It Started With a Whisper

Cameron was beyond excited when I walked inside his room. His mom was sitting there, and I walked over to give her a hug.

"Hi Ava." She kissed my cheek.

"Hi Aria. How are you?"

"I'm good. How are you?"

"Hanging in there."

"Aria, guess what!" Cameron was bouncing around in his bed, an excited look on his face.

"What?" I asked, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"The doctors said I'm getting better!" That was honestly the best news I had heard in weeks. I had seen a couple of the kids in the hospital get worse and pass away. It was really depressing, but it only made me want to work harder so I could save someone's life one day.

"That's amazing, Cameron." He wrapped his tiny arms around me, and I kissed the top of his head.

"Hey. I thought I'd find you here." I cursed to myself. Daniel's voice was the last one that I wanted to hear right now. I wasn't even sure how he found me.

"I'll be right back, Cameron." I stood from the bed and walked over to Daniel, pulling him out of the room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as nicely as my voice would allow. Daniel had been somewhat of a nuisance lately. If he wasn't following me around school during his free time, he was texting me or calling me for some reason. It was annoying, and Mr. Franco wasn't doing much to help the situation. Classes had been extremely awkward between the two of us sneaking glances at each other. Amelia always noticed though, vowing to out us both if something didn't happen soon.

"I feel like you've kind of been avoiding me lately." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, and I almost cursed at him.

"And you thought coming to my job to talk to me was a good idea?" I couldn't keep the sarcasm out of my voice. I felt a little bad when I saw Daniel's expression change, but this was neither the time nor place to have this conversation. The fact that he even thought it was okay to show up here really made me upset.

"Well I didn't really think about it. I kind of just did it." I sighed and rubbed my temples. I didn't have time for this.

"Daniel, go home. I'll call you when I'm off or something." I knew I wasn't going to call him, and I was pretty sure he knew it too, but he smiled all the same.

"Okay." He kissed my forehead before disappearing around the corner, and I walked back into Cameron's room.

"Aria, was that your boyfriend?" I kind of felt like this was deja vu, but I decided not to think about it too much.

"No. He's just a friend from school."

"Good. I like you with that other guy better. Mommy, when Aria first came here, a really nice man brought her lunch. I thought he was her boyfriend, but he said no. I think he likes her though. He looks at her the same way daddy looks at you." I felt a crack in my heart at his words. He was too young to understand how difficult relationships really were, but he was just so sweet and innocent. It was hard not to smile at what he was saying.

"I'm sure Aria doesn't want you telling me all of her business, Cameron. Say you're sorry."

"But I didn't do anything wrong." His eyes got wide, and I felt bad.

"Cameron." Ava's tone had a clear warning in it, and I watched Cameron's face slip into the most adorable pout I had ever seen in my life.

"Sorry Aria." Cameron's voice was soft, and I took a seat next to him again.

"It's okay. I know you didn't do anything wrong." I ruffled his hair a little and watched as he started to play with his toys.

"Aria?" My eyes immediately snapped up to the door, and my face paled a little. Of course he knew I was here. If I wasn't on campus, and I wasn't at home, there was only one other place that I could possibly be....and Amelia probably told him that I had to work today. I could see Ava eyeing me curiously out of my peripherals, and I stood from the bed once again.

"Hi Dave." I wasn't really sure what to say. I hadn't spoken directly to him since that day for the simple fact that now I didn't know how to act around him. Was I supposed to act the same? Or push him away? Was I supposed to act like I didn't know what was going on?

"Hi Aria. How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"I'm okay. Are you off any time soon?" he asked, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Not for a couple hours. Why, is something wrong?"

"No. I just really need to talk to you, and I haven't gotten a chance. You practically run out of the room after class." I didn't really see where this was going, but I didn't like the direction it was headed in.

"For a very good reason, too."

"Can we just sit down and talk about everything before you make your final decision?" I thought after three weeks of avoiding the situation, I would have felt a little better, but if I was being totally honest, I felt like hammered shit.

"There's nothing for us to talk about. You know why we can't."

"But you don't even want to try?" He was making this extremely hard for me, and I really didn't want to make a scene in the middle of a children's hospital.

"Dave, this really isn't a good idea."

"Neither is drinking and driving, but people still do it." I giggled a little and shook my head.

"That was a really bad analogy."

"Oh well. Just let me take you out for dinner after you get off." I wanted to know what changed. When we first had this conversation, he understood why we couldn't be together. Now, he was asking me out to dinner? I thought this was going to be relatively easy.

"Dave, I-" He cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"Please, Aria. It's just dinner." I had a feeling it wasn't going to be "just dinner", but it was clear that he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Fine. Dinner. I get off at 4."

"Okay. I'll pick you up at 7." I nodded once and watched him leave before walking back into Cameron's room.

"That was him mommy. I told you he likes her." Cameron had a wide grin on his face, and I shook my head, smiling to myself.

"Well, you guys do make a lovely couple." Ava said, smiling lightly at me.

"Thank you, but we're not together. He's my professor." I wasn't sure why I told her, but it was too late to take it back now.

"That doesn't matter. It's hard to find someone that you really connect with. If you find that person, hold onto them." She pat my shoulder lightly before excusing herself to use the restroom. I could think of all the consequences in the world for what I was about to do, but maybe Ava was right.