Cam's phone beep again, and the girl sighed trying to ignore it while focusing on some finger paintings from the kids she was struggling to tape to the wall for their art show. "You seemed to be a very popular girl lately Cam. Also, you don't have to ignore the text. Class ended a while ago."
Molly and Cam were spending more time together lately; last Friday Cam had finally quit her job at the coffee shop to spend more time at the pre-school and also to visit Ty after her classes ended for the holidays and before she needed to get ready for her final semester. That day Molly and some of her new friends together with Luke, Natalie, Jacob, and Kirsten were going to celebrate Cam's new official position at the pre-school, it was the end of an era for her, and she was excited to celebrate her past and her future with the people that she love and love her back.
She still remembered the first time she set foot in the coffee shop looking for a job. At that time Jacob was still a barista and he seemed a little bored with his job, probably feeling over qualified to only make the drinks. When Cam approached him to ask about the barista job he started openly flirting with her and assured her that the interview was just a formality because he was the right hand of the boss and he would make sure she was hire. Cam thought he was cute, but she wasn't sure about dating someone that work in the same place she was hoping to be working so when the time for the interview came she was ready to be straight with him. Cam hoped to get the job even if she was saying no to dating Jacob and if not well he was not worth it and neither was the job.
To her joy the moment she arrived at the interview Jacob was flirting with another girl at the counter who probably was a customer and Cam felt like a huge weight was lifted from her. At first, he didn't notice that she was there but when he finally realize Cam was waiting for her interview sitting in one of the tables he blushed. Before he could say anything to her, it was Cam´s turned to be interview, and after that there was no chance for them to say anything to each other. A couple of days later when she went back as an employee Cam saw that Jacob was cleaning the tables, she knew that their first interaction was going to be crucial for the way they would interact from that moment on. So, after taking a deep breath, she walked towards Jacob and greeted him in the most obnoxious way she could imagine. "Hello Romeo, any new conquest?"
He turned around with an expression that was a mixed between confuse and shamed, Jacob was aware that he had a reputation for being flirty with the girls that came into the coffee shop but he wasn't sure who was talking to him. When he saw Cam he felt himself go from a simple blush to bright red and that made the girl smiled, that smile however, didn't last long when suddenly another voice came from behind the brunette. "Why are you calling him Romeo?"
Behind them appeared a blonde girl with the same uniform Jacob was using and a curious expression on her face. Cam blurted out an explanation feeling ashamed that the other girl had listen to her joke but then the girl laughed out loud. Soon she introduced herself as Kirsten and from that moment on she and Cam bounded in the joy that was to make fun of Jacob. Cam's birthday came a month later, and she was touched when her new friends not only organized her a little get-together but made sure that every customer said happy birthday to her, some of them even join her friends while they sang her happy birthday at the end of the day.
Their friendship only got stronger with time and even though Cam was sure that her quitting the coffee shop wouldn't be the end of it she was sad not to share that with them anymore. The constant beeping of her phone brought her back to the present and made her aware that Molly was telling her that she should answer her phone. "Cam honestly is ok to answer your text you are helping me in an extra hour activity, the no phone rule only applies when the kids are here."
Cam was well aware of the rules, but she didn't want to look at her phone right now. After, sending Moose a text three weeks ago telling him that he should apologize to her if they were going to be friends she had been sure that he would do it. However, two weeks had passed, and no text ever came making her sad to see that the idea that Moose wanted her in his life was only true if she was in it on his terms not caring if she was ok with them.
Finally, at the beginning of the third week, she received a text from him telling her about how insane his weeks had been and asked her about hers. Cam was tempted to answer and let the conversation be the beginning of a new era for them, but if he wasn't able to apologize for a simple thing, she didn't want him in her life. Her feelings needed to be acknowledged, and this time, she was not going to be the one forcing the boy to behave like a proper human being and care for what other people feel. With her mind made up, she ignored that message and all the rest that came after that. Cam would still read every single one of them if she was honest she usually read them a couple of times, just in case he would apologize in one.
When her phone beep for the hundred time Molly had enough of it and basically force her to read the messages, Cam read each message with the hope of an apology, but once again there wasn't one. With a sigh, she turned the sound off so it wouldn't bother Molly and continue to put the paintings on the wall. Even though Molly was a great person and was always worry about her well-being, Cam didn't feel comfortable sharing some aspects of her life with Molly yet. She wanted to present herself as an adult that had her life together, and the entire situation with Moose was pretty childish, and it made Cam feel embarrass share it with Molly.
