We meet at Dawn

Chapter two

I met Cam at the same place, at dawn. He offered me a cigarette and we talked about how it was back in Alaska. He told me that it was beautiful and cold, he told me about all the wild animals he had seen and how he took his first beer on
his 18th birthday, when he and his dad had gone camping. I quickly realized that Cam was the kind of guy that lived in the moment, the guy who did everything just to have tried it. And I felt amazed by him, and jealous of all the places he had seen and traveled to.
But I was most jealous of his relationship with his parents. Compared to mine, his was caring, loving and took time to be with him. Mine barely noticed me. Maybe they didn't really notice me because I was quiet or because they just loved my brother more. After all, they talked about him like he was God. And when he came to visit, they for sure didn't notice me.
"How about you? Where did you grow up?" I tilted my head a little, trying to figure out something remotely nice or funny to tell him, but there was nothing. "Well, I grew up here in Seattle, with my older brother and yeah. I guess that's it." From the corner of my eye, I could see Cam wrinkle his brows like he was trying to wrap his mind about my answer. "You have a brother?" He scooted closer to me, waiting for my answer. "Yeah, his name is Felix. But he lives in LA now." I took a deep breath, not wanting to talk about my so called, perfect brother. "He moved there
4 years ago to be a lawyer, he is 28. So, we're not exactly close to each other." Cam smiled a little and stood up. "Your brother's name is Felix and he's a lawyer? Sounds quite boring, don't you think?" I exploded in a big snoring laugh. Never
have I heard someone call my brother boring and I loved it, because it was true.
Last year when Felix came home all he talked about was his clients and work, like he didn't even have a life. Like he would die if he stopped talking about it, and Cam was so right. It's super boring, hell, even I could be a lawyer only by hearing Felix talk about the process.

I rose up and gave him a hit on the shoulder. "You have no idea how boring he and his work is." Cam gave me a friendly punch back and laughed a little more, and I swear I could get drunk by his laughter. "You coming to school on Monday?" I asked him, but I could see his whole mood change like lightning, like I had kicked him in the balls. "There's probably something you should know, but it's a secret, okay?" He grabbed my shoulders and stared into my eyes. "Relax Alaska, your secret is safe with me." He took a
step back and looked down at the muddy ground. "It's my second time as a senior, I had to retake my last year. I'm turning 19 next Sunday." His eyes were cold, and he stood frozen like a statue. But I didn't care that he had to retake his senior year, nor did I see why he was ashamed over it.

"Hey Cam, can I tell you a secret?" He looked down at me and gave me a small nod. I pulled up my sleeve and show him my arm full of old and fresh scars. "Something bad happened to me a couple of months ago, and no matter what I do I can't stop feeling like I'm drowning." Cam pulled me in his arms and hugged me like I was oxygen. He tilted my head back and gave me a shy smile. "Whatever happened to you, know that I'll always be here to help you, Dawn." And he took me in his arms once more, and I couldn't help but to cry in his arms. I had just met Cam, but there was just something about him that made me feel safe. And for a moment I forgot about all the bad that had happened to me.

I hated the days when I wasn't with him, I'd
lay in bed and look up to the ceiling. Cam showed me his favorite band, something called cigarettes after sex. Not something I'd usually listen to, considering that my favorite band was queen. But there's something I liked about Cam, that we didn't really share so many interests. I showed him my favorite movie, 500 days of summer. And no, it's not a love story! It's a story about love.
And Cam showed me his, which was Star Wars. I hadn't really seen Star Wars but it was actually good. And my favorite character was obviously Yoda, who doesn't like that green old creature?

For Cameron's birthday I took him on a ferry boat just across the city, I showed him my favorite sushi place and made him try sushi
for the very first time. He almost got sick from the raw salmon, but at least he liked the avocado. I gave him a hoodie saying Seattle and told him that when he goes back to Alaska, he could say that he thought it was a nice souvenir.
I took Cam to a lot of places during the last week of summer break, we went swimming in a lake 30 minutes outside of Seattle. We tried new food and saw a movie at the theater three times that week. I took Cam bowling and discovered
that he wasn't so good at it, which made me win with a good marginal.
Then school started, me and Cam always met at our spot at dawn before leaving for school. He drove, and I got to be the DJ. I showed him the best places to avoid people but still a place where you could see jocks tumble across the field. We met during every break, even though it wasn't more than 10 minutes.
In my English class we got an assignment where we had to take a quote from our favorite band/artist and write it to a poem. I actually took a song from cigarettes after sex that I really enjoyed, called sweet. And I swear I put my all into this assignment. Sure, it was a bit depressing, but I actually liked how the finished work sounded. I was sweating my ass of when it was time for presentation, sure I was happy over my hard work, but I wasn't a big speaker. But when the teacher called my name, I grabbed my paper and took a deep breath. And my speech went like this,
"Your hair dripping wet, your smile so wide. But it's your eyes that pulls me in, so sweet.
It's so sweet, the way you run your fingers through my hair, so sweet."
I wasn't a great writer, and never called myself so. But I liked my speech, it was a little messy
but so am I. And I know I promised Cam that he would hear it, but for now I'd rather keep it a secret.