Something Ends, Another Begins

Cam's P.O.V.

I woke up to the sun shining through the curtains and into my eyes. Damn sun, it's fucking Saturday, I should not be up this early.

I groaned annoyed and turned to my side only to see the back of a blond girl's head. That's when I remembered all the details of last night with this girl...what was her name? Becca? Bailey? Whatever. All I know is that I have to get this chick out of my house before Aunt Liz comes home from work at the hospital (she's a nurse).

The blond girl's breathing was slow and steady, meaning she was still sleeping. I glanced around my room to see our clothes scattered everywhere. I exhaled loudly and tried to go back to sleep, knowing Liz shouldn't be home for a few more hours. However, while my eyes are closed, I feel a hand glide over my chest gently. I open my eyes to see chocolate brown ones looking at me happily.

I forced a smile, "Good morning, beautiful." I rubbed my thumb against her cheek.

She closed her eyes in content and smiled wider. "Morning," she said, her voice hoarse since she just woke up. "Last night was amazing," she said.

I nodded my head in agreement, "It really was." Eh, I've had better.

I watched her as she grabbed her phone off the floor and looked at the time. She sighed sadly and looked at me again, "I think I should go. I have over thirty missed calls from my parents."

Well, that was easy. I figured I would have to force her out of here. "Oh, okay," I said softly, trying my best to sound disappointed.

She pressed her lips against mine before getting up and grabbing her clothes from the floor.

While she was in the bathroom changing, I got dressed myself. When she walked back out, she was dressed back in the same clothes from last night and was putting on her shoes. When she was done, she slowly walked towards me and again pressed her lips against mine while sliding her hands in my hair and gently tugging on it. I tried to hold back a moan, knowing if I didn't stop this now, I would just want to have sex again. So, I gently pull away. "I'll walk you to your car," I tell her while I brush a strand of hair from her face.

She nods happily and suddenly I have a weird feeling in my stomach. I don't know for sure what it was, but it feels almost like...guilt? A guilty feeling that I shouldn't have used this girl just for sex with no intentions of ever talking to her again. I get kind of freaked out because I've never had this feeling before. Or it could just be because I'm hungry. Whatever. Who knows?

The blond chick takes my hands and leads me out of my room and downstairs. We're almost halfway down the stairs when we both stop in our tracks. In the kitchen right in front of us, sitting at the table and casually drinking a cup of coffee is my Aunt Liz. Shit.

Liz smiles at us and that's when I know for sure that she knows I had a girl over last night. Now I know I'm in deep shit. "Good morning," Liz says with a (forced) smile.

"Um, hi," the blond chick says nervously.

"Cameron, you never told me you had a girlfriend. What's your name, sweetie?" Liz asks and I know she's just trying to torture me. She only calls me by my whole name when she's really mad.

"I'm Bethany," the blond chick says, standing awkwardly. Oh, that's what her name is.

"Well, hello, Bethany. I'm Cameron's Aunt Liz. Nice to meet you," Liz says. There was a moment of awkward silence after that even though it seemed like hours.

"Anyway," I say abruptly, "I was just about to walk Bethany to her car. She has to leave now." I gently start pushing Bethany to the front door.

"Oh, that's too bad," Liz says with (fake) disappointment to her voice, "I was hoping to get to know your girlfriend better, Cameron."

I see Bethany's face light up at the word "girlfriend". Just fucking great.

I don't say anything as I quickly open close the front door behind us and escort Bethany to her car. "Listen," Bethany says, "If you want to call later on, I'll be happy to come over." She tells me this as if she has me wrapped around her finger. Yeah, right.

"Sure thing." After I say that, Aliana's face suddenly appears in my head. It's the same thing she told me at Josh's funeral when I told her she could call me if she wanted.

I shake the thought away and try to distract myself by kissing Bethany for a good amount of time. By the time I see Bethany's car disappear around the corner, I slowly make my way back to the front door, wanting to just run back upstairs, go back to sleep, and avoid Aunt Liz at all costs. But I should know she won't let that happen.

As I close the door behind me, I slowly make my way to the kitchen and sit across from Liz, who's smile has definitely disappeared. I sigh loudly and say, "Go ahead and yell at me."