However when her phone started vibrating with more texts and she saw the worry expression on Molly's face Cam decided that it would be the less of two evils to tell her about it. By the time she finished telling her and Moose's story both of them had finished putting all the paintings on the wall and were walking to Kirsten's apartment for her party. The entire time Cam had spend her time talking she had also paid attention to the way Molly was receiving each part of her story until she finished and asked for her opinion. "Well, it sounds like this boy is in need of someone telling him how to act like an adult and his girlfriend just sounds spoiled. I would usually tell you to talked to him so you guys can solve the problem like we teach the kids back at the school but honestly, I think you are doing the right thing if he is so hell bend in talking to you he is going to have to apologize first."
Even though Cam was a very secure girl hearing Molly validate her course of action with the Moose situation make her feel a little better and confident that her judgment wasn't clouded but any remaining feelings she had for the boy. It shocked Molly to know that Moose, the boy that she had initially seen as the devoted boyfriend of Cam was, in reality, a dumb kid. After arriving at the party she decided that this was the best place to get information on Moose, she was sure Cam was telling her the truth but what she didn't understand is how a boy that used to be so into her friend had suddenly decided to get back with his ex and ignore Cam.
The party was a success everyone got along perfectly, and stories about Cam were exchanged making the girl feel equally love and embarrass at the same time which was fine by her. At the end of the night, she stayed with Kirsten deciding that as a follow-up celebration they were going to make this a weekend celebration just between the two of them. Bruce was going to be busy most of the weekend in the coffee shop making extra shift so he could go to visit his girlfriend in Seattle next month so they would pretty much have the apartment to their own.
On the other side of the city Moose had decided that the next day he was going try his luck and see if he could finally find Cam and have a talk with her. He had been sending her text for over a week now she had yet to respond to any of them and it was driving him insane to know that even though she was reading them nothing that he said in them compel her to answer them. At first he just didn't understand what was going on with her but after he mention it to Shawn he had a better idea of what was going on. "She told you that if you wanted to talk to her you needed to apologize first. I bet she is not going to answer any of your "meaningful" text until you do just that."
"That's dumb. She is just stubborn, and for that she should be apologizing to me and not the other way around." The moment those words left his mouth he knew that he was saying one of the dumbest things he had ever said in his life and that was something because let's be honest, Moose didn't have a filter.
Shawn continued to tell him that if he wanted to actually have a relationship with Cam he was going to need to get it together. "Cam has given you so many free passes, that you are just used to move along with your life and take her for granted. I'm still in awe of how you manage to get to forgive you after everything you pull out when you guys broke up. You owe her that apology or to leave her alone, I'm sure she will be fine with either of that scenarios."
Moose hated talking to Shawn in cases like this, he was always the voice of reason and never was scared to tell him what he thought. Again the only thing that came to mind was to grab his pillow and scream all his frustrations in it and boy did he scream, several minutes later he realize that there was no way around if he wanted to be friends with Cam. Sophie appeared at his door a couple of minutes later looking tired after a long day; she was doing some matinees now, and they were able to see each other more now. "You are not going to believe the day I had. I hate doing matinees the audience is not always full, and the people doesn't have the same energy."
"That's a shame babe. I told you that it was going to be different, but you said you wanted to try it out but hey look at it this way, this was a trial, and now you can go back to the night shows." Sophie groaned a little and Moose understood that it was his cue to rub her shoulders and take some of the stress from her. After all, she had cover her shows matinees to see if she would be ok to change her schedule so they could have some more time together, and well also to audition for other shows. Moose really appreciated her efforts although she always tossed, sorry, mentioned them, in any opportunity she had to other people or him when she wanted something.
They made small talked while he massaged her shoulders and praised her willingness to do things that would make their relationship going smoothly. Shawn came into the living room asking Moose if he wanted to go to the dinner down the street to eat something, Sophie answered him saying that they were going to stay. The boy looked at Moose wondering what happened to him just a few minutes early he had said that he wanted to eat the famous pot pie that they had at the dinner. "Ok, then I'm going to get going now, have a good night guys."
Sophie tried to make Shawn stayed so he could pick his brain about a possible audition she had with the people at his job, but the boy didn't want anything to do with it. If he was honest, he hoped she didn't get the job or the audition for what matters, the idea of having to work with her aside from the time they spent together due to her dating Moose was unbearable. At the beginning of their relationship, Shawn as the rest of Moose's friend thought that Sophie was the best thing that ever happened to Moose even the way they broke up made her look like the best person ever.
Now that they had been together a while everybody was starting to notice that even though she wasn't bad, Sophie was by no chance a selfless person. Everything she did had a benefit for her or at least it didn't go against her plans, like this sudden desire to have more time with Moose in the afternoon and night. Shawn knew that she was pushing for a better character, but they didn't want to give it to her, so she changed schedules to pressure the director to give it to her, and that was another reason Shawn didn't want her on his play. That night he crashed with the pirates trying to avoid Sophie as much as he could.
