#brumilobel

Besides, she wasn’t even sure if he meant anything by it. Sure, they’d been a lot closer these last few weeks because of everything they’d been doing with Bruno, and yeah she’d caught him watching her more than once, but maybe he was just grateful she wasn’t ratting him out? Maybe he was just being the same Camilo he’d always been, just with an added flair.

“You okay?” Camilo whispered, his breath on the back of her neck. She swallowed and nodded, squeezing her eyes shut and telling herself to just go to sleep. Everything was completely normal.

Then she felt Camilo’s lips brush the side of her neck in an unmistakable kiss.

Her whole body jolted at the contact, something in her stomach flipping as her eyes snapped open. He wasn’t pushing her, wasn’t trying to coax anything more out of her, but that was definitely not a platonic act. She was grateful for the darkness hiding her flushed face as she turned in his embrace, their foreheads touching in the small space.

“Camilo…” She took a shaky breath. “What…what are you doing, exactly?”

“What do you mean?” There was an amused lilt to the boy’s voice, unmistakable, and she smacked him in the shoulder instinctively. “Ow! Alright, alright…” He moved a bit closer, pressing in so that their noses brushed together. “I’m…just showing you how much I care about you.”

“I already know you care about me,” she said. “You don’t have to pretend to flirt with me to show me that.”

“Who said I was pretending?” Mirabel’s heart stuttered in her ribcage. “I’ve been serious from the beginning, Mira.”

“I…” She swallowed thickly. That hadn’t been what she was expecting. “I don’t understand. Why me? Everyone in the village likes you.” It was no secret Camilo was popular, with both boys and girls in the village. He’d had more than one declare their love for him, with plenty of others giving him appreciative looks whenever he went out. He could have his pick of partners, so why would he waste his time on her?

Camilo raised a hand to brush a lock of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. “You really don’t get it, do you?” She could just make out the sad little smile on his face in the dark. “Mira, do you remember when we were 7, and I told everyone I was going to marry you?”

Mirabel scrunched up her nose, thinking. “Sort of?” It was a fuzzy memory, but definitely there. Camilo’s determined face as he grabbed her hands, and yelled out for anyone to hear that he’d marry Mirabel so nobody would ever hurt her again. Her mother still mentioned it from time to time, as a cute childhood memory. “So what? We were kids.”

He sighed. “I’ve…been in love with you since then. Maybe before. Maybe my whole life.” His face was serious now, his gaze never wavering from hers. “Whenever anyone told me they liked me, I always compared them to you. And every time…they never measured up.”

Mirabel felt like all the air had left her lungs, opening and closing her mouth as she tried to think of something, anything, to say. How was someone supposed to react to their cousin declaring their love? How was she supposed to cope with this while he was pressed against her, so close their breaths mingled? She was sure he could feel her heart hammering in her chest, beating and beating and trying to escape her ribs as she processed everything he had just told her.

It shouldn’t have even been an option for her. This was her cousin, someone she grew up with like a brother. It should have disgusted her. Yet all she could think about was how it would feel to kiss him, to feel loved and wanted and desired. She thought about all those private moments, those smiles reserved just for her. If she’d been standing she thought her knees might give out at the thought.

She’d been in love with him too, this whole time.

Slowly, Mirabel wrapped an arm around his waist in turn. He raised his eyebrows but didn’t stop her as she leaned closer. There was no going back if she did this, she knew. They couldn’t just be cousins anymore. But then, they never really had been, had they? For both of them, it seemed, there had been something else there, waiting for them to discover it. Camilo had just realized it sooner than her. He’d lived with it for years, and she didn’t want to make either of them wait a second longer.