Cam Cameron // Summer Again

12

Morning comes and the sun wakes me up. A voice wakes the rest of us up.

"What's going on out here?" a lady speaks. I know this voice. I've heard it over the phone, in his living room, and in the country club. Denise struts up to us and singles out her son.

Cam immediately jumps up, "Mom. Hi. I'm so sorry, Um... They- they needed a place to stay because they lost their house-"

She folds her arms and cuts him off, "Cam..."

"Um I'll clean everything up, I swear," he panics.

"No yeah we'll all clean up," I chime in hoping it wasn't a mistake. Denise lays her eyes on me and her poker face gives me nothing to work with.

"Gracie," she begins with her motherly and cold tone. "Good. Don't forget to return the cart," she says before walking off. Cam looks back at me and I sigh. We all get up and clean religiously.

We head back to the house and find Julia at the door with a woman. She tells us that she's accepted an offer and has to go to Boston to finalize details. It's over. It's sold. We look around at each other and we share the same feeling of defeat.

Conrad and Jeremiah have to give up their keys and Skye tries to talk to their mom. Julia starts to leave and Skye keeps trying. We are all left at a loss for words and stare at each other with a pit in our stomachs. I hold Belly's hand and she squeezes it. Taylor joins us on the other side of her and rubs her arm for comfort.
We head inside scraping and searching for any answer but we are left silent.

Skye walks in and joins us. "I- I tried to get her to call off the deal."

"It's not on you, Skye," Conrad frowns.

"I know... but she's my mom. So I would get it if you guys were angry with me, too," they frown too. "I just can't deal with her right now."

"Hey, no one's mad at you Skye," Jeremiah hugs them. We all accept defeat and talk about going home.

"No!" Belly and I shout. I don't have a plan but I refuse to give up. I look at Cam. I've already lost too much. I wasn't a fighter before but I am now.

"Our last memory here cant be this," Belly declares.

"Right! Everyone miserable and defeated," I add on. "This place deserves a better goodbye than that at least," I look over to Belly and see we're on the same course of thought.

"Like what?" Conrad asks us. I look to Belly for help.

"My mom came to the beach house with Susannah for the first time after her dad died. It was just supposed to be the two of them but Susannah hated how empty the house felt... so she decided to throw a huge party. Everyone was dancing and drinking and they went swimming at midnight. And Susannah said it was like Gatsby or something," Belly trails off to me hoping I can help her spiral of thought.

"So we throw a party, too!" I finish. Jeremiah agrees. Taylor agrees. Skye joins in. Liam fourths.

"I love this for us!" Cam bounces. We all giggle and look to Conrad.

"I think it's exactly what my mom would've wanted. She'd love it," he confirms. Belly then starts instructing like the volleyball captain she is. We get to showering, power napping, shopping, and getting ready.

Liam and I plan to let Belly and Taylor come over to shower and borrow my clothes so we can save time. I let them know and head down the street to go home and shower. It is probably one of the best showers I've had considering I slept on grass. I get out of the shower and realize I left my clothes on my bed. I wrap myself in a towel and decide Ill just speed walk to my room. I open the door and on my way out I crash right into someone knocking us over. I land on top of them as they take the fall, holding me. I look down and my eyes widen with the sight of Cam. He looks up and wears the same expression. We both stutter in awe and Liam comes out of his room.

"Oh sorry I told Cam he could shower over here too," Liam smirks with a fake apology. "Ya know... so he doesn't have to go all the way home." Cam and I turn bright red apologizing as we get up. I walk into my room and shut the door. I really hate Liam right now. I sit on the bed and look back at 20 minutes ago, mortified. Belly and Taylor take their showers and disperse. Belly goes with Conrad and Jeremiah for alcohol and party supplies. Taylor goes with Steven to plan invites and music. Skye and Cam go to his house for Lizzy's old DJ stuff. Liam and I take care of food. We order pizzas and go to the store for chips, sodas, and various chasers.

As we stroll the aisles he asks me how I am and I check on him too.

"It's so hard with Susannah gone. None of this feels real," I sigh.

"You can say that again. I remember the summer Susannah got me into surfing. She made Jere take me and I cried getting into the water... but after I finally caught my first wave..." he smiled. "I really miss her," his smile falls.

"I remember the summer Susannah gave me my first journal. I wrote in that thing everyday. I wrote anything and everything down. What I ate, what I did, how I did my hair. She said everything had meaning," I feel the melancholy sink in.

We put more and more stuff into the cart and talk about the party.

"Do you think we'll get a famous Grayson duet?" Liam asks with a bit of a laugh. Ever since our first party, Belly made sure everyone knew which led to Susannah insisting on it anytime we were together with her.

"Ha ha very funny," I roll my eyes throwing a bag of chips at him. "Also that little stunt you pulled back at the house... not cool," I shake my head.

"Alright I'm sorry Gracie... It's just... He still looks at you like- like how he did last summer," he lets out a frustrated groan. I stare at him with a serious look and he knows Im genuinely peeved. "Okay fine that doesn't excuse it but I'm your kuya, I see things you don't."

"Like what?" I ask annoyed.

"Like last summer! When Belly and Cam broke up I saw him at the country club and he told me about it. He wasn't gonna ask you out because he didn't want you to feel like a rebound. He didn't even consider it but I talked him into it!" I stare at him silently unsure of how to react. "Look Gracie. I know you fucked up okay? I fuck up all the time. Have you ever seen me with a girl for longer than a month?" I laugh at his comedic intervention. "But Gracie, sooner or later you gotta realize you learn from your mistakes. You gotta at least try. If you don't you'll just regret it. That's not who you are."

I let his words sink in and suddenly I hear Taylor's words too. We check out and pick up the pizza bringing all the food to the house.