by Kate Gavin
Within seconds of logging on, Abby’s video call alert popped up. “Well, a little antsy, aren’t we?” she said with a smile.
“Come on. I know you are too. I haven’t seen your face in two months!” Abby replied with a matching smile.
“Okay, okay. You got me. It’s really good to see you, Abby.”
“You too.” They spent a moment just looking at each other before Abby spoke again. “So, tell me what’s been going on? How’s Indy? How are your folks? Meet any new people yet? Have you started soccer?”
“Well, hell, just bombard me with questions, why don’t ya?” she asked playfully and Abby offered a not-so-innocent shrug in response. Riley summarized her day in the same rapid-fire fashion. “Phew, did I answer them all?” she asked as she pretended to wipe the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand.
Laughing, Abby replied, “You did. You were a little short on details, though. How does the team look?”
“It’s still early. And I don’t think they’ve had the best history in terms of winning, but there seem to be some pretty good athletes on the team. Only time will tell, but it should be interesting. I’m just excited to play again. I’ve been going a little stir-crazy sitting inside most of the summer.”
“But, I’m sure you’ve been getting your runs in. You could never give those up.”
“You’re right.”
Riley was never able to sit still for too long, especially if she didn’t get a run in for the day. Running and soccer were outlets for stress, but running also helped her organize her thoughts. If something was weighing heavily on her mind or if she had a big test coming up, she would go out for a run. Most of the time she came home with a clear head and a precise plan for tackling whatever problems she faced. It was rare for her to come home with her brain more jumbled than when she left.
“So, what are the girls like? Are they nice?”
She couldn’t stop the heat rising to her cheeks. “Yeah, they seem pretty nice so far. I only introduced myself to a couple people.”
“Riley Baker! Are you blushing? Who is she?”
Her hands immediately went to her face. “I am not!”
“Oh, you totally are!”
“It’s no one, Abby. She’s probably straight, but she seemed nice. Maybe she’ll be a friend.”
“Mmm. What’s her name?”
“Cameron, oh, Cam.”
“Is she pretty?”
She bit her lower lip and said, “Yeah, she is. She’s a little shorter than me, has brown hair and these big brown eyes. I felt like I was going to embarrass myself every time I thought she caught me looking at her.”
“Damn, you’ve got it bad, Riley.”
“Stop, it’s nothing. So, what about you? Have you met any new ladies?”
Abby let out a dramatic sigh and replied, “No. But I don’t know how any could compare to you.”
“Well, obviously. I am pretty great.”
“I’ve actually been pretty busy this summer,” Abby said. “I told you my uncle got me a job at his law firm. I just file papers and get coffee, but I’m really hoping to learn a lot as I get to know the attorneys and feel more comfortable asking questions. We start practice for the debate team the second week of school. So my goal is to learn some tips from some of the lawyers. I think we could win state this year.”
“That’s great, Abby. If anyone can do it, you can. Think you’ll be captain this year?”
“I think I have a really good chance. There’s only two other seniors, but they don’t have as much experience as I do. We’ll have a week of practice, and then those that want to be captain will have a debate. The rest of the team votes after that.”
“Well, you’re going to kick ass like usual. I’m sorry I won’t be there to cheer you on this year.”
“No worries. But I should get going, early day again. Don’t swoon over Cam the entire time,” Abby said before making a bunch of kissing noises.
“Shut up. I’ll talk to you later.”
Riley shut her laptop. She was happy Abby hadn’t been weirded out when she talked about Cam. It was the first time either of them had mentioned even the possibility of someone else, and Abby just rolled with the punches and teased her about it, which was the best thing she could have done. But that teasing brought Cam to the forefront of Riley’s mind.
As she brushed her teeth, she replayed officially meeting Cam. Her eyes, her shyness, the way she would rub the back of her neck with her hand. Riley knew she wanted to find out what brought about that nervous tic. Was it her? Or would it have happened with any new person Cam met? She found Cam intriguing and she was looking forward to learning more about her. As she tried to sleep, she thought of Cam because she figured her dreams would be the only place where she and Cam would be together.
Chapter Three
The next morning, Claire picked Cam up for soccer. As they headed to school, Claire glanced at her and asked, “Are you okay? You look awful.”
Cam realized Claire must have noticed her red, puffy eyes. “Gee thanks. You really know how to make a girl feel special. And yes, I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep much last night.”
“How come? Did you have a fight with Danny?”
“No, nothing like that. My brain just wouldn’t shut off. No big deal.”
“Ugh, I hate when that happens! You know if you need to talk I’m always here. Were you thinking about your mom? The boys? College? I know you have quite a bit going on. If—”
“Can we please stop talking about it? It was just a bad night of sleep.” She curled her hands into fists. She saw the hurt in Claire’s eyes as she gripped the steering wheel tighter. Sighing, Cam massaged her forehead and said, “Look, I’m sorry. You know I get cranky when I don’t sleep. It’s even worse than when I miss a meal.”
Claire gave her a small, forced smile as she pulled into the parking lot and got out. “Sure.” She slammed her door closed and headed toward the field without looking back at Cam.
