7.
Cammie's new look on life due to her 'new' eyes only lasted a week. She was doing her homework at the table when Eliot's friends came running in to get rice Krispy treats from the cabinet. Eliot said hi to Cam as he passed but his friends stopped, their feet shuffling to a halt.
"HOLY-" Fynn said trying to push through Brady to get further away from Cammie.
"DUDE HER FACE!" Taron said eyes wide. Cammie looked up suddenly embarrassed and confused, angry.
"Like a freaking wad of chewing gum." Max said softly. Cammie jumped up from the table and ran to her room, trying to cover her face with her hands.
"Cammie!" Eliot called as he watched her disappear. "Not cool guys." Eliot said as he passed out treats.
"Outside boys, I will bring out some juice boxes in a bit." Evan ushered them out after hearing the commotion.
"Dude you never said your sister was-" Evan didn't want to hear what they had to say about Cameron, he moved quickly to her room and knocked gently on the door.
"Can I come in? It's just me, the boys are outside again." Evan said, hand clasped around the door knob.
"NO!" Cammie moaned. Evan opened the door anyway. "I said no! Why do you bother asking if you are just going to come in?" Cammie badgered.
"I'm sorry," Evan closed the door taking a step out, "can I come in now? Please?"
"No." Cammie repeated.
"Too bad." Evan entered again and Cammie groaned. "Do you need anything? Want anything? Need me to have Eliot beat up his friends? I think he would be happy to punch-" Evans words were cut off by a cry, a scream more like it. "What the..." Evan moved out of the room and towards the boys downstairs. When Evan made it to the window his heart stopped. He ran outside and stood trying to figure out the situation before knowing entirely what happened. Evan looked between the boys until he saw Brady clutching his nose, blood dripping between his fingers.
"Eliot punched me!" He screamed, he was on his knees, tears falling down his cheeks and the rest of the boys watching in amazement. Evan looked speechlessly over to Eliot.
"Eliot." Evan warned.
"He made fun of Cameron, I had to." Eliot said matter of factly.
"I think it's time maybe everyone goes home." Evan said looking around to the group. Evan got complaints by the rest of Eliot's friends, the un-punched friends that they wanted to stay. "Brady can I get you some ice and then I can take you home?" Evan offered. Brady stood up defiantly, dropped his hands down to his sides, clenched his fists and charged at Eliot. Soon they were wrestling on the ground and the boys were screaming out wresting moves. It was sort of a tie, them rolling on the ground pinching and poking each other, pulling hair. "I'm going to call your mom and see what she wants to do." Evan said loudly over the boys rumble.
"Eliot punched another kid for me?" Cammie said pecking out the window at them wrestling on the lawn.
"Yeah," Evan said annoyed as he dialed Brady's home phone. "Hi, this is Evan Brooks, Eliot's dad... yeah well..." Evan looked back out the window at the boys as he talked to Brady's mom. "Eliot punched Brady in the nose after Brady was saying mean things about Cameron... I know that it's not right to punch and we have discussed this..."
"You shouldn't let her near them! She is scaring them obviously. Just because you all can deal with-" She screamed through the phone. Evan stopped listening, he wouldn't hear her bash his daughter as well.
"Brady seems to be fine the boys are wrestling on the lawn working it out..." Evan tried to reason.
"I'm coming to get him right now! And don't think I won't be telling the other moms what Eliot did! Scarlett should have been home, this wouldn't have happened if she was there!" She hung up and rushed to get her purse. Evan looked to Cammie who heard the whole thing, it was hard not to hear, with her yelling at Evan the whole time.
"Call mom, she will know what to do." Cammie said simply as she grabbed her things and moved back to her room to finish her homework. She still felt miserable and wanted to punch the little brat in the face, but having Eliot punch Brady was the next best thing.
"21st street Veterinary clinic, this is Mollie."
"Hi Mollie, its Evan."
"Oh Evan, hi sweetie how are you?" Mollie responded as she answered the hospital phone.
"I have been better," Evan began. Mollie was such a kind person, sweet voice, always made him smile.
"Oh hon what happened?" Mollie waved goodbye to the Marrs as they exited with their Rottweiler wagging his tail happily to escape the vet.
"Can I talk to Scarlett?"
"Let me see if she's available..." The waiting music filled the phone and Evan looked out at the kids. They stopped fighting and now were laughing. Brady's nose didn't look broken and had stopped bleeding, which was wonderful because it seemed Brady's mom wanted to sue Evan for not watching them close enough.
