One More Year

Chapter 16

Chuckling my dad, pushes him further in the house, "The fact that you're scrawny."

Cam genuinely laughs, "I'm not scrawny. I'm lean. I work out every day. What about you? Looks like you're letting yourself go."

Uncle Vinny laughs as my dad smirks, "Do you run?"

Cam smirks and scoffs, "I'll smoke you. Have you seen how old you are?"

I look over at Giovanna and Carla who's mouths are hanging wide open and I want to laugh it if it wasn't for the fact that I need to talk to Cam on my own.

"You're a little shit." My dad says this with a smirk so I know he's playing and so does Cam as he stands confidently smirking at my dad.

Uncle Vinny says something about them going to the gym room to work out to see if Cam can really beat them and I move quickly grabbing his arm.

"Wait... Can I talk to him without all of you here?" I look over at my dad.

"For what?" Uncle Vinny asks like it's the worst idea ever.

My mom steps in closer which I didn't even realize she had come into the living room, "Let the boy grovel. If he's gonna be an ass to Liv then I need him to grovel." My mom rolls her eyes walking back into the kitchen with Aunt Lauren.

I smile at a frowning Uncle Vinny and take Cam's hand, making him follow me out to the backyard passing the sliding doors in the living room.

When we're clear out of earshot, I look up at him to find he's smiling widely, "Is that your uncle or something? You guys share the same resemblance."

I nod as I bite my bottom lip before answering. "Yeah. That's my Uncle Vinny. They came from the east coast to visit."

A small smile plays on his lips and when we stand there for what seems like ages. He searches my eyes as I can see a battle going on in those deep blue eyes. I deeply wish I knew what he was thinking.

I open my mouth to apologize for my behavior yesterday, but he beats me to it as he takes hold of my hand, "I'm sorry for the way I treated you, Livy. It should've never got that far."

Clearing my throat, I look down, "I'm sorry too. I didn't need to get riled up the way I did, but then Thomas said..." I look around at nothing, in particular, to think about a way to say the words, "It's just your friendship means a lot to me now. I don't want to lose that."

I want to tell him, how he can hang out with Zoey and make me look like a fool, but it'll only unleash my hurt feelings that I put away inside since yesterday. I've realized that if he wants something deeper and meaningful, he'll let me know. If he's someone that wants loyalty then I need that too.

I look up to see his blue eyes staring back at me and I can see they narrow a little as he thinks. Finally nodding, he tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, "You mean a lot to me too."

This makes my heart warm and I feel a weight being lifted off my shoulders and his smile just makes me smile with him. He places his hands on my waist slowly pulling me towards him. I wrap my arms around his neck and he leans down to kiss my temple as his lips move closer to my ear. 

"I've missed you, Cookie." His voice comes out deeper near my ear and I wonder if he used the nickname because he wants to kiss me. But I can't tell as I'm engulfed in his scent and take a moment to close my eyes and breath him in this close again.

I pull back and look at his eyes more closely. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but I think I see the same tenderness I feel for him as he looks at me. I cup his cheek as I rub my thumb on his cheekbone.