WHO: Camila Marple & Eva Marple. WHEN: Backdated to during the blackout. WHERE: The Bellowes Inn. SUMMARY: Camila and Eva have a sleepover during the blackout. WARNINGS: None.
Eva rubbed her eyes and suppressed a yawn as she walked down the hall toward the Webb room. It had been an unexpectedly long night at work, passing out candles and reassuring guests and taking stock of what food would survive the night unrefrigerated and still be usable for breakfast. She'd been scheduled to leave earlier than this, but really, it wasn't as if she could go anywhere anyway. But when Julián told her to go get some sleep, Eva realized that she did have a better option than staking a claim on some couch space in the staff room or a common room.
So here she was, knocking quietly on Camila's door, wondering if her sister was even still awake to answer.
It was strange, the quiet that came when every electrical device ceased to whir and hum. Camila was used to sleeping with the noise of a sound machine, hearing the occasional car alarm or muffled conversation through her apartments wall. Sleep didn’t come easily when her mind had nothing but silence, nothing but room to run free. And so, she heard the knock.
A second later she was at the door, peeking through the peephole. As the door swung inward she spoke in hushed tones,“You didn’t go home?”
"It's a mess out there. Doesn't seem worth the risk until the storm dies down a bit. Can I..." She paused for just a breath before continuing, "Can I stay here tonight?" It seemed a lot to ask, somehow -- like an intrusion on Camila's fancy LA life, the one that seemed to have no room for Eva. And yet, she knew that the queen bed in the Webb room was big enough for two sisters.
“Yeah,” Camila nodded as she pulled the door wide, a bit mad at herself for not having thought to offer this to Eva in the first place. “Yeah,” she repeated as she pulled her little sister into a half hug. “Of course. You must be beyond tired. Want to share the bed?”
A whisper: "Are you still awake?"
Camila rolled over and resettled into her pillow. “Yes,” she whispered in reply before asking a silly question that she’d asked many times as a child. “Are you?”
Eva giggled at the response, feeling like they were young girls having a sleepover in the den again."Yeah. I don't sleep well away from my own bed. Still."
“Some things never change.” Camila giggle-sighed in reply.
That felt truer than ever here in the darkness, with no sounds except the rain outside. Eva reached out to nudge Camila's foot with her own. "Yeah, and I bet you're still ticklish, aren't you?"
As if in response, Camila’s arms shot up to block any tickling that Eva might do, but she’d gone for the foot instead. “Yes,” she giggled as she pushed her sister’s foot back. “Stop it.”
It was too dark for Camila to see the grin on Eva's face, but the joy in her voice was unmistakable. "You know, I'm glad you're here."
Camila’s lips curled back in the inky darkness, mirroring her sister’s expression whether she realized it or not. “Me too.”
"I've really missed you, you know. I know you're following your dreams, and -- that's really cool. I just... miss you."
The smile faded away, Camila closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds. “I miss you too, all of you. Dreams don’t always turn out the way you thought they would …” there was no way to say any of this that didn’t sound like a cliche. “But it’s still worth trying, I don’t know. Pretend I don’t sound like a college graduation card.”
"Oh, the places you'll go," Eva replied immediately, then fell silent for a stretch. When she spoke again, it was in an even quieter voice. "Did you always know? About your dreams, I mean. Or did you just realize it all of a sudden?"
“All of a sudden,” Camila replied easily. “If I don’t do this now, I never will. It was like that.”
This was the answer that Eva needed to hear. If it was all of a sudden, at least that explained why she left the way she did. At least she didn't plan for it to happen that way. Still, it hurt. Still. "And you're glad you did?"
Camila's hand glided along the sheet, towards Eva and back, towards Eva and back. "Most of the time."
"Well, you deserve to be happy, wherever you are."
"So do you."
"I don't have dreams like you do." She wouldn't have said it in the light of day, but here it slipped out in a whisper. It felt true.
“Is that a bad thing?” Camila whispered back.
"I don't know."
"Maybe it'll come to you one day," she suggested in what she hoped was a helpful tone.
"Yeah." And then I'll run away and break everybody's hearts. "Or not. I don't know. It's fine."
She let the silence stretch for a few seconds. There were other things she could say, of course, questions she could ask, should ask maybe. But it was late and for some reason Camila suddenly felt the full weight of it. "I love you."
Though she hadn't said much, Eva felt like she'd gotten something off her chest here in the darkness. Her body relaxed into the bed, and she started to think that maybe she'd be able to fall asleep soon. "I love you too."