Back at the apartment Moose and Sophie had finished making a healthy dinner, dancers always took care of their bodies. After dinner, they watched some Netflix, but his mind kept going back to what he needed to say to Cam the next day at the coffee shop, without noticing he had completely lost track of time. He was so focused on the scenarios going through his mind that he almost yelp when Sophie was suddenly on his lap kissing him and taking his clothes off, things progress from that, but for the first time in his life, he had to focus on being in the moment.
Later that night while he lay on his bed next to her sleeping girlfriend his mind wonder back to Cam and how tomorrow was going to be a big day for her and he couldn't wait for it to happen. The next day he woke up early and move to go to the bathroom to shower and change, but his plans got interrupted when Sophie came into the shower ready for a repeat of last night. He tried to live the moment thinking back to when he would have giving everything to be with Sophie one more time, but the fact that he had to do that move him to the core.
Moose walked Sophie to her job afterward, and she made him promise that he would come back to see her on the matinee, he tried to get out of it knowing full well that if Cam gave him the chance to talk he wouldn't hesitate to stay with her but he had no excuse, and so he told Sophie that he would. Before entering the coffee shop, he took a deep breath giving himself a little pep talk but his mood would rapidly change to sour when once again Cam wasn't there.
Moose walked towards the barista, Drew, and after ordering a small coffee, he asked Cam. He knew that Drew was Kirsten's roommate, so he was well aware of the entire situation that happened between him and Cam. Usually, Moose would have left after receiving the coffee without mentioning her. However, he was tired to go back to the coffee shop and never to find her, but the answer that Drew gave him after he asked for Cam made him like someone had taken a blown to his stomach. "Cam no longer works here, she is gone, she left."
Drew ignored any attempted of Moose to continue the conversation, so he was left to wonder if she had only quit the coffee shop or if she had left the city to go with Ty. It was Saturday so going to the preschool wouldn't do anything; her apartment was next Moose rang that bell for what felt an eternity with no luck at all. Finally, a delivery guy appeared out of nowhere, and they buzz him in, Moose beg him to let him pass with him, and soon he found himself in front of her door knocking until one of her neighbors told him that she wasn't in.
Moose thanked him and sat next to her door ready to wait for her to come home, a couple of hours pass, and he kept looking side to side, and for the first time, he asked himself what exactly was he doing there. His girlfriend had already texted him asking him where he was because her play already started, if he left, then he could still make it before the second half ended, but Moose didn't want to. He was so close to finally being able to talk to Cam. Finally, his phone rang, and it was Sophie telling him off because it was the intermission and he wasn't there with her.
He apologized and gave her a lame excuse why he was so late and with a resigned posture he walked out of the building on their way to the theater. He took his phone out and started to compose a text for Cam. Andie saw the boy leave the building and sent a quick text to Cam telling her that it was safe to come home, the second he saw the boy sitting next to her friend's door she quickly sent a text telling Cam not to come home and explaining that Moose was in the building. Andie felt remorse after watching the boy sitting outside Cam's door waiting for her but her friends well being was more important to her than anything.
Cam let out a sighed while sitting on Kirsten couch looking at the text Andy; she was shocked when the girl told her that Moose was outside her door. When Cam told Kirsten the situation, the girl pointed out that it was his go move whenever he wanted to change the situation and force Cam to do it on his terms. Kristen's words kept repeating in her mind while they watched a movie and ate together. A couple of hours later the new message of Andy came informing her that the boy was gone and Cam wonder if he had given up on them.
When night came she went back to her house ready to move on; she had purposely let her phone die not wanting to have to check her texts and be disappointed again about Moose not sending her any. She cleaned a little around her apartment getting rid of some things that she kept ignoring, she made some popcorn and decided to watch a movie on her computer until she fell asleep.
On the other hand, Moose laid on his girlfriend's bed wondering if Cam had decided that he had apologized too late and that is why she had ignored his texts. Without realizing what he was doing, he took a pillow and screamed into it waking up Sophie and scaring her. "What's wrong with you? You've been distant since you picked me up from the theater and now you are screaming into a pillow?!"
"I'm under a lot of stress, I'm sorry." The girl told him to please refrain to scream into any other thing or in general because he was freaking her out, and while making little circles on his chest Sophie offered a way to help him release some of his stress. Moose thanked her but said that it was best if he went back to his house so she could rest. Sophie didn't like that he wasn't accepting her suggestion especially if it involved been with her, so she went on and started touching him and kissing him until he gave up the idea of going to his house.
Later that night when she was asleep Moose's mind went back to Cam and how he was going to handle his apology in a way that meant that they would be part of each other's life.
Notes
Hi! Sorry for the delay but my computer day on me, but finally is fix again so here we go with this two. So what do you think? Thanks for reading and if you could spare some time please review.