Love at Camp Sight

Part 9

Cameron

When I get home I lay down on my bed. I don't hardly talk to Mom, just lay down. She comes banging on my door.

"Cameron, you have to unpack!" She says.

With a grunt I get up and walk downstairs to the car where I left my suitcase. I drag it upstairs, and put it on my bed. Mom stands in the doorway. I didn't get any sleep last night, which isn't irregular, but I barely got any sleep the other nights because I wanted to talk to Taylor.

"Why did everyone get sent home early?" Mom says watching me.

I pull some shirts out of my bag and put them in my hamper. "I don't know."

"Was it something you did."

She's good at interrogating people. She's a cop. She has to know these things. I stay silent unsure if I should tell her about Taylor or make up a story.

"Did you, Aaron, and Jake do something?" She says. I sigh and look up at her from my suitcase.

"No Mom, we didn't." I lie.

"You're lying."

"We didn't do anything."

"Did you meet a girl?"

I stare at her still unsure if I should tell her the truth, but it slips.

"Yes." I say.

She smiles at me, then sits on my bed. "What's her name? Where does she live? Is she pretty? Can I meet her?"

"Mom. Her name is Taylor, she lives about 2-3 hours from here depending on traffic, she's not pretty, she's gorgeous, and you can't meet her. We'll probably never see each other again. You can't meet her before I meet her again."

"Fine." She's still smiling like an idiot when I look at her.

"Why are you smiling?"

"I'm so happy that you met a girl."

I roll my eyes and continue to unpack.

I think about her while I'm eating pizza--good pizza-- for dinner. Her eyes were such an unusual shade, and gorgeous. I love her. But, I am still 16, so my love that I feel for her may not be real. But it feels real enough to me.

"You still haven't said a word." Mom says.

"Mom, I'm tired from my trip, maybe I'm not in the talking mood."

She raises her eyebrows. "You're in love."

"Why do you think that?"

"I can see it."

I rub my face. "I'm going to bed." I walk up the steps into bed. Maximus lays down at my feet.

I'm just about asleep when I get a text. Probably from Aaron, or Jake. What do they want? We spent the whole week together, I think I'm sick of them. I look at the text, it reads.

Hey, Cameron, it's Taylor. I had a fun time at camp. I hope to see you again. Though it will probably be next year, right?

I text her back right away.

Hey, Taylor. I had a fun time at camp too. Maybe we can meet up sometime in the near future. But, life gets busy... so...

I imagine her smiling at my text when I get a text from her.

Yeah, life gets really busy here because of my 5 younger siblings. I forgot, what grade are you going into?

I'm going to be a junior. Maybe in a few years from now we can go to the same college.

haha, yeah. That'd be fun. Oh. I really don't want to, but I have to go now. Bye.

Bye, Taylor.

I roll over on my side, and for the first time in a long time I cry. I cry myself to sleep with no interruptions.