A/N: Special thanks to DerreckSanchez for finding me a cast list, making that sexy banner, and just for being awesome in general. Go check out his book A Jock's Tale. Jake is mouthy one, that boy. xD
Chapter trois -Special friends-
"You need to try this." He held a spoon level with my mouth. I glanced down at the sauce and wrinkled my nose. It looked strange. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because I don't want it."
"Why?"
"It looks funny."
"I do not see anything humorous about it." Sebastian said seriously. I tried not to laugh and failed. "What?"
"Sebastian," I hopped up on the countertop near the stove. "I mean funny as in 'weird' not funny as in 'hahaha.'"
He rolled his eyes. "I forgot how stupid the set up of this language is."
"You got me there." He was still holding the spoon around my mouth area and I gave him a look. He pushed the spoon up on my mouth so it was pressed against my bottom lip. I gave him a look and he shot me one back.
I shook my head. "I'm not going to taste it." He pursed his lips, his expression thoughtful.
"Okay." Sebastian said. "So you're going to be rude and not eat the food that my auntie Alice made, just for you?" He was making my resolve falter. "We're French, Cameron..." He moved his face closer. "We take food very seriously." I shivered.
Wait. Why am I shivering? I'm sitting on a countertop next to a hot stove... it's not even cold. Maybe I'm shivering from the heat? Warm chills? Yeah, that's it.
I sighed. "Fine." I opened my mouth a little and let him push the spoon past my lips. It tasted creamy and warm. "It's pretty good." I said begrudgingly. He nodded in satisfaction. He dropped the spoon in the sink and turned back to me.
"Oh, you got a little something on your chin, let me get it." Before I could protest, he used his thumb to wipe whatever I had on my chin.
Zing!
I twitched. It was almost like a little electric shock I felt when he touched me. He must have felt it too because he jerked his hand away. He stepped away from me and I slid down the counter, muttering things about static electricity. I decided I would ignore whatever that was.
I my eyes darted from the clock to the window. It was about six thirty and the sky was a beautiful indigo color. I sighed. I didn't really want to go home, I almost just wanted to stay there...
But that was a fantasy. The reality was I needed to be home by seven fifteen and have some sort of logical excuse for my mom.
I tore my eyes away from the window. "I'll set the table if you get the forks and cups." He nodded and I went over to the cupboards to get the plates. "How many do we need?"
"Five. Me, you, auntie Alice, Noel, and uncle Robert. Noel is Alice and Robert's youngest son. He's annoying. Uncle Robert spends a lot of time in his office; so you probably won't see him around unless he's heading to the bathroom or going to dinner. He's always working on some project. " He answered the question that I had just been just about to ask.
I stretched to reach the plates. "Wow, you are really short!"
I rolled my eyes as I put a plate in front of each of the chairs. "Says the giant. I can't help that I'm fun-sized." I wasn't even sure how I was so small. Even my mom was taller than me, I guess I'd have to mention that everyone else in my family (at least on my mom's side) was of average height. My mom however, was the tallest out of five siblings. It figures, leave it to her to beat the odds, only to have her son fall short... literally.
"I just didn't notice it until now."
"Well I've always been short. I stopped wishing for a growth spurt around the time high school started." It used to be kind of depressing to be so short but then I realize that being tall? Too mainstream. So by being a short person, I was a hipster. Well, at least that's what I told myself to raise my self-esteem.
"Sébastian! Temps pour le dîner!" Alice called out. "J'espère que vous et Cameron n'avez pas embrasser là-dedans!"
He rolled his eyes and simply called back, "Non!" I listened to their exchange curiously. I was tempted to ask for the translation, but at that moment someone else walked in. It was a tall guy with a five o'clock shadow and a messy shock of black hair. Noel I was guessing.
He sat at the head of the table and greeted Sebastian in French. Then he seemed to notice me and he said, "Bonjour. Vous devez être Cameron. Vous êtes le petit ami de Sébastien, non?" I just sort of gave him a look like no hablo Français.
Sebastian pulled a face and fired back,
"Il n'est pas mon petit ami que diable! Je ne sais même pas si il se balance comme ça alors arrêtez de parler!" It was so different hearing him speak in another language. Not different weird, different in a good way.
Noel shrugged and smirked. "Il ne parle pas français de toute façon."
They started arguing in French and my head wipped back and forth as I watched them quarrell. It was like a tennis match. It kept going on until Alice strode in said, "Garçons s'arrêtent valoir devant le client. Noel cesser d'être une bite. " She briskly walked over to the stove and turned it off. She moved the pot of the burner then turned to me and spoke in English. "Sorry, Cameron. Just try to ignore those two. They're always arguing."
She pulled ladle from a drawer and motioned for us to come over. "C'mon boys. Grab a plate, Cameron. Noel, can you take a plate up to your father? He's working really hard and you know how he gets when he's in his element... Sebastian go sit down, stop hovering over me, I'm trying to give Cameron here something to eat." It was amusing to watch Alice flitter around the kitchen like a hummingbird, all the while thinking out loud.
After everything was sorted out, Alice, Noel, Sebastian, and I were seated at the table. The chicken fricassee was ridiculously good and for once I didn't pick at my food. Sebastian saw me eating and mouthed 'I told you so', I rolled my eyes at him.
We spent a long time chattering about different things. Alice seemed to sense that I wasn't much of a talker so she talked with Noel and Sebastian, occasionally asking for my opinion or thoughts. I mostly listened though.
