Take Me by Surprise, It Will Blind Me

It had been a couple of days after Cameron confronted me when I was having lunch with Brian. Some part of me despised him for spying on me, but the other part told me just to let it go. It was pretty nice to get that kind of attention from someone other than your friend and of course, Brian gave me the attention I wanted, but I never really thought of him as a boyfriend. Hell, I never thought of him as a ‘someone’ in my life. He was just Arletta’s son and the one who I had a fling with.

The sun was shining through the wide window behind me as I sat in my chair, tapping the pen I had in my hand on my desk, as I waited for the day to end. When it was half an hour before 5, the door of my office swung open, revealing Amy and Eric.

“What are you guys doing here?”, I asked as I stood up and furrowed my brows. “I still have 30 minutes before—“

“You have to come with us!”, Amy breathed and took me by my wrist before pulling me out from the office. They looked out of breath and like they just ran around town. When we were out from the boutique, she shoved me into the backseat of Eric’s car.

“What the hell, Ame?!”, I demanded hastily and replied by the door slammed in front of my face. Amy got into the passenger seat in the same time when Eric got into the driver seat. It wasn’t that much time before he stepped on the gas pedal and drove out from the parking lot. “I’m still waiting for an explanation!”

They kept their mouths shut and my blood was already boiling to the top of my head. “Hey! The last time I met you guys, you weren’t mute!”

“It’s about Cameron!”, Amy finally answered with a look to me over her shoulder. “He needs you, Dare.”

I rolled my eyes and sat back on my seat as I crossed my arms across my chest. “Yeah, right.”, I snorted.

“Have you even heard anything from him? Or seen him so you’d understand his current situation?”, she asked with narrow eyes.

“The last thing I said to him was I don’t want to see him anymore!”

“Then, shut up and just wait!”, Amy snapped before turning her head back to the front. She wasn’t the kind of person who easily got mad or angry and when she did, that meant you’ve done something wrong. Hugely wrong.

We stopped in the curb of Cameron’s house and I noticed David’s car was parked behind the house owner’s on the driveway. Eric and Amy already unbuckled their seatbelts and both of them looked back to me, waiting for me to do something. I rolled my eyes before unbuckling mine and got out from the backseat.

I waited until they got out from the car and walked silently behind them to the front door. It wasn’t locked, so we just got in right away. David and Feranix were there, in front of I guessed, Cameron’s room.

“Thank God!”, Feranix sighed quietly and took quiet steps towards me before pulling me lightly by my wrist. “You gotta help him.”

“Help who?”, I answered in a normal tone, replied by a hasty ‘Shush!’ from the other three people. “What?!”, I hissed with a glare.
Amy glared back and nodded to the door. A second later, there was a noise of something made from glass shattered on the floor. It came from inside of the room. “He had been like this since a couple days ago. Not to mention he had been drinking uncontrollably and well, he’s a wreck.”

My eyes stared at the door, like it was burning a mental hole on the door. There was another noise came from the inside and I cringed at it; I couldn’t stand it anymore. I took a couple steps towards the door and took the handle in my hand. ‘Breathe, Dareen.’, I told myself before pushing the handle down so the door would open. When I pushed the door open, it hit something in the back, making me couldn’t open it any further.

I slid in from the little crack and when I got in, the room was a complete mess. It looked like a tornado swung in and turned the room upside down. The mattress of the bed was out from the bed frame with tattered sheets and messed up pillows. There were feathers everywhere since someone ripped open the pillows. It looked like someone dropped an atomic bomb into the closet because the clothes were scattered everywhere. The floor was soaking wet because of the water that came from the bathroom and still running. The rest of the mess was unexplainable.

Carefully, I walked towards the bathroom where some splash noises came. I pushed the bathroom door quietly and saw a really messed up Cameron, sitting on the closed toilet. “Cam?”, I asked with a little fright in my tone.

He mumbled something groggily and looked up to me. His eyes were blood shot red and his face was in the same shade of red. “What the fuck are you doing here.”, He slurred and waved his hands around. I had to take a step back. “I don’t want to see you anymore.”
“I can do that, but Cameron, you can’t do this to yourself.”, I tried to reason with him. There were a couple empty bottles of beers and whisky around his feet and I guessed that he was already wasted. “Please, just let me get you to bed and you can take a rest.”

“You still want to redo that night when you flat out said you didn’t want to see me again?”, he retorted with a sharp tone in his voice. A lump rose in my throat and I shook my head weakly.

“Just… please, Cameron, do this for me. Stop everything you’re doing now. Your family needs you to be functional, David and Eric needs you too. Your band needs you. Please.”, I pleaded again and placed my hand on his shoulder, but still kept an arm distance.

He looked at me before nodding slightly and leaned back onto the toilet. I took a few steps forward to help him get up and gathered all my force to literally dragged him to his messed up bed. Because he flipped the mattress upside down, I had to lean him onto the wall to fix the bed before tucking him under his comforter. “I love you, Dareen.”, he whispered with his eyes closed when I pulled the comforter up to his chin.

Then, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. The tears fell and I nodded while blinking, making more tears fell down. “Me too, Cameron.”, I hiccupped and leaned down to peck his cheek lightly. When he was already fast asleep, I walked carefully and quietly out from his room, greeted by waiting faces of our friends.

“Well?”, Eric asked with a hopeful look on his face, as well as the others.

“He’s asleep now. I guess he calmed down.”
Everyone exhaled in relief. I wiped my tears with the back of my hands and decided to help Amy and Eric cleaning Cameron’s room while David and Feranix in the kitchen. It wasn’t that hard to clean the room while the owner was fast asleep because of the alcohol. Eric cleaned the bathroom, Amy swept the glass pieces or whatever that was smashed, and I tried to get the flood dried.

When we were done, we got out and went to the kitchen to find David and Feranix already made coffee for everyone. I took mine and sat on the dining chair that was pushed against the wall. The others sat on the stools around the island counter. I had some news to share, but I didn’t know how to start.

“Guys… I have to tell you all something.”, I started, cutting their conversation. They turned to me and waited. “I-I… accepted the offer for the show.”

The girls’ expressions fell and the guys were confused. “What show?”, David asked.

“Arletta’s friend offered me to be in his reality show that would take place in L.A. I’ve told the girls and well, I took the offer.”

“That means you have to move? To L.A.?”, now it was Eric’s turn. I nodded as an answer. “Then, what about Cameron?”

“I-I don’t know.”, I rubbed my palm against the hot mug. “I thought it would be great to get out from Virginia to just… let everything go for a second.”

“We support you no matter what, Dare.”, Amy said before glaring slightly at Eric.

“Victor told me… I have to leave for L.A. in a week.”

Everyone’s eyes turned wide. I knew a week wasn’t a long time and I had a lot to do before I move, not to forget the situation with Cameron right now. Hopefully I could get it all done before I have my new life.