You Are My Refuge: Chapter Eight

Nikki and Cameron spent the next hour walking on the beach. Cameron seemed relaxed and unworried. Nikki, however, was worrying enough for the both of them. She tried to stay focused on her conversation with Cameron, but her mind kept wandering to tonight's dinner. Around five o'clock they started heading toward his mother's house. Playa Linda wasn't a big town by any means, but his mom's house was a pretty good distance north on foot. Cameron had spent the entire afternoon schooling her on Classic Rock, emphasizing how important it was to appreciate the masters.

They turned onto Parkside Avenue, a street aptly named for its close proximity to Playa Linda Park. Cameron stopped talking about the merits of Pink Floyd for a second, "The house is down at the end of this street," He said conversationally, "See, the walks not too long, if you've got good company." He grinned and Nikki returned it half-heartedly. Her stomach gave a nervous twist.

She couldn't help but feel apprehensive. Going to dinner at Cameron's house with his mom wasn't a big deal. Just a completely normal way to get to know each other, right? Nikki kept telling herself over and over that it was going to be fine, but she sincerely hoped it wasn't going to be awkward or weird. All the issues with Cameron and his dad made the affair a lot less…relaxed.

Cameron nodded toward a small stone gray brick house with a large porch. "That's it." he said cheerfully.

Nikki felt her heart give an involuntary squeeze.

They turned up a small tile walkway. It was a cute house, Nikki thought. It seemed pretty homey. There were pink flowering bushes in the flowerbeds, and some hanging ferns on the porch. Cameron rummaged in his jeans pocket for his house keys. He slid a small gold key into the lock and let them in.

The house smelled like Lysol and fresh sheets. A large improvement over the aroma of stale alcohol at his dad's house. "Home sweet home." Cameron announced, "Or…other home." He smiled sheepishly. He dropped his house keys on the small glass table in the foyer. Nikki glanced around into a spacious living room.

"It's nice." she said, more to herself than to him. The house was small, but was tidy and clean.

Cameron walked down the hallway, Nikki followed him. He stepped into a wide doorway to the left. It was a large kitchen with an eat-in area and a bay window. The walls were painted a light green which gave the entire room a cheery feeling to it. His mom stood at the stove, stirring something in a pan. A light, savory aroma filled the room. Nikki's stomach grumbled, realizing she hadn't eaten since the milkshake at Two Brothers.

"What's on the menu for tonight?" Cameron asked casually, peering over his mom's shoulder. Nikki stood off to the side a little bit, unsure of what to do. Mrs. Bale turned from the stove, smiling at both of them. "Vegetable penne, salad and garlic bread." Cameron shot Nikki a significant look, as if it was some kind of conspiracy. "You know, she's not a vegetarian, but she got into this bad habit of cooking vegetables when I was a kid just to torture me, and it stuck."

"Don't believe a word he says, Nikki. He loves my vegetables." Mrs. Bale insisted.

Cameron grinned. "Maybe now, since I was force fed them for a decade." Nikki laughed, the tension easing off her somewhat.

Her gaze shifted to Mrs. Bale. "Don't worry, I wouldn't trust Cameron's opinion anyway." She was grinning inwardly, knowing the comment would mess with his head a little.

Mrs. Bale caught on, smiling appreciatively. "Smart girl." she glanced at Cameron. "I don't really trust him either." she turned back to the stove. He gave Nikki a weird look and she suppressed her smile. Cameron seemed to contemplate her for a minute, he then finally stuck out his tongue in a childish manner. A grin broke out across her face, and she decided to continue the immaturity and crossed her eyes at him.

"Cameron, set the table, please." Mrs. Bale requested, breaking up their kid moment. Cameron obliged, but Nikki heard him mutter about being 'trustworthy enough to handle the plates' or something of that nature.

