Two's Too Many // Eric Secharia Fanfiction

13. Stomach Tied In Knots// Eric's P.O.V.

Eric’s P.O.V.

I rolled my neck carefully just before the end of school that Friday after I sat through my first witnessing of a panic attack earlier in the week, and with Cam no less. As if she didn’t have to make this more difficult, I helped her through a tough time and I feel like I’ve gotten even more attached than what I was before, and it sucked. But the hope of this Talent Show came with some guilt… I really wanted to win. And then dump Cam lightly, or stay with her, or do whatever I wanted to do with her. I hadn’t really talked to her since the bathroom incident, and that was mainly because she was avoiding me. But I was going to make it up to her today, even if it killed me.

I opened up my locker and grabbed the delicate arrangement of flowers I had bought the night before.

“It’s time for another romantic gesture,” Maya told me during lunch yesterday, after I recounted to her the events and how Cam was ignoring me. “It’s been what? A month since you last took her out? She’s probably gotten bored with you.”

“She hasn’t gotten bored,” I defended.

“Then what happened?” She inquired, I shut my mouth after that. Somehow I wanted to keep Cam’s anxiety attack between the two of us, I knew I was supposed to be telling Maya everything, but I wanted some things to remain between me and the girl I was developing feelings for.

So here I was, mentally preparing myself to take her out on a date. The third one, and probably the most nervous I’ve ever been. This depended on a lot, and I could rely on winning the talent show now, but this was my safest bet. Get with Cam, break her heart, full ride to Julliard. That was the deal, and I was blessed with it being so simple. But the flowers became heavy in my hands, was it really that simple? My heart pace quickened every time I saw that girl, my mind raced with thoughts of holding her, no strings attached. I wanted everything to be okay after this, keep the girl and remain sane while getting the scholarship. But as I got closer and closer with Cam, the looming thought of having to break her heart overwhelmed me with sadness. I didn’t want to hurt her, I really didn’t. But this is what I had to do.

The one daisy in the arrangement looked like it was starting to droop, I closed my locker and threw away the less-than-perfect flower. There was no opportunity for screwing up. Just as I was walking down the halls to Cam’s locker I was startled by the sound of my name coming from the classroom nearby. I walked up to where my name was called out and I heard an urgent conversation taking place. The door was open by a centimeter, it was obvious they had accidentally left it open. By the way they were talking, it was obvious it didn’t want to be overheard. I heard the hasty whispers of Maya and Yvonne, and I decided that it would be rude to eavesdrop before I heard my name discussed once again.

“Why do we need to prank her tonight? Isn’t Eric already handling that?” Yvonne said patiently, but you could tell there was guilt seeping from her voice. Looks like no everyone loves doing what Maya says, I wondered what leverage Maya had over Yvonne in order for them to be friends.

“He’s taking too long to build it up, and Cam is starting to lose her sense of self-containment. She keeps walking down the halls with a stupid smile on her face.” Maya said bitterly, as if the thought of someone else being happy sickened her.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Yvonne voiced.

“In the long run, yes. But for now, I’m getting bored.” I saw Maya flick her long hair over her shoulder and I resisted from sighing over how good she looked. God, I was such a dick.

“So what are we going to do?” Yvonne asked, obviously distraught by the whole situation.

“I’m getting Wren and a couple of his buddies to drive me, us if you’re in, to her house. We’re going to buy a shit ton of eggs and ruin her house.” Maya then laughed manically. I think that made me lose all sexual attraction to her, she might as well of had warts and a pointy hat. That laugh was too witch-like for her to be any form of appealing. I felt bad for Wren for the first time in my life.

“What if you do any physical damage?” Yvonne wondered, I was starting to respect her. But she was still associated with Maya… Then again, so was I.

Does that mean I hated myself? Or I just hated what I was doing? Discuss.

“We’re covering the plates, and were doing it late at night. No one will know what we did.” Maya laughed that terrible laugh once again; I decided I had had enough. I walked away from the door and looked at the clock, I was praying Cam was still at her locker even though it was the end of the day. I readjusted the bouquet in my sweaty hands and regained my composure before walking down the halls.

I located Cam’s locker and luckily, the hall was empty except for her hunched over self. She was packing books into her backpack and checking her phone, it was obvious she was angry about something. I puffed out my cheeks before walking up to her.

“Hey,” I smiled down as she registered I was there.

“Hi,” she said shyly before lugging her backpack onto her shoulders.

“Are you busy after school?” I offered her the flowers and she took them with a furious redness creeping up her neck. She tried to readjust her scarf to hide it and I chuckled a little bit.

“Not anymore,” she said with a slight edge to her voice, I decided to disregard it. This was about us, it had to be about us.

“Would you like to be?” I asked her, she nodded.

“Yeah, I could do with a distraction,” she said carefully. I decided to ignore the gnawing feeling in my stomach as she said this, because I didn’t want to be her last choice. I didn’t even want to be her first choice, I just wanted her to want me. For Maya, and for myself.

“I’ll take that as an enthusiastic yes,” I shrugged off the semi-blow to my ego and took her hand in mine.

“Where are we going?” She asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

“My dad isn’t home, so I have a couple of ideas.” I knew the minute the words escaped my lips, they didn’t come out right. I could’ve slammed my head against a nearby locker.

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t mean what we both think you thought you meant,” Cam said, tumbling over her own shyness.

“If I followed that correctly, I’d appreciate that.” I nodded and took her hand against my better judgment.

“Okay,” she shook her head and offered me a small smile before interlacing her fingers between mine, I let out a secret sigh of relief.