Disclaimer: All characters, events, and material related to 10 Things I Hate About You are owned by ABC Family.

Warning: Though this story contains nothing sexual, the material towards the end may be taken as briefly suggestive. This story also contains mild language. Please read cautiously if you are sensitive to this type of content.

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Please Don't Leave Me

Everything happening right now in Bianca's life was so wrong. Her sister Kat had been suspended from school, taking off on Patrick Verona's motorcycle immediately after. Chastity, discovering that it had been Bianca be the "toothpick with hair" making out with Joey, kicked her off the cheerleading squad (and that was the least amount of damage that was about to happen to her from Chastity). But worse of all, her best friend Cameron didn't want to be around her anymore.

Bianca was so upset with what happened with her sister and even more so with Chastity, she raced through the crowded hallways to try to find a familiar and comforting face. That's when she saw Cameron coming from the opposite way. She blinked back the tears that wanted to form, and swiftly stepped towards him.

"Ca-" she tried to call, but he had walked right passed her without even a glance in her direction. Bianca stopped dead in her tracks. That stung. He must've really meant that he needed some time to get over her.

The school bell rang, and the hallway full of people soon diminished. Bianca snapped out of her daze and hurried to her last class before the corridor completely cleared.

Somewhere in his conscious mind, Cameron knew he was dreaming. After all, only in dreams could you be twenty-six and still look like you did a whole ten years before. He was wearing a black suit and aviator sunglasses. He had a cell phone up to his ear while standing in a long line at a massive franchised coffee shop.

"I gotta go," he said into the receiver, and pressed the red "hang up" button on his cell phone as he approached the counter. After giving the cashier his complex order of a drink and handing over his credit card, he moved to the side, where he waited for his coffee to be handed over by the barista.

"A mocha frappuchino, please," the young woman at the cash register requested. She wore a white blouse with a black, high-waisted pencil skirt, paired with nude hosiery and plain black pumps. Her golden blonde hair was twisted up in a neat bun. Cameron took off his sunglasses.

"Bianca?" The woman turned to her left. Once she took sight of him, her face lit up.

"Cameron!" She rushed into his arms for a great big hug. "I haven't seen you in so long. I've missed you so much." She released him.

"Mocha frap?" the barista called.

"Thanks," Bianca said softly as she took her drink.

Cameron motioned towards the store's entrance. "You want to go for a walk?"

"Yeah, I'd love that," she said with a smile.

"So what have you been up to in the past decade?" Cameron asked as he held open the door for her. She had taken the hair clip out of her hair, letting the end of her hair brush against her shoulders.

"Well," she started, and as they continued to walk towards the public park nearby, she excitedly held up her left hand. "I'm engaged!" she cheered. Cameron's lip twitched.

"Congratulations," he humbly expressed.

"What about you?" she said after calming down. "What are you doing nowadays?"

"Um," he fumbled, nervously twisting the band around his finger. "Well, I just recently got married myself."

"Really?" Bianca squealed, nearly jumping up and down in delight. Cameron took a seat at the edge of the fountain; Bianca followed his lead. She stared at him with a soft smile for a while, then eventually spoke.

"You know, it's probably too late to say this now, but I regretted saying that I didn't feel the same way for you."

Cameron stayed silent, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Since that party..." she trailed off. Pausing to clear her throat, Bianca started again, "At graduation." She chuckled lightly. "I almost told you that I loved you. But the moment passed, and everyone left to go their separate ways... I guess I just lost the courage to finally tell you how I truly felt."

"Bianca..." he said in almost a whisper, patting her hair. "I'm always here for you."

They stood up, standing in the hall of their high school. He wasn't wearing the suit anymore, instead wearing khaki pants, and Bianca wore a colorful sweater and dark washed jeans. She continued to smile at him. The golden sun rays streaming through the windows highlighted to gold in her hair as he continued to run his hand through it.

"Cameron?"

"Cameron, honey?" Sleepily, he opened his eyes. "Are you awake?" He finally noticed the light knocking on his bedroom door. It soon stopped, and he then heard foot steps walking away.