As I look down, I feel her eyes on me. "I'm not going to yell. But I am going to say I'm disappointed. There are rules, Cameron," she says softly, which is surprisingly worse than her yelling at me.

"I know."

"Apparently you don't know. If you did, you wouldn't have brought a random girl over to your room and have sex with her. I came home around 11:00 last night to find a strange car on the driveway and hear suspicious noises coming from your room."

I didn't know what she wanted me to say to that. So, I tell her the first thing that comes to mind. "I'm sorry," I tell her.

She sighs and she sits back, still staring at me. "Cam, I know you're going through a hard time right now, even if you don't want to admit it. I understand that you're best friend died, but you shouldn't use girls to distract yourself and make yourself feel better."

For some reason, I start to get annoyed, "Liz, I'm not using girls to 'distract myself' or 'make myself feel better'. I'm not using girls at all. You don't know how I'm feeling or why I'm doing whatever it is I'm doing. I'm sorry I brought a girl over here without you knowing, okay? I'm sorry. Can I leave now?" I start to get up, but Liz grabs my arm and forces me to look at her.

"No, Cameron, I'm not finished," Liz says calmly. "You're right, I don't know how you're feeling. I haven't been through what you've been through. And not just with Josh, but with you're parents, as well." Great. Here we go having to bring my parents into this.

"Can we not talk about them?" I ask as politely as I could.

Liz sighed, "I'm just saying I may not have been through what you have, but I do know how it feels to be depressed about something and not have anyone to talk to or vent to. Whether you want to admit it or not, I know you're hurting and you need to talk to someone that will understand, okay? Because sleeping around won't get you anywhere." I just stood there quietly, not knowing what to say. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around me and automatically I hugged her back. She then pulls away and gives me a little smile. "Have you been talking to that really nice girl you were with at the funeral. I think her name was Ali?"

I rolled my eyes after hearing her name. I should have known she wouldn't call. I don't even know why I gave her my number in the first place. Maybe because I was feeling sorry for her. Either way, it was a stupid thing to do. When I saw her at school on the first day, which was five days ago, she completely ignored me just like old times. This whole past week, if she even glanced at me she would just roll her eyes and go back to what she was doing. It was as if I did something horrible to her. All I did was happily comfort her during Josh's funeral; I don't know why she would be upset about that. She even said she would call when I gave her my number. What's weird is how I'm getting upset over this while I shouldn't. If she wants to go back to the way things were and have us hating each other again, fine with me.

"Well, I see her around school but we don't really talk," I reply to Liz.

She has a look of disappointment on her face. "Oh, well, maybe you should try talking to her. She seemed like such a sweet girl." First of all, why am I the one that has to talk to her. I offered for her to call me and she never did so she should be the one to go to me. Second, she's not so sweet around me so I don't know what Liz is talking about.

"Okay, I'll talk to her," I lie.

Liz smiles wide. "Great," she says excitedly. "Oh, and Cam," she turns serious now, "if I ever find out you've had a girl over here while I'm not here, you'll be grounded for two months and have your phone taken away."

I sigh knowing there's no point fighting her. She's made it clear numerous times now that even though I'm almost eighteen, I still live under her roof and would have to live by her rules. So, I just nod my head in agreement and run upstairs to my room.

***

While walking through the halls at school Monday morning, I spot Ali by her locker along with her hot friend Jenny. I smile to myself as I walk my way over to them. I know how much it irritates Ali when I flirt with her friends, especially right in front of her. Since we have about ten minutes until the dreadful bell rings, I figure, what the hell? I get my fun in irritating Ali and I make her hot friend happy.

However, I'm suddenly stopped in my tracks. I turned to see who stopped me and it's none other than Bethany. I force a smile as she hugs me tightly and presses her lips forcefully on mine and says, "Hey, babe, I missed you. Why didn't you reply to any of my texts?"

