Chapter Twenty-One:
Surprise, Surprise
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Cameron's POV
I laid on the other side of Sophia's bed with her head resting on my chest and my arms wrapped around her protectively. Her chest rose and fell and I listened to the small breaths leaving her mouth. She was so even more innocent when she slept than when she was awake.
I heard footsteps coming towards her door and closed my eyes. I was already still pretty tired so it wasn't
hard for me to fake sleep.
"Sophia?" I heard Mrs. Belle say as she creaked the door open lightly. I couldn't see what her facial expression was when she saw me, but I didn't hear any bad kind of reaction. She lightly shook Sophia.
Sophia yawned loudly an sat up, leaving my chest cold from where her head was. I opened my eyes the slightest bit so I could see what was happening. Sophia's fave was blood red as she stared up at her mother. Mrs. Belle had an unreadable expression on her face.
"Um... we fell asleep. Sorry, mom." Sophia said nervously. If she was nervous, I probably should be too.
"It's okay, Sophia. Dinner is almost ready. Cameron can stay if he'd like." She told us before exiting the room. Sophia turned to look at me with and embarrassed smile on her face. Smug, in a way. I fluttered my eyes open and held myself up on my elbows, smirking at her.
"I thought she was going to chew me out right then and there in front of you." She said. I put my arm around neck and pulled down against me again, our heart beating together.
"I would love to stay for dinner." I said quietly. She instantly sat up and hit my chest playfully. "You were listening!" I just shook my head at her and sat up all the way, attempting to get up and go downstairs.
Sophia followed me to the door and caught my hand in hers, intertwining our fingers together.
"What's for dinner?" I heard Matt say as he crossed in front of the stairs. His eyes met mine and they lit up with excitement. Matt charged up the steps and clung onto me. I propped him up on my side and smiled at him. Sophia's smile faded. I knew she was still upset about the whole bloody nose thing. I don't blame her.
"We're having barbecue chicken and baked potatoes. Sound good?" Mrs. Belle smiled at Matt once I out him down and he ran into the kitchen to bring some plates out. I looked at Sophia and noticed she still looked tired. How long did we sleep? We went out for breakfast, came right back and I came up to her room. Her mom must've came home while we were sleeping. Sophia and I got showers to wash the rain water off of us and she dried my clothes for me. It must be around five o'clock now.
"This looks good, mom. Where's dad?" Sophia asked as we took our seats next to each other.
"He had to work late at the station. He'll be home later." She answered. We ate in silence with small jokes from Matt every once in a while. After dinner, I helped Sophia and her mom carry all the dishes into the kitchen. Mrs. Belle told me that I should be getting home because my parents were going to wonder where I was. So, I decided something right then and there. The brilliant idea popped into my mind just before I reached the door to leave. For one thing, I actually did leave my truck keys up in Sophia's room so I had an excuse to go up there. So this plan was going. To work perfectly while Sophia was helping clean up the dinner table and wash dishes.
"I have to go get my keys. Be right back," I told Sophia before sprinting up the steps. Once inside her bedroom, I grabbed my keys and shoved them in my pocket. Then I walked over to her closet and opened it up, releasing this amazing smell that smelled just like her. I stepped inside and went through the hangers until I found a yellow spaghetti strapped sundress. I lived with my older sister and my mom since for ever, of course I know what the dress is called. I'd never seen Sophia wear this before, and it would be beautiful on her.
I then slung it over my shoulder and grabbed a pair of her sandals before laying them on her messy bed. I walked over to her dressed and found a sparkly necklace that she could wear and laid it with the other things.
After everything was put together and I was feeling more girly than ever (having to go through girls clothes and actually match them together was hard for me), I grabbed a piece of notebook paper off her bedside table and jotted down a quick note:
Wear this tomorrow night. I'll pick you up at 5:30. Love, Cam
P.s. You have no choice ;)
I walked down the steps casually and wiped the grin off my face at my brilliant idea. I had the perfect date for us, and she'd just have to find out tomorrow.
Sophia was standing at the bottom of the steps, saying something to Matt with her parental voice. She turned to look up at me and jumped, obviously not expecting me to be right there. I grabbed her shoulders to steady her as she held her hand to her heart.
"You scared the crap out of me," she said breathlessly. I didn't think I scared her that bad. I smiled a crooked smile at her leaned my forehead on hers for a moment, my hands still holding her shoulders barely a foot away from me.
"See you tomorrow," I kissed her lips for more than a few seconds and dropped my hands, stepping past her to get to the door. She stopped me by hugging me for a moment. I hugged her back and squeezed her tight before finally leaving.
I could only think about what her reaction would be to the things I laid on her bed.
*
I spotted Sophia by her locker the next morning talking up a storm with Adam's new girlfriend, Emma. I thought those two were really good together. They have a... playful relationship. If they have a disagreement, they end up laughing about it and forget they ever disagreed.
"Hello, ladies." I said and Sophia's head shot around to look at me. She smiled and hugged me, kissing me quickly before turning back around to look at Emma. Adam strutted down the hall towards us with another group of guys from the team. He walked right out of the group to stand beside Emma and hold her hand. Such puppy love.
"So," Sophia started as we walked through the halls on our way to class, "what's the sundress for? Where are we going?" She asked as casually as she could. I smirked at her curiosity.
