Chapter 1:
"just another day"
Cam didn't know when the effect of his daily routine will come crashing down on him.
Not until he came out of Howard's Cafe that morning only to be caught off guard by the feeling of nausea at the pit of his stomach. As he stared at his little dainty flower shop at the corner of the building, not only did the feeling grow but it dawned on him that the feeling was real.
It wasnt as if he was sick of his stand nor the flowers he raised with love and care, no! He was just sick of doing the same thing over and over again. His life was basically a routine of some sort.
As long as he could remember, he always did the same thing, met and talked with the same people, went to the same places and came back to the same cafe he grew to call 'home'.
He didnt hate the people, he never detested the places he often went to and he would never abhor his home. It was the exact opposite actually. He loved every bit of the people abd places in Bluebell.
He was just tired of repeating the same process as of yesterday and the years before.
He hates to admit it, but, his life is blantly dull in his eyes. And he accused Laney's lifestyle of being dull. He groaned. Karma, yup, it was all that bitches fault.
He trudged towards towards his stall and chose to just sit there and stare blankly into space, thinking up ways to lighten up his moody aura (or his face, Georgia liked to tease).
He didnt know how long he sat like that, until he felt something touch his cheek. He chose to ignore it, thought of it only as a bug or something and will leave him alone if he chose to ignore it as such.
Not until the sensation on his cheek switched from touching into poking that he swatted his hand on the culprit. The sensation of skin to skin contact brought him back from his field of thoughts.
He turned to look at the cause of the crime, only to be met by a pair of aquamarine eyes which belonged to none other than the local rancher, Ash. It took about a minute or so for Cam to stare ash down before he asked.
"What are you doing?" with a harshness he didnt know he posessed. Ash, sensing his friends indifference, stood up from his crouching position and held his hands up. As if to say he meant no harm.
"yeesh, calm down man. Its my day-off." ash informed as he made his way to the front of the stand. Hands on the table, Ash leaned in, inspecting his friend. His eyes glazed at him, top to bottom, causing Cam to sink in further down his seat. A moment of silence was held tight in the air. Until Ash finally spoke up.
"Are you PMS-ing?"
Cam sat up straight and mentally face plamed. If he could see himself right now, he swore he was as red as a gerabera. He growled. "What makes you think that?"
Ash cowered from the venom dripping down his friends voice. Usually, his friend didnt show this much emotion. He barely showed any emotion at all , this anger and bent up frustration meant something. And he'll sniff it out, like a bloodhound. Wait, scratch that. Make it: "He'll get to the bottom of it." instead.
"Alright dude, spill. Whats your bizz?" asked ash as he crossed his arms.
Cam returned to his original position, slumping on his chair. He looked up at Ash before looking away. He couldnt think of anything to say. His problem was so pathetic that even a school girl who had boy problems would laugh at him easily.
"its nothing." he groaned.
Ash looked at him expectantly, brows furrowed and his lips in a scowl like pout. Obviously he didnt buy his sorry excuse for an answer.
He sat on the table and looked at Cam with the same expression he wore a moment ago.
"Whats up with that look?" cam asked.
"Boy, why you so CRAY-CRAY?!" ash asked in his best american woman accent while snapping his fingers and forming the Z-line.
Cam couldnt hold back the laughter that erupted from him. Soon enough, Ash followed. They spent the next few seconds laughing, enjoying each others presence. Slowly, their laughter died down into soft breathless chuckles coming from both sides. Cam wiped an invisible tear from his eye.
"you spend too much time with Cheryl and late night reality TV." he said to ash.
"Woo..." ash breathed out as he clutched his stomach. "Hey, its not like i have a choice. Cheryl drags me to watch with her everytime 'Girl, why you so Cray-Cray' shows up in the tely." he added.
Cam looked at him, dumbfounded."and you never tried to protest?"
"i told you, i dont gots no choice."
Cam scoffed. "right, just admit it. You like watching it. I wouldnt even be surprised if you sneaked out of your room while everyone else is sleeping just to watch the latest episode."
"think whatever you like with me, were still not moving away from you." Ash said as he got off the table and turned to look at his friend.
