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     THEIR DATE ENDED with both of them blushing the whole way back home. neither of them speaking to each other, except for saying their goodbyes.

"umm...thank you for the date, camilo", felicia managed to mutter out, still staring at the ground, as they were now in front of her mother's coffee shop.

     camilo insisted on walking the girl back home, even though she had claimed that she would be okay walking by herself.

     "thank you for giving me the chance to take you out on one", camilo responded, glancing at the diaz before him, as he cleared his throat to prepare for his next speech.

     "so...uhh..."

     "FELICIA'S BACK!!", penelope announced, rushing out of the door with phoebe, who had clutched into their sister's legs.

     "HI CAMILO!", the louder twin greeted.

     "hi penelope, and hello phoebe", camilo waved.

     "did you guys have fun??", the older of the twins — penelope — questioned.

     "yeah, we...we..."

     "we had a great time!", camilo exclaimed, helping felicia finish her sentence, for the girl was still too sheepish after what she had said.

     felicia had a tendency to dwell on the things that she says to people, especially at night, right before bed. most of the time, the girl would curl up in embarrassment with her blanket acting as her shield, as she internally cringed at her own words.

     "sooooo, is there gonna be a second date?", penelope grinned, meanwhile phoebe had tugged on her twin's arm, as if signaling that it was none of their business.

     felicia's lips twitched, as camilo was stunned, not sure how to respond.

     "p-penelope, why don't we let camilo go home first and think on it? I'm pretty sure he's tired, and...", felicia hesitated, wondering if she should tell her sisters that she had ruined their date by being weird.

     camilo, on the other hand, was concerned that he had ruined the mood when felicia had given him such a poetic compliment. hence he didn't wish to force the girl on a date, just in case she was disinterested now.

     "aww...okay then...but we'll see you tomorrow morning at church, right camilo??"

     "that's right! I'll see you two bright and early tomorrow", the middle madrigal smiled, shifting his gaze towards felicia one last time, as he took his leave.

     once arriving at the madrigal house, camilo sighed to himself, only to be greeted by mirabel, dolores, and isabela, holding a brightly lit candle up to the boy's face.

     "AY! dios mío", camilo shrieked, as being cornered by his family members was not what he was expecting. well, he kind of expected it, but this was just plain creepy.

     the flame to the candle had only partially lit up his sister and cousins' faces, which gave off the impression that he had entered a haunted house.

     "dolores heard everything", mirabel started off.

     "and she told us everything", isabela continued.

     camilo raised a brow in confusion, as he attempted to just shrug it off and push past the girls. but instead, isabela's vines had kept him in place — forcing his back to be pressed against the front doors.

     "oh yeah? and what did dolores tell you guys?", the boy sassily scoffed, not in the mood to be interrogated by his family.

"from the way your heart anxiously beat until the two of you arrived at the picnic place", isabela answered first.

     "to when she complimented you by comparing you to helios", mirabel added on.

     "and all the way to when her sister asked if you both were going on a second date and you just stood there, heart beating so unbearably loud and fast that I had to step into my room for a moment", dolores exposed in a single breath.

"I—"

"why didn't you say yes? felicia was so excited — and really nervous — but still excited for the date!", mirabel exclaimed.

camilo was on the verge of answering his middle cousin, before deciding against it and swallowing down his own problems.

     "none of your businesses. I already said that I don't need your guys' help", camilo grumbled, sliding under the vines, as he skipped his way up towards his room.

the three girls had then glanced at each other, wondering if they had made a mistake somewhere.

"perhaps...we shouldn't have pushed him so hard?", mirabel unsurely said.

isabela, who was a little more stubborn, had crossed her arms and shook her head.

"it's definitely not OUR fault. we just wanted to help him! the intention's good".

dolores nodded in agreement, as she suddenly perked up — a squeak leaving her lips.

"what, dolores?? what is it??", mirabel curiously asked.

"she's telling her mom about how she wants a second date but doesn't know how to ask him. she's worried that she scared camilo off with her little confession", dolores quietly answered.

isabela and mirabel gasped, as they embraced each other with joy for a hot second before detaching from each other and giving the other a disgusted expression.

"we should go tell camilo!!", mirabel widely smiled.

