Cam is on the sofa with a mug of chicken noodle soup as he watches the puppy on the floor with interest. There are concerning dark circles beneath his eyes but he insists that he's feeling better.
"The choral concert will be amazing, did you hear about their performance last month?" Our mothers are in the kitchen discussing their evening plans while Isaiah makes the casual complaint about the boringness of choir music.
"Hey, hey, Shelbers c'mere! Come to Akari!" The grey, wrinkled mass of puppy is wagging her tail excitedly in the middle of the circle his siblings make, unsure which way to venture.
"What are you talking about, her name is Blue because she's a blue shar-pei." Alec replies and Blue/Shelbers waddles over to him and props her little legs on his knee.
"Dude, can you figure this out?" Gabriel is sprawled beside Cam, painstakingly putting together his remote control helicopter.
"I don't know anything about you technological devices," he replies before leaning down to the uncertain-again puppy. He makes a cute clicking sound and she perks up and waddles right into his arms. He holds her like a baby.
"Hey!"
"Why won't she sit with me like that?"
"Cam, give her back."
"Blue, what the heck?"
"I think she looks more like Wolf," he says in my direction. I scoot over a little closer on the couch and her tail thumps against his arm happily.
"Wolf, like a Direwolf?"
"Wolf like Virginia."
"Oh, Woolf." He strokes her belly softly with those long fingers and she's the embodiment of bliss.
"Gabriel! Why won't Blue sit with me?" Milo demands and his older brother looks up from his contraption with disinterest.
"Once you reach Cam's level of mature-zen-combined-with-flu-exhaustion animals will flock to you, too, weirdo." Then he returns to building his helicopter and swearing under his breath when he gets his thumb stuck in the battery compartment.
Cam smirks, zen. "Thanks, man."
Woolf/Blue/Shelbers rolls closer into the curve his stomach and makes a sleepy, snuffly sound against the fabric of his shirt. He looks pleased, and looks up at me, "Are you staying tonight?"
"Maybe, I'm not sure."
"Hey, did you say that Kat's staying over again?" Akari with his dog ears. "MOM? Why do Cam and Gabriel get to have girl-sleepovers but not me? I asked you three days ago!"
*******
hi um it's been 6 days srry SO MUCH SCHOOLING!! i've been desperately finishing final papers and projects and studying and aghj it's still not over
obsessed with noir désir - WHOEVER I FOLLOW ON SPOTIFY FROM HERE WHO WAS LISTENING TO THEM ONE DAY THANK YOU SO MUCH

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Conversations From Afar
Short StorySEQUEL TO BALCONIAL CONVERSATIONS | In which Katherine and Cambriel suffer the ups and downs of a long distance relationship | Wattys 2016 | cover by the fabulous @kdkellow