Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

“You okay?” I asked quietly, seeing that Jared was engrossed in whoever was texting him and wasn’t paying attention.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she sighed, not convincing me one bit. If spending so much time with Cam had taught me anything it’s that when a girl says ‘I’m fine’ things are never fine. Cam did it because she didn’t want to bother people with her problems, because she hated feeling weak. Becka was more of a typical girl, and while I didn’t know the motivation behind it her tone said it all.

“No, you’re not. What’s up? He’s not even listening back there; he’s probably trying to convince Cam to go to a rink with him so he can work some drills,” I chuckled, getting a sad laugh out of Becka.

“I just shouldn’t have came,” she sighed.

“What?”

“I shouldn’t have came. You guys and Cam will have so much fun and I’m just gonna be awkwardly tagging along everywhere,” she told me.

“No, Becka that’s not true; you’re not awkwardly tagging along; it’s gonna be great with you here. And you know if would have killed Cam if you didn’t come,” I told her, and she shrugged.

“She’s got you and your family here, Cam doesn’t need me,” she said, and immediately my eyes widened and I looked back at my little brother. Becka clamped a hand over her mouth, realizing she’d slipped in front of somebody else.

Thankfully Jared was still completely focused on his cell phone, and then I realized that he had headphones in.

“Thank God,” I sighed, relaxing and slumping in my seat.

“Shit, that would have been awful!” she groaned. “I can’t believe I just did that!”

“It’s okay; no harm no foul, right?” I asked, and she nodded. I parked in the reserved spot, and then Jared decided to pay attention to the real world again; he pulled out his headphones and shoved his phone into his pocket as he got out.

“That was fast,”

“No, you were zoned out. You got an online girlfriend or something?” I teased, and he shook his head, giving me a dirty glare.

“No I do not! A few of the guys were texting me, asking me if I’d met Sid or Cam or anybody,” he defended himself, and I shrugged as we walked into the hotel and went up to the floor our rooms were on. I knocked on the door, and Eric opened it, shushing us immediately.
“Huh?” I looked over and saw Cam leaning against the headboard, fast asleep, with a sleeping Parker nestled in her arms. He was holding onto his stuffed ‘Cubby’; the stuffed Checker’s mascot that Jared had bought him, and his other hand had a death grip on Cam’s sweater. I’ve never seen anything more adorable in my life.

“They didn’t even start the movie, eh?” Becka asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her best friend.

“Nope; didn’t even get to the main menu,” Tanya chuckled, pushing some hair off of Cam’s face before softly caressing her son’s cheek.

“Poor thing must be wiped; flying takes a lot out of a person,” my mom said, pulling a blanket over my girlfriend and gently tucking it in around them as they slept. Parker’s eyes sleepily opened for a second, before he nuzzled his face back against Cam and dozed back off.

“Told you Cam was the new Staal,” Lindsay grinned at me. Mom and Dad looked at us in confusion, making us chuckle.

“Cam’s birthday was the day we played them in New York; Lindsay figured he was just as much a Staal as we were, and I guess Parker thinks so too,” Marc informed them, and Mom leaned against Dad, a happy smile on her face.

“Well, we better all get to bed,” she sighed a few moments later, before they left the room.
“Do you guys want to switch us rooms for tonight? That way we don’t have to wake Cam or Parker up,” I suggested, and Becka nodded.

“Yeah; they can just keep sleeping and you guys can get some sleep too,” she agreed, and after a few moments Eric and Tanya nodded.

“You sure? We can wake Park up and bring him with us,” Tanya worried. She’d probably never had him sleeping very far away from her, so I understood her worry.

“He’ll be okay; he’s out like a light bulb,”

“But what if he wakes up in the night and doesn’t know where he is? He’ll freak out,” Eric worried, but Becka shook her head.

“I think he’s pretty attached to his ‘Unca Cam’, he should be all right. If not we’ll let you guys know,” she said, and finally the two of them agreed; we went to our room and grabbed all of our bags, and swapped keycards as well.

“Well, are you gonna crawl in with Cam?” I asked Becka after I came out of the bathroom, changed into my pajamas. I made a point of wearing a shirt this time; because it would be awkward around Becka, even though it was uncomfortable.

“Yeah, because if you crawl in with her your family will be weirded out, and no offense but I’m not crawling in with you,” she said.

“None taken; I’m pretty sure it’s not cool to sleep in the same bed as your best friend’s boyfriend,” I assured her.

“Cam’s not going to be comfy sleeping in those though,” Becka worried.

“I don’t want to wake her up though; she’s had a rough couple of weeks,” I pointed out, and Becka nodded. Instead we slowly moved Cam until she was laying on the bed with her head on the pillow, so she wouldn’t be sore or hurt when she woke up in the morning, and then I tucked the blankets in around her as Becka crawled in on the far side.

“Night Cam,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead before planting a similar kiss on my nephew’s. I looked up and blushed as I saw Becka watching me.

“You two are just too adorable, you know that?” she said, and I shrugged, glad it was dark in the room so she couldn’t see that my face was fire engine red.

“Thanks?”

“Night Jordan,” she said, before rolling over and making herself comfortable. I crawled into my bed and laid there, looking up at the ceiling for a while. When I closed my eyes all I could see was Cam holding a little blue-eyed Staal, and as I fell asleep I knew there was a smile on her face when my mind’s eye and imagination morphed the picture into her holding our little blue-eyed Staal.