"Mom?" he called dazedly, lifting his head from his pillow. The footsteps approached again, and the door gently opened. His mother poked her head in through the entranced and smiled.

"There's someone at the door for you," she informed.

"I'll be down in a minute," he replied, sitting up on the bed.

What a cruel dream. He was trying to get over Bianca. How was he suppose to do that if he kept dreaming about her? He ran his hand through his messy hair while walking down the stairs, not really giving another thought about greeting somebody in his wrinkled charcoal grey shirt and plaid-printed flannel pajama pants. Rubbing at his eyes as he approached the front door, he looked up. And froze.

Bianca, still wearing her old school uniform, timidly looked up at him and smiled weakly. "I'm not wearing perfume," she pointed out, with a little bit of skeptical humor in the inflection of her voice.

Cameron's lip quivered before he ran a hand over his mouth to quickly massage it to keep from laughing. He wasn't going to allow himself to be charmed by her wit. Leaning his elbow against the doorframe, he tiredly rubbed the back of his head and let out a brief sigh. Bianca's smile had disappeared, her blue eyes sparkled with concern.

"May I come in?" she asked cautiously. Cameron motioned her in. He knew she was here to talk, and though he was in no mood to do the same, he was too tired at the moment to fight it. Might as well just face the music.

Bianca delicately stepped in, and slowly walked ahead. Cameron shut the front door. "This way," he directed, leading her to the living room. They simultaneously sat down on the couch.

"Okay," he said bluntly. "Talk." He wished he could just kick himself in the balls for acting like such a jackass. It was not like him at all to act so cold, but he was done being hurt by Bianca's unreciprocated feelings, he didn't know how quite to express himself. Showing false composure wouldn't have done them good either, in the long run.

Bianca opened her mouth to speak. "I really miss-"

"You really miss me, and you still want to be friends..." he interrupted, standing up from the couch and started pacing around the room. "I don't know about you, Bianca, but it seems to me like we've been repeating the same conversation." He was sure that similar words had been spoken during the last couple of encounters they had together. "How many times do we have to go through it again?" Bianca stayed silent. Honestly, she was slightly confused, and just waited to hear what he had to say.

"You can't think you can fix things by changing your perfume, or whatever. It's not that simple. None of that is going to change how you and I feel about each other."

"Cameron?" his mother called from the kitchen. "Do you and your friend want some cookies?"

"No, Mom-"

"That would be wonderful, Missus James!" Bianca called cheerfully. Cameron turned around to look at her. Without having to verbally say a word, the expression on his face clearly translate what he was thinking- what are you doing? Had Bianca been listening to anything he was saying? Bianca replied with a stern stare. It was obvious that she wasn't going to walk away without a fight. Taking up his mother's offer gave her the opportunity to stall her visit.

Missus James came in the room to set down a plate of freshly-baked chocolate-chip cookies. "Thank you so much!" Bianca said to the woman cheerfully.

"You're welcome," the mother replied warmly. "Will you be staying with us for dinner? We're having lasagna."

"No, she's no-" Cameron started as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, and began to fidget.

"Lasagna sounds fabulous," Bianca graciously answered, cutting off the teenage boy's protest.

"Awesome!" Missus James exclaimed. "I'll go start prepping for it, then."

Bianca stood up from her seat on the couch. "Need a hand?" she proposed, and before Cameron got a chance to object, his mother agreed.

"Yeah, that would be great!" Bianca smiled, and followed the woman to the kitchen, while Cameron was left hanging in the living room. He sighed, with his head hung low.

About a century passed by for Cameron, when in reality only an hour had passed, and he was almost certain that another eternity was yet to pass. Just the thought of having Bianca in his house had made him nervous so much, he tried to calm his stress by concentrating on his homework. He even changed into a pair of jeans and threw on a short-sleeve, button-down shirt over the tee he had slept in- just to look a little more presentable at the dinner table.

