Reality of Yearning (GxG)

5. Sleepover

"Cam!"

Carter's voice made Cameron jump from the startle, her hand reaching for her chest as if it would calm her pounding heartbeat.

"What do you want?", she asked annoyingly, only wishing to eat her fries and think about her blond without anyone calling her every two minutes.

"I don't know where your head is at right now but it's definitely not here", Carter claimed.

"Am I not allowed to eat and think in peace without being bothered?", Cameron asked with a roll of eyes, not caring if she had offended the people around the table.

"What is wrong with you? First you lash out at London and embarrass her in public and now you tell everybody to fuck off."

"Don't talk about things you don't know, Carter."

"Hum... Cam, I'm going for a smoke. Wanna join?", Ryan asked as he stood up from his chair.

In any other circumstances she would have refused, but they were all getting on her nerves so she took her pack and her phone and followed Ryan outside, letting him take a cigarette from her pack.

"Fuck, I forgot how cold it was outside", Cameron folded her arms to hug herself and leaned against the wall as she took her first drag.

"You need me to go get your jacket?", Ryan asked her in a nice voice.

"I'm okay, thanks. At least if I get sick I'll have a solid excuse to miss classes."

"From what I heard you don't really need an excuse to ditch", Ryan said teasingly, making Cameron snort in amusement.

"Fair point", she simply said, letting silence settle between them.

"Are you okay?", Ryan asked out of nowhere, taking Cameron aback and leaving her silent for a few seconds.

"I'm fine. You?"

"Fairly well. I'm mostly glad to get along with the boys. It's always nice to play in a united group."

"When is the next game again? I didn't ask Carter."

"Next weekend. At least we'll get to enjoy this week's party properly", Ryan said with a smile.

"It's my best friend's birthday", Cameron informed him.

"That's cool, I didn't know that. Should we get her a gift or?", Ryan asked in a confused tone.

"I mean, if you want. But you don't really know her so you'll have to find something quite impersonal", Cameron answered frankly.

"Chocolates and flowers?", Ryan suggested with a bright smile that conveyed a lot of sympathy and comfort. Cameron liked that.

"That could do the trick", she nodded and puffed on her cigarette before stubbing it out. "Are you done?", she asked.

"Sure. I don't even smoke anyway", he shrugged and threw the half consumed cigarette on the floor.

"Why did you offer me a smoke then?", Cameron asked, amused by Ryan's behavior.

"To get you out of there. You needed that."

"I did", she said with a nod and pushed the door open to go back to their table.

The first thing Cameron did was to use her scarf as a throw that she wrapped around her shoulders. The second thing she did was to go back to her fries, although they had gotten cold. She had no desire to socialize and pretend to be okay with the current group when she wasn't. Her main bother was London and how she had made everybody believe that Cameron had disgraced her without any reason. Because of that, Cameron had barely spoken to Carter in the past couple of days and the ambiance of the group was not at its best.