Pieces of Love

Chapter 3- Tea

Sitting Cameron at the bar stool, Oliver walks away to help Lia make the several cups of tea. Cameron blinks wearily, trying to stay upright as the cloud of sleep still hovers around his head.

Brandon slips in behind Cam as the boy begins to tilt backwards, using his body as the back of the chair.

"Woah, I think someone still needs to be in bed."

Cam only grumbles, attempting to sit himself up again, but failing miserably as he sinks back into the tall man standing behind him. His brown hair flops over his forehead, the unruly locks blocking his eyes as they fall shut, his head tilted at an odd angle against Brandon's chest.

"I think I'm stuck."

Maddy laughs from the lounge, watching the scene in the kitchen. Lia can only shake her head, passing a cup of tea to Oliver before taking one to Brandon.

"Did you guys find out if he has work?"

Oliver shakes his head, taking a slurp of the too hot tea that sits in his designated mug. It was a gift from Maddy a few years ago, but when he moved into the townhouse he thought it would be safer to leave it here with the girls and Brandon.

Maddy climbs off the couch and moves to the apartment's phone. "I'll call his boss and ask."

Instead of taking the call privately, Maddy puts in on speaker, waiting as the phone rings and for Cameron's boss, Martin, to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi! I'm Maddy, a friend of Cameron's, and I just wanted to check if he had a shift today?"

There's rustling on the other side of the phone, and Cameron shifts on the chair. Brandon only smiles, lifting a hand to run it through his messy hair.

"Cameron? Yeah he was fired yesterday."

The whole room falls silent, Oliver tensing and Maddy's mouth dropping open. Lia clears her throat, gesturing for Maddy to say something before the man hangs up.

"Fired? Um... can I ask why?"

"I'm not really at liberty to say—"

"Okay, thank you." Maddy hangs up.

Everyone stays as still as a statue, apart from the napping Cameron, as they digest the news. How could he get fired? He was one of the most hardworking and charismatic of them all. His customer service skills put Maddy's to shame, and that was saying something considering the smile that was permanently glued to her face.

"That explains why he was acting weird last night." Lia whispers into the quiet, her mug tightly clutched in her hands.

"Also explains why he was so eager to sleep here." Oliver pipes in, sipping tentatively at his tea.

"Did he say anything to you when you went to bed?"

Oliver shakes his head once again. "No. He did seem more riled up than usual, but I just assumed he'd had a bad day."

Brandon sighs, his arms coming up to hug Cameron to his body, a hand rubbing up and down his back and his eyebrows furrowing.

"I don't understand. He told me everything was going well at work, so why would he get fired so suddenly?"

Lia sighs, leaning her elbows on the kitchen counter and flicking her long straight hair over a shoulder. "Well, we're not going to find out until our boy decides to return to the world of the living."

Brandon begins to lift him from the barstool, taking care to tuck him up against his chest. "I'll put him back to bed."

Lia smiles in thanks. "Take a nap with him while you're at it, you woke up way too early considering you have a shift tonight."