Then he nearly dozed off on the couch after Bianca's continous giggles with his mother wafting from the ktichen distracted him from his literature class' reading. Cameron groaned, rubbing his forehead with the tip of his fingers on his right hand as his other hand went limp, letting the novel he held drop to the wooden floor.

"Ahem." His head shot up. Bianca stood in front of him, with her hair tied up in a loose bun and sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She had taken off her blazer and tie, and replaced it with one of his mother's patterned and lace-trimmed aprons. The girl smiled shyly at him. "Dinner is served," she presented, extending one arm out towards the dining room.

Cameron stood up without a word, and followed her out of the living room. He made a point to sit on the opposite side of Bianca's spot at the table. Missus James sat on the end, with Bianca to her left and Cameron on her right. He watched silently at his mother and Bianca's friendly exchange at the dinner table (unnotcing Bianca scooped a portion of spinach salad on his plate; his mother doing the same with the lasagna).

He gave a subtle sad smile to himself. This moment would have been perfect if she was his girl. Why did she have to be so mean, coming to his house and pretending to be carefree friends? Cameron decided the only way he could get through dinner was to distract his mind by thinking that everything was alright, where Bianca was his. It worked, as it made him feel more at ease now when he saw her bubbly self across the table. He wished this moment could last forever...

After dinner had ended, and Bianca helped the James clear the table, Cameron came up to the blonde closely, as she finished rinsing off the dirty dishes in the sink. He whispered, "Thanks for staying over. I'm..." He paused briefly to wet his dry lips. "Really glad you did." Bianca blinked back at him. He spoke as if it was their last farwell. Maybe that was his intention.

"Goodnight," he said softly before turning away.

"Night...?" Bianca whispered to herself as she heard his footsteps make its way up the stairs.

Cameron scrubed at his teeth with his toothbrush. He leaned over the sink and scooped up a handful of running water from the faucet. Taking a sip of the tap water, he used it to rinse the foaming toothpaste from his mouth. Grabbing a washcloth, he dabbed at the exces water, and exited his bedroom's bathroom. The jeans and green collared shirt he wore that evening was aleady discarded before he stepped into the bathroom, leaving him in his tee shirt and boxer shorts.

He looked up, startled to see Bianca sitting at the foot of the bed, wearing only the white tank top and fushia boy shorts she wore underneath her uniform. Dropping the washcloth away from his face, he half-yelled, "What are you doing here?"

"I called my dad and told him that I'm staying over for the night," she explained. Cameron grabbed her shirt she had put aside on his desk chair, and used it to shield her from his view.

"Are you crazy?" he blurted out. "If your dad knows you're here, then-" She pushed his hand away and stared him in the eye.

"That's why I told him that I'm at a friend's house," she reassured him.

"And...?" He wasn't sure if he was on the same page as she was.

"He assumes that I'm at Dawn's house," she specified.

Right, he thought. A girlfriend's house. As in, not with a boy that can fool around with her father's little princess. Although, if it was Dawn she was really with... Cameron shook the memory of the teenage girls making out.

"Either way, I didn't lie to him."

Cameron sighed. "I don't know how he let you off so easy..." He was probably right. Bianca knew that she could easily get in trouble later if her father found out, but right now that didn't matter much to her.

"Cameron," she started. "We need to finish this talk."

"I already told you," he said, exasperated. "I need time to get over you-"

"-you need time to get over me," Bianca said simutaneously. She broke eye contact for a moment. Looking back up at him, she continued, "But I don't get it." She waited a beat. "You agreed that we could try to go back to being friends, then later you just completely blow me off..."

He sighed, tempted to show her the door. "Could you blame me?" he asked. Bianca shook her head a bit, indicating that she didn't quite understand.

"Bianca," he sighed again, staring at the ceiling, and anywhere else where he didn't have to look her in the eye. "You can have anything you could possibly want," he informed her. "I don't know why you're so fixtated on becoming popular when you don't even realize what good you already have in your life."

She stayed silent. He had a point. How this was all important to her, she was forgetting the reason why.

