COMING HOME - A Cameron Boyce Love Story

36: therapy.

Cameron scratched at his scalp as he held the remote in the air as he scoured through Netflix. He took a sip from some citrus tea that he may or may not have stolen from Sophie's tea drawer, reading the description of a new show. He could hear soft footsteps on the floor above him, and he slightly craned his neck when he heard them coming down the stairs. Karan came into his view, his sunglasses on and his hair gelled back with his keys in his hand.

"I'm going to set," he announced as he headed toward the kitchen cabinets to grab a breakfast bar.

"Why is your hair glued to your scalp?" Cameron giggled as he watched his best friend maneuver quickly around the kitchen.

Karan paused and threw one of the breakfast bars at him. Cameron could tell he was glaring at him through his sunglasses which made him burst into laughter. "You fucking know why."

Cameron couldn't help the constant chuckles as he thought about Karan in that ridiculous wig that the show he was doing was requiring him to wear. He opened the breakfast bar and took a bite.

"Did y'all still want to get sushi later?" Cameron asked as he continued his search for something to watch, shifting the way he was sitting on the couch so that he could lay his legs on it, his back resting on the arm.

"Soph isn't going to be back until tomorrow," Karan reminded.

"Oh, yeah. Well tomorrow."

"I'm late as fuck," Karan giggled nervously as he grabbed his bag off of one of the island chairs before he scurried to the exit stairs.

"Good luck!" Cameron yelled after him, chuckling when Karan replied with a weird grunt before he heard the door shut. He took another bite from the bar, slightly smacking his teeth because he couldn't find anything to watch. He settled on Friends, even though he'd seen the entire series a thousand times. But, he just needed something to watch.

It was about twenty minutes into the episode when he heard soft footsteps begin to come down the stairs. Ada appeared, and Cameron could already tell something was wrong by her body language. She was carelessly holding her therapy journal as it dangled and hit against her thigh, the open pages flapping as she walked.

"Hey," he greeted her. She gave him a quick look of acknowledgement before looking down as she went to walk past him to go sit on the balcony. Cameron stopped her by gently grabbing her wrist. "You good?"

She kept her head down, looking at the floor as she nodded. Already knowing she was lying, he pulled her down to sit on his lap. He could see her face frown up, and he could tell that she was trying to keep herself from crying.

"Here, sit with me," he said as she reluctantly sat in between his legs and laid against him with her back to his chest. She laid her head back and rested it on his shoulder as she softly sniffled and tried her best to keep her emotions down.

"What's wrong?" he asked, giving her a quick kiss on her ear. She was silent, and Cameron bit his lip thinking that she was in her mute state. He put a finger beneath her chin, attempting to turn her head to face him, but she wouldn't allow him to.

"My stomach hurts," she finally replied, her voice just barely above a whisper.

"Your stomach hurts?" Cameron chuckled knowing that she was fibbing, but went along with it. He slid his hands under his hoodie that she was wearing and began to rub her stomach for her.

The two sat there on the couch together as Cameron continued to help soothe her "stomach ache" as a new episode of Friends began. Ada simply stared at the wall, trying to stifle the tears that kept clouding her eyes while her journal laid open on her thigh, holding a pen in her fist. She had dug it out from the closet, desperate to find something to help unclog her mind. Dr. Christian might have been an ass, but the doodling method did used to work for Ada. She decided to give it a try again.