anti-social but let’s just say if I were given the choice to go to a party or stay home and watch T.V, I would choose the latter.

“Camila?”

I turned and almost dropped my drink when I saw Ford standing at the kitchen door with his hands shoved in his pockets.

“Ford? What are you doing here?” I asked.

I don’t know how I felt at that moment. I wasn’t angry at him, nor was I shattered at seeing him so close-up again. I just felt...numb.

It was as if my heart had resigned to the fact that he was an idiot.

“Uh, I came to see how you were doing.” He muttered under his breath.

“You came to see how I was doing?” I asked with a frown.

“Yeah. Andres wouldn’t let me see you at the hospital and I wanted to make sure you were ok.”

I chuckled. “You’re the one who hurt me in the first place so why the hell would you want to make sure I’m ok?”

He frowned. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, honestly I didn’t but that’s not why I came. I wanted to apologise for being the lousiest boyfriend in the world.”

I rolled my eyes and waited for him to go on.

“Gabbie lied. We were not doing anything behind your back, I swear. I won’t lie and tell you that I didn’t want to because I did but I was with you and there was no way I was going to betray you like that. Especially not after you opened yourself up to me.” He said.

His hands were out of his pockets and were making gestures in the air. That was so like him: talking with his hands like that.

“Camila please look at me.” He whispered.

I ignored him and studied the few brown smudges on my sneakers.

“Poodle what do I have to say for-”

“You’re lying. Gabbie wouldn’t do that. Gabbie was my best friend – she would never hurt me.” I managed to croak out.

He let out a frustrated sigh. “Camila you can’t believe that. You aren’t deaf, dumb or blind. You knew she kept secrets from you. You knew that she spread rumours about you – you told me all this yourself and that was why I never got together with her. I would never-”

“Stop lying!” I yelled, glaring at him.

“You were with her. She bragged about it all the time: he said this, he said that. I was just too fucking stupid to realise she was talking about you! And what about at school when she made a fool of me in front of everyone and you said absolutely nothing?”

“Yeah but I-”

“And then you had the nerve to bring her to my house! My freaking house, Ford. You came with her here to collect your stuff. Didn’t you think that was a bit insensitive?” I yelled right back at him.

He flinched and tried to smooth talk himself out of it but I wouldn’t listen. Before he could feed me any more of his rubbish lies, I threw the cup of Coke in his face and shot up the stairs.