"He's texting you."
She flashed the phone screen right in her face, shaking her head.
"Well you were before."
Cameron sighed, and Agatha peered over her shoulder for the fiftieth time.
"Bro, don't you have something else to do?"
Agatha crossed her legs, and sat herself on the couch, gracefully, "Luckily for you, I have a non-existent social life that isn't helped by the fact the people I work with are 40 year old moms."
Cameron rolled her eyes and crossed something out. Names lined the margin of the half-filled notebook, and she chewed the end of her pen, squinting at them.
"I don't know, I mean - I could choose anything here."
"Tell me. About her."
Cameron stared at the page, wondering where to start. She had written so much, and in her mind everything added up - almost. But explaining it was hard, she could never take herself seriously until it was all on paper.
"She's got the perfect family, mum, dad, little sister. Except they're not perfect and neither is she. I kinda imagine her as like perfect - big eyes, perfect nose, that shit. But otherwise, there's nothing interesting to name her after." Cameron scrunched her nose, squinting at the names and looking back at Agatha.
"I really like this. Actually finish," she took a long sip of her coke, and grinned, "name her after me."
"No."
"Come on - there's nothing better, is there?"
"People will think the play's about me."
She thought about it for a second. Her other half finished scraps of ideas came from her life, but this was something completely different. She couldn't even remember when she first came up with it.
"I don't know how you do it, isn't it boring to plan something out - like, your plays, you already know what's gonna happen."
"Well, I don't know how you paint. Or teach classes of 8 year olds how to do art when they're too busy getting the paint all over themselves."
She sat up, and shut the notebook. Agatha yawned and down the last dregs from the can, watching Cameron bury her head in her hands. She wasn't sure if she was thinking or giving up. She ignored it, and went to Ace's bedroom to wake him up.
"Morning sleepy, wake up."
The five year old rolled over, facing the wall.
"Cameron! Wake him up."
Cameron walked in and Agatha disappeared to most likely go and get another soft drink, to make her even more spontaneous and chaotic than she was earlier. Cameron wondered if her friend had a caffeine addiction, and figured that her drinking too many caffeinated drinks meant she had to carry on drinking them - they kept her awake at night, and took away the tiredness in the morning.
"Get up Ace, naps don't last all afternoon."
He groaned burying his head in the blanket. Cameron smirked.
"So, Aggie, are you ready to go to the park?"
"Park-"
"Yeah, I guess Ace can't come because he's asleep, so we'll go on our own," she spoke loud enough for him to hear, and loud enough for him to spring out of bed and grab the clothes on the top of the dresser.
"So you're awake? Are you coming then?"
He stares at her, a look of pure annoyance painted on his face. Cameron giggles, and helps pull on some shorts and a t shirt. He sniffs and swats her away, whining.
"Bro, I'm helping you."
"Come on-!"
He drags her out of his bedroom without even opening the blinds, and pulls her by the arm to open the door and walk to the park. Agatha trails behind them, shutting the flat door with another coke in hand.
- - -
She watched him giggle as he walked up the slide, giddy with excitement. His fluffy locks waved on top of his head, a chestnut cloud framing his face. His grey eyes crinkled with a smile. He looked like Jessica, but Ace's strong resemblance to his sister meant she was sometimes mistaken as his mom. He squealed as he flew down the slide in the sun.
"Swings!" he shouted, breathless. He ran over to the other side of the play are with the energy only small children seem to have. Cameron laughed as Agatha ran behind him with her lilac hoodie billowing out behind her like some kind of cloak.
"Cam!" yelling she turned around, still chasing Ace. Cameron hesitated, not wanting to give up the bench they'd been sitting on to some other parent. She closed her eyes and the afternoon sun glowed red behind her eyelids.
"It's nice here!"
"Come on!"
She gave in and walked over and sat on a patch of grass by the swing set. Ace expectantly at the blonde girl who was sitting on one swing.
