Chapter Twenty-Eight:
Always There
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Cameron's POV
I rushed over to Sophia's side and kneeled down. Emma sat at Sophia's head with a panicked expression. I could only imagine what I looked like.
"Sophia?" I asked softly.
"It's okay, Cameron," Emma began, noticing the panic in my sore voice, "she's just asleep. Check her feet real quick." I picked up her feet and looked at them carefully. She had them wrapped up good, so she must not have been in too much of a crazy mood.
"It's fine." I informed Emma; she seemed like she knew what she was doing.
"Okay, pick her up and put her on the bed, if you can. I'll get some ice for her foot and some for your throat, your voice sounds horrible and it's still bruised." She made a face and darted out of the room.
I put my arm under Sophia's knees and under her back and lifted her easily. She was a small girl. I sat her down gently on the bed and pulled a blanket over her. Her hair was still wet from her shower, so I decided to put her on her side so maybe Emma could braid it.
Not even two minutes later, Emma came through the door quietly and gracefully with two bags of ice and dish towels to wrap the bags in. I took one from her hand and wrapped it in a dish rag. Then I lifted the bottom of Sophia's blanket and pressed it to the bottom of her foot. Hopefully this will help it. If it bled that much coming up the steps, it must be deep. I decided to take a look at it when she woke up.
"Here," Emma said calmly. I took the bag of ice from her hand and pressed it to my throat. It felt good on the bruises. I felt like such a wimp, the next time I see that kid, I'm not holding anything back. That goes for Danielle too, just not in a really violent way.
"Can you braid her hair? It's wet and she usually hates it when it dries all poofy, or so she says." I shrugged my shoulders.
"Yeah. Where are her hair ties?" She asked me and I realized she has never been here before. I gave her a soft smile and pointed to the bathroom, under the sink.
I settled down beside Sophia on her bed and put one arm under her neck, careful not to get in the way of her hair so Emma could get to it.
I remembered in the hospital when she fell asleep in the hospital bed with me before my family came. My arm had fallen asleep along with her and I wanted to move it badly but I kept it there so I didn't disturb her. Just those little things... Holy sh*t. I'm becoming a mushy romantic. What is Sophia doing to me? Not that I minded... that much.
Emma came back with a brush and a purple hair tie. She brushed out Sophia's hair and started to braid it which didn't take her long.
"Sophia's house is really pretty." Emma mentioned. I smiled at her.
"You should see the tree house in her backyard. Both of us built it, with some help from her dad, for Matt, her kid brother." I explained.
"Wow. I'll have to-" Her phone must have buzzed because she dug it out of her pocket and looked at it, frowning.
"I have to go. My mom wants me home for some dinner with her clients." She told me with a sad smile.
"Okay, well, thanks for helping me with her." I told her as she inched toward the door.
"Welcome. Take care of her."
I nodded in agreement.
Sophia budged about twenty minutes later. She had been talking in her sleep, frowning and gripping my shirt with her nails like I was going to leave at any moment.
Her eyes were squeezed shut now and we were face-to-face. I was laying on my side, barely touching her except for her fingers gripping my shirt, and she was laying on her side.
I stared at her closed eyelids and her long, brown eyelashes. Then they popped open. Her blue eyes were wet with tears and she just stared at me wide eyes for a moment. I kept my facial expressions under control. Her eyes eventually went to normal and her grip on my shirt loosened. I raised my eyebrows in worry and rested my palm against the side of her face, playing with a strand of her hair.
"Ow" was the first thing she said. I sat up and looked at her blanket-covered body in alert.
"What? What hurts?" I asked her.
"My foot. Did I cut it?" She asked me as she sat up. Besides her puffy red eyes and sniffling nose, she looked normal again; happy.
But then the smile she had on her face vanished. She stood up from the bed and walked out of her room. The sun was setting outside and I was sure she was hungry by now. I followed her downstairs hoping to make her some food. I found her standing on the bottom step, staring at the broken picture frame on the stand. Emma must have cleaned up all the blood and the glass because it was like it didn't even happen.
"I broke the picture that my mom took of Matt and I. The first picture of us when he was born." Sophia turned to me and continued. "I didn't mean to." Her voice was full of regret. I walked down closer to her and past her, picking up the broken frame.
"It's okay, Sophia. The frame is broken, not the picture." I carefully unhinged the back and took the picture out if it and handed it to her. She smiled at me and it reached her eyes.
"Are you hungry?" I asked her. She nodded her head slowly and followed me into the kitchen.
"I want lucky charms." She said out of no where. I watched her grab a box out from under the cabinet and she reached up to get a bowl as well.