She cleared her throat. "Is there anything I can help with?" she asked his mom, hoping to make use of herself. Mrs. Bale turned to face her again, smiling brightly. "Oh, you're too sweet, you can cut the tomato for the salad." she pointed to a shining red tomato on a chopping block on the opposite counter, a pristine knife sitting beside it, waiting to be used.

"No problem," she hurried over and began to carefully chop it, adding the tomato to the freshly washed lettuce already in a bowl. In ten minutes, the table was set and the food ready on the table.

Mrs. Bale took a seat at the head of the table, and Cameron and Nikki took seats on either side. They passed around the food and were soon all served.

"So, what did you two do today?" Mrs. Bale asked, pouring dressing on her salad. Cameron answered her, his mouth full of garlic bread. "Well, we went to Two Brothers.." He trailed off, his mother was giving him a death glare.

"Cameron, you were not raised by wolves. Don't talk with your mouth full, please."

Nikki couldn't help but smile, and then finished for him. "We went to Two Brothers with Amber and but she had to leave so we went to the beach and walked around the promenade for a while."

"That sounds like fun." Mrs. Bale commented. "Amber's the blonde girl, right?"

Cameron nodded. "Yeah."

"Didn't you two used to date?" she asked him.

He shifted uncomfortably, not making eye contact with Nikki. "Briefly."

"She's a little demanding, though, if I remember correctly, always making you do stuff for her.." Mrs. Bale commented absently.

Nikki laughed. "That sounds like Amber."

Conversation flowed easily from there, and Nikki was glad to find that Mrs. Bale was a nice lady with a good sense of humor. She started to unwind and enjoy herself. Mrs. Bale began asking questions about herself, none too prying, about what she liked to do and what not. Nikki answered readily, not minding at all.

"So, Nikki, Cameron told me you're from Kansas. Are you from Topeka?" She questioned."I've got a cousin who lives there."

Nikki shook her head, finishing the bite of her food. "No, I'm from Hogarth County. It's about an hour and a half from Topeka. It's pretty rural."

"I think I've heard of it. So, what brought your family to California?" she asked conversationally, stabbing a bite of salad with her fork.

Cameron made a noise in his throat. His mother looked at him, confused. Nikki looked up just in time to witness Cameron shaking his head at his mom. She returned the look with one of bewilderment, glancing at Nikki, a bite of salad extended in mid-air.

Nikki put down her fork. "No, it's okay, Cam." She looked at his mom. "My parents died a little over a year ago so my brothers and I moved out here to live with my aunt."

His mom looked shocked, immediately her voice became soft and compassionate, her eyes full of sympathy. "Oh, I'm so sorry. That's terrible." A long pause followed. Nikki felt a familiar pain in her chest at the mention of her parents. It was pain that she doubted would ever lessen or go away.

A pause followed, and just the sound of silverware on the plates was heard. Cameron quickly changed the subject, "Nikki is the one I was doing the literary magazine with at school."

Nikki gave him a grateful look, and readily picked up on the subject. "Oh, yeah! The magazine..."

The rest of dinner went smoothly, they were done eating and Mrs. Bale was in the middle of telling Nikki a funny story about Cameron on a soccer team as a kid, when the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Cameron announced and sprang up from his chair, hurrying over to the cordless phone anchored on the wall. "Hello?" he answered. A pause. "Oh, hey, yeah, we're just finishing up dinner. Yeah, she's right here, hold on a sec." He gave the phone to his mom. "It's Candace."

"Oh, hey, Candace, hold on a minute." Mrs. Bale smiled at Nikki and Cameron, "You two go ahead and I'll clear the dishes, there are popsicles in the freezer if you're interested."

Cameron raised his eyebrows. "You sure, Mom? We can help clear the table if you want..."

Mrs. Bale shook her head. "No, no, it's fine, you two go ahead." she waved them off, returning to her phone conversation. "Yeah, I'm still here, Candace." They left the kitchen, leaving his mom to her phone call.

"I'm sorry." Cameron said quietly, once they were out of earshot from his mom. Nikki looked puzzled, "Sorry? For what...?" She shot him a sidelong glance as they walked to the living room.

