Their Bright Future (Her Dark Shadow #2)

Chapter New

"Cam Ezekiel Lea! I am going to count to three and you are going to be right in front of me explaining yourself! If you are not here by said time you are grounded for...ever!"
"Cam...Go. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Em! Em, wait a--"
"Cam! I will legally change your name to Cameron so I won't only have one stinking syllable to yell at you! Here! Now!"
"Goodbye, Cam! Goodbye!"
I grumbled about mom's ability to take a perfect moment into her right monkey-hand and squeeze it until it looked like the ugliest thing you ever did see.
As I walked leisurely toward the front door where she stood with steam practically shooting from her ears, Ezrynn pulled into the driveway, and Mom's expression turned from murder to joy by the time I took another blink, and my reaction was similar. By the time Ezrynn's rental was in park, she was being tackled from five different angles: Mom, Dad(who seemed to have materialized out of thin air), Camden, and Veronica. Only four, you say? Oh, that's right; I just about tackled her to the ground, holding her in a tight embrace.
"Ezrynn!"
"What are you doing here?"
"Ezrynn! Ezrynn's here!"
Ezrynn's smile was from cheek to cheek, her eyes crinkled around the edges. Ezrynn, only 36, had crows feet.
"Come on, people, I need to breath!" She wheezed theatrically.
Two minutes later, Ezrynn was sitting next to me at the dining table, everyone else crowded around. She explained to us that she was moving back home, and that she missed us so much, and that psychology was a good experience but she was done with it job-wise, and that James, her boyfriend, was on his way, and that the last time they talked he had been twenty minutes behind her and to please please please give him a warm welcoming but not as big as hers had been because she doesn't want him scared off.
By the time James got here, dinner was ready and everyone joined us and it was so happy it was like a physical thing and everyone retired with full bellies and tired but excited eyes and no one wanted to leave but Ezrynn told them to go on ahead and that she'd still be here tomorrow, which everyone took with enthusiasm even though they already knew. Everyone left but Ezrynn and James, who stayed to visit, until James eventually claimed that he was tired and was going to book a hotel, and she gave him a peck on the lips and he left, and life was good and my cheeks hurt from smiling too much and ugh, I really needed to use the bathroom, but I didn't want Ezrynn to leave without saying goodbye.
But when Ezrynn started yawning, Dad invited her to spend the night, and she looked at me and asked if I minded and I called her crazy for even asking, and so she called James and told him that she was, "Staying at Corbin and Megan's house for the night," and soon she was in her pajamas and I had peed and we were talking about stuff.
"You saved me, you know. I'm sure Mom completely forgot to be mad at me." I smiled at her ruefully.
"Cam!" She sounded mockingly incredulous. "What'd you do this time?" Her eyebrow raised.
"I skipped sixth hour with Emila. It's not even something to be mad about, it's stinking 'college prep' class. Honestly, all they do is have you check your grades, and if they're bad, have you make a plan on how you'll get them back up. It's the stupidest class I've ever taken in all my years."
"With you, your mother's going to gray prematurely."
"Huh, no, she hardly has time to get involved with me anyway. That's why you only hear about the bad stuff; missing that is simply, impossibly, hard to do."
"Cam..." She took my hand in hers, "Your mother loves you. Working at home doesn't permit her to be any more involved than any other parent, because she's busy," I looked toward the floor, and she ducked her head to see under my long hair. "She cares."
"Yeah, try and convince her that," I scoffed, whipping my head up so fast that I just about hit hers, and because of this the seriousness seemed silly, and Ezrynn and I cracked up.
"But really, though." Ezrynn said after a few moments, breathless, a smile on her face. It dribbled down her face when she caught sight of my new expression. And she was serious again. "Cam. Want to here a story? You're in it."
I rolled my eyes, but said, "Sure."
"It happened, let's say, seventeen years ago. The twins, Camden and me, we were all in college. Your mom had already written her first book; your dad was already a teacher. We had these gigantic parties with Mama and Papa, Nana and Baba, and the whole lot. Your cousins weren't born yet. I remember I had this huge report to do, but Aunt Veronica convinced me to come on ahead, the rebellious weirdo she is. It was time for dinner, but everyone was snacking on apple chips and peanut butter because duh, peanut butter, and the apples actually came from Nana and Baba's farm, they should take you sometime, but anyway, where was I? So we were all chatting and eating when Corbin--" Now I could tell she was really into the story--she said 'Corbin' instead of 'your dad', "--quieted us down long enough to say, 'Megan and me are pregnant!' which Veronica probably said something sarcastic along the lines of 'Corbin, I didn't know you had the lady parts to do such a thing,' but you know Veronica--everyone ignored her. No one was really surprised, because Megan was stinking huge, but the whole room clapped anyway. I wasn't...as enthusiastic about a baby. I was worried that he or she--"
"He," I interrupted, laughing at her.
"Yes! Sorry, Cam!" She laughed, "Anyway, I was worried that you would get depressed, but your dad convinced me it was okay--moving forward. About six months later, you were born, and I was in the room a few minutes later, and your dad let me hold you and told me that you were a boy, and he wanted to name you Ezekiel, after me, and your mom wanted one of your names to be Cam(she would have chosen one of the twins but didn't want the other's feelings hurt)after Camden. Your face was squished because of how big you were, pressing up against you mom's pelvis for months, and you were pretty ugly, but also the cutest thing I'd ever seen. When I handed you back to your mom, the look she gave you...It made me feel like I was eavesdropping. She looked at you like you were the center of the milky way galaxy. When you grew up a few years and annoyed her to the point of graying," She winked at me, "She still looked at you in that way that made me a rightful intruder. Cam, she looks at you like that now. Even when I visit for only a week, I catch a glimpse of it at some point. Mostly, though, she looks annoyed. I'm kidding!" She laughed. "But not about anything else." She dropped my hand and moved my hair aside to she could kiss my forehead. "Goodnight, Cama-Bama. See you in the morning."
"Love you too, Aunt Ezrynn. See ya."