"Hey Evan," Scarlett's voice came through drawing him back to the phone.
"Hey so..."
"What did Eliot do?"
"Maybe I'm just calling to say I love you... I love you." Evan replied wanting to be able to do this without her, but it was hard when even the parents believed what their children said was true.
"Spill it." Scarlett said putting down her files and spinning in her chair.
"Eliot punched Brady in the face after Brady said some bad things about Cammie." Evan spoke fast. "He's fine, a little bloody nose but then they wrested and now they are all laughing. I called Brady's mom and she said some nasty things as well." Scarlett let out a hot deep breath. "So she is coming and basically said I don't know how to take care of my own children..." Evan waited.
"I never liked them anyway." Scarlett said simply.
"That's it?"
"Evan, I love you. The kids love you. People are mean and we already knew that. Do you want me to call the moms and give them a different perspective of what happened so Tilly doesn't bad mouth you even more?"
"No, thank you. I can handle this." Evan could. He could handle dealing with these kids, he had done it for 14 years now. "Thank you." He repeated. "I love you, Tilly's here. I should go."
"Good luck." Scarlett hung up and Mollie was waiting anxiously for details.
"BRADY!" Brady is a dog's name Evan thought as Tilly ran to her son, arms opened wide. "Did these mean boys hurt you?" Tilly didn't give them time to answer. "I have called all of your mothers." She informed them they moaned in unison. Evan heard the phone go off in the house, he debated turning and just letting Tilly run away with Brady under her arm.
"I'm really sorry about what happened. But..." Evan should have just stopped there he knew it too but he couldn't. "It is not polite to say things about people's appearance and your mother should have taught you that." Evan looked up from Brady to Tilly, whose face was filled with horror.
"Time to go, would any of you like to come with me?" She offered to the boys, insulted that Evan would judge her parenting skills. She got no answer they all moved slightly towards Evan and Evan felt like a king. "You want to stay?" Her eyes popped out of her skull as she veered towards them.
"Bye Brady, hope you feel better." Eliot said with a smile waving at them.
"Huumm," Tilly scoffed and moved Brady into the car, kissing his head about a million times before shutting the door and driving away.
"So you all want to stay?" Evan asked quizzically. They all nodded and ran towards the soccer ball passing it around like nothing strange just happened. Evan heard the phone ring again and shrugged it off moving to answer. "Hello... oh yes well..." there was a subtle beep and Evan pulled the phone away call waiting, another mom that had been warned of Evan's poor parenting, he added her to the conversation. "Eliot punched Brady." Evan said seriously. "It was wrong and we have talked to him about using words instead of violence, but Brady said some mean things about Cameron and Eliot was trying to protect his sister. I am upset that he used his fist." Lie. "But Brady and his mother have made it clear that looks are a huge part of friendships and being nice to people that look pretty is right and if you don't look good you can bash on them..." The women listened in silence nodding along on their end of the line. "Your sons' have been pleasant and kind to Cammie or at least kept their insults to a minimum so they have not been punched by Cammie's little guardian angel..." Evan sucked in a deep breath. "If any of you feel the same and don't think I'm a good parent like Tilly told me she believes," Evan thought back to Scarlett reminding him that he is a wonderful parent, and smiled. "Then I would be happy to drive your sons' home. But our sons are friends and they are all playing soccer in the yard, I don't want to take away their happiness because of one mothers' issues with how Cameron and I look." Evan waited as they debated what to do.
Tilly had told them how terrible Evan was and they didn't know what to think they had always thought Evan was a kind her person, sure he didn't look normal so to speak, but the boys thought it was so cool when they played at Eliot's house. Evan was like an action figure that got blown up, that was something Taron told his parents one day after meeting Evan. 'He was in the army and there was accident and now he looks like a ken doll got thrown in the flames!' He had said excitedly.
"I'm fine with him staying."
"Me as well." They said in their small, sweet voices.
"Great." Evan felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Another beep. It was Scarlett, checking in on him. "Then I will drop them off after dinner, we were going to roast hot dogs on the fire as long as it doesn't rain on us."
"Sounds great."
"Thank you, Evan."
"Bye." Evan switched over to Scarlett's line.
"How did it go? Did you flip Tilly off because I really wouldn't have minded. I have been wanting to punch that witch since the moment I met her." Scarlett said as soon as she heard Evan's breath on the other end of the line.
"Really?" Evan said with a smile.
