Chapter Ten

"Ready to go Charlie?" Cameron said as she and Willy walked into the small house.

Charlie looked up and when he saw Cameron's costume a big grin on his face. "I knew it!"

"Oh you did, did you?" Cameron laughed. "Well, who am I?"

"Mrs. Wonka, duh!" He laughed.

"See!" Cameron looked over at Willy. "Even he got it on the first try." She laughed.

They headed out to the already crowded streets. There were kids everywhere and some of the their costumes were terrific. 'Some people really do go all out for this?' She smiled. After going from house to house the cool night breeze got even cooler. Cameron pulled Willy's dress coat closer to her small frame and she shifted through the pillow case Charlie used as a dumping station when his small bag got full.

"I'm stealing some Skittles!" She called after him as he ran for the door of another house.

"Ok!" He called back.

Cameron smiled. She was so glad he was having fun. "Umm! These are really good. I haven't had Skittles in like forever." She mumbled munching on the fruity treats.

Willy frowned down at her. When Cameron noticed this she laughed. "These are not candy." She said holding one up for him to look at. "These, my friend, are fruit filled..." She paused trying to think of a word other then treat or candy. "...fruity thingies." She quickly threw the piece into her mouth.

Willy laughed. "It's candy. I make some just like it."

"Nerds!" She nodded. "There good too." She laughed.

"I've been meaning to ask you something." Willy looked down at her as they walked. "If your father was Mrs. Bucket's brother, then why is your last name Sullivan?"

"After my father died, for some odd reason, my mother went back to her maiden name which was Sullivan. She also changed mine but I never got to asking her why. I guess I never thought it was a big deal." Cameron shrugged. "I do on occasion have the weird tendency to sign my name Cameron Sullivan Bucket." She laughed.

Willy remembering his own dad asked, "What was your dad like?"

Cameron looked away from him as she finished her skittles. "He was...wonderful. He was everything to me. We did everything together. He'd told me that he was sick but I was only four when I first found out; I couldn't have understood it even if I wanted too. I always thought he was invincible. He was always there to pull me up on my feet again." Cameron paused. She could feel the tears coming to her eyes. She quickly cleared her throat and blinked her eyes to keep them at bay. She had already told Mrs. Bucket briefly about what happened and although it hurt to repeat it she knew she had to stop hurting. It had happened so long ago. "Those last few months that he was alive...were the worst of my life."

Willy frowned. "I'm sorry!" He whispered to her.

Seeing the sincerity in his face, Cameron felt the stray tears falling down her cheeks. They stopped and Willy gently wiped the tears from her cheeks with a smile.

Cameron laughed before she hurriedly wiped her eyes with her own hands. "Sorry, I didn't mean to tear up." She laughed. Willy quickly embraced her kissing the top of her head. "Thank you!" She mumbled against his coat.

"Your welcome!" He smiled as they parted. He knew it had to be hard for her to talk about her father. It was hard for him to even talk about his father and he was still alive.

"So what about your father?" Cameron asked crossing her arms over her chest as she walked beside him.
"He's a dentist." Willy said plainly.

"Is that it?"

"He's well, living off somewhere on his own. I haven't seen him in awhile."

"Then you should go see him."

"I already have." He looked at her confused.

"I thought you said you hadn't seen him in awhile." She laughed.

Willy looked confused. "Yeah...wait!" He replied in his usual high pitched kiddie voice.
"You mean you haven't seen him again." Cameron suggested as an explanation.

"Yeah!" Willy nodded.

"What about your mother?" She asked.

"My father told me that she died when I was born." Willy said his face blank. "I never got to know her."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Cameron said softly.

"It's no biggie. I mean how can you love a person when you don't even know them." He shrugged. He briefly thought of his relationship with Cameron. He knew he hadn't known her long and he never really had a serious chat with her; not that he wanted to cause he was not a very serious guy. When ever he was around her he just felt good; it just felt right. He always got all tingly inside like butterflies in his stomach. He could see through her eyes that she must have felt the same by the way she looked at him.
"I understand." After Cameron spoke, silence engulfed them. An hour or so later Cameron groaned as the pillow case grew heavier. "I think we better head home, Char." Cameron laughed when she saw him yawn.

"Ok!" Charlie said quietly as Cameron pulled him to her side resting her hand on his shoulder.

Willy took the heavy bag of candy reluctantly when Cameron handed it to him. "I've been carrying it all night, don't even start!" She gave him a stern look. Willy looked away defeated.

After dropping Charlie off Willy and Cameron made their way to their own rooms. Cameron embraced Willy gently kissing him on the lips.

"I guess I'll see you in the morning." She smiled. "Goodnight." She said as they parted.

"Sweet dreams, starshine!" He whispered to her.

Cameron laughed. "The earth says goodnight." As corny as it was, both Cameron and Willy enjoyed their comfortability with each other.

After changing into a baggy gray t-shirt and black pj pants Cameron climbed into bed getting comfortable under the sheets. She took a deep breath smelling the scent of vanilla and sighed. She turned over onto her back and starred at the ceiling closing her eyes. An hour later her eyes slowly opened, but she couldn't get back to sleep. She looked over at her clock that read 11:00pm and after starring at it for five whole minutes she sat up and got to her feet. She felt wide awake; there was no way she was going to get back to sleep now. She left her room and made her way to Willy's. Finding that the door was unlocked she made her way inside closing the door behind her. The first thing she noticed was the fire in the fire place. Its yellow and orange flame was the only light in the room. She saw Willy sitting on the sofa directly in front of the fire; his head was leaning against his hand resting on the arm of the sofa. He looked to be in a daze as Cameron approached him and made no move as to acknowledge her.

"Willy?" Cameron said softly.

Willy sat on the sofa in front of the fire thinking. He thought about his father, about Cameron, about his latest ideas for candy, mostly about anything that popped into his head. He was startled when he heard Cameron's voice through the haziness of thoughts in his mind.

"Can't sleep?" She asked taking a seat beside him on the sofa Indian style.
Willy nodded looking over at her. "I'm just thinking." He said softly. "You can't sleep either?"

"No." She gave him a small smile. "I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I just had a feeling you were up..."

"It's fine. Would you like something to eat or drink?" He asked before calling for an oompa-loompa. Cameron laughed as he made the sound.

"Sure!"

The oompa-loompa quickly returned with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of milk.

"This is a great midnight snack." Cameron said biting into one of the soft cookies. "They taste so darn good."
"Yeah!" Willy took a bite out of his own cookie.

They soon began talking and opening up to each other. They talked about everything from their favorite chocolates to some of their childhood memories. Since neither of them could sleep they rambled on about the most random things. Although Willy was very hesitant to talk about his childhood Cameron was able to finally get some of the basic facts out; for example, that he had braces and how strict his father was. He never got into details and Cameron didn't push him. She freely talked about some of her favorite childhood memories which were few considering she rarely had any good times with her mother. They finished the cookies and the milk eventually falling asleep; Willy laid turned against the arm of the sofa with Cameron lying back against his chest and both were sound asleep.