"Get me one, too." She reached up and grabbed another bowl for me.
I got the milk out of the fridge and met her at the table. She poured cereal in to both our bowls and I poured the milk. She grabbed two spoons and put one in each bowl.
"What are you doing?" I asked her as we both ate silently. She grinned at me. "I always separate the marshmallows from the other cereal and eat the marshmallows first." She said sheepishly. I laughed and for some reason, I belly laughed. I clutched my stomach as I laughed.
"It's really not that funny!" Sophia pouted. I shook my head. Of course I knew it wasn't that funny but I needed the laugh. It was hurting but throat like crazy though, so I had to stop.
"I miss laughing." I said through chuckles.
"The last time we laughed was literally three or four days ago." She deadpanned. I smiled a crooked grin at her and she couldn't resist a smile.
*
Some time later, I found myself sitting on the edge of the tree house with Sophia right beside me. She was so distracted by her own thoughts that she didn't realize she was digging her nails into my arm. I didn't move though, so I didn't scare her. For some reason it felt like she was going to break at any second. This wasn't the Sophia that I fell in love with, this was the Sophia that was breaking and no one could help her.
I was going to change that.
"Sophia? You're going to draw blood." I said quietly, touching her hand.
She flinched and jerked her eyes towards my arm. Her eyes widened and she had a guilty expression on her face.
"I'm so sorry!" She said quickly. The only damage done was five red marks from her nails.
"It's okay. Hey, talk to me," I put both my hands in either side of her face over top of her hair. She frowned at me wrapped her fingers around my wrists.
"About what? I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"Sophia!"
"Cameron!"
I groaned in frustration. She was going to play hard to get. I glared at her and she laid back on her back, feet dangling off the edge of the tree house porch.
"Sophia, it's not good to keep these things bottled up. I know I sound extremely... parental. But I'm being serious." I said, venom in my voice. She only glared at the tree above us.
"Gosh, Cameron!" She suddenly stood on her feet. "I can handle myself, okay? You are ways telling me that I don't have to keep to myself with my problems but I do! And I am! Please," she took a deep breath, chest rising and falling.
"I'm just showing I care." I said calmly. I've been known to have a temper. Being around Sophia all the time has definitely calmed me down, but it's starting to again.
"I already know you do! I know it." She shouted and almost whispered the last part. Sophia climbed down the ladder and landed on the ground roughly. She recovered and began pacing back and forth in her yard.
I leaned against the single-board railing we put up and stared at her. Her long, now curly do to the braid she took out, brown hair swayed every time she walked. Her lips were pressed into such a tight line that they were white. I had to resist the urge to smile at her. When she was mad it got pretty intense. Maybe I should get her fired up more often.
"I didn't mean to make you mad," I told her. Though I was slightly happy I did. Most of the time when people are mad, they spill their guts.
"I just... I want to stop feeling like this and go that to happen, I need to do it myself! So just... leave me alone!" Her eyes were bright with confusion when they looked up at me. I could tell she didn't know what she wanted. And knew how to make her figure out what she wanted.
"Okay, I'll leave then." I backed down the ladder and landed swiftly on my feet. Without a word from either one of us, I walked through the back door and towards the front door. Sophia followed me.
I could already tell she was going to think she made me mad.
She didn't say anything when I placed my hand on the door knob and froze. Maybe she really did want to be alone. But I knew better than that.
I opened the door and walked out onto the front porch, closing it behind me.
I think she pushed on it to shut it as well.
I turned towards the door and stared at the door knob. Come on, Sophia.
It felt like hours to me, but it had only been a minute when the door cracked open. Her beautiful face was there, only half of it. I stared at her for as long as she was there. Her eyes were wide with shock, probably not expecting me to still be right there.
She finally opened the door all the way and stood there, hand still on the door knob, shoulders slumped and head down.
"I'm sorry," she forced out and looked up at me. She really meant. Though I didn't doubt her when the words first came out of her mouth. Sophia Belle always meant an apology.
She was suddenly flinging herself at me. Her arms went around my neck and she squeezed me so right that I had to hold on to her waist to keep us both up.
"Really, really sorry." She whispered to me. "I'm not to hopeless. Promise." She backed up to grin at me. I smiled back and walked inside the house with her.
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Hope it's not too short! I had to brainstorm for this one... much more exciting chapters next! I'm honestly not sure when it's going to end. Soon, probably. It depends on how many more ideas I get!
I had a pretty good ending for this and then I forgot it. Wow.
Must be my bad luck. I broke a mirror a while back and apparently I had "7 years of bad luck" blah blah. But then I broke another mirror and yeah. So it's 14 years of bad luck now.