"Yeah, so how did it go?" She questioned and Mollie shoved her ear up to the phone then remembered she could just pick up another phone, connect to the call and listen in.
"Yeah hon how did it go?" Mollie said sitting across from Scarlett.
"I told it to her straight and I don't think that she will be coming back any time soon. Also the other moms are fine with me, still." Evan added pleasantly.
"Well good for you sweetie, well to go. I always had faith in you." Mollie said about to put the phone down. "Bye darling, oh and Manny has been asking about you. He wants you both to come over for dinner sometime soon."
"Will do, Mollie. And Scarlett?"
"I couldn't have said it better myself. Good job, I knew you didn't need me... I would have punched her, sometimes I think Eliot has the right idea." Scarlett joked.
"Mrs. Scarlett, we need you in back." A small voice said popping her head in the office door.
"Be right there. Evan I got to go, I will see you in..." she glanced over at the clock. "Less than two hours hopefully. Love you."
"Love you too."
"I love both of you cuties!" Mollie said finally hanging up.
"Eliot I hear you punched Brady in the face?" Scarlett said sitting down at the fire, the boys had been dropped off at home and Cameron and Eliot were sitting at the fire when Scarlett got home.
"I'm sorry," Eliot said glumly, looking down into the fire. His face warm from sitting close for so long.
"You shouldn't hit people, even if it is for good reasons." Scarlett said softly.
"I know," he said in that same tone.
"But," Scarlett leaned into him. "Good job." She whispered as she twirled a marshmallow on the fire.
"Evan I don't know what to do. You need to talk to her again. Tell her something else. Make her feel less like how she feels right now." Scarlett begged as she got ready for bed.
"She needs time. I needed time when I first had my accident, it's just going to be a while, that's all. She will learn to adjust."
"I don't want her to adjust!" Scarlett called out then hushed her voice not wanting her children to know they were being discussed. "I want her to be our perfect healthy little girl again." Scarlett said swallowing her probiotics.
"I know, me too." Evan held his arms open for his wife she leaned into him crying slightly. After the fire pit Cammie had looked at all the pictures she took. The way the fire crackled made excellent boomerangs and then she flipped the camera to take a selfie forgetting momentarily and seeing her face, not her pretty acne free face, but the one that she was stuck with now. She had run into her room dropping her phone in the grass as she moved. The camera was still open showing the night sky. Cameron locked her door and they heard her cries through the door.
"I want her to be happy again." Scarlett sobbed into Evans bare shoulder.
"Me too... me too." Scarlett pulled away from Evan slightly, looking up to him. "We have a doctors appointment tomorrow don't we?" Scarlett nodded, "we can see what next steps are then, see about helping her in any way we can."
"I know, it's just hard." Scarlett said slumping to the bed.
"I know. Lord knows we know."
**************
"Do you ever think about if we didn't have kids?" Scarlett questioned watching the ceiling fan spin above them.
"Considering we almost had a third kid, yeah I think about life before." Evan looked over to her, covers pulled up to her chin. "Are you not feeling well?" He placed a hand on her stomach.
"It's not that." She said turning away from him. "I just-"
"Cameron give it back!" Eliot screamed from the hallway, his footsteps trailing down the hall past their room and down the stairs.
"It's mine!" She screamed at him holding the tablet above her head so he couldn't reach.
"I wouldn't trade it," Scarlett said to Evan looking back to him. He lay with his hands behind his head, his muscles popping as he smiled up at her. "Just a thought that crept into my head." She finished softly.
"You have a dream?" Scarlett nodded. "That we didn't have them?"
"It was more like we were young again and they just hadn't come along yet." She looked at their smiling faces in the frame on her nightstand. They were all on the beach smiling on Sanibel Island, that was just a year ago. "I just never expected our lives to turn out this way. Dealing with all these doctors again is all." Evan reached a hand out to her. "My mind goes to back to before them more than I would like to admit. It's not because I don't love them or don't want them, I love them so much. I wouldn't trade them for anything." Scarlett said realizing what she had said.
"I know, you don't have to try and justify yourself. It was just different then compared to now." Evan said moving closer to her. Scarlett looked down to him. "You have wanted kids all your life, parenthood is never how anyone expects it will be." She turned back to face him he leaned up on his elbows.
"You know you could skip a day or two of working out. Gain a few pounds." She suggested poking his abs. "You looking like that still makes me feel like I have to eat healthy and not eat peanut butter mnm's." He grinned at her.
"You could be 300 pounds and I would still love you. I wouldn't be able to find you, but I would still love you." He kissed her hand still smiling.