Cam's face turned down almost instantly. Sighing , it was worth a shot telling ash about his predicament, but if he starts making a mockery out of it, he's out.
"you see." he said. "its just that-"
He stopped. How can he say it without sounding like a grotesque teenager who doesnt have anything to do and is bored of his life easily. Yup, that practically sums up his problems at the moment.
Ash raised his eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. Knowing his friend, he was already tired with the conversation but decided to continue it for the sake of killing time.
"Its just that-what cam? Please, educate me the reason why our marble stone florist all of a sudden transformed into a big puffy marshmallow."
"Im bored with my life."
Great, way to be blunt, Mr. 'i have nothing to do'. Cam tipped his hat further down his face to cover the humiliation that adorned it. Fantastic, now he sounded like a teenage girl who just got over the all time heartthrobe of her school an has nothing to do but gape at the wall like it would suddenly start singing "bibbity, bobbity Boo!" and her prince charming would magically pop out. Cam inwardly groaned, he has got to stop comparing his life with teenagers.
Cam waited for his friends response. Knowing Ash, he'll give him an honest opinion. The silence was due to the fact that ash was thinking up ways to help him out, Cam thought. He misjudged his friend after all.
"Then get laid."
or not.
Cam chucked his hat at his best friends face, muffling the laughter that was pouring from his mouth.
"Its not funny, you douche!" cam yelled as he slammed his hands on the table, causing some of the villagers outside to look at him with distaste, while ash continued on with his incessive laughter.
Cam blushed out of embarassment. Not only did ash laugh out loud like a crazed hyena, but cam was as red as a tomato out of his friends inappropriate comment. From a strangers point of view, you could easily accuse the two men of having an intimate and disturbing discussion that contained mature content. Which, cam bet, what the villagers outside thought of them at that very moment. They were giving them such a look of disdain. If looks could kill, they would be dead right now, well, Cam will.
He tried to cover his flushed face with his hat but soon realized that his meticulous friend still had it clutched between his fingers. Cam made a dive for it and returned it to its safe haven, the crown of his head. Throughout all that, Ash never seized from his overdued laughter of his awful joke.
"Come on, youre over exaggerating. It wasnt even funny." Cam answered as he crossed his arms and sat back down on his chair.
Ash took about minute to compose his posture, and himself, before returning to the topic at hand.
"I know. Its only funny when its about the next guy."
Cam rolled his eyes. For a man of 25, Ash still acts as though they were still 18. Cam didnt know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but either way, he still wanted to punch the bastard in his windpipe. Best friend or not, there are bounderies that arent supposed to be crossed. Especially with Cam.
When Cam didnt respond, Ash took it as a sign to continue.
"About that probelm of yours, is it really a PROBLEM?" Ash informed.
Cam looked up. "Of course it is!"
"And why is that?"
"Because-" Cam cut short.
Why was it a problem, exactly? As he thought about it, boredom isnt actually something they, or anyone, should be fussing about. It wasnt even an actual problem, for that matter. One can easily solve it by doing something that they fancied to do. If one is bored with something, then they can easily switch to another. Easy as that. But for Cam, it looked as if it was the biggest problem he had ever come to face. Strange, something so little could turn into something so big in the eyes of a man so easily. None-the-less, Cam felt embarass. He shrunk in his seat, the feeling of his face warming up again caused him to look down. A fool he must have looked now.
Cam never knew how much of a drama queen he could be.
Ash chuckled. "Now that your problem is solved." sarcasm evident, noted cam. "I've got news for you."
He groaned. "I swear, youre just as bad as Howard is with gossip."
Cam looke at his friend but caught him staring at something from the horizon. Curious, Cam followed his line of sightt until he caught a silhouette coming out of the intersection of the church to the town square. Cam coudlnt make out if the silhouette belonged to a man or a woman, but judgiing by the sly smirk that made its way up on ash's lips, he thought of the later one.
"Instead of telling, let me just show you." ash said with a hint of mishief evident in his voice, which caused cam to hold back a whimper of fear. Cause, lets face it. If ash starts brewing up schemes, bad things happen (Especially to cam). And he prayed to the harvest goddess above to spare his life and have mercy on his poor bud of a soul he has.
