The Bet // Niall Horan

15 - Cameron

Shay.

*One Hour Ago*

"One dozen donuts, please," I ordered from the counter of the bakery down the street from the beach house. I heard it was the best in town and I can't wait to try one of those donuts.

"Would you like to choose your flavors or would you like a surprise batch?" the lady at the cash register asked me.

"Hmm...surprise me," I smiled as she walked away to get my order. I stood off to the side for a good five minutes waiting for the lady to come back when I heard a deep voice talking behind me. Without turning around, I listened in on the boys conversation. Something I like to do when I get bored, don't judge me.

"I don't know. I just got here an hour ago," he paused, indicating that he was on the phone. "I've been driving around, how the hell am I supposed to know!" Geez bro, calm yourself. "I just know, okay! She was coming here for the summer with her friends...yes, I'm positive...I will find her. Carter Anderson will get what she deserves." There's no way. My head snapped up at the sound of my best friend's name being mentioned by the boy on the phone. I glanced over my back to see the brown haired boy that I knew all too well. Cameron O'Keefe.

"Miss, here are your donuts," the lady at the counter handed me my donuts and I snatched them out of her hand before even getting a chance to thank her, I needed to get home and out of here fast. Please don't see me, please don't see me, I thought as I practically ran out of the bakery and past the devil himself.

*End of flashback*

Carter.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. There was no air coming out of my lungs and no air coming in. He's here. He's here for me. "No...no, no, no, no," I repeated over and over again trying to make it go away. The feeling present in my stomach surely wasn't healthy and it was the same exact one I had last time I saw him. Him. He's here. I couldn't stop repeating it to myself.

My breathing suddenly became staggered and my vision was starting to go blurry. Slowly my body started to shut down but my brain was fully aware. Something wet was streaming down my cheeks and it took me a while to figure out that it was tears. My hands were shaking, my knees on the verge of collapsing, and my mind continuously repeated his name.

"Carter? Carter?! Listen to me!" Shay was yelling at me but it felt like I couldn't hear a thing. "Mason!" she was yelling for him now, I could hear the panic in her voice but I couldn't bring myself to say I was fine because we both knew I wasn't.

"What? Is everything okay?" Mason came rushing over while looking slightly confused but sounding extremely nervous.

"She's having a panic attack," Shay's voices was shaking, showing that she wasn't calm either.

"Carter, listen to me. Go sit down on the chair, I'm getting you some water," he shoved the kitchen bar stool at me, but my panicked state wasn't going to let me sit. "Carter, sit in the fucking chair!" Okay, maybe that will get me out of my trace. I stumbled over to the chair and sat myself on it while I waited for Mason to get my water. "Here." I took the glass in my hands as I quietly and slowly sipped the cold water; focusing on the feeling it gave my insides as it passed through. "What the hell happened?" I could hear Mason talking to Shay inside the kitchen but I tuned it out, not wanting to hear the story all over again. Cameron. Cameron. The name even left a vial feeling in the back of my mouth, I didn't even have to say it out loud for it to make me feel nauseous.

"Hey, is everything okay in here. Mason ran out of the living room at Shay's worried tone," a voice came from behind me, making me jump in the process. I looked up from my glass of water to find a very worried looking Niall. I didn't have the energy to reply back so I nodded slightly and returned back to my sipping. "Carter," he cautiously asked, "is everything okay?" he tried again. I was about to answer with a short 'yes' but yelling from the kitchen stopped me.

"Shay, she just had a fucking panic attack! Do you really think it's a good idea for her to stay here?" Mason was screaming at Shay. And it was because of me and my screwed up problems.

"Excuse me," I said to Niall as I got out of my chair slowly before walking into the kitchen where Mason was fuming and Shay looking like a lost puppy. "I'm not leaving."

"Yes you are because you are not staying here all summer with him looking for you," Mason spun on me and I could tell he was on his last string and it was really close to snapping.

"Let me say it again. I'm. Not. Leaving." And with that I walked right back out of the kitchen, grabbing my water and started up the stairs, but not before Mason came running out of the kitchen with Shay hot on his heels.

"Where the hell do you think you're going? This conversation isn't over." And there goes his last string.

"Upstairs. Where else would I go? I'm not leaving here Mason. I am not going to let him run my life and make me run scared wherever I go! I can't sit around like a worried child waiting for someone to break into my house while I'm home alone!" I stomped up the stairs and slammed my bedroom door behind me, flinging myself onto my bed.

This isn't happening. No way. No how. I haven't seen him since the day it happened. The day I never wanted to relive with the boy I never wanted to run into again. The worst part is that he was here, in the same town as me, looking for me. Searching and driving and waiting to find me. I can picture him laughing manically to himself in his car as he drive all over town, thinking about what he's going to do once he finds me. If he finds me. When Shay told me what she had heard she was very cautious while telling me the details of his conversation over the phone. It made me worried, no...terrified, of what he was planning. I don't want to know but I have this awful feeling that I know I'm going to find out.

A light knock on my door made me jump slightly. "Go away," I mumbled into my pillow.

"I'm not leaving," a prosistant Mason was on the other side of my door.

"I said go away," I tried again.

"Let me try this again. I'm. Not. Leaving." Oh great, now he's mocking me.

"Just for that your never coming in." Then it hit me. I didn't lock the door.

"Would you like to try that again?" Mason asked cockily ask he strolled into my room, smirking at himself.

"Go die in a hole."

"Well that's no way to treat a friend," he replied, faking hurt.

"Who said you were my friend," I countered back. He groaned before throwing himself next to me on my bed, making the spot next to me dip in with his weight.

"You did. Multiple times."

"Wipe that stupid smirk off your face or I'll do it for you," I sneered.

"Carter, listen-" But I cut him off, staring straight at him. "No, Mason, you listen. I know what you think and I know what you think is best for me. But you think, you don't know. No one does, no one will know except for me. I'm so sick of hiding in fear, running away from something that happened eight months ago. I-"

"It's not a bad thing to be scared or want to hide," Mason argued.

"Let me finish. I've spent too much time hiding and being scared of what might happen next. But I don't want that anymore. I'm done with that and I'm done with him. He can come find me," I finished proud of the speech I had given.

"You sure?" Mason asked, fear for me still clear in his eyes.

"Positive." I think.

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A/N

Photo of Cam on the side. 

I just want to let you know that this isn't just a fan fiction about One Direction, it's about Carter as well. I don't want people to get upset that One Direction isn't a big part in every chapter. They'll become more important a bit later on in the story, I promise.