"So Cameron," Noel said, pushing his plate away from him and lacing his fingers together. Alice had gone upstairs to give Robert some dessert. "You and Sebastian are friends, right?" His brown eyes pierced into me and I forced myself not to break eye contact.
"Yeah...?" I mumbled.
"Would you say you guys were good friends... close friends... or maybe try, special friends?"
My eyebrows knitted together. What was trying to say? "What are you talking about?"
His lips twisted into a smirk. I glanced over at Sebastian, who's gaze was pointed at the table. "You know... which team do you root for?" I was still confused.
"Which ever one that wins...?"
Noel snorted. "Right. Well you know Sebastian here, he plays for--"
"Wait, hold on, a second." This Is Gospel started blasting out of my pocket. I felt my face heating up as I fished my phone out. My heart dropped into my stomach when I realized who was calling me. I knew if I ignored it, it would only make it worse so I figured I'd better answer it.
"Uh, excuse me a minute."
Noel waved me off. "Sebastian and I need to talk anyway so perfect timing." I hurried down the hall towards the bathroom and locked myself inside. I hit answer. "Hello?" I said tentatively.
I flinched when the yelling started. "Cameron J. Lance! Do you know what time it is?" I looked at the time on my phone. Eight thirty. Oh, I was screwed. "I have been waiting for you to come home for over an hour. I hope you have a really good excuse for when you get here. You need to come home now." She spent another five minutes lecturing me about how I could have been kidnapped... should have called her... made her wait so long... etcetera.
After she finished talking my ear raw, I left the bathroom and quietly walked down the hall towards kitchen. I unintentionally caught the tail end of Sebastian's conversation with his cousin. "...stop with the innuendos and the hints. He'll tell me -- if there's anything to tell."
I didn't want to be nosy or anything, so I made myself known. "Hey, I gotta go home now, but um..." I gave him a little smile. "I had fun and you're right. There's nothing funny about chicken fricassee." That made him laugh.
"Au revoir, Cameron." He said as he ran a hand through his hair.
I waved at Noel. "It was nice to meet you. Do me a favor and tell Alice she's an awesome cook, will you?" Noel smiled and nodded. I locked eyes with Sebastian for a spilt-second, then I was out the door.
☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*
I tried to unlock the door as quietly as possibly. I stepped into the house and looked around the foyer and saw it was empty, then tiptoed around the living room. Maybe she had gone to bed.
Maybe I could just sneak upstairs and...
"Cameron, get back over here." She called out from the living room. I sighed and trudged back into it. It was dark, I could just make out the outline of her in the armchair. I flicked the light on.
My mother looked pretty much like what she was. A slightly aged beauty queen. Her eyes gazed at me shrewdly over the Bible she was holding and I barely kept myself from shuddering. I didn't have her eyes. My eyes were a spring green. Kind of like a meadow, light and free. Hers were a piercing iceberg blue.
Come to think of it, I didn't really resemble my mother that much. I had her brown hair and her lean build... and that was pretty much it. We didn't resemble each other in our mannerisms either. When she met new people she was really outgoing and loud. She was an extrovert.
Me? When I met new people I would get quiet and shy. Totally introverted. It was amazing how we were even related.
She set the Bible on the coffee table. And motioned me to the front of her chair. "Cameron. Why can't you just tell me when you're going to be out late?" Because if I do you'll tell me to come home. I thought. I lifted and dropped my shoulder. Bad idea. "You know as well as I do that this--" She shrugged her shoulders. "--is not an acceptable answer. Try again."
I sighed and before I could formulate suitable answer, quick as a whip, she snatched at my chin. I flinched. Her manicured nails were digging into my skin. "What is it with you today? All I wanted was for us to have spaghetti night like we always do today."
Well maybe I don't want that.
"What did you just say?" Crap. Crappy, crippity crap. Did I say that out loud?
"I didn't say anything." I said quietly.
"Really? Well I guess I must be senile then, because I could have sworn you said 'well maybe I don't want that.' Where the hell were you today anyway?" Her eyes pierced into me and I fought the overwhelming urge to look away.
"Helping a friend with a project." Best to keep my answers brief and clipped.
"For about four hours?"
"He asked if I could stay for dinner..."
"And you couldn't call me and tell me that?" Now I looked away. She jerked my head up. "Eyes on the speaker. Just call me next time, that's all I'm asking. Why can't you just do that for me?" She exhaled and released my chin. "Go to bed. I'm tired and I have work tomorrow. And Cameron? Keith's coming over tomorrow for dinner so you can't go anywhere. You need to help me clean up." I stiffened.
Keith was my mother's boyfriend. He was the latest of many and I didn't like him. He just gave off this air of arrogance and he just... made me feel uncomfortable. But I didn't say that. I just muttered a quiet, "Yes, ma'am."
She nodded in approval. "So you do have manners. You're free to go."
I stepped out of the living room and made my way upstairs. I had a long day. I wanted nothing more than to collapse in bed and fall into a drool-inducing sleep.
And that's exactly what I did.
☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*・°☆.。.:*
So what do you think of this chapter? Why don't you tell me in the comment section. Don't forget to vote, you sexy thang! *wink wink* Also, you know when Sebastian got that stuff off Cammie's chin and he felt a little shock? In Derreck's book Danny and Jake are playing chess and their fingers touch *shock* and Danny calls it static electricity.... wanna know the weird thing?
I wrote this before I read that chapter *le gasp*