Summer Went Away | Cam Cameron (2)

Empty

Jeremiah

The house was empty. Emilia was frozen. She didn't walk over to Cam, I wish she walked over to Cam. I ran upstairs to Mom's room. It was empty. It was like she was never there. The blankets that smelled like her, the room she decorated, all gone. It was all Julia and Dad's fault. The entire fucking world is going to shit. Mom is dead, the house is gone, Belly left me for Conrad then Conrad broke her heart. What the fuck is wrong with the world. I thought things couldn't get worse than what they were, but this is worse. This is fucked.

I got downstairs as Conrad was yelling at Julia, "You know I'm sorry that my grandfather didn't love you as much but I am not the least bit surprised!" He ran outside, and I expected Emilia to follow him but she didn't.

I knew she was taking this just a little bit harder than all of us because the house was supposed to go to her.

"I still don't know why your mom didn't tell you what was going on," Julia told us.

Emilia shot her head around, "I am so sorry that my mother was too busy dying and trying to spend time with her kids to warn me that you would steal this house from under me."

Emilia was fuming, her ears were red and I couldn't tell if she was going to cry or slap someone across the face. She turned to look at Skye, "Did you fucking know about this?" She yelled.

Skye shook their head, "No, Emilia,  of course, I didn't."

Cameron put his hand on her shoulder, "Breathe, Melia, don't get mad at them for something their mom did."

He was right, but he shouldn't have said that to her, she ripped her arm away and went out to where Conrad was.

He ran after her, with Steven and Taylor right behind. I heard Skye talking to their mom as we ran out. They almost seemed like they were on our side.

Emilia was texting someone on her phone and Conrad was on his, "Of course, Dad did nothing to stop this," she whispered.

I shook my head, "Connie, Emmy...what can he do?"

"Jere! He doesn't care about us!" Conrad yelled. Emilia walked over to him and linked her pinky with his. I was always jealous of how close they were but in this moment I hoped that she had some magic touch to calm him down.

Skye came outside to where we were and Conrad ran over to them, "Did you know about this, I'm serious did you know?"

"Emilia already interrogated them, they are innocent," Cam told him.

Conrad turned to face him, "Could you just shut the fuck up, Cam? Why are you even here? What is the reason other than my sister and Skye to take turns making 'goo goo' eyes at you?"

"Don't yell at him," Emilia snapped. Her face fell, she saw the eyes too. Skye clearly had some kind of crush on Cam Cameron, but who wouldn't? He is in love with Emilia, and I hope she can see that. I hope she doesn't let this be the one thing that causes them to fight.

"Connie? Emilia? Come on what are we going to do?" Steven asked.

Emilia just looked at the ground while Conrad yelled that he had no clue.

"Okay, we can't just leave," I told them.

We tried to figure out where to stay. Cameron offered to go if we didn't want to deal with him anymore which made Em grab onto his hand tighter than ever. Taylor said we should all just leave. We can't give up that easily.

***

"Okay, let's move this outside before Cam Cameron has a stroke," I laughed. He was so stressed about the mess everyone was making. The only good thing that came out of this night was I have never seen Em laugh harder since Mom died.

"What are you guys doing?" She laughed, as we were jumping on the golf cart. "I swear you guys are going to hurt yourselves and I don't have the energy to take any of you to the hospital."

We got off because all of us will do basically anything Emilia says. Mom Jr. knows best, and the fact that she doesn't know what to do is terrifying.

We were all sitting on blankets or by the golf cart when Steven decided we should play truth or dare. Belly dared him to eat the 'weed apple' as Em named it.

"He knows he has to clean that up, right?" Cameron asked.

Emilia put her hand on his back, "We will make him clean it up. And honestly, do you really think your mom will get mad if we explain this to her?"

He thought for a second, "The dead mom card might save you but she also might kill me for not bringing you to a comfortable place to sleep."

"Conrad," Emilia asked. 'Truth or dare?"

"I'm not playing," he sang.

Em held her ears, "Oh please don't sing. Once was enough, that was the most traumatic part of the whole funeral."

Steven almost spit out his drink, "That's saying a lot considering you ate shit on the way in and almost passed out in my arms."

"Right," Taylor laughed. "Cam? You know the drill?"

He nodded, "Yes, truth, please."

"What is your biggest regret?"

He thought for a moment, "Probably not spending enough time with my sister before she died."

Emilia had told us a little about her. Her name was Lizzie, she died ten years ago at sixteen, a year younger than Cam is now. She was the middle kid between Cam and Shelby. She was hit by a drunk driver, it's the reason we all think Cam doesn't drink and why he gets so stressed when Emilia goes out at night.

His words around it were comforting. Emilia rubbed her thumb on the back of his neck as he talked. Somehow he made it seem like we could survive losing Mom. I understand why Emilia finds so much comfort in him. I'm so happy that she has him after the hell she went through with her ex. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if they were still together. Thank God for Cam Cameron.