Drawing the Line

Chapter 14

Hugging a pillow to his chest, Cameron stared blankly out his bedroom window. He was sitting on an armchair with his bare feet raised, and his knees up to his chest. He wasn't looking at anything in particular, just staring blankly into the distance.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at his door. When he didn't respond, there was a short pause, then they tried knocking again.

"Honey, are you okay in there?"

He heard his mother call out to him from the other side of the door but didn't want to see anyone at the moment.

"Cameron, what's wrong? You haven't come out of your room for a few days and I'm starting to worry..."

"I'm fine mom, I just want to be by myself right now."

There was another long pause and a sigh before she left. He buried his face into the pillow for a few seconds before his phone started ringing. He fished it out of his pocket and saw it was Joel. He hesitated at first but then gave in.

"Hey Joel..."

"Cameron! I've missed you bro, how are you?"

"I guess you could say I've been better," he shrugged his shoulders.

"I know you're still bummed about Rylie, but I have something that will make you feel better. One of our old friends is in town and wants to meet up. Why don't you come over?"

"I don't know Joel, who is it?"

"It's a surprise but I know you won't regret it, you will if you don't come."

"I...fine, I'll go. Only because it's for you," he sighed.

"Awesome! I'm going to be late picking up ingredients so let yourself in first! Cameron, I'm glad you said yes."

Joel hung up and Cameron lifted an eyebrow as he wondered what that was about.

----------------------------------------------

Cameron punched the code to Joel's penthouse unit and opened the door but was met with silence.

"Hello?" he called out. He turned on the lights and noticed the place was tidy, as if Joel had just cleaned.

He strolled over to the white leather sofa in the middle of the living room and plopped himself down. Leaning his head back, he thought about who they could be meeting up with. He didn't know anyone who would want to see him that badly. He only had one person he wanted to see and that wasn't going to happen.

The rattle of the front door opening disrupted his thoughts and he headed towards the front to greet whoever it was. He saw it was Joel but found it odd he had a huge smile on his face. That is, until he stepped aside revealing the person behind him.

She was on the petite side with wavy long black hair. Her eyes had a natural glimmer and her eyes curved upwards when she smiled.

Without missing a beat, he ran towards her and embraced her in a tight hug.

"RYLIE!"

She smiled nervously and lifted her arms up to hug him back after the initial surprise.

"What happened? Are you okay? Why did you disappear?!" He pulled back and stared intently into her eyes.

"I'm sorry Cameron, I've been going through some personal things and thought it would be best to shut everyone out. But I see now that it's not the answer. I'm not ready to talk about it now but I promise I will when the time is right."

"That's okay Rylie, thank you for being honest. I'll wait," he hugged her tightly again. She smiled weakly and made eye contact with Joel. Joel gave her the okay signal with his fingers and smiled back.