As I Settle into Your Bones:

Chapter Two

Collaboration between ZigFuckingNovak and [she still doesn't have an FF account fgdfhu]

I'm waiting. Text me when you're here?

Campbell sent the text in very uncharacteristic good spirits, even finding himself humming the theme song of Full House as he sat. Everything had changed exponentially after he and Zig's new… 'friendship' had sprouted from the water deprived soil. It was a blessing, if anything, that they found each other when they did. With the way his life was going, the likelihood of his survival grew meek day by day. For all he knew, if hadn't found someone like Zig, he might have ended up… no, he wasn't going to think about that today. He would not allow himself to be disheartened by pesky thoughts of horridness.

A complacent 'ah' left the boy's parted lips as the sun began to peek from beneath its cloudy blanket, warming his skin. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to soak in the moment and be completely immersed in the feeling; the unrelenting waves of heat tanning his flesh subtly to a golden brown, a soft breeze brushing the stray strands of hair from his visage. The sounds of laughter and enjoyment resonated from the quaint street, children partaking in all sorts of activities across the street from him.

In complete honestly, Cam could have sat there all day, describing the infinite moment and the joy of actually living once again. The freshly cut grass gave the air a slightly bitter tinge, one he hadn't previously noticed through his veil of depression. Understandably, he did still have bouts of seemingly unbearable melancholy, but it wasn't of the magnitude that it had been before, or nearly the frequency. Only one thing had changed in his life, causing him to believe that the source of this now foreign feeling had a name. This wasn't just the change of the season or a new resolve to have a fresh outlook on life; this was something different. Something much more meaningful. This was Zig.

And so he waited for the boy, comfortably lounging on the bench by himself — which normally would have made him feel awkward, but didn't — when his phone sounded. The beep of his repetitive ring tone joined in with the chorus of sounds, creating a harmonious symphony that he used to be unable to acknowledge the beauty of. He shoved his hand into his pocket, retrieving the device and bringing a hand to his forehead so that he could properly see the message. Zig. There it was; that inexplicable fluttering of his heart, that adoring smile tugging at his lips, refusing to relent.

What's your favourite ice cream, hockey star?

Naturally, most who attended Degrassi referred to him as such, but when it came from the lips — or rather, electronic device — of Zig, it felt so much more affectionate. Real.

Chocolate.

And you're late. Ten laps around the park.

Zig chuckled softly as he read Cam's text about him being late. Tact was not exactly one of Zig's stronger traits—-if a trait, at all. Typically, whenever Zig Novak was late to an event, it was because he simply did not want to be there. This was not the case with Campbell Saunders and his own agreement to spend the afternoon in the park, however. He had a viable excuse for not being there on the dot. That excuse was currently in the form of brown droplets trying to escape the packed ball in which they were scooped when being put into their cone. Zig personally opted for strawberry, his tongue dragging across the base of the ice cream itself as his fingers pivoted it around.

He was careful not to tumble on his own feet and ruin the treat he had for Cam and himself as approached the park. His grin widened when he saw the smaller, familiar form seated on one of the park benches.

Zig plopped himself down, twisting his torso slightly so he could hand Cam his chocolate ice cream cone. "Ta-da!" He said, laughing some. "Eh, it's kind of trying to escape…might wanna start licking right away." He nodded to affirm this as he started sucking the chocolate trails off of his own fingers before tending to his own frozen treat. He rested his back against the bench, slipping an arm around Cam's shoulders causally. He had tried not to glance over at him…but failed. Cam was definitely someone to marvel at. At least, in Zig's eyes, he was. He didn't see how anyone could not see what he did, though. Those slender, delicate fingers as they held his cone, his long, black lashes that were currently even more prominent due to the boy's visual focus on his chocolate ice cream. Cam.

He slurped on the top of his ice cream, his eyes now gazing off into nowhere in particular as he nervously awaited for when the moment came for him to finally ask Cam the big question: will you go out with me? This question, while amusing the likes of adults who were well past their awkward years of high school, was actually quite a big deal to the niner. Asking someone out meant asking them to be his. Asking them to be his, meant that they could either accept the offer, or they could reject it. Would Cam reject it, though? They were intimate. Their bare bodies had entangled in the closest way that the laws of science would allow. Zig's phone was filled with text messages from the boy—-sexy ones, flirtatious ones, and, the greatest of all, the sweet ones.

The two did not even accept the embrace of slumber until they had called one another to whisper soft good nights through smiling lips. No. There was no way Cam could turn him down. It was certain to Zig that he liked him back; and things did not come as quickly to Zig unless they were straight to-the-point.