"You'll have to find out when I pick you up at five thirty." I winked at her and we were on our way to class.
By lunch time, everything was good. Instead of Amber sitting with us at lunch, she sat with Danielle for the first time insuring the whole year. I could tell she was avoiding Sophia, giving her curious looks probably to see how she's doing. I know that Amber used to be a good friend to Sophia, so her curious and apologetic looks were for real. Even if she did do this one horrible thing, she had some good left in her somewhere.
"So, how are you going to cope with this whole beach house thing this summer with Danielle and her family?" Adam asked me while we all crowed down on our half decent school lunches. I shrugged my shoulders and could feel Sophia sigh heavily at the subject at hand.
"Well, I could either ditch and stay home to a house to myself, or spend the summer with Sophia and you two." I gave a look down at Sophia and saw her blushing. I knew it meant something to her. I still remembered when I told her we'd go to the beach together when she came to my house for the first time. The memory makes me even more excited for tonight.
"Are you sure your mom and dad would let you ditch family fun time?" Adam asked and the girls giggled softly. It really surprised me at how well they get along. Well, not as much considering how much alike they are, in certain ways.
"I guess I'll have to do some begging and proving my maturity." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Yeah... what maturity?" Adam joked. I laughed and shook my head at him.
"What about Friday? Do you think we have a good chance at winning?" Emma asked. She would be there for two reasons: she's Adam's girlfriend and she and Sophia and part of the school paper.
Sophia eagerly nodded her head. "They are going make the Cougars eat dust." I laughed at her choice of words and smiled down at her.
Not long after we finished eating, the bell rang and we were off to out next class. Just a little but longer until the very end of the day. I was walking Sophia to her last class when she laughed quietly at something she was thinking about. I smiled and poked her in the ribs, loving the sound of her laugh. She looked up at me and I she'd furiously. I stopped walking, and although she kept going, I tugged on her hand and pulled her back to me.
"What?" I asked her.
Her eyes were bright with amusement and embarrassment.
"After you left yesterday, my mom came up to my room. She gave me the talk, Cameron. Do you know how awkward that was? Even with my own mother? Oh gosh.." She put her hand to her forehead and gave an airy laugh.
"That's actually funny," I joked and she punched me without making eye contact to keep from making herself more embarrassed.
"I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression," I told her. She looked up at me with guilty eyes.
"No! No, definitely not. We were just... cuddling. I was bound to get a boyfriend some time and get the talk. I'm just happy it wasn't from my dad." She laughed and stood on her tip toes to kiss me, "I'll see you later, okay?"
I nodded my head and watched her walk Into the room.
*
5:30 was just right around the corner and I was upstairs in my bedroom getting ready for this day when I heard a knock on my door. Feeling it wasn't too important, I checked my appearance quickly. Light wash jeans, plaid button down shirt, and my Nike shoes.
My sister was standing in the doorway holding Ella on her side. She put Ella down and she instantly jumped up on me. I smiled at her giggling and let Callie inside my room.
"So, you're going out on a date, huh?" My sister asked as she sat down on my squeaky mattress. I rolled my eyes and put Ella down so she could wander around.
"Don't act so surprised. It's not my first one, it's just the most important one." I said as I turned to my long mirror against my wall to check my shirt.
Callie laughed, "Aw, my baby brother is growing up!" She came over to me and planted a wet kiss on my cheek. I rubbed it off with my hand roughly. "Hey, watch it."
"So," she began after she stopped chuckling at me, "who's the lucky girl?"
I turned to her and stood there with my hands in my pockets. "Remember Sophia? The girl you met at the basketball game in like... January or February?" I asked her. She had a thoughtful look on her face and then one of recognition.
"Oh! She was really pretty! I'm so happy for you, Cammy." I groaned as she flung her arms around me. I hated it when she called me that.
"Yeah, thanks, Callie." I mumbled and watched as she picked up Ella and walked towards the door.
"By the way," she said just before walking out, "I might need you to watch her one day in the next couple weeks. I'm down here visiting with some old friends and I don't know where else to leave her. Mom and dad have work." I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'll watch Ella." I blew on Ella's stomach and made her giggle and squirm in her mom's arms.
After I got away from my mom and dad telling me to be safe and not do anything I'd regret later on in life, (har-har) I got in my truck with the blankets and pillows on the bed and drove to Sophia's house.
I knocked on her door and waited just a second before Sophia' opened the door with her beautiful outfit on I had laid out for her. She looked breathless and panicked. My eyes widened at her state and I pushed her hair out of her face, getting the pieces out that stuck on her glasses.
"Sorry, I wanted to get the door before my dad could." She chuckled at herself, "I'll be right back. I gotta put my contacts on." She darted up the steps without telling me to come in. I stepped inside and stared after her.
Mr. Belle stepped over to me and gave me a fatherly look. He was definitely about to give me his own little "that's my little girl" talk I'd gotten from other girls' dad's before. But, this one actually mattered.
"Hello, Mr. Belle." I said with confidence. I knew him, and was only a little scared of him. He is a cop, for the record.
"You better be good to my little girl." He said sternly just as Sophia's heavy sigh sounded beside him. He smiled at her and kissed her cheek.
"Have fun, okay? Be back by twelve and don't do anything stupid, Sophia. Bye, Cameron." Her dad said and we both waved goodbye before walking hand in hand to the truck.
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