Aviva

Twenty - Seven | Sick

- Cameron Hayes -

There's a knock on the door and I walk out of my bedroom to open it. Almost tripping over Lucy in the process. I swear this cat doesn't like me at all. Caleb walks in without a greeting and makes himself comfortable on the coach, flicking through channels on the tv.

"Um, welcome to my humble abode. Hello to you too." I start, closing the door and walking to the couch.

"Hello brother, where is my chocolate bar? It's a couple years overdue." So he flew over from Europe for a chocolate bar? Only Caleb.

I walk to the cupboard and pull out the promised chocolate bar. His favourite is Malteasers. No doubt that it's a good chocolate, but I can't decide on which one is my favourite. All I know is that Bounty is last.

"Here you go dear brother, the chocolate bar you deserve from five years ago." I mock. Nevertheless he gratefully accepts it and begins to eat it straight away.

"So, how did you finally do it?" He asks, while scoffing his face with chocolate.

"There's nothing to it. We had our bet, she won and we hung out more, here we are." I summarise, trying to take some chocolate from his hand. He immediately smacks my hand away, shaking his finger slowly as a no.

"If you want chocolate, go buy some with your own money." What?

He picks up my phone when it rings and reads the caller ID. "Bruno is calling you. Oh man, I haven't seen him in a while, is he still funny?" He asks, handing the phone to me.

"Yes, Bruno is still as hilarious as ever." I answer the faceTime call, "Hey Bruno."

"Finally! I bet you all my money, if Aviva called then he would have answered first ring." He complains.

Caleb laughs behind me, "You have no idea, how've you been Bruno?" He takes the phone from me and dives into a full blown conversation with Bruno.

"Well if it isn't the better brother," Bruno smirks, "long time no see."

They continue talking about random things until Bruno tells me why he called in the first place. "We were going to kittensit Lucy, but Aviva's sick so..." He trails off.

Wait Aviva's sick?

"Wait, what do you mean sick?" I ask.

"Nothing serious, just a cold. So be a good friend and check on her, we will take care of your son. His mother is unwell." He adds.

I roll my eyes and slip on my shoes. "See you later." He waves back and ends the call.

"Sorry Caleb I've got to-"

He waves me off, "I'll be here when you get back, go take care of your Mrs." He smirks, "and what was Bruno talking about, you have a son?" My eyes widen, avoiding the question. He doesn't know about Toulouse.

"I'll be back in an hour, Caleb."

***

I knock on the door and Annie opens it up, poking her head out to talk to me. "Hi Cam. What are you doing here?"

"Is Aviva ok?" I ask. She tucks her head back into the room as she speaks to Aviva in a hushed tone. Eventually, she opens the door fully and lets me in. As I walk in she grabs her bag and leaves shutting the door.

Once it closes with a slam, I turn back to it. "Damn, where is she going in such a hurry?" I ask, sitting on Aviva's bed.

"She's insufferable," Aviva groans, rolling her eyes. "She has a date with Alexis and she's been bragging about it all morning." She complains. I look back at her and see that her eyes are red and her nose sounds like it's blocked.