Behind The Mask

Chapter 43

In the last twenty hours, we have already lost about four hours because of Will needing to stop to sleep. We should have already been in California, and getting Grace at the airport, but we are still about two hours drive away from our destination, and I think it would be better for Will to book into a hotel and have a shower before seeing Cameron.

"I don't think we're going to make it," E.J. says, his face scrunched up in the most adorable frown.

Chris decided not to come with us, not wanting to spend that much time in a car with me. I didn't tell E.J. how relieved I was about the way things turned out. The trip, and especially the times when Will pulled over to sleep had meant a lot to me. I got to talk to E.J. telling him how much he really means to me. He didn't say too much, having said his say on specifically Chris, but I am trying my best to remain hopeful. No matter how much E.J. hurt me in what he said, or how much it feels like he chose Chris above me, I still care for him a lot.

"I think we need to head to a hotel first," Will says under his breath. We are still a while away from where we should be, but he is looking like warmed up death. "I'm too tired to see Cameron immediately. Maybe I should have listened to Grace."

"Yeah," E.J. sighs from the front seat. "I really did want to go for my drivers, but I never got around to it with everything happening."

"Same here," I answer. "When I was supposed to go my mom died, and right after my face was gone, so that was probably the more important thing to deal with."

"Cameron actually told me that he would teach me," E.J. says looking back at me with a smile. "He told me that a license means freedom, and after my life that's exactly what I need."

"I'm really gonna need the two of you tonight," Will says from behind the wheel. "Cameron is the love of my life. I can't live without him. I knew it from the moment I first saw him at that club. You guys remember? There was just something so beautiful in him, almost lifting me up out of my depression."

I have never heard Will talk this openly about his emotions.

"What were you doing there that night?" I ask Will. We never really got to the point where I got close to him at all.

"I was on a bit of a road trip. Actually it was Grace suggesting it. I was under a lot of pressure to decide what I would go on to study. To just try and make something of my life. And there I was, writing Harry Potter fanfiction online, and reading the days away for almost two years, while Stuart got straight out of school and married Jessica-Lynne with immediate effect. Then he started studying, learning about the farm and planting stuff. He even came up with the concept of not just exporting the grapes but actually starting to make wine. Stuart might not speak a lot, but he has a good head on his shoulders. He did all of that by the time he was eighteen, and there I was at twenty, still not knowing exactly what I wanted from life," Will explains, which makes me understand his world a little bit more.

"In any case. I started getting really depressed, not leaving my room much at all. So Grace told me that she went for a few months, just visiting family, touring the country a little bit after she finished school, and that's when she made the decision that she wanted to come back. That she missed where she grew up. She said the great big world made her realize where she actually belonged, and she suggested that I do the same. So I did. I went on travels to find the thing I would love to do with my life. Until that point the only thing that excited me were Harry Potter and lots of books. But then I met Cameron. And the two of you. And the two of you looked so perfect and in harmony, and when I took Cameron's hand the first time I felt like I found the same. I knew I found what I loved in who I loved. I knew Cameron would put me on the path of greatness."