"or maybe we should wait a while. he seemed pretty upset...", dolores mumbled, "and so does felicia..."

     mirabel facepalmed, as isabela rolled her eyes. it was clear that the two were blood related sisters.

     "where did camilo's cocky personal even flee to? isn't usually he the talkative one?", isabela questioned, "and can't felicia tell that he's obviously interested?"

     "in felicia's defense, she's just painfully shy. you can't blame her since she technically doesn't know camilo very well", mirabel explained.

     "and in camilo's defense, he's...he's just stupid", dolores shrugged, "but more importantly, it's hard talking to your crush, especially when it's your first one".

     "at last, it seems that we must help them. for without us, they'll never confess!", isabela dramatically sighed.

     mirabel and dolores nodded in agreement, sticking their right arms in the center of them all.

     stacking their hands on top of each other, the three girls lifted them up in celebration.

     "operation a in progress!", isabela announced.

     "wait, what's operation a?!"

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     "YOU WENT ON A DATE WITH CAMILO AND DIDN'T TELL US?!", ana offendedly yelled.

     "some best friend you are!", valentina playfully huffed.

     felicia timidly smiled at the fact that they had referred her as their best friend, but nevertheless, attempted to explain herself.

     "well...it happened last minute...", the sixteen year-old said.

     "ugh, you too, mirabel! you knew your cousin was going on a date with our sweet felicia and didn't bother telling us??", valentina accused.

     "okay, to be fair, I didn't want to spill their little date just in case they weren't ready!", mirabel defended.

     "and plus, how did you even find out?", the madrigal questioned.

"ah, well, my brother was trying to invite felicia and her family to have a picnic with us this weekend since my parents love mrs. diaz's bread. plus, they just wanted to specially welcome them to encanto, so when he came back saying that felicia was busy, obviously I had to know what she was busy doing!", valentina explained.

"oh, I'm sorry!! but your parents don't have to go out of their way to invite us to a picnic...you guys pay for bread everyday; that's enough", felicia smiled.

"it's nothing at all! anyways, are you free this weekend or do you have another date with lover boy?", the amaro teased.

"I-I don't!! but let me ask mi mama first", felicia replied, as ana questioned where the picnic would be held.

     "why? trying to crash the party so that you could eat all the food?", valentina giggled, causing ana to gently smack her friend on the shoulder.

     "ouch! hey, what was that for?!"

     "I was just curious, valentina! plus, my mother makes the best food, so I don't need to crash your little party", ana cockily declared.

     valentina childishly stuck her tongue out at her friend, but answered her question nevertheless.

     "it's going to be held at the edge of the east forest. remember, felicia, EAST!"

     felicia nodded, as mirabel wondered how she'd make use of this information.

meanwhile felicia was hanging out at valentina's house, camilo was huddled up in the corner of the library, sitting on the beanbag that was shielded by a curtain.

usually he didn't mind sitting at one of the outside tables, but today he wanted to be a little more secluded from the rest of the people.

opening the journal, camilo slumped back into his seat.

'dear camaleón,

I hope your date went well, because mine (I know, how coincidental) was just perfect! well, at least towards the beginning...

I won't bother you with the details, but I swear he's a natural born entertainer. there wasn't a second that I felt that I could stop smiling. he just had this charm to him that made you want to keep your attention on him always.

however, I believed that I had ruined the moment with a comment of mine. I stupidly complimented him without thinking and I'm sure that I've scared him off. it resides in my head constantly, and I cannot seem to live past it'.

     "ah, I feel the same way...I doubt she'll be pleased with my date experience...", camilo softly sighed.

     'once again, I do hope that your experience was better than mine. though it wasn't any of his fault, it was most definitely mine.

     thank you for reading by the way. have a nice day/night!

     signed by mariposa.

     p.s. like you predicted, I'll be picking truth'.

     camilo had then tilted his head back, his eyes drooping in consideration.

"what should I ask?"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: hello my darlings!! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter (which is a little boring imo), BUT — you will start to notice that mariposa and camaleón will start exchanging longer notes.

and hopefully they'll meet each other soon!! thank you for all the votes + comments; double update (hopefully) since I missed yesterday! <3