He smiled warmly after Cam had almost finished his ice cream, and he decided that he could wait no longer. He lifted his arm from Cam's shoulders, his hand finding the dormant one of Cam's that was resting on the hockey player's lap. He gave it a tender squeeze as he said, "Hey," His green eyes seem to suddenly glint. Or, perhaps it was the sun lighting up his irises from the angle in which he was seated. No. It was definitely what he was about to do.

"Take a walk with me," He said, standing up and giving Cam's hand a little tug to coax him up with him. Zig's fingers laced themselves with the older boy's as they made their way to the little path that was surrounded by a small forest. It was a little sanctuary for the local wildlife, and somewhere where Zig sometimes liked to go after he had spent so many hours skateboarding. It was a place of zen. Only positive energy, he was sure of it. Nothing could go wrong in those woods, as far as Zig Novak was concerned.

He could tell Cam was getting confused by the dark-haired boy's sudden interest in the trees. He came to a stop. "Look to your left.." He whispered in Cam's ear.

There, etched on the bark of the tree, were the words: will u go out w/ me?

It wasn't long before the vague silhouette of a person whom Campbell knew to be Zig appeared, his figure seemingly scintillating in the glimmering sunlight. The elapsed time in which he'd waited for the boy hadn't seemed agonizingly long; instead, he took the wasted minutes as an opportunity to observe the nature around him, appreciate, and absorb it completely. It wasn't just the grass that made the air home to this special scent; it was the different variations of flowers, the bark of the trees, the countless spurts of perfume squirted into the vastness. Normally, Cam associated the sound of birds chirping with annoyance, approaching it with a groan and anything to block out the incessant tweeting. Today, everything was so completely different. The birds weren't annoying, they were happy to be alive. New born birds were being hatched just that moment, and joy was being spread across the small span of the nest. Cam wasn't quite sure why he was noticing all of these things, but he was grateful for it.

Only did hazel orbs leave the beautiful scenery overwhelming them when a much more interesting subject happened along. A smile filled with warmth and admiration immediately adorned his lips, threatening to split his cheeks if it were to broaden anymore. "You're late," he observed, grabbing the ice cream cone and offering the boy an appreciative nudge of the shoulder. Cam wasn't quite used to showing affection and wasn't all too sure what the boundaries were, but the good thing with Zig was that he somehow knew. He took Cam's small gestures and made them into what they really were; endless gratitude. No one but him seemed to notice his posture and the aura surrounding him, practically seething admiration for the younger boy. Every fiber of his being told him to trust, and that was what frightened him the most deeply. Not only was this the extent of what he'd ever felt towards anyone, but Zig was a boy. If anyone knew about the two of them, he'd be the prime target for isolation. To be branded a social pariah wasn't exactly one of his top goals upon arriving at Degrassi.

Noticing the liquid between to drip in between the webs of his fingers, a tongue scantily protruding from relatively chapped lips, lapping up the cool substance that began trickling down the cone. Now, his full concentration was on the ice cream and just how good it tasted. The chocolate not only satisfied, but intoxicated him; each lick bringing him closer to inebriation of the best kind. Maybe this is what it meant to be 'high on life,' or however the saying went. The prospect of such coupled with the realization that he was actually living threatened to propel Cam up ten levels of happiness.

Before he was able to become enraptured with another part of his surroundings, a soft voice disturbed him — perhaps disturbed wasn't the word, because that voice was one he enjoyed so much, it could never be considered anything close to a disruption. There was a new warmth on his hand, not from the sun, but from something that brought him much more pleasure. Whereas the sun warmed him on the outside, simple gestures such as these warmed him on the inside. Cam's lips once again curled up in an adoring smile when he felt a slight pressure on his hand, finding Zig's presence to be so comforting, he would've been willing to go anywhere with him.

"Okay," His reply was simple, but that was all it needed to be. The whole afternoon was just that; simple. And simple was more than enough for him at the moment. Maybe exactly what he needed.

So, on trudged the pair, hand in hand — Cam's cheeks admittedly a darker shade of pink than was normal — into the unknown. Or, at least, it was unknown to Cam. As they continued to walk, civilization began to disappear and trees took their place, the grass cradling fallen leaves like a mother to her child. The sounds of children and laughter all eventually subsided; nothing more than a distant memory. The two were completely and utterly alone, and strangely enough, Campbell didn't feel an ounce of doubt. Whatever they were doing was right.