"Wait for your turn, Ace," Cameron said, picking at a blade of grass, knowing how impatient her brother was sometimes.
The girl threw her head back, pushing her feet off the tarmac to swing skywards once more. Cameron figured she wasn't getting off anytime soon, and memories of self important prima donnas from old classes came to mind.
"Ace, come sit here while you wait." He crossed his arms. "Ace."
"Let's make a daisy chain," Agatha said, half dragging the boy to the grass. She picked up a white petalled flower and putting it behind her ear, Ace reached up at snatched it off her.
"Don't waste it."
Agatha picks a bunch of daisies, carefully making sure they have long enough stems to make a hole in them. Threading them through the holes in her nail, she smiles whilst putting the chain together, and for a moment Cameron thought that a stranger could mistake her for a quiet, sweet girl who drinks specific iced coffee and goes thrifting in her free time, instead of the messy, half-insane Agatha she knew so well.
"Ooh, maybe you should call her Daisy."
"Oh yeah, that's a good idea," Cameron blew a strand of her out of her face and furrowed her brow at the flowers in her hand, "but it's not that like, interesting. I said I could call her anything."
"I mean it doesn't have to have meaning."
"But I want this one to all tie together," she said, as the short attempt at a daisy chain between her fingers fell to pieces ironically.
"Well she could have like, a meaningful tattoo."
"But it's a play, Aggie, no one would realise on stage and she's not exactly gonna go 'this is my tattoo because my name is whatever'-"
"Listen if you don't want my help-"
"What's the girl name for Peter?" Ace didn't look up from his tangled mess of stems and petals.
"No, we're not naming my play's main character after Peter Parker-" Cameron laughed, throwing her half made daisy chain at her younger brother.
"Patricia? Wait no that's Patrick. I dunno if there actually is a girl Peter version."
Ace wasn't listening, instead he was too busy trying to fix his daisy chain. Having already made three, including the one strung around her neck, Agatha lent back and stretched on the patch of grass. Ace reached up and poked her earring, which belonged to a pair of mismatched dinosaurs hanging from her lobes. Agatha, unsurprisingly, had an extensive collection of odd earrings, including frogs, toilet rolls and even uno cards. Ace loved every pair, and Cameron found his fascination amusing.
"Hey Ace, wanna get a hot chocolate?"
"No - I'm not finished-" Cameron moaned.
"Hot chocolate!" Ace grinned, grabbing Cameron's hand anyway.
Astford had arguably the best cafe's for miles around, if you knew what you wanted and where they were, and East Street Park was luckily located in a square area - the moderately sized park, surrounded by small shops and two or three cafes with apartments above. Cameron liked going there simply because it wasn't as busy as the bigger park and she could get a drink and watch Ace on a bench close by.
"Could I get a caramel latte please, and a hot chocolate."
Agatha stared at the blackboard behind the counter and Cameron stared at her, waiting for her to order something before the silence got anymore awkward. They picked a cafe they'd never been before, that upon entering was actually cosier and generally nicer looking than its run down facade. The modern furniture and bittersweet aroma of coffee gave it a chic feel. Cameron raised her eyebrows at Agatha.
"Um, I'll get the mocha with cream please. Is it good?"
"I like it," the barista smiled, and Cameron watched him pour out milk into a jug and get three cups.
Cameron would pay more attention to waiters and workers at bars and coffee shops ever since she started at Martino's, especially because being approachable and friendly to customers wasn't as easy as it looked. She guessed that this guy was the same sort of age as her, probably working there about the same time that she had at the bar. He had an easygoing air about him, and he beamed underneath cheeks dusted with freckles as he handed over the drinks.
"Thanks."
Ace slurped his loudly before they had the chance to sit down, and Cameron had to steady his wobbling cup that he insisted he could take himself. The table was next to the window, facing the wall, the sun filtering in through the window, making Agatha's light eyes even brighter than usual.
"Ok, let's move on from names, and just tell me about the characters in general."