Uh, because I didn't want to. I wish I could've told her that but instead, without saying a word, I grabbed Bethany's hand and led her around the corner to a hallway where there were less people. I wanted to make this break up quick and painless as possible, even though it probably won't be that way for her. "Listen, Bethany," I say quietly and sweetly. She's looking at me with those big brown eyes and has a wide smile on her face, completely unaware of what I'm about to tell her. "I had a great time with you this weekend ---"

She cut me off immediately, "Oh my gosh, I had an amazing time with you, too! We're totally going to be the hottest couple at this school!"

So much for quick and painless. "Anyway," I tell her, "You're a very nice girl, Bethany, but I just don't think you and I are going to work out."

It's silent for a couple moments as she just stares at me, her smile slowly fading away. I could tell she's trying to comprehend what I just said. I sigh, trying not to sound impatient as I wait for her to respond.

"What did you just say?" she asks looking at me as if I was speaking a different language.

I let out a big breath and repeat, "I don't think you and I should be together. It just won't work out."

"So, you just used me for sex?" she asks, slowly getting angrier and angrier. Wow. It sounds a whole lot more horrible when someone says it out loud.

"No, I really liked you. I just realized that I'm not interested in dating right now. I'm not the kind of guy that wants to be involved in relationships." Okay, now that has to be the biggest lie I have ever told.

Then, before I knew what was happening, she slapped me right across the face. Hard. "Yeah, right. I hope you die alone, jerk!" Bethany exclaimed running out of the hallway, whimpering and leaving me there holding my stinging cheek. Damn, I always knew girls could be drama queens, but I just didn't expect this from someone I've only been with for two days.

Once the stinging in my cheek has died down, I glance at my phone and see there's only five minutes left now until the bell rings. I guess I could annoy Ali until then. I already got the hardest part of my morning over with.

I walk over to Ali's locker, happy to see she and her hot friend are still there. I take my time walking over and I see her hot friend glance at me and smile wide.

"Hello, ladies," I say as the hot friend smiles wider but Ali has her back to me, facing her locker. Figures.

"Hey, Cam," the hot friend says then her face turns serious, "Oh, what happened to your cheek? It's all red." Ali quickly turns to look at my cheek and, as if she knew how it got there, she tries holding back a laugh, rolls her eyes, and turns back to her locker.

"Oh, um, I fell down earlier. But it's fine, nothing serious." I know that was a lame excuse, but it's the only reasonable explanation.

"Oh, I hope it feels better," the hot friend says quietly while absentmindedly twirling a piece of hair. "Anyway, Cam, we only have about a couple minutes before the bell rings so I'll make this fast. Would you like to go out with me sometime?" she asks quickly, hope filling her voice. I notice Ali rolling her eyes and irritation is all over her face.

Whoa. Only about three minutes I break up with someone and a hot girl is already asking me out. But, even though I flirt with the girl, I realize I only do it to get on Ali's nerves not because I actually want to, even though she's super hot. I figure that if I do go out with her, I know Ali would be extremely pissed which is such a good thing, but then I would have to face another break up and possibly another slap in the face shortly afterward.

"Actually," I hear myself saying as I see Ali not going through her locker anymore, clearly listening in the conversation, "I don't really think I'm interested in dating anyone right now. It's not really the best time for me."

Disappointment is all over the hot girl's face as she looks at her feet and nods. I notice her cheeks turning dark red. "Oh, it's okay, I understand." she sounded like she was going to say more, but then the bell rang.

Ali slams her locker harder than she should have and gently grabs her hot friend's arm. "Come on, Jenny," she says as they quickly brush past me, the friend looking like she's just about to cry.

Wow. It looks like I broke two girl's hearts this morning, and it's not even 9:00 yet.

***

The lunch bell finally rang and I go to the bathroom to see that the red cheek mark is almost completely gone (thank God). As I'm walking to the cafeteria, while saying hi to people (some I don't even know), I notice Ali is by her locker. She's alone this time and I figure she's just grabbing some books for her next class or something, so I keep on walking. As I'm walking past her, though, I hear a quiet, muffled sob. I glance at her and I see she's been crying. She's holding a tissue to her face, constantly drying her face with it.

All of a sudden, Liz's voice pops in my mind, repeating what she told me about talking to Ali about Josh and trying to be her friend. Honestly, I had made no intentions of doing either.