"MOM! DAD!" Eliot screamed up the stairs. "Cammie won't give me my tablet back!"
"It's not yours!" Cammie replied, putting it on top of the fridge. He punched her in the arm.
"MOM! ELIOT PUNCHED ME!" Cammie screamed up the stairs and suddenly her feet were at their door. "He punched me." she said again, after opening the door. "I was fine with him punching other people, but not me." Cammie said arms crossed over her chest.
"Then give me the tablet and you wouldn't have gotten punched." Eliot said reasonably following her in. Evan sat up and tossed a shirt on.
"Eliot, get dressed I'm taking you to the gym." Scarlett groaned, didn't she just say he could take a day off? Evan glanced back at her and held up a finger silencing her. "You are going to take all that anger out on a punching bag."
"Oh," Scarlett said kissing her kids good morning. "I think that's a great idea." Evan smirked a knowing look.
"Cool," Eliot said as he ran out of the room and got changed.
"You are not going to punish him?" Cammie said frustrated.
"Did you deserve it?' Evan questioned.
"No." Evan waited. "Maybe." He tilted his head to the side. "Fine, but he shouldn't be hitting me."
"I agree. Maybe we could all punch something today?" Evan suggested a hopeful tone in his early morning voice.
"I'm not coming." Cammie said as she retreated to her room, her old purple pj pants dragging along the floor.
"I could punch something," Scarlett admitted, putting on her compression pants and sports bra before Eliot reemerged.
"So I get to punch upstairs in the big gym right? Not in the kids center?" He looked between them, he held his shorts in his hands, his batman boxers revealing his scrawny legs.
"That's right Eliot, now go get dressed," Scarlett said as she pulled on a shirt as well.
"Awesome," he murmured and ran out.
"You sure you don't want to-" Cammie shot Evan a deadly glare. "Those eyes of yours could kill Cammie, I don't want to know what your fists are capable of." She smiled unintentionally. "Maybe we shouldn't go to the doctor later today and fix anything else, don't need a deadly smile roaming around the house." She rolled her eyes annoyed and ate her cereal as she played on the tablet.
"Bye sweetie, I got my phone if you need anything." Scarlett said stealing a mini wheat from her bowl.
"Bye loser," Eliot said head held high as he walked past her and to the garage.
"Dork," Cammie replied with a grin. Evan let out a breath his chest feeling tight as he followed Eliot out.
"Alright, you want to hold your hands like this." Scarlett said to her son once they got gloves on.
"Mom, no offense, but can Dad show me." Scarlett tried not to be offended. "I mean he was in the military is all." He tried to reason.
"Offense taken, but fine. If you need me I will be right there." She pointed to a neighboring bag.
"Alright hands like this," Evan demonstrated as Scarlett put her headphones on and began to beat the bag to a pulp. Eliot kept looking over to her.
"Never mind I want mom to show me." Eliot said walking away from Evan distracted by his moms skills. "Hi," he waved his hands around trying to get her attention. "Actually I think I want you to teach me." Scarlett smirked over at Evan as she pulled off her headphones.
"Of course," she said smugly.
"Your son has got some real potential." A man said to Evan watching Scarlett help Eliot. The man only saw half of Evan, the good half, they were both admiring Scarlett and Eliot. "I'm Conrad. I run the gym a few blocks down, and I have been looking for a kids to get into the ring and try it out... he is your son right, you're not just staring at them?" Conrad asked suddenly quizzical of Evan.
"That's my wife and son." Evan confirmed. "I have been looking for something for Eliot to get his anger out on. I'm Evan by the way." Evan turned to Conrad and Conrad took a step back momentarily frightened. "Yeah I get that a lot." Evan said heavily and turned back to face them. "Do you have a business card? I would have to talk to my wife about it first, but I think it's a good idea." Conrad stood frozen a moment then gulped.
"Yeah, yeah," he pulled out a business card with his name and office on it.
"Great I will give you call if we are interested." Evan responded sticking the card in his pocket.
"Great, um have a nice day." Conrad walked off still fixated on the back of Evan's head as Evan let out his rage. Evan didn't think of this as exercise. He thought of it as a release of energy, pent up energy and frustration that the world threw at him on a daily basis.
"Try not to lock your knee when you kick at it, you want to be loose, but also forceful..." Scarlett demonstrated. "Alright now you try." Eliot copied her. "Very good." Scarlett looked over to Evan, he stole glances at them between sets. "Go show Dad what you learned." Eliot ran off and Scarlett followed.
