Cloud 69

57:

august 2, 2019

"I heard Lana's looking for you!" Cameron said, nudging his shoulder with a suggestive smirk. The red cup in his hands was tilted forward in the movement, resulting in some of the alcohol splashing onto the carpet beneath him. 

"She can keep looking," He responded, rolling his eyes. "Hell, she can put up 'Wanted' posters with my face on it and I'd still find a way to keep her away from me."

"Oh, come on," Cameron chided. "She's hot."

Carson shook his head, "Not gonna happen, man. But if you wanna try for her, be my guest."

Cameron wasn't given a chance to respond, as Mason came barreling into the room, two girls hot on his heels.  He placed a beer bottle down on the coffee table and slid it in Cameron's direction before plopping down on the arm of Carson's chair. The girls made themselves comfortable, one sitting on the edge of the coffee table in front of Mason, and the other sat down on the couch in between Carson and Cameron. 

Cameron reached for the bottle, using his teeth to take off the cap, and spitting it haphazardly across the room. The girls shared a look between of disgust between themselves before glaring at Cameron, who only gave them a cheeky smile. 

"You're gonna be toothless by 29," Talia complained, whipping her long, black hair over her shoulder. 

"That's why God invented dentures," Cameron responded before taking another swig of beer. He offered the bottle to Carson, who only held up his hand in rejection. 

"You're sister is not going to be happy if you come home drunk off of your ass," Zoey added, tugging on Cameron's arm in a poor attempt to grab the beer bottle from the fist he had made around it. 

Cameron scoffed, "My sister's not my keeper."

"Really, then why are you so scared of her?" 

"I'm not."

Mason laughed out loud, challenging Cameron's statement. "Should I recall that one time last year when you-"

"Don't," Cameron interrupted, glaring at his best friend menacingly. "Don't even go there."

Mason held his hands up in surrender, and the tide of the conversation had prompted Cameron to put down his beer bottle once and for all, placing it down on the table next to Talia.  

The rest of the conversation was carried for the most part by Zoey and Cameron, whose persistent bickering had become the center of the group's attention. Talia leaned back on her hands, throwing a casual statement in, and Mason would make a remark now and then, but Carson was almost completely silent. 

In honesty, he almost hadn't come tonight. Carson had been looking forward to getting drunk on Friday all week long. But this week had been shit, and, now that Friday was here, Carson would rather be anywhere else. He only agreed to come tonight because Dylan wanted a chance to get with Talia, and he wanted Carson to be there to talk him up. But Dylan bailed an hour before the party, leaving Carson on his own, too sulky and frustrated to want to socialize or drink himself into oblivion. 

He was torn away from his thoughts when Talia extended her leg forward and kicked him in the shin. He startled and let out an audible hiss before glaring at her. 

"What the fuck, Talia?"

"Why are you so quiet tonight?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as if she would find the answer hidden on his face. 

"I'm always quiet."

"Yeah, but it's more like broody quiet tonight," Mason agreed, joining in on the conversation to avoid being dragged into the small argument that had broke out between Cameron and Zoey. "Usually it's just the 'I'm too hot to talk' quiet."