As Claire crossed the parking lot, Cam berated herself for yelling at Claire. She shook her head in disgust. She felt she was lying to Claire by remaining silent about her feelings for Riley. Claire had been her best friend for all these years, a person Cam knew she could talk to about anything. But what if I tell her that I don’t think I’m in love with Danny anymore, or more importantly, that I think I might have a crush on Riley? Will she freak out? Cam didn’t know if she could handle that. In an attempt to get rid of the pressure developing in her head, she covered her face with her hands and repeatedly rubbed her fingers over her eyebrows. Letting out a heavy sigh, she got out of the car and walked toward the bench.
About halfway through tryouts, Riley was on the sideline getting water with a couple other girls while the rest of the team ran through drills. As she was about to toss her water bottle by her bag, Cam walked to the sideline, grabbed her water, and listlessly sat down on the end of “the bench.” Cam took a drink, placed her elbows on her knees, and rested her head in her free hand. Riley had learned Coach Hawkins hated it when the girls socialized during breaks. A few girls had already gotten in trouble for doing it earlier in the practice, but Riley sensed something was wrong, and she refused to ignore it, even if it saved her from getting yelled at by Coach. She wondered if Cam’s mood had anything to do with Claire, because she noticed they had been clearly avoiding each other since stepping onto the field.
Riley made sure to take her water with her as she walked over to sit next to Cam, hoping it would signal to Coach that she still needed a rest.
“Hey.”
Cam sat up and met her gaze. “Oh, hey, Riley,” Cam said, injecting a bit of cheer into her voice which was obviously forced.
Riley immediately saw the uneasiness in her eyes. “Everything okay?”
“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied quickly as she sat up a little straighter.
Riley could tell she wasn’t fine, but she didn’t want to push her since she didn’t know her well. Inst
ead of pressing Cam on her obvious discomfort, she decided to change subjects. “You were looking good out there. You’ve got a nice touch.”
“Thanks. I’ve noticed you’re pretty fast. It’ll be hard for other teams to keep up with you.”
As Riley noticed the slight blush covering Cam’s cheeks, she gave her a small smile, and said, “Thanks.”
Just as she was about to ask Cam if she wanted to hang out sometime, Coach Hawkins yelled from midfield, “Baker! Leoni! Get off your butts! This isn’t social hour!”
They quickly stood and threw their water bottles to the side. Riley playfully bumped her shoulder against Cam’s and whispered as they jogged back out to join the team, “Whoops, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
At the end of tryouts, Riley quickly changed her shoes, put her stuff in her bag, and walked over to Cam. “Hey, Cam, I was—”
But, she was interrupted when Claire walked past and muttered a brusque, “Let’s go.” She didn’t acknowledge Riley or even wait to see if Cam followed as she continued toward the parking lot.
Cam sighed and finished changing out of her cleats. She threw them in her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Offering Riley a small smile, she said, “See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure. See ya, Cam,” she muttered as she gave a half-hearted wave that Cam didn’t even notice. Well, that didn’t go as smoothly as I wanted. Riley shook her head, grabbing her bag to head to the parking lot as well.
Before Cam even got into the car, she knew Claire was pissed. Normally, they would chat or joke around during and after practice, but the only words Claire had uttered were the ones she said as she stormed past her on the way to the car. Cam hated confrontation and did everything possible to avoid it. She knew she had been harsh in the car earlier and should apologize for it, but she was having a hard time forming the words as Claire drove her home.
Too soon, the car ride was over and Claire had parked in Cam’s driveway. Cam had constantly rubbed her sweaty palms on her shorts since the drive began. She took a deep breath and quietly said, “I’m sorry, Claire. I didn’t mean to rip your head off earlier.” She hesitantly looked at her and noticed her jaw was clenched.
It was a couple seconds before Claire moved at all, resting her hands in her lap. Without looking up, she muttered, “It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. I can tell you’re upset. It had nothing to do with you, and I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” Cam shrugged and stared out the window. “I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind, and my brain wouldn’t shut off last night, so it turned me into a grump this morning.”
Claire’s gaze softened as she looked at Cam with concern. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Nothing really.”
“Jesus! It must be something if it’s keeping you up at night. You know you can talk to me about anything. Maybe I can help.”
Was that true? Could she? Cam trusted Claire, but she still felt a need to hide this strange pull she felt toward Riley. She was just so confused.
Instead, she said, “I don’t know. I guess I’ve just been stressed now that school is about to start. My mom needs my help with the boys so much lately. She’ll have fewer hours at the restaurant now that she’ll be teaching again, but what about me? I need to keep my grades up for scholarships. I still need to work at the library, and now soccer will take up a lot of my time. I guess I’m just feeling a little overwhelmed.”
Claire reached over and gently gripped her forearm. “I didn’t know that. I guess I always assumed you had everything under control. Why haven’t you said anything before this?”
Cam shrugged and said, “My parents are expecting me to just go with the flow with all this added responsibility. I know they look to me as the oldest to be a good example for Josh and Ethan. I don’t want to let them down, and I thought I was handling it just fine. Guess that’s not the case.”