After an estimated fifteen minutes under comfortable silence's invisible cloak, that voice was in his ear again, coaxing him softly. He couldn't refuse if he wanted to, not when Zig was speaking so softly to him, like he was the only person in the world who mattered — which couldn't be true, but Cam liked thinking that way. "My… left?" He muttered, so entranced in the boy's voice that he'd hardly heard the words. However, he obeyed, turning his head in the direction he was instructed to and being met with yet another tree with a crude carving on it.

"It's just a…" His sentence was left unfinished, his eyes feasting upon the sight that was meant to be behold. Will u go out w/ me was engraved into the bark, staring him straight in the face and demanding a reply. His heart rate began to pick up, the knot forming in his throat already multiplying to a size big enough that it threatened to strangle him. His cheeks were no longer pink, but a darkened shade of red. His voice caught in his throat, making it nearly impossible to speak. No. He couldn't accept this. What would everyone think? What would his teammates say? He couldn't do this. Besides, he wasn't even gay… he just held a special attraction for someone who happened to be the same sex as him.

Panic coursed through his brains and irrationality took over his brain. He was overwhelmed with this instinct to run; to get as far away from Zig and any pressures of commitment as he possibly could. But, and he'll wonder for a long time if that was the proper decision, he didn't. He stood rooted in place, mouth agape and eyes wide with the terror. "Z-Zig… I-I'm sorry… I can't…" The reply was hardly feasible, and not at all what he'd planned out in his head, but it was going to have to do; words were no longer willing to come out.

Zig walked closer to him, grinning as he tilted his body to the side some as an attempt to see the expression on Cam's face, which had now appeared to be at more of a down angle. "…Soo?" He sing-songed, waiting.

His expression suddenly went serious when he noticed that Cam was not smiling. He was not jumping up and down excitedly, his arms had not thrown themselves around Zig's neck. So then, what? Zig's heart began to hammer at a rapid pace that could surely put most in the hospital. "Cam?" He said louder. When his persistence was met with red cheeks and a tense silence, Zig swallowed hard and opened his mouth to try again—-when Cam told him..

I can't.

"…You..can't?" Zig said, the words lingered with the taste of bitterness as he rolled them off his tongue. His face had contorted itself into a painful mixture of denial and confusion. It was apparent that more than a thousand thoughts were racing across his mind. "…I.." He struggled to find the words that could properly suffice for the ache that was beginning to burn like wildfire in his chest. What now? What now?

Zig did what he did best. He acted strictly on impulse. The pain was blinding him. He could not even think straight as he hauled back and threw his ice cream cone at the vandalized tree with all of his might; the pink liquid splattering all over the words that he had spent such precious time carving. It was so difficult to do. He had never thought that a tree would be hard to carve into. He remembered the splinters that he had come home with; his Mother fussing over them as she plucked each with out with tweezers—-despite Zig's obvious detesting of this idea. At the end of the night, glancing down at his bandaged fingers—-he knew that it would be worth it. Cam would say yes. Then, they could be together. They could read comic books under a blinding flashlight in a blanket fort that Zig had put together for when Cam would stay over. They could sneak early morning showers together; his Mother cooking breakfast and blissfully unaware of the erotic activities that were taking place between two lovers over her head and separated only by a poorly made wooden floor.

He was supposed to teach Cam how to skateboard. Zig was supposed to be standing beside the wobbling hockey skater as he tried to move on the board, and, he would fall. Except, Zig would catch him. He would catch him and he would help him try again. They could celebrate after the boy had managed to move on the skateboard on his own.

Zig stared blankly at the tree for several minutes before he turned to Cam, his eyes flaring with anger and hurt. "This.." He pointed shakily at the tree, "this is NOT how the fuck this was supposed to go!" He spat, his green eyes lining with hot tears. He did not bother to wait for a response from Cam. He moved past him, his shoulder pushing into Cam's as he walked off.

The further he got into the woods and nearer to the park, the quicker his stride got. The niner had broken into a full on run. He needed to. He needed to run from it all. From Cam, from his humiliation, from his idiotic belief that Cam had actually felt the same way about him. Was this all a fucking joke to the kid that had been the one stuttering and blushing beneath him when he took his virginity? Was he not good enough for the precious, upper middle-class boy?

He did not stop until he finally reached his house. His hands smacked onto his thighs to rest, his body doubled over in heavy breathing. His heart pounded in his ears. It only took a couple of seconds for his heart to remind him of what had just taken place. So he collapsed onto his knees, gripping his dark hair with both hands as he sobbed loudly and angrily.

Why?

~ End of Chapter two ~

Reviews are always appreciated.