"Look what mom taught me." Eliot began punching and kicking and he looked like a little pro in the making.
"A manager saw Eliot and wants him to come and check out his gym." Evan said after climbing out of the shower, running a towel over his bald head.
"Really?" Evan pointed to his pants and Scarlett picked them up off the floor and panted them down finding the card. "Champions Boxing," Scarlett read. "What do you think?"
"It's worth a shot right? I mean either he likes it or he goes back to baseball and soccer and randomly punching people at school that piss him off." Scarlett rolled her eyes as she put her watch on.
"Oh shoot, I have to go." She tied her shoes as Cammie knocked on the door.
"Who is taking me to the doctor?" Cammie questioned through the closed door.
"DAD IS!" Scarlett called, kissing Evan goodbye and running out the door, he stepped back into the bathroom wrapping the towel tighter around his waist.
"Dad we have to get going soon." Cammie said taking a step in. "Dad?"
"I have to change still, close the door on your way out." He called through the bathroom door.
"Gosh and people say girls are slow." Cammie whined and left, he heard the door click closed. His phone rang out.
"Hi," Scarlett's voice said.
"Miss me already?" Evan tossed his towel down and rummaged through the drawer.
"Yes," Scarlett said with a laugh.
"I'm already being yelled at that I'm slower than a girl Scarlett I don't have time for chit chat." He joked.
"Ha, ha. I was going to say don't tell Eliot about the boxing place yet. Okay? I want to check it out online and make sure it looks good before. I don't want to get his hopes up."
"Sounds good."
"DAD!" Evan heard Cammie through the door.
"Scarlett you really can't be distracting me, I have to get ready." He said louder than necessary so Cammie could hear. He grabbed a shirt and moved to open the door. "Blame your mother." She grabbed the phone from him.
"Mom, I'm going to be late. Dad can't talk, he loves you, I love you, but we have to go." Cammie then hung up. "I'm keeping this until you're ready." She informed him sticking his phone in her pocket.
"Well, alright miss bossy." The doorbell rang. "Get that then." Evan called out finally dressed she moved to the door annoyed.
"What?" Cammie barked, forgetting her face and saw Colton standing arms full of homemade macaroni. He stared as everyone did, but he didn't run away. He gulped and held it out.
"My mom made this for you and your family." He said awkwardly and she took it from him, lifting the tinfoil.
"This smells amazing." Cammie clutched it closer to her, wanting to slam the door in his face. "Tell her thank you." Colton nodded and turned away slowly as Cammie adjusted the container in her hands.
"Actually," he turned back to her. "I wanted to know if you needed anything." He looked her in the eyes. Evan stood back watching them talk, Cammie was talking to another human being. After Fiona so bluntly ran away from her and hadn't texted Cammie back Evan wasn't sure anyone would be able to make Cammie happy again.
"No." She said simply and started to close the door again.
"Do you want company? Or anything I mean I could um... I don't just hang out." Colton offered a smile on his large lips.
"Why?" Cammie snapped at him. "So you can make fun of how I look? So you can tell everyone that you did the dare and hung out with a freak like me?" She yelled, almost dropping the container.
"No, no, no. what dare? I just thought that you might want some company?" He said taking a step back, but it wasn't because of her face, it was because of her attitude.
"Colton," Evan said taking a step forward. "Thank you for this, I smelled it from the kitchen. We will be having this when we get home later." Evan nudged Cammie, she kept a glace on her face, her eyes narrowing in on Colton. "We have to go now though, but thank you for coming." Evan took the container from Cammie as she marched off. Evan waited until she was gone. "Thank you for offering to hang out with her," Evan whispered. "She needs a friend she's just worried that she is going to get burned again."
"I understand. So should I come back?" He said confused.
"If you want, I'm sure she would like a friend. Just be patient with her. She's worth it." Evan said with a smile. "You have a good day. Tell you mom thank you for this." Evan closed the door as Colton turned back to his bike. "I like Colton, he was always a nice kid." Evan said turning back to Cammie who was waiting arms crossed waiting to leave. "You both got your stuff? It might be a long afternoon." Evan warned them. Most days they went to the hospital for consultations or surgeries Eliot went to his grandparents house being Scarlett's parents or a friends, but Evan wanted Eliot to get some reading done and help with math. Eliot was doing better but still not caught up with his class and the year was almost done with. Hours of waiting around would be perfect time to help Eliot achieve his full scholarly potential.