Cameron looked uncomfortable. "You know-for her mentioning your parents and asking so many questions."

Nikki shook her head. "Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal."

Cameron still seemed uncertain. "I didn't realize that I hadn't told her about them, I guess. So I felt bad when she kept pushing."

"Hey, seriously, it's okay. It was bound to come up, anyway, she was just trying to get to know me. Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" Cameron asked, concerned. Nikki nodded. "It's fine, really." She took a seat on the couch, but Cameron didn't sit down beside her.

"Hey, Nik, turn it on whatever you want, I'll be back in a sec." Cameron told her.

Nikki nodded, "Okay." She turned on the television, which was muted. She tried to turn the volume on, but it wasn't working. She sat there trying to fix it and stopped when she heard Cameron's mom's voice in the kitchen as she talked on the telephone. Nikki listened, feeling slightly guilty.

"Candace, you should see Cameron and his girlfriend, they are too cute..." she heard Mrs. Bale say. Nikki's heart sped up, and she kept listening intently. "All he's done since he got here is tell me about her." Nikki couldn't suppress the smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, Kyle has some kind of family therapy at Santa Palma that Cameron is supposed to come to. I haven't told him yet." There was a pause. "Well, I'm sure he won't want to go, but the lady who called said that it was part of the recovery program..." Nikki didn't hear what she said next, because Cameron returned to the living room.

"I can't get the volume to work," Nikki said dumbly, hoping he didn't think she was intentionally listening to his mom's phone call.

Cameron didn't seem phased, "Oh, well, that's 'cause you have to use this one," he snatched up a different remote off the table. He sat down beside Nikki on the couch, turning up the volume.

"Hey, you want a Popsicle?" Cameron offered.

"Sure." He got up and left the room again, and Nikki glanced a photo album on the under part of the coffee table, sitting next to a neat stack of magazines. She pulled it out, resting it on her lap.

"I got cherry and orange, you pick-" Cameron reentered the room, he stopped short, glimpsing the album on her lap. He raised his eyebrows, a serious look on his face. "Snooping through our stuff?"

Nikki's face grew hot. "I mean, no, I was just-" she closed the album quickly, as if it would make her innocent. She looked up and Cameron guiltily, feeling his eyes burning her.

Suddenly he cracked a smile and then laughed. "Relax, Nik. I'm just messing with you." Nikki let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

He rejoined her on the couch, slinging an arm around her. "Remember earlier? Told ya I'd get you back." He grinned charmingly, offering her a Popsicle. "Truce?"

Nikki accepted the peace offering. "You jerk." she managed lamely, ripping open the plastic.

Cameron just laughed, shifting a little bit closer to her. Nikki couldn't help but smile to herself. He opened up the album, pulling it halfway into his lap. "Let's see what we got here..."

The first picture was a baby with familiar, wide blue eyes and a tuft of golden hair staring with bright interest. "Oh my god!" Nikki exclaimed. "You were so adorable!" Cameron laughed.

The next photograph was his mom, a lot younger than she looked now, holding infant Cameron, smiling brightly at the camera. Another showed Cameron, his mom and his dad, sitting on a couch, Kyle and Rachel were smiling at each other over baby Cameron, seemingly the happiest people in the world. Nikki herself felt sad over it, and she could only wonder how Cameron felt about it.

The next five or so pages were dedicated to Cameron's baby years. His first Christmas, his first Easter, his first birthday, at which he received a fuzzy brown bear that he clung to in every picture.

"God, I still have that thing." Cam told her, bemused. "I slept with it every night 'til I was like nine, but then my cousins started giving me a hard time about it. I was crushed."

Nikki laughed. "Aw, poor baby." She turned the page. A picture of Cameron, beginning to walk on his own, still gripping the bear. His mom had scrawled the date underneath it.

They kept flipping through the album, Cameron commentated, telling her the stories behind the pictures. Nikki felt sad for him when she saw the pictures of him and his dad. There was a picture of them fishing at the pier, them at the beach, playing catch, on bikes.

