I'll Be Right Beside You

“Hello?” I hesitantly called, not wanting to walk into James’ house uninvited. Steve sat in his car in the driveway, ready to drive me home to his place in case I backed out of James’ offer.

“Come on in!” he hollered, and soon I heard him come trotting down the stairs. I took a few steps in, and waved at Steve, putting on a small smile for him as he finally put the car into reverse and then drove away. James enveloped me in a quick hug once he got within arms reach, before taking my duffel bag from me and insisting I leave my hockey bag in the porch, where his was.

“Here, I cleaned up the spare room on this floor for you – I found a lot of stuff I forgot I had in there,” he grinned, making me laugh but not quite enough to totally relax. This felt foreign and strange – I’d only been in his home once, and that was with Jordan and the majority of our teammates that were around our age.

“So I know it’s not huge or anything, but it had the least amount of cleaning for me to do,” he sheepishly admitted as he opened the door and flicked on the light, letting me follow him inside. It was a really large room, with a big closet and a half-bath.

“It’s awesome,” I assured him, and he gave me a huge smile.

“That’s good. Well, make yourself at home – I’m just going to order in some pizza or something, if that sounds all right with you?” he asked, and I nodded. He already knew that I would eat basically whatever on my pizza, as long as there were no anchovies, so he made his way to the kitchen to get his phone and order. I sat down slowly on the bed, looking around the room. It was obvious that the room went unused – just because there was nothing of any personality in it, something that James’ whole house kind of struggled with. He just wouldn’t take the time to decorate it, and it was way too big for just him, so with the exception of his bedroom, bathroom, living room and sort-of his kitchen, the rest of the house looked totally unused. Maybe I would have to do something about that while I was here. I set a few things on the nightstand – my phone charger, phone, and my iPod. Everything else I basically left in my bag, until I decided to put my shampoo, conditioner and my little bag in the bathroom.

“Cam! Pizza’s here!” James’ yelled from the kitchen, and I chuckled to myself as I grabbed my laptop and made my way to where he was yelling from. An extra large Canadian pizza was sitting on the counter, next to a couple bottles of beer.

“Help yourself; wanna eat in the living room? I can usually catch Sportscentre this time of night,” he offered, and I nodded, putting two pieces on my plate and taking the open beer bottle he held out to me.

We sat quietly eating our supper and watching the sports highlights. I’d thought it would be slightly awkward, but actually sitting quietly together felt pretty comfortable. There had been a lot of tension between us after I’d told the team about me being a girl, but I think we were finally at a place where he realized why I’d done so.

“Still hungry? More Pizza? Another beer?” he asked, and I shook my head, finishing off the one I had.

“I’m fine thanks, but don’t let me stop you,” I assured him, and he just shrugged, running a hand through the hair he obsessed over so much.

“I just don’t know how to be a good host,” he admitted, and I laughed.

“Well don’t think of me as company – just do whatever you normally do as long as it’s not walking around the place naked,” I teased, and he put on a pout.

“But that’s my favorite thing to do!” he complained, before laughing as well. He got up to get himself some more food, and tossed the controller at me as he sat down.

“Find something – I hate watching soccer on TV,” he told me, and I rolled my eyes before clicking through the channels. There was absolutely nothing on TV, so I tossed the remote back to him.

“I tried – your turn,” he snorted, before deciding on America’s Funniest Home Videos. I watched it sometimes, but I wasn’t a huge TV person in the first place.

It turned out to be hilarious – more than once James nearly choked on his pizza laughing, and I’d nearly rolled off of the couch once. By the time the hour was up I think both of our ribs were hurting from the amount of laughter.

“Well, do you want to watch a movie or something?” James suggested once we both fruitlessly searched through his channels again.

“Sure, that sounds good,” I agreed, and then saw him pull out a Paranormal Activity DVD case.

“NOT THAT ONE!” I blurted, and then tried to half-ass hide behind the pillow beside me as he turned to look at me. He raised an eyebrow and stood with his arms crossed, waiting for a reason.

“I don’t like scary movies,” I quietly admitted, and he let out a huff before realizing I was serious. Then he was nearly doubled over in laughter, while I was trying not to be offended by him.

“Seriously? Cam are you pulling my leg?” he asked, and I shook my head.

“I hate them – they scare the shit out of me,” I told him.

“That’s kind of why they’re called scary movies,” he teased, and I pulled the pillow closer.

“When I was seven my cousins made me watch one – they were all older than me - and then they spent the rest of the week scaring the shit out of me with stuff that kind of happened in the movie. I’ve never watched one since,” I finally admitted, and James’ expression softened.

“Yikes, that’s rough,” he finally agreed, sitting down on the couch beside me.

“Well, why don’t we watch a kind of lame scary movie so you can see that they’re not so bad?” I shook my head violently, but James insisted.

“Hey, I’ll be right here, and I pinkie swear I won’t try to scare you. If you get too freaked out we’ll turn it off and put on something funny,”

“You don’t get it! Once I start watching it I have to finish because I NEED to know if the bad guy or whatever dies! And if not it’s just freaky as shit!”

“Come on, you’ll be okay,” he coaxed, and while I disagreed he put a movie in the DVD player and sat next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me into his side. When Darkness Falls was the movie, and I’ll admit to letting out a small whimper before it even really started; but then the opening sequence was enough to make me try to run for the hills.

It took maybe a half an hour for me to be trying to make a run for my room so I could try to go to bed, but James kept me pinned to his side, and it didn’t take much longer than that for me to have my face buried against him and the pillow over my head in an attempt to not have to hear the movie. James didn’t laugh at me once – just softly rubbed my back and assured me that I was all right. He did however move my hands a few times to try and make me actually see what was going on in the movie, but I wasn’t having any of that.

