after editing this, ive realized how short of a chapter this was :( hahaha

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"Miss?"

Greeted by a familiar face, the cashier went to respond, "Yes, may I help you, sir?" I grinned. "Yes, please. I would like something." Without meeting my eye, the cashier continued on tapping on the screen separating us, "And what do you want, sir?"

Camila had met my eye.

"I'd like to be un-friendzoned please."

“I like you. I wanna be more than just best friends with you.”

"What? You're making zero percent sense right now." she chuckles nervously. I could tell she was secretly hoping I was joking because I could see right through her—that this was getting awkward for her. "I'm not joking, Camila. I like you...more than just a friend and more than as a best friend. I'm in love with you, Mila."

She blushed and looked down. "Shawn, I...I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," I breathed out, "I know you don't love me back. I know a part of you still likes Cam. I know how you feel."

"No."

"What?" my heart was beating faster each second. I have no words to explain how I am feeling. I didn't regret confessing but I did regret how so sudden I said it. 

"It's not that..it's just...", she trailed off leaving me hanging. "First of all, you're wrong about Cam. I don't love him anymore but...I think we're better off as just best friends for now. I'm sorry. I—I don't know how to respond right now. I need time to think about this but I'm not saying that you need to give me space or I need space—"

"Camila," I interrupted, "take a deep breath. I understand. It's fine. Don't be sorry.", I said breathlessly with my heart pounding hard on my chest. "It's not your fault."

And surprisingly, I had taken it well. Maybe it's because just being with her is enough already. As long as she's by my side and happy, that was enough for me. It's better than her completely deserting me for Cameron—she doesn't belong to me; I can't control her or her feelings. I can't make her love me so I would just have to support her dating life with a douche that I completely don't approve of.

"Hmm, I don't think I could do that just yet." she smirks.

Wait. Yet? I slammed my hands on the counter gaining us quite an attention as I grinned, " And what might one mean by 'yet'?"

Her face turned into shades of red as she looked around before chuckling nervously. "I'm sorry but I don't know what you're talking about, sir. Now, how may I take you order?"

"You're not getting away with this. I clearly heard you said 'yet' so I have a chance, right? I'm not completely hopeless!"

"I never said anything, sir. How would you like your latte—"

"Fine," I teased, "have it your way. And regarding the latte, surprise me."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Now, what would you really like?"

"You." I continued teasing. "Wait, I'm not yet done. Don't interrupt me—you, and me, tonight, seven pm sharp. And, I'd like the regular latte."

"That would be $5." she smiled, ignoring my question as I handed her the amount. 

"Keep the change." I whispered as I went down to take a seat when someone bumped into me. "Oh, I'm sorry.", she said looking at the ground.

I chuckled. Meeting my gaze, her face quickly turned red. "Shawn-um, hi."

"Hey.", I greeted with a smile. "Care to join me for coffee?"

"Sure."

"Thank you," I said as another barista served me my latte. Hailee was busy with her laptop, for what, I don't know. "You seem busy," I observed. She looked up and nodded, "I have 4 papers due tomorrow and I've only finished one."

"Oh, well-"

"It's okay," she chuckled shyly, "It's fine. You're not disturbing me. Anyway, before I forget, I found this at the top of Cam's table yesterday at Biology-"

"What? Why'd you—"

"Hey, look I know taking something that is not yours is wrong but you might want to have a look at this first before you say anything further." She handed me a crumpled note but folded in a fashionable manner. On top of it lay the delicate handwriting I would always recognize—Camila's. My stare met Hailee's and she nodded, giving me some sort of approval to read it. I carefully unraveled the note and inside of it were Camila's delicate handwriting.

"

"

After I read that, my eyes searched the room for Mila. She was smiling, busy attending to an old man. My gaze went to Hailee afterward. I let out a sigh, "Hailee, what does she mean by 'thank you for showing me that you can change for the better for someone else but not for me'?"

"That," she said creasing her forehead, "I will have to find out."

"So what do you plan to do?" She shrugged and closed her laptop shut,"I'll have to find out what she means first before I continue. But for the mean time, I'm going to continue my means."

"I think you should find out who Camila was referring to first before you act. I'm sure I can find out who that is. I'll help on that part." "Thanks, Shawn." she smiled gratefully. "But I have to go. Camila's staring at us haha." she let a soft chuckle. It took a lot to fight the urge to look back at Camila. But I managed. With that, I stood up and gave her a friendly hug. "Bye."

---

1 text message.
From Camila.

Shawn?

Another message.

I won't be able to go tonight.

And another.

I'm sorry, don't pick me up ok?

Sighing, I typed: Ok, care to tell me why?

After what seems to be years, 1 message received.

Sorry. I'd rather keep it to myself.

With that, I clicked my phone off and threw myself onto the bed and sighed. Unexpectedly, my phone rang. The caller ID showed: Hailee

I picked up. "Hey."

"Hi," she softly speaks. "Can you come over? I have news."

"I'll be there at twenty."

I walked through the neighborhood and spotted Hailee walking towards the direction where I came from. "I thought I was supposed to go to your place."

"It's quite urgent. Anyway, your choice of clothes would have to do."

Wait, what? What was wrong with my outfit? Feeling suddenly conscious I thought there was nothing wrong with wearing a blue v-neck blouse with some jeans and vans. Hailee was wearing all black. Black leather jacket, black tank top, black jeggings, and a pair of some black rubber shoes.

"Why are you dressed in all black?" my forehead creased. It seemed as if we were going to go on a spy-themed mission.

"Cam and Camila's going on a date."

"What?"

"Well, they're meeting up together at McDonald's for a quick chat according to my sources."

"Which is?" I ask.

"Amanda."

I've never heard of an Amanda before. "And how reliable is this Amanda?" Grinning, she signaled me to follow her, "Very."

"Okay...I guess I'm trusting you with this. But what are we really supposed to do?"

"We're going to spy on them."

Well, that explained the all-black attire. "What? It's McDonal-"

"We're not going in. We'll be spying from the outside."

"What? Did you hit your head or something?" I raised my brow.

"Just kidding," she playfully punched my left arm. She let out a soft laugh. "So, this is the plan. We go in, sit on the table nearest to Camila's back so she won't see us. The idea is for Cam to be the one to tell her—if he does tell her."

"You're losing me. So we're really doing this?"

She chuckles. "Yes. Okay, so basically the idea is not to let Camila spot us."

"But you want Cam to see us. Why?" I asked questioningly. "Because I found out who the girl Camila was referring to." she whispered. "Me."