Little Marks

4 - Sweet Sixteen

July 19th

We got to the venue quickly and made our way inside. I gasped at the high ceilings and all the balloons around the area. The photo booth was nestled in a corner, the ball pit center. Everything was just how I imagined it. Now, all I needed was some friends. They should be showing up soon. But for now, we had it to ourselves. I grabbed Cameron's hand and dragged him to the photo booth. He gladly ducked inside and I followed, getting it started.

We took a series of photos, four, one for each slot. Smiling, making faces, one of me curled into his side, and one of us kissing.

It was perfect, straight out of a book. He was perfect. My own little fairytale, my prince charming coming to rescue me.

When we stepped out, the little strip was there waiting for us. We each got a copy and I slipped mine into my bag by the entrance. At that time, my two best friends arrived. I had a lot of friends coming, but these were the big two.

Lianna and Fiona were my two main bitches. The three of us were as thick as thieves, and they were the only people who were actually allowed into my apartment, due to my dads' celebrity statuses.

"Holy shit who is that?" Fiona whispered to me, pointing over to Cameron who was back into conversation with my dads.

"Fi be smart." Lianna rolled her eyes. "If we've never seen him before, but he seems pretty close, who do you think he is?" Fiona thought for a moment before her eyes went wide.

"Holy shit is that your new adopted brother?"

"You're lucky I love you and I won't smack you upside the head. That's my soulmate." I squeal the last word. Both of my friends gave me hugs and I beckoned him over. Cameron came over and wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his chin on my shoulder. I giggled as he kissed my cheek.

"Cameron, these are my two best friends Fiona and Lianna. Guys, this is Cameron." I introduced them to each other. Of course, both of my girls started asking him a bunch of questions, being overprotective. I could feel Cameron tense up behind me, clearly surprised at all of these questions. I held his hands and squeezed them gently, letting him know it was okay. Thankfully, he answered every question in stride, not stumbling over his answers once.

Once they were satisfied with his answers, they let him go. He went off to go get a snack and I pulled out my vlogging camera, facing it towards me and turning it on. "Hey, guys it's Italy!"
"And Chloe!" Fiona said. (That's her stage name)

"Also Lianna!" She chimed in. The three of us ran a YouTube channel together, called Hidden Story. We brought stories that weren't shown in the news to life along with doing standard videos on our other channel Story Life. I did a lot of vlogging and challenges, Fiona did makeup tutorials, Lianna was documenting her transition into a female and liked doing Buzzfeed quizzes.

"Today we're celebrating my Sweet 16, and lucky for me I have my gal pals right by my side." The three of us squished into the camera frame. "The three of us will all be vlogging, so look right here," I point to the top right of the frame. "To see who's point of view you're watching from." I put my camera away once I noticed some more guests arriving at my party.

~~~

The party was in full swing and everyone was having fun. Plenty of the guests had airbrush tattoos or face paint or henna tattoos. The ball pit and bouncy castle were both huge attractions as well. I had a blast just getting to see everyone having fun, and getting to socialize. Everyone gathered around the food table, and someone led me over. I looked behind me and both my girls were giving me a thumbs up and winked, pointing at Cameron who had a huge cake in his hand. The candles were lit and he set it down on the counter, coming over and linking his hand with mine.

Everyone sang me a happy birthday as I awkwardly blushed and hid my face in Cameron's chest, uncomfortable at the attention. Once the song was over, I blew out all the candles, making everyone cheer. My dads cut the cake and handed me a slice, letting me take a bite before handing the slices out to everyone else. I took a bite and sighed happily at the buttercream, feeding Cameron a bite. Of course, that caused everyone to hoot and holler, people putting pieces together. They had never seen him before, but the sight of us being intimate like that clearly established his role in my life. Cameron wrapped his arm around me as everyone got slices of cake, eating them happily. I can't believe I got so lucky. He's such a gentleman, and our personalities just click.

"I feel so close to you already." I hear Cameron say quietly, kissing the shell of my ear. I giggle and squirm in his arm, looking up at him.

"I feel the same. I feel like we've known each other for so long, not just a day. I don't want this feeling to go away." Cameron smiled and rubbed my shoulder gently before pulling away from me. He walked over to the DJ and whispered something into his ear and he nodded. Cameron started walking back to me, but I was whisked away by Lianna and Fiona. Fiona had her camera out, filming my confusion. "What are you guys doing?" I asked, but they just shushed me and pointed to Cameron. He stood with a microphone in the middle of the dance floor, everyone staring at him.

"Umm, hi. So for those of you, I haven't met yet, my name is Cameron. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm Italy's soulmate. I'm so happy to meet her and to see that she's even more beautiful than any girl I've ever seen. She has a heart of gold, and unfortunately, her humor is fools gold." He caused everyone to laugh and he smiled. "I just want to say thank you to her family for accepting me so fast, making me feel like one of them. Italy would you come here?" He held his free hand out in my direction, and I walked towards him, blushing a little. "I want us to have a dance." I took his hand and he handed the microphone off to Dad who winked at us. Cameron took my hands and put them on his shoulders, placing his hands on my waist. A slow song started playing and we started swaying gently. I looked up into his eyes as he looked down at me, and I just felt at peace. Like nothing could go wrong while I was in his arms.

Other people started joining us on the dance floor, including Lianna and Fiona who danced with each other. Today was perfect. I hope it always stays like this. 

~~~

Teaser: Just kind of a filler that bounces around oops.

Would y'all be okay with straight smut if it was important for the book plot? Obviously, it would be in Behind Closed Curtains if it was written, but would people actually want to read it? It's a major part of the story but I don't want to write it if people wouldn't read it. I know people came for the Phan and the gay.