A Missed Opportunity

8

❃𝙺𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚊❃

"Cameron, please don't jump from there—"

I cut myself off when he jumps from the exact place I'm trying to tell him not to jump. Then sigh deeply when he starts to cry after hitting the ground. Hard. I stand up from the bench to make my way over. He sits up in the wood chips, already lifting his hands up for me.

I groan a little bit when I reach down to pick him up. And suddenly, he's no longer in pain. He gasps loudly at me, offended I made such a noise while I picked him up. "Sorry." I mutter as I awkwardly begin making my way over to the playground steps. "You're just getting a little too old for this, baby."

"Old?" He frowns deeply. "You're old." He bitterly returns when I set him down on one of the steps to check him for an injury. He doesn't end up having any.

"Okay. What did we say about commenting on Mommy's age?"

"Can we make a new rule?" He asks without acknowledging my question. He doesn't wait for my response. "Mommy can't be mean about my age." He decides firmly.

I sigh. "Fine. But if you comment on mine again, I'll comment on yours."

"Fine."

"Fine." I return with a scrunched nose as I roll his sleeve back down.

Cameron starts leaning over some while I roll his jeans down too after checking his knee for any actual injury. He did initially cry when he fell, and it was kind of harsh. I want to be sure, is all. But I quickly start to find that he's fine when I don't find any injuries and when I see he's not paying attention anymore. He's busy watching something over my shoulder.

Eventually, I look over my shoulder at whatever he's looking at. Or whoever. I find Noah pretty easily even around the different people in the park right now, either walking their dogs or simply hanging out.

And somehow, Cameron found him too.

"Mommy, stranger danger." He whispers as he leans in closer to my ear. I quickly look back at him. He stares at me with wide eyes. I laugh when I realize he just recognizes the man from the party, not Noah.

"Come on, baby." I stand up from the ground and hold my hand out. He reaches out to take it, watching the man behind us cautiously. I start guiding him away from the playground to go meet Noah a little less than halfway. The closer we get to each other, I start to notice he has a bag in his hand. I can't help my wondering. "Hey," I breathe my greeting as I try to bring Cameron closer.

Cameron holds my hand a little tighter when we make it to Noah. I look down at him curiously while he shifts a little to try and hide behind me. It's out of character for sure. He's usually so much more open with strangers. The only time I've ever seen him so nervous with new people is while we were meeting his last principal. And the last time I deemed a boyfriend nice enough to introduce him to.

Noah looks just as nervous though. "Hey." He greets me similarly, his eyes drifting down to Cameron. A soft smile crosses Noah's face as he starts dropping to his haunches to get closer to eye level with Cameron. "Hi." He greets him too, just as quietly.

Cameron looks at me before he answers, as if waiting for me to tell him it's okay. I just hold his hand tighter. "Hi." He mumbles. "You were at the party." He points out quietly.