HELP, he thought.
The silhouette came closer by the second. After confirming that it belonged to a girl, he still couldnt recognize who she was. He couldnt make out her face.
Boy, do i need glasses. He thought.
At that moment, Ash sprung up to action.
"Hey Lillian! Come over here for a sec!" ash called out.
The silhoutte turned her head and looked at them. She started to make her way to where they stood.
So, Lillian's her name, huh? Cam thought.
As the girl named Lillian came closer, Cam can finally make out her appearance. And he has got to admit, she looked mighty pretty.
Lillian had a duller and darker shade of brown hair, but it was buzzing with life. It bounced in everystep she took, and the colour brought out her magnificent grayish-purple eyes to sparkle. Her eyes were brimming with curiousity and wonder that it could make anyone, even cam, sink into them the moment they laid their eyes on her hue's.
Her lips were pink and lush. They looked so soft and inviting. As he stared at her more , he'll eventually wont take his eyes off of her.
Cam looked away before that happened. But he couldnt dodge the feeling of slight regret that came with it.
When Lillian finally reached them, Cam had to admit, she looked pretty when they were meters apart but she looked beautiful upfront. He took note of her clothes, the typical blubell outfit. Cam had a ghost of a smile. So, she lives here huh?
The girl looked at ash and only gave cam a nod of respect. Obviously she didnt know him, what more could he expect from her.
"Hey ash, you called?" she said.
Ash took a quick glance at cam and gave him a sly smile. It was though he was saying 'watch this'. Cam rolled his eyes at his best friends effort to gain the girls attention. Ash returned his gaze to Lillian before she could cought sight of their silent conversation.
"so" Ash started. "How are you liking Bluebell so far?"
The girl beamed. Obviously, Lillian already experienced numerous amount of events after the day she moved here, which cam is still in the shadow about.
"Oh, its been wonderful!" she sighed. "the people here are just so friendly that i couldnt possibly hate them. And the scenery is just so refreshing. I feel like i just jumped into a painting and discovered a new diferent world."
Cam couldnt believe the amount of enthusiasm her voice contained. It was so much, that usually it made him sick hearing the sickly sweet giddyness in someones voice (like laney, for example). But strangely with her, he didnt mind. Weird, he must have gone deaft.
"I'm glad you like it." ash continued. "Before i forget, i would like to introduce you to my friend, Cam."
Ash moved aside so Lillian had a perfect view of cam. Realizing this, he looked down out of pure embarassment and practically covered his face with his hat.
"I doubt you two have met before, am i right?" he heard ash say.
"no, we havent." Lillian said.
She lend out her hand for cam.
"Nice to meet you, Cam. As you already heard because of ash's constant yelling, My name is Lillian."
Cam shook her outstretched hand and couldnt resist the thought of how soft they were under his calloused hand.
"yes, nice to meet you." he murmured, but sure enough, Lillian heard him.
But before she could retract her hand, Cam pulled it close to his lips and kissed it lightly. A sign that most gentlemen like to present to women they fancy or are interested in. And without a doubt, Cam was very interested with the now blushing woman infront of him. He took a quick glance at ash and found him with his mouth agaped, as though he couldnt believe what just happened. Cam held back a small chuckle. He then returned his eyes to the puple eyed beauty infront of him. He gave her a friendly smile.
"it is very nice to meet you, Ma'dam." he whispered as he let go of her hand. It returned limply to her side as she tried to control her breathing and composure. When she finally did, she bid them both farewell but without stuttering when she turned to say her goodbyes to the emerald eyed florist.
As they watch her retreating form disappear in the town hall, Cam couldnt push the thought of her out of his mind and why he did such a bold act on the new resident. But he was glad he did, atleast he left an impression on her.
"well, chop me up and call me pork chop, i never thought you had it in ya." ash whispered as he turned to his friend.
Cam chuckled. "Youre starting to take over after georgia. She's rubbing off on you."
"maybe theres still hope for you, mate. Maybe you will get laid!" ash laughed.
Cam rolled his eyes as he puched ash's shoulder. Maybe, Just Maybe. He'll get to meet the purple eyed beauty again and it wont be just another day.
Maybe, It might be more.
