Happy the Hard Way

Kallel woke up the next morning and slowly climbed out of bed. She knocked on the bathroom door then waited a few seconds and opened the door walking right into Cameron’s chest; her eyes closed. She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her. “Good morning beautiful” he whispered in her ear.
“Good morning” she mumbled, still half asleep. “you‘re warm” she noted as she opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was skin, his shoulder to be exact. “Cam, why aren‘t you wearing a shirt…and why are you wet” she asked as she looked up at him and saw his hair was wet.
“Shower, duh” he joked.
“Hey, I‘m half asleep, I‘m allowed to ask questions with obvious answers” she said, gently pushing him away from her. “You better have something on underneath that towel” Kallel warned him, he had a towel wrapped around his waist.
Cameron smirked “I don’t, I literally just got out of the shower two minutes before you walked in” he remarked then winked.
Kallel grabbed her toothbrush and rolled her eyes, “put some clothes on” she said before she put her toothbrush in her mouth then left, shutting the bathroom door behind her.
Eventually Cameron emerged fully clothed and Kallel went into the bathroom, showered, and got ready for the day. At noon they headed off to the airport. The plane ride was terrifying for Cameron…too much turbulence. He was a nervous wreck the whole time and had to hold Kallel’s hand.
Once they got off the plane they were waiting for their luggage when cameron spoke up “Kallel?” he started. Kallel looked over at him and gave him a questioning look “Would you maybe wanna stay at my house tonight?” he asked, pulling his suitcase off of the rack.
Kallel smiled “My parents would never go for that, well I mean they might, but since I was away all weekend probably not….unless” Kallel said, a bigger smile appearing on her face. She immediately pulled her phone out of her pocket and called her house. Elizabeth answered “Hi Elizabeth! It‘s Kallel…you‘re not supposed to answer the phone are you?…whatever…let me talk to mommy okay?” Cameron had a confused look on his face.
“hey mom! Would it be okay if I stayed up her at Brandon‘s for one more night, I‘ll be home tomorrow……his mom is offering. Okay thanks, I love you too. Tell dad I say hi…..okay, Thanks again, bye!” she said then hung up. Kallel turned towards cameron “Done, I‘ll be spending the rest of today and tonight with you” She pulled up the handle on her suitcase that cameron had grabbed for her and wheeled it out to where cameron parked her car.
“Oh my god. We‘re lost. I thought you said you parked my car in D 12” Kallel sighed. They had been looking for it for a good thirty minutes.
“I know we did…we‘re probably almost there. Aha! I think that’s it right there!” cameron said as he started walking faster towards the direction of the car. Kallel groaned and trudged slowly behind him.
Cameron waited at the car, the trunk open. Kallel gave him a look that said ‘its about time’ as cameron lifted her suitcase in the trunk. They both got in the car, Cameron in the driver’s seat and then left from the San Diego airport, it was about an hour drive back to Cameron’s house.

Finally they arrived and cameron opened the door to his house “Mom, Dad, I‘m home; Kallel is here too” he called out.
Soon his mom came running in from the kitchen towards them, her arms open. She passed cameron and went straight to hugging Kallel “Hi Kallel! How are you? Was Cameron a gentleman?” she asked, full of energy. She saw Kallel had carried in her own suitcase “Cameron Michael Quiseng! You made her carry in her own suitcase! That‘s not how I raised you!” she said turning to Cameron.
“Mrs. Quiseng its totally fine, I packed light. It was no problem really. He offered but I declined.” Kallel stated.
Cameron’s mom flicked his head with her finger “you don’t take no for an answer next time. And Kallel, dear, please, call me Annette”
“Where‘s dad?” cameron asked after he hugged his mom.
“I made him go hiking with Bill, our neighbor. I needed to clean the house and he was just getting in the way.”
Cameron nodded “We‘ll be upstairs if you need us…well if you need me.” he said then threw Kallel over his shoulder and started to run up the stairs.
“Quiet! Your sister Danielle is sleeping. Take the baby monitor and if she wakes up…well you know what to do.” his mom said, then returned to the kitchen.
“Jeez Kallel, be quiet” Cameron said quietly, laughing at his remark. Cameron set her down at the top of the stairs, right outside of the room Danielle was sleeping. “Wanna see her? She‘s a cutie” cameron said quietly then opened the door.
“Cameron! You‘re gonna wake her up!” Kallel whisper yelled. Cameron didn’t listen and walked over to the crib and picked Danielle up and held her in his arms.
“She was already awake” he said, grabbing her blanket a stuffed animal and carried her to his room. Cameron layed the blanket out on his bed and set Danielle down on it.
Kallel stood by his bedroom door and watched him as he talked to Danielle in a baby voice. Cameron looked up at her “She‘s not gonna bite you” he said patting the spot on the bed next to him.
Kallel smiled “She‘s a baby, babies bite. Duh” she informed him then sat down next to him “Besides, I was watching you with her”
Cameron raised an eyebrow “Creep?” he said, then cracked a smile and nudged her with his elbow.
“No, you know what I meant. You‘re really good with her. It’s cute.” She said, letting Danielle hold her finger in her hand. “…And attractive” she said, glancing up at him.
Cameron gave her a flirtatious smile and winked at her.
“stop it” Kallel said blushing
“stop what?” cameron asked, playing innocent.
“Stop being all flirtatious” she said, picking Danielle up and holding her in her arms.
Cameron leaned over and kissed Kallel’s cheek. “If you ask me, I‘d say you‘re rather adorable when you have a baby in your arms”
Kallel looked down at the small life in her arms “how old is she?”
“18 months” Cameron said, not taking his eyes off Kallel.
Kallel looked up and saw cameron starring at her “Who‘s the creep now?” Kallel joked. “I think she fell back to sleep”
“I‘ll go put her back in her crib. Be right back” he said as Kallel handed her over to him.