He seemed to falter in his stories when he came to those, and Nikki could hear the sadness in his voice as he said things like, "We always used to do that." or, "That was a lot of fun."

Nikki kept her eyes trained on the photo album that rested partially in her lap. As Cameron recounted the story behind the picture of him dressed as a pirate she resisted the urge to ask him a question she had kept at bay since dinner had wrapped up. She kept her tone light and casual, "So," she fiddled with the leather edge of the album. "Do you think your mom likes me?"

"Of course she likes you," he said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, he looked at her skeptically. Nikki didn't say anything but was pretty sure her expression gave her away. Cameron noticed the look, surprised. "You were actually afraid she wasn't going to?"

Nikki's embarrassment grew, "Well, yeah. I mean, it's different for me. I really want your mom to like me 'cause I've never really been around her before."

Cameron scrunched up his face, "How is it so different?"

"I mean, come on, Cam!" Nikki turned to face him. "You have to think, We spend so much time hanging out at my house, that you've pretty much become a fixture there, so Ava and Johnny know you and like you and stuff."

"Okay." Cameron gave in. "So maybe it's different, but don't worry, she liked you, I could tell." Cameron gave her a reassuring squeeze around the shoulders. "I promise." he added.

Nikki was smiling to herself again, something that seemed to happen a lot around Cameron. He closed the album, setting it back on the table, and keeping his arm around Nikki still, and began channel surfing. They watched TV for awhile, his arm around her the entire time. At some point in the middle of the show, Nikki wound her fingers around Cameron's that laid on her shoulder.

Cameron's cell phone rang. Nikki's heart sank, pretty sure who it was. Cameron removed his arm from her shoulders and dug in his pocket. He answered it. "Hello? Yeah, she's right here." Cameron handed Nikki the phone. "It's Johnny."

Nikki took the phone. "Hey Johnny." she said.

"Hey, kiddo, you having fun?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's cool." Nikki answered.

"Are you ready to be picked up yet?" He asked.

"Um, hold on..." She moved the phone from her ear. "What time should I be picked up?" she asked him. They both simultaneously glanced at the clock. It was already nine o'clock. Time went so fast whenever they hung out.

"Thirty, forty-five minutes?" Cam suggested.

Nikki put the phone back up to her ear, "Hey, could you pick me up in like thirty or forty-five minutes?" A pause. "Okay, sure. I need directions." Nikki immediately handed the phone to Cameron. "Directions." she told him.

Cameron took the phone and gave Johnny directions to the house. He closed the phone, ending the call. "He said he'd be here in half an hour. But don't worry, I gave him the long way here." He laughed.

"Good thinking." Nikki said.

"I know, I'm great." he said in a joking manner. "Oh, I have that CD I borrowed from you. It's in my room." Cameron got up from the couch. "Follow me." He led her down the hall and past the kitchen, where another hall ran perpendicular. He opened a door, "My room is immaculate, like yours." he said sarcastically.

Nikki giggled, wandering in. It wasn't quite immaculate, but Nikki suspected it might have been messier if it weren't for his Mom. The room was slightly smaller than his room at his dad's house. His bed was messily made and his duffel bag was lying on the floor, open, clothes exploding out of it.

A tall chest of drawers was on one wall, and straight-backed wooden chair in one corner, a pile of books atop it, and a desk that held a computer. The walls weren't quite as plastered with posters as in his other room, but Cameron seemed to have covered them a good amount.

"Is this the bear from the pictures?" Nikki asked nodding at a much more ragged, deflated bear lying on his chest of drawers.

Cameron nodded, "The one and only." he said, moving a pile of books off the chair.

"Nice." she said, not resisting the temptation to mess with him.

"Hey, don't diss Mr. Bear, okay?" He said seriously. "He's a lot cooler than Henrietta or whatever the hell your doll's name is..."

"Sophia." Nikki corrected.

