Neighbors; c.d.

Chapter 4. Flour Fight

"So... your name is Anna?" Cameron asked beside me. I let out a sigh and nodded my head. 

"Yep." I replied. 

"I like it." he said. 

I felt myself blush as my parents, Sierra, and Gina (Cam's mom) came back in carrying the food. They laid it out in the middle of the table and then signaled us to start eating. I reached out to get some chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes, gravy, and a bowl of strawberries. 

"Where's Oscar? I'd love to compliment him on his cooking." I asked, pouring the gravy on my mashed potatoes.

"He's out at the moment." my mom replied. I gave her a nod and took a bite of the potatoes.

"Mmm." I said as I ate. Cameron snorted next to me and I looked over at him. "What?"

"Nothing." He waved it away but I raised an eyebrow at him. "You don't eat like most girls." he said, shrugging as he picked up a drumstick. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not like most girls." I said through a mouthful of strawberry. 

"Yeah. I know. Most girls would tell me their name when they first saw me. You... you didn't." he said, pointing at me. I smiled at him and looked at my plate.

A few hours later, the Dallas's were still over and I had changed into black Nike shorts and a PINK t-shirt. I was in the kitchen, eating a spoonful of Nutella, when Cameron walked in. I instantly felt embarrassed and put the jar down with the spoon on top of it.

"Hi." I said. 

"Hey. Nutella?" he asked, pointing at the jar. I smiled sheepishly and looked away from him.

"Yeah. My mom actually asked me to bake some brownies and then cover them with it, but I haven't even started baking yet. I thought I would take a snack break." I said, laughing. He laughed too and then stepped closer to me.

"Do you want some help with baking?" he asked. I looked up at him and nodded.

"Sure. I'll get the recipe book." I said, walking over to a set of cabinets by the fridge.

"You're not going to use brownie mix and stuff?" he asked behind me. I shook my head as I stood on my tip-toes, trying to reach the book. 

"My parents don't believe in using already made stuff for baking so they make our chef make everything from scratch. But, I'm the best at making brownies. Even compared to Oscar. That's our chef, by the way." I said, getting onto the counter to get the book. 

When I got up there, the top of my head was about an inch from touching the ceiling. I found the book I was looking for and then turned around to get down, then saw how far down it was. Cameron came over a second later and held his hand out so I could grab onto it. 

I did and crouched down then jumped from the counter. Cam caught me before I could face plant onto the ground. 

"Thanks." I mumbled out of embarrassment. He smiled at me before letting me go.

"No problem." he replied. 

I turned around and closed the cabinet door, then placed the book on the island. Ten minutes later, I'd gotten out some bowls, the ingredients and some chocolate chips so I could put them into the brownies. 

I started putting everything into the mixer thing and pressed the button that made it start mixing. A few seconds later, I stopped the mixer and looked over at the book. 

As I went back to the mixer, I felt something dusty land on my right cheek. I flinched and looked to my right. Cameron had flour on his fingertips and was smiling at me.

"Did you just flick me with flour?" I asked, turning to face him. He nodded, still smiling. 

I pursed my lips together and grabbed the bag of flour, then arched an eyebrow at him. I cupped my hand and put it in the bag, getting a handful of flour. 

Cameron shook his head as I brought my hand out of the bag. I smiled mischievously at him before throwing the flour at his face. He moved his head, making the flour land on his chest. I laughed at him as he looked down at his shirt.

"Really?" he asked. I kept laughing and nodded my head. 

He smiled, lunged forward and grabbed some flour then put it on my head. I let out a yelp and it escalated from there. By the end of our flour fight, the floor was covered in white powder, along with us and our clothes. Cameron had flour in his hair and on his pants. And shirt but you couldn't see it, since it was white.

"Nice hair." I commented, smiling and pointing at his hair. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head, making flour fall out of his brown hair. I laughed and looked at my hair. It was partially white too.

"Thanks." he replied. I looked around the kitchen and opened my mouth. 

"My mom is not going to be happy if she sees this." I said, motioning around the kitchen. He laughed and a few seconds later, I heard a gasp behind him. Cam turned around and I saw my parents standing outside of the kitchen with wide eyes and open mouths.

"What did you do? Make it snow in here?" my mom asked, walking cautiously into the white powdered covered kitchen. I bit my lower lip and rocked back and forth.

"Um, we-"

"It's my fault, Mrs. Booths. I, uh, threw flour at her and she was trying to clean it up, but I didn't stop. Sorry." Cameron said. I looked over at him with my eyebrows creased together. 

"Cameron-"

"No, Anna. You don't have to lie about it. It's my fault." he said, turning and facing me.

"Well, I guess it's fine. Just clean it up please." my mom said. 

My dad crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Cameron. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for Cameron to have taken the fall for me. My dad didn't exactly like me hanging out or dating guys that had a personality like mine. 

He thought if I did hang out with them or date them, then I would get this idea of running away from the family and never coming back. I've never actually told them about my dream about Juilliard and Broadway and everything else because then they would never let me out of the house again. 

It was about an hour later and Cameron and I were still cleaning the last of the kitchen. I let out a sigh and sat down, leaning against the cabinet door.

"Cam, you didn't have to take the fall for me." I said for the fiftieth time. He shook his head.

"Oh, but I did. If I didn't, I had a feeling that if you told them the truth, you may never be let out of your house." he said. He walked over from where he was and sat down next to me. Our legs were propped up in front of us and they were touching.

"Believe me. I've done worse than this." I said, shaking my head. I looked over at him. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen. You?" he replied, looking at me.

"Seventeen." I said. "Cam, if I didn't tell you my name earlier, then how'd you subscribe to me on YouTube?"

"When you told me your friends' name, I searched her on Instagram, saw some profiles and I think I found the one that's your best friend. She had some posts of Nash's vines, and then there was a picture of you and her on the beach. She tagged you in it, so I went to your profile. I then saw you had a YouTube channel, then subscribed to you. I knew your name the minute I saw the picture of you, but I just pretended I didn't." he explained. I nodded and looked forward.

"What high school are you going to?" I asked.

"Los Angeles High." he replied. I looked over to him.

"Me too! Oh my God, wow." I said, shaking my head. He laughed. After a few seconds, he cleared his throat.

"So, do you have a boyfriend?" he asked.

"Yeah, his name's Hudson." I replied, feeling a little guilty. I had honestly completely forgotten about him when I was with Cameron. That's probably a bad thing... Oops.