𝐄𝐂𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐒𝐄. ( 𝐊𝐀𝐈 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑 )

𝟑𝟖. 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐍

ECLIPSE.
[ "CAN YOU STAND THE RAIN" ]

"THAT'S A LOT OF COFFEE. SOMEONE DIDN'T SLEEP WELL LAST NIGHT..."

Camila half-acknowledged Ric's remark with a little quirk of the side of her mouth. "Let's just say there was a lot on my mind..." she sighed, taking a large gulp of the steaming bitter liquid, gladly accepting the way it stung her tongue on the way down.

"Hey, would you come over to the table please?" Ric asked softly, nodding over in the direction of her friends. "I think everyone wants to apologise about yesterday..."

Camila at last turned to face the table she had been avoiding, only now eyeing it somewhat cautiously. Admittedly she was only checking whether one particular person was seated there;  a certain Gemini witch who had just so happened to confess his feelings to her the previous night. Just thinking of it made nausea overcome her every sense. After all what was she to say to him now? She had spent a long 12 hours overthinking all of the catastrophes that could come from every different response she could give him and, frankly, she thought her only solution may be to become voluntarily mute. Luckily as she scanned the table she noticed that her period of muteness may be able to be postponed given Kai was nowhere to be found. Though in the exact moment that the thought registered she became quickly concerned.

"Where's Kai?"

It didn't escape Camila how Ric's eyes widened in surprise before he quickly neutralised his expression, presumably not wanting to provoke her any further than they already had. "I don't know,"  he shrugged off calmly. "Must just not be hungry..."

But of course Camila knew that Kai was always hungry and he would never turn down a free breakfast. Maybe he's avoiding me, she thought and sighed deeply, her shoulders slumping in the process. She felt as though she could just weep at the sheer number of things going on in her head presently. The sickening mix of anxiety from the events that were to happen that day and the thought of having to see Kai after the previous night was so potent that she began to think of a little vial she knew was in her dorm bedside table back home. Luckily the fact that she was always around someone when in New Orleans and the fact she didn't have anything with her meant that option was a non-option after all but the thought startled her nonetheless.

She quickly internally reprimanded herself. She couldn't let herself fall back into these habits, not now of all times.

She figured she may as well heed Bonnie's recent advice and fall on her next best solution; talking to someone. In order to do that, however, she knew she had to make amends.

As she pulled a chair out at the table the rest of her friends sat at it grew eerily quiet. It was almost as though she was a parent returning to the table, interrupting their children's teen gossip. The silence was awkward, that much was obvious. The sounds of teaspoons clinking around the perimeter of mugs, the slow chewing of toast and knives scratching up warm plates. Yet despite the unbearable tension of it all, no one seemed to want to be the first to speak. Camila waited patiently, sipping on her coffee, knowing one of them would have to speak eventually.