Denial

Chapter 6

Cam's POV

What the hell was I thinking? No, really, what the HELL was I thinking? "Where are you going?" Am I on acid?! 

I don't know why I did that, but I do know one thing's for sure: It was the best decision I have ever made. I mean, name one other person who listens to Childish Gambino, reads Palahniuk, AND pays attention in English class? Nash is amazing, there's no other word to describe it. He's funny, he's smart, and you can tell he's been through more than I know about; but one day I hope he can tell me, I mean, he saved my life after the day the bullying started. My only question is, why me? Why would Nash Grier waste his time driving around with a nobody like me? My only friend is the goth girl in school and all of his friends basically see me as nothing short of a piece of dirt, so why would Nash even want to be around someone like me? 

I don't have time to think about any of that now, because Nash is going to be at my house in thirty minutes to watch Fight Club.

Again, I don't know what led me to say this, we just started to actually meet each other today, but something in me decided it either wanted me to be happy or just wanted to play a trick on me. "After school?" I found myself hastily asking. His reply? "Sure, yeah!"  Was I crazy, or did he legitimately sound excited to hang out with me? Again, before I had time to think about another one of my definitely pointless questions, he asked, "Want me to drive you home from school?" Before I could think about anything, about the fact that I have a car in the parking lot that I don't know how I'm going to get home, I say, "I'd love that." 

We walked out of the school talking about Fight Club a little bit more. "I think Brad Pitt is definitely a good Tyler Durden, don't get me wrong man," Nash started to say. I noticed that he talked with his hands, throwing them around enthusiastically as he spoke. "But what were they thinking casting Edward Norton as the narrator? I pictured him as like, a human steak, all big and brawny and stuff," he said, but before he could finish his sentence, I bust out laughing. "What the HELL is a 'human steak?'" I said through labored breathing from laughing so hard. Nash joined me in laughter, and said "You know Cooper? Erm.." he paused. I think he was remembering the incident that originally brought us together. Nash quickly perked back up and said with an awkward voice, "Picture him." Before Nash could even begin to feel guilty for bringing him up, I was cackling, Cooper really was an accurate depiction of a human steak. "Ok dude, I totally get it," I said. 

By the end of this conversation, we were at his car. "Hop in!" he said, running around the other side to get into the driver's seat. "SHOTGUN!!!" I shouted as I enthusiastically leapt into the passenger side. "Dude..you're the only other one in the car, no one else is really fighting for your spot," Nash said with a smirk. "I really just did that for myself," I said, also laughing. I noticed from the auxilary port in his car radio, and I really wanted to play some music of my own for once instead of skipping around different stations that are all just playing that damn "Happy" song. 

"Ok, if I hear "Happy" one more time, I might just roll into the busy freeway," I said to interrupt our brief silence. "You have that aux cord, can I use it to play some music off my phone?" I asked, indicating towards the cord. Nash looked at it with a surprised look. "Oh, I forgot I had that! Thank God, I didn't want to offend you by insulting this god awful song," he said with a laugh. "No offense taken, I just want us to find a way to MAKE IT STOP!!!" I said, plugging in my phone. I sort of panicked for a second racking my brain to pick the perfect song to play for this drive. I decided on an easy listening sort of classic, "In My Place" by Coldplay. Once I hit the song, Nash's eyes immediately brightened. "Dude, YOU KNOW THIS SONG TOO?!?!?" he said, almost screaming. "YES!! It's my favorite Coldplay song!!" Our conversation was interrupted by both of us needing to scream the chorus. "YEEEAAAHHHHHH..HOW LONG MUST YOU WAIT FOR IT?" both of us belted, laughing as we did so. His laugh was almost better than the song.

Soon, we were at my house. "I'll be back for the movie in thirty minutes, I've got to go pick Skylynne up and take her home." I sighed. Oh my god, I'm disappointed that I won't be with this guy that I barely know for thirty minutes. This is not good. "Alright, see you then! Maybe before we watch the movie we can actually fight to prepare ourselves," I said. Nash laughed and said "That might be the worst idea you've ever had," and waved as he drove off towards Skylynne's school. 

I went inside and saw my dad standing by the staircase, as usual. "How was your day?" he asked me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I realized that for the first time in months, my answer was going to be good. I had a good day today, all because of Nash Grier. The thought of that made a large smile spread accross my face. "Good," I said smiling. My dad looked awestruck. "Son," he said, pulling me in for a hug. I hugged him back, I knew we both needed this moment. This moment of acknowledging that for today, life didn't suck balls. That today, I was happy. And because I was happy, so was he. "I'm so glad your day was good," he said, a hint of emotion in his voice. "Me too," I said, pulling away from his tight embrace. "Me too." He smiled at me again before I said, "Actually, I'm having a friend over in about thirty minutes. We're going to watch Fight Club up in my room," I said, hoping he wouldn't get suspicious of anything. "Son, you don't need to refer to Kinley as 'your friend', I know her name," he said with a laugh. "Dad, actually, it's a different friend. We met earlier today and he's really cool. His name is Nash," I said. "Oh!" my dad said, surprised. "That's great. I can't wait to meet him." 

I sprinted up the stairs to clean up my disaster of a room before he got here. I looked at the several different band posters I had scattered about my walls: Local Natives, Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, Foster the People. I hope he didnt think this was all super weird. I made my bed, which was something I never do, so I knew that something inside me felt something for Nash, but I can't decide if it just feels good to have a friend of if it's something more than that. I cleared the dust off my record player, and tried to position my stack of vinyls to where the more popular albums were sticking out and not the more obscure ones that I don't know, might weird him out or something. Why am I so paranoid? As I was almost done tidying, I heard a car engine driving into my driveway.

Suddenly, I saw Nash Grier at the bottom of my staircase, ringing the doorbell.