COMING HOME - A Cameron Boyce Love Story

17: i need you.

TW: child abuse/ mild sexual abuse

Cameron gently tapped the tip of Ada's nose with his index finger, leaving a bit of cake batter behind. Ada smiled and giggled as she shook her head, wiping it off.

Everyone was in the kitchen, prepping some of the food for the next day, which was Thanksgiving. Cameron was making a coconut cake, something that he'd been doing since his grandmother taught him how to make it when he was 12. It's now become sort of a tradition for him. Ada stood beside him as she leaned on the counter, watching him as he concocted the batter mix.

"That's too much batter," Maya sneered as she looked into the mixing bowl.

"Uh... no, looks thick enough. I haven't even put the eggs in," Cameron disagreed as he used his fork to whip the batter around, checking the consistency. Maya tried to reach her finger into the bowl, causing him to push her hand away with his elbow.

"Aye! No! Other people are going to be eating this. Get your nasty dirty hands-"

"You literally have batter on your fingers, so how did that get there? My hands are not dirty-" Maya shouted at him as they began to argue.

"I had to wipe some of it off of the counter!"

"You don't know what you're doing!"

Ada began to look back and forth at their faces, finding the argument amusing.

"I make this cake every year, and now all of a sudden I don't know what I'm doing?"

"Then why is it so thick?!"

"Because I haven't put the eggs in there yet, you fucking idiot!"

Maya dramatically gasped before spinning her entire body around, looking at her father who was sitting at the breakfast table, sifting through some mail. "Dad! Dad, Cameron called me a fuck-"

"Aht! Aht, don't call my name," Victor interrupted, putting his hand up as he laughed.

"Ma, Cameron called me fucking idiot!" Libby poked her head from the sitting room where she was moving around some furniture to accommodate their guests for the next day.

"Cam, don't call your sister an effing idiot, watch your mouth," Libby chuckled, finding the situation a little funny.

Cameron squinted his eyes as he cracked an egg to add to the batter. "I'm a grown ass man..." he muttered lowly. He looked up and began to laugh when he saw his mother coming toward him, grabbing one of the magazines off of the counter and rolling it up. He giggled nervously as he hesitantly held his arms up in defense as she came toward him.

"I was playin', I was playin'!" he chuckled as she playfully wacked him on his arm and then on his thigh.

"Now! Now, see that's what happens when you don't watch your muthafucking mouth, bitch!" Maya teased before letting out a squeal and running to her father as her mother started coming towards her with the magazine.

"I don't know why you're grabbing onto me," Victor laughed as he playfully pushed Maya away from him, allowing Libby to attack.

Ada smiled and giggled as she watched the family play together. The holidays were always the hardest time to get through for Ada. Being around people who got the lucky feeling of being able to bask in the presence of their families always hit her hard.

She watched as Cameron put the fork down in the bowl and ran toward his family, playfully hitting Maya while his father held her down in his lap.

"Get her! Get her!" Victor yelled. Maya screamed as she tried to escape while Libby laughed, tapping her with the magazine and Cameron picked up one of the mailing envelopes off of the table, joining his mother in the attack. They all laughed with each other, and Ada had to take a deep breath to get rid of the lump in her throat.