“Thank you,” she says. “And thank you for coming.” After a few seconds, Lily lets go and walks toward Alejandra, who also hugs her and peppers her face with kisses.
They all have breakfast and sing “Happy Birthday” over a cupcake Valeria brought for Lily. Thirty minutes later, once they’ve all gone through at least three cups of coffee, they start tearing down their tents and getting everything in the cars. An hour later, they are all packed up and ready to head out.
The drive back to Camila’s house is easy, and barely fifty minutes after they hit the road, Clara is already pulling into Camila’s driveway. It feels like they just left, but maybe time slipped by with Valeria tucked against Camila’s side the entire way.
“Thanks for picking me up and dropping me off,” Camila says, leaning over the center console to pat Clara’s shoulder.
Clara nods.
“We’ll see you tonight?” Alejandra asks, as Valeria undoes her seatbelt.
“Yes,” Camila answers as she grabs her backpack frombetween her feet before stepping out and heading to the trunk to grab the rest of her things.
“You staying?” Clara asks from the front seat as she eyes Valeria opening the door through the rearview mirror.
“Yeah.” Valeria points to Camila’s garage. “My car is still here. I should probably get it back before work.”
Clara and Alejandra exchange a smirk. “Makes sense.”
“I’ll see you both later then,” she says before exiting the car.
“Later.” Camila waves as she and Valeria watch Clara’s taillights disappear down the street.
“You want to come in?” Camila asks, and Valeria nods.
They turn and head inside, leaving their bags by the front door. Miso welcomes them both with a meow, and immediately purrs. Camila grabs her and rubs her head against her.
“How are you, my sweet girl? Did Raven take good care of you?” she asks as she walks into her living room, plopping straight onto her couch, and Valeria follows, sitting by Camila’s feet before lifting her legs and throwing them on top of herself.
“I don’t want to drive right now, do you mind if I stay for a little? We can watch our show, and then I’ll go get ready.”
Camila nods. “Yeah, I’d like that.”
Camila reaches for the TV remote and scrolls through her streaming services until she finds the one she’s looking for, pressing play on the episode they’d left off on.
Camila watches for a bit, but without meaning to, she falls asleep.
When she wakes up, the show is still playing, and Valeria is lying next to her, her head on Camila’s stomach. For a sleepy second, the sight makes her smile, then asudden dryness overtakes her mouth at the feel of Valeria’s breath on her lower abdomen, right where her shirt lifted when she threw herself on the couch.
Valeria stirs then, nuzzling further into Camila, and that familiar flicker of heat sparks, making Camila’s skin erupt in goosebumps. Valeria seems to realize what she’s doing because she shoots up, wide-eyed.
“I am so sorry,” she says quickly, covering her face with both hands as a deep red glow blooms across her cheeks. “I have no idea how I ended up like that.”
“It’s okay,” Camila says quickly, as her heart drums frantically. “We were both asleep. For all we know, I pulled you closer.” An image of Camila pulling Valeria on top of her flashes vividly in her mind, sending her pulse skittering faster.
“I seriously doubt that,” she says, voice muffled behind her hands.
Camila forces a soft breath. “My point is that there’s no way to be sure. So let’s not let things get awkward,” Camila says, though she’s finding it increasingly difficult to ignore the electric tingling spreading across her skin at every brush of the other woman’s touch.
Valeria nods and lowers her hands slowly, cheeks still flushed. She clears her throat. “I should probably head home. I’ll see you later?”
“Of course.” Camila nods a little too fast. “Do you want me to pick you up?”
Valeria chews on the thought before she nods. “Yeah, that would be perfect, thank you.”
They both stand, and Camila walks Valeria to the door, where they both grab her things and head toward the garage, where they load Valeria’s bags into her car in silence.
When they’re done, they meet back by thedriver’s door.
