The Pursuit of Felicity

{ Chapter 7 }

I cross my arms as I lean against the fence of our apartment. According to Mel, the guys are on their way and are almost here. I hate that I'm a little excited for this event. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm starting to enjoy being around Cam. His consistency is comforting. But being around him reminds me of how much I want to sleep with him and how it isn't going to happen, which frustrates me. It also doesn't help that he teases me about it. And teases me in general. Man, he's annoying.

"There they are!" Mel announces excitedly as a large, black SUV pulls to a stop a few feet away.

"Whose car is this?" I mutter in slight admiration as we approach the clearly expensive vehicle. Gen gets into the front seat so I conclude that it's Axel's. I open the back door and find Ashton, who smiles at me before peeking under my arm to find Mel. She quickly shimmies around me, crawls into the seat beside him, and gives him a quiet greeting.

I let out a noisy sigh when I spot Cameron relaxing in the third row. His long legs are stretched out in front of him and I can tell I'm going to be cramped. I go to meet his gaze only to find that his eyes are slowly taking in my outfit, which Mel picked out. It's pink and more girly than I'm used to but it's cute, nonetheless. Clearly, he thinks so, too. I wait for him to reach my face as I stand with the door in my grip. I make it a point to lock a glare on my face and he only offers me a small wave, which gets a quiet scoff from me. I grumble quietly as I shift into the spot beside him. Once our seat belts are on, Axel zooms off.

"I'm so excited! I love bowling!" Mel announces and Ashton quickly agrees with her, revealing that he was on a bowling league in high school. I have no choice but to listen as Gen asks Axel if he's any good at bowling, to which he replies that she'll just have to find out.

I turn to Cameron, who is waiting to hear the words threatening to spill out of my mouth. "I hate bowling," I confess, which earns an entertained chuckle from him.

"Me, too," he nods in agreement, "I suck at it."

"You're definitely not worse than me." There's no possible way.

"I'm almost positive I am." I wonder if he's just bluffing. "What's the deal you guys proposed again?"

"The loser buys the winner dinner." He tilts his head back and laughs before regaining his composure.

"This doesn't count as the dinner you owe me, by the way," he clears up as if it was a pressing concern of mine, "now I'll just be buying you dinner twice."

"I'm buying this one, Cam...eron." I correct myself when he perks up a bit at my almost use of his nickname.

He gives me a flat look and I tune into the conversation taking place between the two couples in front of us. They're talking about the party last night, which I didn't go to. "I thought you said you guys didn't go out last night." Cameron turns to me with a quirked brow.

"They went," I motion to my two friends, "I didn't."

"What'd you do?" I offer him a slow shrug. I hung out with Danny, that's what I did. Of course I'm not going to say that.

"I hung out with a friend." I keep my eyes focused on the scenery outside of the window.

"You're a horrible liar," Cameron concludes once we lock eyes for a few seconds.

"I did!" I retort defensively before throwing my arms up in slight frustration. "I don't have to explain myself to you, Cameron."

"You don't," he shrugs, "but I'm your friend and you don't have to hide things from me either."

I assess his relaxed expression before huffing noisily. "Shut up." I can't think of a decent enough comeback.

We're silent the rest of the ride and I focus on his knee, which is bouncing against mine from his awkwardly angled position beside me. I feel his eyes examining my face and I keep my gaze locked out the window for the twenty minute journey to the bowling alley. We park the car and unload and I notice him bouncing on the balls of his feet beside me. "Are you okay?" I mostly ask out of slight annoyance.