"Well there's our main character, I told you about her. Seems perfect and nice and best friends with a guy who she just can't help falling in love with. Cliche, I know."
"What's he like?"
"Oh, perfect too. Well he's actually perfect, she just comes across as it. I don't have a name. But he loves her too but something's gonna happen where he sees her 'true colours' I guess."
"Florian."
"What?" Cameron looked across at her, and Ace who had a foamy moustache around his mouth and was holding the cup with two hands.
"Call him Florian. It just came to me." she tipped the cup up to her dark red lips.
"Okay..." Cameron started to smile and Agatha opened her mouth to say something.
She held her hand up dramatically, "No, I'm not finished. Then she has a little sister, who I'm not sure about but is also kind of annoying. And then the mom, very pretty and all that and the dad."
"So, you wanna do like a kind of 'looks perfect but is actually shit' thing-"
"Aggie!" her eyes darted towards Ace who looked up and giggled. "But yeah, I think so. I kind of want it all to unravel as it kind of goes on, you know?"
"Yeah. Oh you should make the mom like super dramatic, like make her have a chaise longue and silk dresses, but also like eat burgers all the time. Dramatic irony or something like that."
"Oh that's actually pretty good. I can imagine her doing that and pretending to be rich - and the main character's sister kind of growing up to be like that."
Agatha nodded, her bleached hair falling past her shoulders with the movement. She watched the barista approach them, spray cleaner in hand.
"Sorry to interrupt, and I promise I'm not creepy, but are you talking about characters or something?"
Cameron blushed and took a sip of her coffee. Ace slurped the last powdery hot chocolate from the mug loudly, paying no attention to anyone.
"Yeah, she's writing a play."
Cameron scratched her forehead and nodded awkwardly, and he grinned. He looked behind his shoulder to the counter before pulling out an empty seat behind him.
"What's it about?"
Cameron smiled, noticing his relaxed personality. His green apron had a stain in the left corner and his lush, tightly coiled curls were just long enough to tuck behind his ears.
"I'm Owen, by the way."
"She's Cameron. I'm Ace," he nibbled on the end of his pinkie with a thoughtful expression and pointed, "That's Agatha."
"Hey."
"Nice to meet you." He smiled again, something that seemed to come naturally for him. "So - your play?"
"Well I've got a rough idea, but it's nothing interesting." He nodded at her to go on.
Owen laughed and listened intently, talkative and raising his eyebrows, glancing behind him every so often to check that he didn't have to go and serve someone urgently. He rolled his eyes after going to make a cappuccino for a grumpy old woman whose face was slightly less scrunched up in frustration by the time Owen had given her his best coffee and smile.
"I work in a bar, so I get you," Cameron smiled, the last to finish her coffee. "Martino's, it's on Shore Road."
They talked for an hour afterward, and even Ace didn't get bored. Owen talked about how he'd worked at the coffee shop for 3 months now, and that most of the customers were nice and it was pretty easy. He spoke to Ace about spiderman, and asked if he was going to the cinema to see the new movie, to which the five year old responded with a resounding yes, staring at his sister with bright eyes.
"Can we get your number?"
"We?" Cameron said incredulously.
"What?" he said, in mock horror at the fact that Cameron objected.
"No, I mean - it sounds weird, like we share a phone - I can literally ask for myself-" she giggled.
"Bitch," Agatha muttered, shaking her head, grinning. They ended up swapping numbers in between laughs.
"So, maybe come here another time? Or we can just meet without me-" he gestured at his apron dramatically, "wearing this."
"Definitely."
Owen waved goodbye and the bell on the glass door jingled as they walked out into the late afternoon sunshine.
a/n
hiii
its me did u forget about me
anyway, chapter 4 woohoo how r u all?
i have school soon but otherwise everything pretty good
new character!! owennn
and ace is so cute- i love him
hope ur enjoying poison, and vote comment and share luvs
bai <3