However, I find myself walking toward her slowly. "Aw, what's the matter, Aliana? Did you finally realize how unattractive you are?" Don't ask why I told her that, it really just slipped out. I guess since we've been teasing each other all these years, it's hard to see her and not insult her in some way. Ali hides her face from me as she starts to sob harder. I suddenly start to panic a little which scares me because I don't even know why.

"Leave me the fuck alone, Cameron. I don't have time for your shit right now," she manages to choke out. I just stare at her, suddenly out of comebacks. I consider just walking away but, for some reason, I can't find myself just leaving her in an empty hallway crying her eyes out because of obvious reasons.

Then, I surprise both of us by wrapping my fingers around her wrist and pulling her away from her locker, closing it for her.

"What are you doing?" she asks, more confused and shocked than angry. I notice now that her eyes are red and so is the top of her nose.

I don't say anything as I drag her from the lockers and into an empty classroom around the corner. I lead her inside and close the door behind us.

"Why did you take me here? What are you going to do with me?" she asks, worried. I want to laugh but don't because I don't know if she's joking or being serious.

"Ali, I just want to talk to you."

"About what?" she asks while she throws away her tissue in the nearest trash can.

"About Josh and how you're feeling."

She starts to laugh humorlessly. "Are you being serious? Cameron Reeves wants to talk about how I'm feeling?" She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest. "Did you not have anything better to do? Is talking to me just your way to pass time?"

I hear myself exhale loudly out of frustration. I knew she wouldn't want to actually talk and take this seriously. Then again, under the circumstances, could you blame her? I feel the urge to just walk past her, out the door, and just move on with my life. But I don't. I realize that no matter how much we tease each other, we both just lost someone that we've known for forever. I also realize that Ali is the only person that can relate to how I'm feeling about Josh being gone.

"Ali, I'm being serious. I feel that we should talk about him. It's obvious you're hurting and that you have no one to talk to about it," I tell her as I slowly walk towards her. However, she again rolls her eyes and scoffs. "Ali, I know what you're going through and I think it's best that we deal with it by just talking to each other, all teasing aside."

"Cameron, I'm sure I can deal with it on my own. I don't need anyone to talk to, especially you. That's not just because you've practically made my life a living hell since eighth grade."

I ignore that last part and say, "Ali, you're hurting and you do need to talk to someone. You can talk to me. We're both hurting right now."

She lets out a sarcastic laugh at this and steps farther away from me. "Wow, Cameron. That has to be the biggest lie you have ever told." I could tell she's getting angry but I have no idea why.

"What are you talking about?" I ask her.

"Here you are giving me this crap about how we're both hurting and how we both should talk to each other while you're obviously over the whole thing."

"You don't think I miss him, Ali? You don't think that every minute of every day I think about him and how if that fucking drunk driver had passed him a few seconds earlier he'd still be here?" I know that I'm yelling at her which is not what I wanted to do but I can't help it. I see a tear fall down her cheek as she tries to stop more from falling. Shit, now I made her cry. So much for just talking.

"Well, you do a hell of a good job hiding it. If you think about him as much as you say you do, why is it that I see you partying, trying to score chicks, and acting as if none of what happened had any effect on you?"

That has to be the first time I've ever heard Ali yell out of anger. Which is probably why I didn't think when I yelled back, "At least I'm not acting like some rude, controlling bitch!"

The room fell completely silent after that. I immediately wished I could take that back. Believe it or not, I've never called a girl a bitch before, let alone to their face and the fact that they're not even a bitch.

I found myself looking at the ground, not wanting to look at her face. I know more tears are falling down her face now since I can hear the sobs she's trying to hold back. I felt this strange urge to hug her and tell her how sorry I was. Not just for calling her a bitch, but for every hurtful things I've said to her. I couldn't though, I know she would just push me away. If I thought she didn't want to talk to me before, she most likely will never look at me again now.

Suddenly, I hear her footsteps walking away from me and to the door. "Ali, wait," I call after her and turn around, but she already left the room.

Damn. I wanted to make things better but look how that turned out. I know I should go after her and apologize but I wouldn't know what to say or do. I've never apologized to Ali before, but I know that I have to this time. No matter how much she hates me.