"Same thing."

"Aw he's cute," Nikki said, lifting the bear off the chest of drawers. "Even if he's missing...both eyes." She set the deranged bear back on the chest of drawers. Cameron moved the chair over to the desk and sat down in the other chair.

"I still need to put the CD on my iTunes." He told her, moving the mouse to get off the screen saver, but Nikki wasn't paying much attention. Her eyes had landed on a single photograph propped up against the speaker. She grabbed it, to get a better look.

It was of them. Taken maybe a month or so before. They had been messing with Cameron's digital camera. They were on the swing at Nikki's house, sunkissed, hair still wet from just returning from the beach, both smiling brightly, but their gazes didn't quite reach the camera lens, instead they were smiling at each other.

Nikki looked up at Cameron. "How did you get a print of this?" she asked.

"Oh, that's a photo printer." He nodded toward the printer. He smiled at the picture in her hand fondly. "I really liked that one." he reached out to take it from her, his hand brushing hers deliberately but not bothering to pull away.

They made eye contact, his blue eyes were gleaming with that enigmatic sparkle of his.

Soon the were inching toward each other, closing the gap between them. Their lips meeting, soft and warm in a lingering kiss. They broke apart, both grinning goofily at each other, both still holding the picture. Cameron cleared his throat, averting his gaze from her, instead looking at the computer screen.

"I can print a copy for you, if you want..." Cameron suggested.

Nikki nodded, setting the picture back to its original place. "I'd like one."

Cameron pulled up his iTunes and imported the CD into his files. Then, following the trend of their conversation from earlier, Cameron played her his favorite Beatles songs. Only some of which Nikki had heard.

"Wait, Nik, so you're telling me you've never heard anything off The White Album?" Cameron questioned once more, he had already asked this a half a dozen times, shocked.

Nikki couldn't help but laugh at his persistence. "No, Cam, I haven't."

Cameron immediately sprang up from his chair. "You are so deprived. Okay, I'm going to lend you some CDs, and then you have to listen to them, and admit I'm right about everything music-related, okay?" He grinned at her over his shoulder before turning to scan his CD collection. "This one..and this one.."

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" Nikki asked, watching as Cameron selected CD after CD for her to borrow. Cameron shook his head.

"Nope, Nikki, I'm going to bring you out of listening to Fergie or what was it you said you liked at that party...?" he stopped short, pondering. He finally stopped choosing CDs, but was holding a pretty large sized stack already. He turned back to her, his grin exposing the gap in his two front teeth, as the music artist came to him, "Oh yeah, Chingy."

Nikki couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, I admit it, Cam. Maybe I need a little bit of help in the music area. But I guess that's what you're for, right?" He set down the sizable stack on the edge of the desk and turned to face her. She looked at the stack and then raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly." He smiled sheepishly, glancing back at the stack. "How about I lend you one at a time and then maybe you'll actually listen to them."

Nikki nodded in agreement. "You're probably right."

Cameron bit his lip, "Then I have an excuse to see you every day then, right?"

Nikki's heart skipped a beat. "You don't need an excuse."

"I know." He replied with a grin.

Suddenly, his cell phone rang. He dug in his pocket to answer it.. "Hey...okay, yeah, I'll tell her. Alright, bye."

"Johnny's on his way, he'll be here in like two minutes."

Nikki got up from the computer chair.

"Hey, go ahead and take this copy," Cameron took the picture off the desk and handed it to her. "Oh, and this." He popped her CD out of the computer and put it back in the case. "AND this." He handed her a white double album. "You'll like that, I swear."

"Thanks." Nikki said, "I have to go thank your mom."

They left his room and went into the kitchen, where his mom was still on the phone, standing with their back facing them, loading the dishwasher.

"Their nightly conversation usually lasts hours," Cam whispered in her ear. Nikki couldn't help but giggle.

"Hey Mom, Nik's leaving."