“HOLY JESUS!” I hollered, jumping about a foot in the air before trying to hide behind him as the tooth fairy thing came out at the small group of people. I’m pretty sure my scream was louder than the actors were.

“Hey, you’re okay, you’re okay – it’s just a show, it’s just a show,” he soothed, but I was too freaked out for even that now. To be honest I wanted Jordan to wrap his arms around me and curl up with me in bed, making me feel safe. But I shook that off, and instead curled into James’ embrace, needing the same kind of comfort.

“But James we’re in the dark!” I was fighting off tears by this point, and after a moment he noticed them.

“You don’t have any baby teeth left, do you?” he asked, and I slowly shook my head, sniffling.

“Neither do I, so we’re okay. It’s just a movie Cam, remember that,” he murmured, before resting his chin on top of my head. Thankfully at the end of the film the toothfairy-thing did ‘die’, and as soon as it was over I lightly smacked James’ arm for making me watch the damn thing.

“Hey, we’ll watch the behind the scenes so you can see it’s all fake, okay?” I finally nodded, and cuddled into his side once more as we watched the almost hour-long featurette.

“See? Not so bad,” he decided once that was over. I sent him a glare, and he attempted to smile.

“Easy for you to say – now I probably won’t sleep for a week,” I muttered, and he gave me a quick hug.

“I’m just down the hall if you need anything Cam, you’ll be okay; I won’t let anything happen to you, even if it was just a fake movie,” he assured me, and I tried to take his words to heart.

We went our separate ways to go to sleep then – James heading down the hall while I went into ‘my’ room and quickly changed into my pajamas. It had been hard for me to find some that didn’t include some of Jordan’s clothes, so I was left with a tank top and a pair of fleece pants. That was literally just about the only pajamas I had that I figured were appropriate to wear at someone else’s house.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face, before crawling into bed and finally shutting out the light. The house was so quiet, and I jumped at every little noise. I saw a shadow flit across the window, and quickly rolled over to face the door, breathing hard and whispering to myself that it was all in my head and I was being silly. But when the shadow flitted across it again I bolted, pillow in hand and ran down the hall standing in the living room shaking. I sat down on the chair, feeling ridiculous, before jumping when someone put a hand on my shoulder.

“JESUS CHRIST!” I flung myself away from the contact, trying to protect myself and ending up on the floor, cowering behind the coffee table.

“Cam! Cam it’s just me; it’s James,” cue feeling ridiculous once more as I’m sure my face turned red. I wrapped my arms around my knees, and tried to take a slow, relaxing breath.

“Come here,” I hesitantly took his extended hand, and let him lead me down the hall. We walked past my room, and I felt on edge, unsure of what to do. James opened the door to what I assumed was his room, and gestured for me to go inside.

“I’m not trying to get anywhere with you Cam, Jesus,” he rolled his eyes, making me relax a little bit and walk in. It was a disaster, to say the least, but it was a comforting sight in the way it reminded me of Jordan’s room. Piles of clothes everywhere, the nightstand basically empty except for a clock and his phone charger, and just a general sense of chaos.

“You can crawl in with me if that will make you feel better,” he offered, pulling the covers back.
“It’s okay – you don’t have to do that, I know I’m being ridiculous,” I stuttered, and he rolled his eyes.

“Cam, you’re scared shitless,” he stated, making me blush again, and slowly I sat down on the edge of the mattress, and then swung my feet up. James pulled the covers up to my chin before walking around to the other side and crawling in. He let out a yawn before turning onto his side and facing away from me. That helped me calm down a little more, and I finally laid down.

“Night Cam,”

“Night James, and thanks,” I said, and then tried to fall asleep. I laid there for probably ten minutes, and again the fact that his house was so quiet creeped me out. And James didn’t make any noise in his sleep, whereas I was used to Jordan’s soft snoring, so every creak the house made seemed far too loud.

There was a particularly loud bang that made me jump, and I felt awful when I realized James had woke up.

“It’s okay – the heater does that when it cuts in,” he explained, rolling to face me.

“I’m sorry – I should sleep in the other room so you can get some rest,” I apologized, but he shook his head.

“No, because you won’t get any sleep in there,” he argued, and then lifted his arm. I looked at him, wondering what the hell he was doing before he rolled his eyes and gave me a pointed look. After just a moment’s debate I snuggled up to him, and let him wrap his arms around me. It felt so wrong, because it wasn’t Jordan, but at the same time it felt nice to feel safe. James didn’t hold me the way Jordan did, and I was glad that it felt platonic, because otherwise it would have made me feel even more uncomfortable.

“Better?” he asked, and embarrassed, I nodded.

“Yeah,”

“You probably shouldn’t tell Jordan about this, ever. I quite like having my arms attached to my body,” he said, making me laugh.

“I can see how you’re attached to them,” I agreed, and he chuckled, his breath warm on my neck.

“And seriously, if you feel uncomfortable or anything you won’t offend me if you’re okay and crawl back into your bed. I know it might be weird because of the whole Jordan thing and the fact that I’m a single guy and you’re a girl,” he continued, and I snorted.

“Because this would be less awkward if I was a guy? Is that what you’re trying to say?” I asked, and he started to laugh when he realized how his words had come out.

“No! I just mean, considering the circumstances I’d understand if you feel uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed as me, especially like this. I just want you to know that I don’t have feelings like that for you and I’m not going to try anything,” he corrected himself, and I smiled. James was a really nice guy, there was no doubt about it, and I was glad to have him as a friend.

“Thanks James,” I turned to face him for a moment to give him a quick hug, and he shrugged.

“That’s what friends are for, right?” he asked, and I nodded.

“And I’m sure glad to have friends like you,” I agreed, and soon afterward we fell asleep.