𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗘𝗗, carlos sainz jr.

𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

song of the chapter
new year's day by taylor swift

❝  hold on to the memories,
they will hold on to you  ❞

―

january 1st, 2022

Camila was officially 25 years old. It was the New Year, it was her birthday, it had been one year since she met Carlos. It was the first day of 2022 and she had started the year by kissing the love of her life. What better way could there possibly be?

That year, Camila had decided to make her birthday slightly different. She had downsized the party a considerable amount, inviting only her closest friends, and she had hosted it in her London apartment rather than in some random bar.

She was moving out of her apartment, it would be her last party ever in that home. She pretty much lived in Carlos's house already, they were just making it official now. Camila was ecstatic at the prospect of living with Carlos, but she was still sad to say goodbye to her place in London. She had bought that apartment when she was 19 years old, some of her best memories were there. So many memories with her friends, her family, with Carlos. The first time they ever spent time alone, when she almost hit him with a lamp, the time they sat on the floor drinking cheap wine and talking late into the night.

She thought that a final party would be the perfect goodbye for the apartment. One last hurrah, as Camila put it as when she pitched the idea to her brother. He was slightly disappointed that there wouldn't be a massive party like normal, but he understood.

Camila was still having a hard time wrapping her head around how much had truly changed. It had only been a year ago that she had been sitting in that dimly lit bar, almost falling off her chair, Carlos catching her. And thank go he had, because that one touch had sparked a conversation, which had sparked to a friendship, which had sparked a relationship that would change both their lives forever. If Camila told herself from a year and a day ago where she was now, dating the man she knew she would one day marry, about to move into his home, she would have called herself crazy. But it wasn't crazy, it was the reality Camila was living in, the reality she prayed that she would live in for the rest of her life.

It was the morning after the party, New Year's Eve had come and gone and New Year's day was upon them. Camila was sitting cross legged on her soft carpet, trying her hardest to clean up the glitter spread across the floor. Bella had thought it would be funny to bring glitter bombs, and as a result Camila's apartment was a shiny, shimmering mess.

Carlos was in the kitchen, disposing of the bottles him and Camila had spent the better part of an hour cleaning up. They had woken up at around eight on New Year's Day, a good four hours of sleep under their belt. They would have slept in later, but there was a lot to clean and the movers were coming that afternoon to take Camila's furniture to Spain. Carlos shoved the various bottles of alcohol into a plastic bag, cringing at just how much their friends had drunk the night before. A moment later, he heard a small laugh coming from the living room, a laugh he could never mistake. Camila's laugh.

He left the kitchen, smiling as he saw his girl sitting cross legged on the carpet, the hardwood in front of her spotted with melted candle wax and polaroid pictures. He had tried to clean up the candle wax earlier, but he had obviously missed some. They still had a lot to clean up, that was for sure.