chapter three

"BOO!"

Carla watched in amusement as her twin jumped in startlement and proceeded to shapeshift into 2 different people, herself, and back to himself.

"Carla!" Camilo exclaimed, indignantly.

"What? I couldn't help it. You were standing all alone and vulnerable." Carla shrugged carelessly.

Camilo gave his twin one last glare before letting out a sigh of defeat. "Can't say I probably wouldn't have done the same thing, myself."

This earned him a smug look from Carla, before a booming noise to be followed by the sounds of rain suddenly resounded around the hall.

"Looks like mami couldn't find Antonio." Carla stated.

"Poor thing. I'd be nervous too if I were him — the last gift ceremony didn't actually go as planned, did it — HEY!" Camilo was saying before his arm was harshly elbowed by his twin.

He went to glare and complain to Carla but stopped himself when he saw her shake her head and gestured to the other side of the hall, where Mirabel — who probably heard what he said — was walking with a downcast look on her face.

"Oh."

"Ay, dios mio." Carla muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

-

As 7 pm struck, Pepa's side of the family (minus Antonio) gathered in the area behind the red curtains, waiting for Antonio to show up — well, the others were waiting, Pepa was pacing with a cloud above her head, worrying that Antonio wouldn't show at all.

"Calm down, Mami, Antonio's definitely going to show up. You remember how excited he was about finally getting his gift last week?" Carla tried to reassure her mother while Felix attempted to swat away the cloud over his wife's head.

"Yeah, but that was before he realized that so many things could go wrong though." Camilo unhelpfully piped in, yelping after getting a nice jab to the side and glare from his twin for the comment.

"Carla's right, mi amor, I'm sure he's already making his way down as we speak." Felix said after successful banishing the looming cloud.

"Mirabel has talked to him. They're on their way." Dolores stated.

"See? There's nothing to worry about." Felix said.

"Oh, there's actually a lot I could think of right now." Pepa said, another cloud forming above her head.

Just as Felix was about to swat that one away too, it suddenly disappeared when they saw Antonio making his way down the stairs with Mirabel.

"There you are!" Felix cheered as the family approached their youngest.

"Look at you — all grown up." Pepa said, suddenly getting emotional, the infamous cloud making another appearance, but this time, accompanied by a small drizzle.

"Baby, amor, you're going to get him all wet." Felix said, immediately swishing away the cloud and pulling his wife back slightly.

Camilo then decided that this was the right time to start impersonating their dad, trying to ease his clearly nervous hermanito.

"You are making your papa proud." He said with an exaggerated accent, which made Carla snort.

"I don't sound like that." Felix said, looking slightly offended.

"I don't sound like that." Camilo mockingly repeated, successful getting at least a small smile out of Antonio.

"Abuela says, it's time." Dolores suddenly cut in, causing them all to smile encouragingly at him — with Camilo still being a smaller version of his father.

"We'll be waiting at you door." Pepa whispered as she gave Antonio one last hug.

"Okay, okay, vamos, vamos, vamos." Felix said as he gestured for his family to come.

"Okay, okay, vamos, vamos, vamos." Camilo repeated once more, seemingly not done with his act yet, which actually got a slightly bigger smile out of Antonio.

Felix had had enough and resorted to picking up his son. "Alright, I'm done." Camilo finally relented before getting carried away by his father.

As Carla was about to slip out of the curtains after her family, she decided to give her hermanito some last words of reassurance.

Having already experienced it herself, she knew how nerve wracking that aisle was. She only got lucky that she was a twin and had Camilo to hide behind when walking down the path towards their doors. But Antonio didn't have a twin though. He had to walk alone, so without even thinking, Carla knelt down in front of her hermanito and said.

"You know, if you're really that nervous, I could always walk with you. Just up until the stairs, of course. I don't actually know if Abuela is even gonna allow it. It also doesn't really have to be me. We could ask Dolores, or Camilo, or maybe even Mami and Papi." Carla suggested, her hands on both of Antonio's shoulders, looking hind straight in the eyes.

She suddenly saw the younger her in him. The tiny nervous wreck that didn't let go of her twin until she was forced to when they had to go to their separate doors.

She saw a glint in Antonio's eyes and for a moment she was sure that he was about accept the offer. Although, she didn't have the chance to find out because the next moment she was being pulled to the curtains by none other than her twin.

"Come on, it's starting!" Camilo said as he dragged his sister towards the curtains.

Forgetting about her worries from earlier, she was completely left unprepared when they burst through the curtains, immediately recieving a lot of stares.

Camilo, startled by the many pairs of eyes on them — or rather at his twin sister — realization suddenly hit him like a rock.

"Oh."

He forgot that this was not only Antonio's gift ceremony, it was also the first celebration his sister is attending fully since their own gift ceremony. Of course, she was getting a lot of stares.

Camilo told himself as he turned to look at his already panicking twin.

He quickly led her to where the rest of their family was standing, which was at least better than standing at the aisle where everyone could see them. He then turned to her and lightly grabbed her shoulders, making her face him and look at only him.

"Breathe, mi sol, breathe. It's okay, I'm here. They won't bother you, alright? You're going to watch Antonio get his gift, you're going to celebrate with us, and you're going to get through this night with the biggest smile on your face, I'll make sure of it. You wanted to show yourself, right?" Camilo said as he rubbed her shoulders, comfortingly.

Carla looked into Camilo's eyes and took deep breaths, calming down. She then closed her eyes and nodded her head, shakily.

Another hand was suddenly placed on her arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. She looked up to see her older sister, Dolores, giving her a reassuring smile.

Carla returned the smile before looking back up at her slightly taller twin brother and nodded more determinedly.

She was going to get through this night. For Antonio for herself.