“I’m sorry, Cam. If you ever need help with the boys or schoolwork, you know I’m here for you. I always will be.”
With that, Cam looked up at Claire and squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Claire. I appreciate that. I’ll talk to you later.”
“See ya,” Claire replied as she gave Cam’s arm one final squeeze.
As soon as Cam was in the house, she leaned back against the front door and closed her eyes. She was feeling like shit for not telling Claire the truth, but how could she verbalize it when she wasn’t sure what was going on herself?
* * *
After one more day of tryouts, Cam, Claire, and Riley officially made the varsity team. Then for two weeks, Coach Hawkins worked them as hard as possible to get ready for the start of the season. When Cam wasn’t at soccer or working at the library, she found time to hang out with Claire and Danny, knowing that once school started on Monday, she would have even less time for her friend and boyfriend.
At the end of practice that Friday, Claire and Cam grabbed their stuff. Cam finished exchanging her cleats for flip-flops and threw her bag over her shoulder. “So, Danny and I are going to the movies tonight. Want to come?”
Laughing, Claire said, “No, I’m not hijacking your date. You guys are definitely going to the party tomorrow night, though, right?”
As Cam was about to answer, Riley joined them and said, “What party?”
“Oh, one of the football players always throws a huge beginning of the year party. I’m meeting Cam and Danny there. You should try to come by, Riley.”
“Yeah, that’d be great! I still haven’t met anyone else besides the girls on the team. Can you text me the address, Cam? Here, put your number in my phone.” Riley gave Cam her phone and Cam dutifully put in her name and number before handing it back. “Thanks. I just called yours, so you have my number. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Cam watched Riley as she headed toward the parking lot. She finally got back to packing her gear once Claire snapped her fingers in front of Cam’s face and said, “Earth to Cam. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, just spaced out. Let’s go.”
She tried to hide a silly grin when she thought about the simple excitement of having Riley’s number. Dread came over her as soon as she realized that she was more excited to get a text from Riley than she was to go out with Danny tonight. This could be a problem.
Cam and Claire grabbed a quick lunch, and then Claire dropped Cam off at home. As Cam walked inside, she heard the boys playing video games in the living room. “You guys better get all your playing in now before school starts on Monday!”
She went upstairs to shower and nap before meeting up with Danny and came downstairs a while later just as her mom and the boys sat down to dinner.
“What are your plans with Danny tonight?” her mom asked.
“I think we’re going to the movies, and then we might grab a bite to eat after. Don’t worry. I won’t be home too late.”
“Sounds good. Where is he thinking about going to college next year?”
“We haven’t talked about it much, Mom. That’s still far off.”
“Not really. You know you need to start thinking about applications and looking for scholarships. Make sure you keep your grades up. No school is going to let someone in who slacks off in their senior year.”
“Okay, I know! My grades were fine last year, and they’ll be fine again this year.” A knock on the door saved her. “Look, Danny is here. I’ll see you guys later.”
With an irritated look, her mom added, “We can talk more about this later.”
Cam muttered, “Can’t wait.”
She opened the door and saw Danny smiling, dressed in dark jeans and a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. “Hey, babe,” he said as he leaned in for a kiss.
“Oh, hey, are we doing something different? Why are you dressed so nice?” She looked down at her faded jeans, black, V-neck T-shirt, and old Converses.
Laughing, he replied, “No, still just the movie and
maybe some food. I wanted to look nice for you tonight.”
“Um, okay. Thanks. Let’s go.”
As soon as they were inside his car, he was kissing her again. She was caught a little off-guard and she let out a small yelp, but she went with it. It wasn’t that she didn’t like kissing Danny, but it just didn’t feel the same anymore.
Lately, she felt like she was going through the motions in terms of being his girlfriend. Danny was one of her best friends and she didn’t want to hurt him, but she kept thinking back to how she didn’t mind being away from him and not seeing him as much over the summer. The idea of breaking up with him had started becoming more appealing as time went on. As soon as she realized she was thinking about ending things with Danny while currently kissing him, she pulled away and said, “We should get going or we’ll be late for the movie.”
He gave her a smile and said, “Yes, ma’am.”
As they were driving along, Cam’s phone alerted her to a new text message.
Hey it’s Riley. Got the address for the party? :)
Hey there! It’s 4002 Tyler St.
Great, thanks! What time u getting there?
Not sure yet. I’ll talk to Danny and Claire and let ya know.
Awesome! So who’s Danny?
My bf.
Ooo la la! Can’t wait to meet him! Let me know about the time.
Will do.
Several times during the movie, Danny tried to caress Cam’s thigh higher and higher, but she nonchalantly stopped him each time and held his hand. So she wasn’t surprised that as he started to drive away from the restaurant after dinner, he asked if she wanted to come over.
“My parents aren’t home. They’re helping my brother move into his dorm. We’d have the place to ourselves all night,” he said as he wiggled his eyebrows.
Cam saw the hope and excitement in his eyes and she knew she should feel the same, but she didn’t. She just wasn’t in the mood. Something that had been happening a lot lately. “I don’t think so, Danny. I’m just so tired from soccer. Can you just take me home so I can go to sleep?”