Mrs. Bale turned. "Hold on, Candace." she smiled at Nikki. "Bye, Nikki. It was just so nice to get to know the young lady that has my son so tied up in knots." she said warmly and ignored the choking sound coming from Cameron.

Nikki laughed. "Dinner was delicious, Mrs. Bale, thank you for having me. It was great meeting you."

"You are welcome here anytime, dear, just stop by whenever." Mrs. Bale insisted.

"Oh, that's so—niii-" Cameron was already leading Nikki out of the kitchen by her arm, cutting off her last word. She glanced at him once they were in the living room, "All tied up in knots, huh?" she joked.

His face was red and he looked flustered. He shook his head, embarrassed by what his mom had said.

"Aw, Cam, don't be upset, it's sweet." Nikki insisted.

Cameron rolled his eyes, his face returning to a normal color. "My mom goes out of her way to embarrass me since she doesn't get to do it often."

"You should be glad for that." Nikki said sweetly. "And I enjoy watching your mom make you uncomfortable, it's entertaining, tonight's been fun."

"Yeah, it's pretty fun not knowing what my mom is going to say to humiliate me next." Cameron said sarcastically.

"But you know it's worth it," Nikki grinned up at him, trying to get him to smile. "For me."

Cameron gave in, cracking a small smile. "Okay, today's been fun." He glanced out the window as headlights illuminated the driveway. "And sadly, coming to an end."

"Your cell phone is going to ring in about 10 seconds." Nikki commented.

"But, oddly, I don't care," Cameron leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. Nikki felt extremely intent on staying like that for awhile, putting her free hand on his arm and returning his kiss eagerly despite that, his cell phone had, in fact, started to ring. They ignored it, until they broke apart a few moments later.

Again, Nikki felt that big smile on her face that could only be produced with Cameron present; he took her hand and led her out of the room. He walked her out to Johnny's waiting car.

She stood one hand on the handle of the door. "Thanks for dinner and everything, it was nice."

Cameron nodded, "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Okay." With one last smile in his direction, she climbed into Johnny's car.

Johnny waved at Cameron before backing out of the driveway. Nikki kept her eyes on him as he returned to his house.

"So, did you have fun?" Johnny asked as he drove.

Nikki nodded, "Yeah, tons. His mom is really nice."

"That's good," Johnny said, "Better than his father, I hope." He added in a grave voice. Nikki didn't really hear the last part, too content on staring out the window with a smile on her face.

"You know what, Johnny?" Nikki said abruptly, when they almost reached the house.

"What?"

"I seriously think I have the best boyfriend like, ever."

"Well, I'm glad to know you're happy, Nik." Johnny said, he glanced over at Nikki who was smiling to herself. Yes, she was very happy.


Authors Note:

OMG. I know I'm terrible for not updating. But I will defend myself and say I've written this SO many times, and I'm finally happy enough with it. Also in my defense, I've had a whole bunch of stuff going on at home, and have been in a Harry Potter mode. Book 7 is kickass, I must say. Haha. Plus, I would've had this up awhile ago but no, my laptop cord had to go in break when I was in a writing mood! And then the one I got in the mail went and broke so I have to send it back and blah blah blah.

So, yeah. Then I realized one reason everything takes so long is because I haven't had an outline where I'm going with this story. SO I made myself sit down and basically outline where this story is going and everything, and if everything goes as planned, it'll have 20 chapters...I think?

It's been almost a year since I started this story. Wow. I've gotten such a good response and I just want to say thank you to everyone, and I hope you keep reading and I'm sorry I'm so slow.

I don't really have time for personal replies, so...

HUGE THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART TO:

Embry, Melissa, Hannah, .3, Jaydat, Jmacsgirl15, Kaeti & Stephanie & Jeremy & Mike & Rachel, Randomly SmuRfy, Eagleschick86, Corbin's My Man, Samantha, betherealways247, zanessatroyella4evr620, corinne, and tracy turnblad!

Tell me what you think and leave a review!

Love,

Chris Grace