Who Wouldn't Want To Be Me

Chapter 65

Cam

            “Really? I don’t think this is a good idea,” I heard Jordan growl at Jared for what had to be the tenth time today. We’d been out here for five days – Jared had been staying in Jordan’s guesthouse – and now he was trying to convince Jordan that we should go back out to their parents’ place.

            “Come on Jordan – you know the kids will be devastated if they don’t get to see her again before she goes home,” he argued, and Jordan let out a sigh.

            “I’m not putting her into a situation where he’s just going to stomp all over her and make her feel so awful again,” Jordan told him, and I sighed from my place on the deck. It was beautiful out today, so I was sitting on the front deck in my bikini top and a pair of cut-off jeans, reading. I’d had enough of the two of them arguing, so I’d decided for a little girl-time to myself and had claimed one of his lounging deck chairs for the afternoon. My cell phone rang, which surprised me, but I picked it up and answered without looking.

            “Hello?”

            “Hi, Cam?” it almost sounded like Marc, but I didn’t think it was him by the way he responded.

            “Yes, who is this?” I asked, and there was a moment of silence.

            “It’s Eric… please don’t hang up on me, I just want to talk to you,” he quickly said, and while I bit my lip to keep my emotions at bay the thought had crossed my mind.

            “Okay,”

            “Look, I’ve been a total ass to you, and I’m sorry. It’s just that it is a lot to wrap my head around, you know?”

            “Yeah, I understand why you could be upset with me, but please don’t take it out on Jordan,” I sighed.

            “I know. I want to talk to you in person, if that’s okay. I’ll understand if you don’t want to, but I really do want to make this right. You mean a lot to my family, Cam, and I don’t want to cause any more stress in your life,” he explained.

            “Sure, I think we could arrange that,” I agreed, and heard him let out a long breath.

            “I, well, it didn’t really hit me until you two left the other day. Jared and Marc blew up at me, and I think then I realized just how important you two are to each other. Marc calmed down enough to actually talk to me, and I’m really sorry about being such a total asshat to you about everything, so I really hope we can talk, and I can at least try to start fixing this mess,” he continued.

            “Eric, honest, I meant it when I said I understood why you were upset. Of course we can talk,” I replied, and heard him sigh.

            “Thank you, I know it’s more than I deserve,”

            “No, it’s okay Eric. I understand why you were upset, it’s all right,”

            “No, I should’ve handled it better, and tried harder to see things from your point of view. And regardless of that, the fact that you mean so much to my entire family should have helped me take a step back and be more rational about it,” he insisted, and a few moments later we hung up, having made plans to meet tomorrow and talk. I told him I didn’t know whether we’d be here or at their parents’ place, and so he’d decided that he’d call me and pick me up from wherever we were so that we could talk.