Loving You

Chapter 3

I woke up around nine the next morning feeling great. I pulled the covers off of me and made my bed. I fixed my hair back into a braid, and slowly opened my door making sure not to wake anyone if they were still sleeping. Everything was still quiet in the house, so I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Luckily, Cam was up brushing his teeth as well. One thing I have to mention was that he was shirtless. I wonder why guys sleep without a shirt on sometimes? But thank god for that anyways.

"Good morning, Kelsi," Cam said trying not to spit out foam and toothpaste.

"Good morning," I replied back. I tried not to stare at his body, so I concentrated on putting toothpaste on my toothbrush.

"I was thinking. Do you wanna play some basketball after you brush your teeth?" Cam was done brushing his teeth so he started to gurgle water.

"Mhm," I mumbled and nodded to him giving him a thumbs up. Cam left the bathroom, and I finished brushing my teeth. Inside my head, I was panicking because I have never played basketball with Cam before, not even Sierra. As I was panicking, I quickly changed into basketball shorts meant for pajamas and a blue shirt. I just wore my regular gym shoes that I had considering I didn't have basketball shoes. I heard a knock on the door and a muffled "Are you ready?"

"Uh, yeah," I said opening the door. Cam was wearing gray basketball shorts and a green muscle shirt that showed off his biceps and his toned sides.

"We'll just walk to the park not too far from here. Remember Franklin park? We'd go there all the time when we were little," Cam said going down the stairs.

"Yeah, I remember. Wait, where's my mom? I don't want her to freak when she realizes I'm not in my bed," I say stopping at the middle of the stairway.

"Oh, I think they went out for a run. I heard them a little before I woke up," Cam said. I nodded and continued walking down the stairs. Cam grabbed the basketball in the garage and held open the door for me. I waited for him to lock the door and walk with me because I almost forgot where Franklin Park was. The walk to the park only took about five minutes, but it was five minutes of reminiscing. We told each other stories of when we were kids and how he pushed me down the slide when I was seven.

"You gave me a scab!" I say laughing.

"Alright, alright, I surrender," Cam says lifting his hands up. I grab the basketball out of his hands and run to the basketball court ahead of us. I try to dribble through my legs to make me look good, and I guess it worked. Cam stared at me with his hands on his hips.

"Wow, I-I didn't know you were that good," Cam said stuttering. He seemed pretty nervous, like he had some actual competition.

"Oh yeah," I said confidently. I tried to shoot the ball but totally air-balled it, embarrassing myself. It didn't even touch the rim. I hide my face with my hands cupped around my face. I find Cam laughing at me which made me feel sick to my stomach.

"It's fine, Kels. I'll teach you. Here," Cam said bringing me close to him. He stood behind me, his hand on top of mine. He placed my hands on the basketball where they should be. I felt his mouth near my ear and his breath down my neck.

"Then you just shoot," he said pushing the ball up. The ball went inside the hoop, and I squealed for joy. I needed to break away from that thing we had there. It made me realize that Cam has always been my big brother, and now I feel something different for him. I feel like Cam does too, but you can never know with him. He could be really flirty.

When we got back to the house, my mom and Gina were in their jumpsuits sitting on the couch, and Cameron went to take a shower upstairs.

"How was your guys' basketball sesh?" my mom asked.

"Good. And sesh?" I replied.

"Short for session?" She said matter of factly. I find it hilarious when my mom tried to use today's teen language. Sierra came down the stairs with puffy eyes and her hair messed up, all over her face. Her eyes were red and it looked like she's been crying. She walked past us and looked in the freezer. Me, Gina, and my mom exchanged a familiar look... She's looking for ice cream. She finally found a tub of ice cream, grabbed a big spoon and went back upstairs to her room without saying a word. I think she needed a friend right now. After all, I had been spending a lot of time with Cameron rather than her. There was a time when we were the best of friends. We'd never go anywhere without each other, and we told each other everything. I guess that changed ever since I've seriously been thinking about Cameron. Everything just lit up in my head like a light bulb. That's why she was asking if I like her brother, to validate that I'm choosing Cameron over her. When she asked me that question yesterday while I was taking a shower, I realized I never said anything about her. I didn't say anything like "I still love you, Sierra" or "Nothing will change between us." It all made sense. I thought at first Sierra was going through a breakup, maybe she is too. She DID take out the tub of vanilla ice cream. But it wasn't Tyler that broke her heart, it was partly because of me. And I needed to fix it. I went up to my room and changed back into my pajamas. I went to Sierra's room which was right next to mine. I lifted up my hand to knock, but I hesitated. What if she was really pissed at me? I don't think I could handle that. When she's mad at you, you feel like the worst person ever. But this wasn't about me, it was about Sierra. So I knocked on the door three times. I heard feet shuffling and the doorknob turn. Sierra's face looked horrible, not to be mean. Her eyes were puffy, and her mascara was running. Wisps of her hair were falling out of her messy bun.

"Hey, can I come in?" I ask. She nods not making any eye contact. "So, I'm sorry about yesterday. It's just now that I realized why you asked me that question when I was in the shower." Sierra just looked down and sat on her blue sheets.

"It's fine. I mean, you like my brother, but I knew something was going to be different once you walked through the door. I felt it," she said in a cracked voice.

"I know, and I'm a horrible friend for that. It's always going to be me and you, Sierra. Sisters for life," I said holding up my pinky. She hooked her pinky with mine. It was something we did since we were small.

"So has anything else been bothering you?" I said as I push the hair out of her eyes. Sierra paused for a second, remaining silent. Her chest filled with air and finally went down again letting out a deep breath.

"Tyler, he uh... He's cheating on me. He doesn't know that I know yet," she says holding back tears.

"Oh, honey. He doesn't deserve you. I knew immediately when I saw him that you were to pretty and sweethearted to be with him. But you know what? You're going to tell him in the most embarrassing way," I said in an evil way. She looked at me and grinned. It was time to get our hands down and dirty.