What good you already have in your life, she repeated in her mind. It made her think of her family. Sure, she and her sister might not always get along, but Bianca knew that deep down they cared for each other. And though she was constantly getting irritated with her father treating her like a prisoner, she wouldn't trade her father for anything (despite the times where she thought she did want to).

Then she thought about her friends. Dawn was as superficial as she was, but she wasn't stuck-up. She was relatable. And then there was Cameron... Bianca looked back on all that she and he have been through in the short period of time they had been friends. Every gesture, every compliment. He wasn't just being a good pal. He really loved her. Then her anger got the better of her when she found out that Cameron sabotage her date with Beau. It was wrong of him to do what he did, but he cared for her that much to attempt something so bold. It wasn't anything different than what her father would do to try to protect her.

"I got kicked off of the cheerleading squad," she supplied. "Just thought you'd should know." It felt awkward for her to start our her speech in this self-absorbed way, but she felt that this was an important fact that he should know about her. "Chastity caught me with..." she fumbled. "Well, with..."

"With Joey," he finished for her. Bianca looked a little surpised at how Cameron knew, but then he explained, "I was running late to the walk-out, and..." Walked in on us kissing, Bianca finished in her mind. She felt so ashamed.

"Is this why you don't want to be friends anymore?" she asked, after a moment's realization. He nodded.

"You're right," she admitted. "I spent all this time chasing after popularity." She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Now I've got nothing. I don't even have anyone to turn to when I need support."

"Then why don't you just get it from Joey!" he spat heatedly.

"Not if it means losing you!" she cried. Cameron was a little taken back by her outburst. Did she really mean that?

"You might've lost out on love, but you don't have to lose a friend." Bianca tried to keep her voice steady, unshed tears threatened to flow down her cheeks. She stood up from the bed and looked up at him. "Don't make me lose a best friend."

She placed her hands on the backside of his neck and leaned in to kiss him on the lips. "Please don't leave me..." she whispered, tears pooling down.

"Stop," he whispered back, wiping the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs, his hands cupping her face. "You don't have to cry," he said softly, his forehead lightly resting against hers. He had his eyes shut as he told her, "I hate seeing you like this."

He released himself of this position, pushing her away just slightly. "And stop this," he murmured harshly. "I don't want you to play with my emotions when you don't feel that way about me, just because you want some shoulder to cry on whenever it's convenient for you."

Fresh tears fell down her face. "Cameron, please," she begged. "I don't want anything anymore. I just want you." She kissed him again. "I think... I just might love you."

Cameron was stunned. "You mean that?"

"Yeah," she said breathlessly, a small smile broke out on her face when she looked up in his eyes with new tears rimming her own.

"What made you change your mind?" he asked curiously.

"You," she answered. He smiled. Then lifted up her chin with his forefinger, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Falling gently on the bed, with Bianca lying on her back, and him on top of her, their kiss deepened. They kissed passionately for a while, before making their way underneath the covers, falling asleep in each other's arms.

"Cameron," he heard a soft voice as he roused from sleep. There was a cold, empty spot next to him. His head shot up, his eyes meeting blue ones, and soft blonde hair where the morning sun hit a golden glow. Bianca, with a huge grin, was kneeling on top of the bed, shaking him awake. He sat up, and she stepped backwards off the bed.

She was wearing a dress that was loaned by his mother (and did she make it look good- not motherly at all). "Come on," she chuckled. "Scrambled eggs for breakfast!" He clambered out of bed, following her out the room. He couldn't wait 'til he got to school that morning.

The End

Author's Note: Because I am too impatient for the premire of season 2 (airing Monday, March 29th 2010), I decided to write this fluffy oneshot about Bianca and Cameron to tide me over. I love the main cast and the characters they portray, but I felt that Kat/Patrick are a strong couple and Bianca/Cameron needs more support. The last scene in episode 10 with the characters is what has me hanging on. I just wanted to write a story where everything was okay between them right away. Thus, how this story was born.

15 February 2010