"So what you are telling us is that in the last couple of weeks your intimate life has been off the charts?" One of the Santiago Twins asked while the rest of the pirates just gaped in uncomfortable awe at Moose. Although the majority of them were men and some people may think that they would talk about this sort of things more often, in reality, they did not mainly because they usually were friends with the girls the others dated and thought of it as disrespecting them. That's why when Moose arrived that morning looking worried, and they asked him about what was going on he hesitate to answer knowing that it would probably make them uncomfortable.
Finally after hours of the same question being thrown his way Moose decided to tell them about his predicament and that's how after an awkward silence the Santiago Twins managed to voice their doubts, and now it was time for Moose to elaborate. "Yeah, that is pretty much it. Look I'm not going to discuss my sex life with you guys, but let's just say that it wasn't as much to tell before as it is now. The weirdest thing though is that I don't think the change has anything to do with me."
At the last part of the comment, the faces of his friends change to confuse expressions and some mumbling could be heard around the room. One of the Pits said aloud what they were all thinking "how on earth a change like this doesn't have anything to do with you?"
After taking a deep breath, Moose started to tell them about his theory. "You see a couple of weeks ago almost the exact time this has been going on I send Cam a text. I had finally realized that I was handling things horribly wrong with her" a few scuffs and several eyebrows raised at him comment make it clear that what he had said was kind of an understatement in the eyes of his friends.
"That night I was with Sophie, but my mind was going on and on about what my next step should be to let Cam know how sorry I truly was so I tried to go back to my apartment and refocused on the task at hand. However, the second she noticed that I didn't want to stay she started being more affectionate, the same thing happened that morning. Before going to the bathroom, she tried to make small talk, but I ignored her and went straight to the bathroom, suddenly she not only joined me in the shower but was in the mood to have something with me in there. Don't get me wrong I´m not complaining, but I find it weird and a little unsettling, to be honest."
He continued to tell them about several other episodes were things like that happened. "The day Cam and I finally talked about what happened, and she forgave me for example."
"Wait, wait, wait. What did you say to Cam to make her forgive you? The voice of Natalie came out of nowhere startling most of the pirates that were really focusing on the stories Moose was sharing and didn't notice her arrival but when some of them turned her way to tell her to shut up she stood her ground and made her argument to them. "What? I can't be the only one that wants to know what happened between them to make her forgive him. I already heard the Sophie parts of the story, and now I want the Cam parts?"
Most of them shrugged and nodded telling Moose to be more specific on the Cam parts of the story. He would have tried to move on, but he knew them, and he was aware that they wouldn't let him move on with the story if he didn't entertain their wishes.
Moose thought back to the night he send the text while laying next to Sophie and how his mind kept going back to the message and he started to wonder if he had actually written the right thing for Cam to forgive him. With that in mind, he reached for his phone and re-read the message again and again until words started losing their meaning. Looking at his sleeping girlfriend, he felt bad for not been thinking something that had to do with her or their relationship. Still, instead of focusing on Sophie, he stood from the bed, got dress and wrote a note telling her that he had some errands to do in the early morning forgetting completely for a second that it was Sunday.
It was 4 am on a Sunday morning; he usually would have gone to Cam's apartment and tried or more like force her to talked to him, but he didn't want to that anymore. The girl deserved to have a choice in when she was going to allow him to see her again and so against every fiber of his being he went to the vault to seek some advice from his friends on his next move. There he found Shawn sleeping on one of the sofa's which surprise him, he laid on the floor next to him and fell asleep hoping that when he wake up later, he had an answer from Cam. Later that day he had to explain to Sophie why he left and after several minutes of excuses and apologies he hung up emotionally exhausted from the conversation. He talked to Shawn about the message he had sent and his friend congratulated him for taking the first step to rebuild his relationship with Cam and also urge him to follow his plan to call Sophie on the stuff that was wrong. That night he went back to his apartment and put his alarmed earlier than usual so he could go and see Cam before her classes started at the preschool.
Even though he felt like no time had passed the moment he heard the alarmed he changed and walked out of the apartment with his mission clear, not engage Cam if he didn't get a response first. On the train, he wouldn't stop staring at his phone in hopes that the text arrived but nothing happened. He walked head down focus on his phone until he was in front of the school trying to see the girl without being seen, suddenly he felt someone touching gently on his shoulder. "Hey, what are you doing here?"
Moose was stunned by her voice; it sounded a thousand times better in front of him than it did in the back of his mind. Sure the one in his mind was usually telling him that he had failed her several times, and she was never going to forgive him, but he still enjoyed to hear it because it was hers. "I'm sorry Cam. I wanted to apologize; I did it already by text, but I was hoping that you were going to let me do it in person too. Also, I don't want to impose on you so please just tell me when you have time so we can talk."
The change in his demeanor was evident, and Cam appreciated it, she had read the text on her way to work that day several times getting it in her head that he had actually sent her an apology. Cam was not gonna lie she was surprised to receive it, and she wasn't sure how to respond to it, so her plan was to talk to Molly about it before writing anything back but seeing him standing in front of the school looking for her made her realize that the time to talk had come. "Moose is ok, the only thing I wanted you to do was apologize, and you already did that. The fact that you not only admitted that you were wrong but that you plan to change your attitude about it is more than enough."
Cam fear that he was going to try to do something more than just apologize, it was like the boy was never happy about the state of their relationship; he always wanted to have her in a constant state of infatuation with him. Cam didn't like that game, and she wasn't even sure that he was aware that his behavior suggested that he thought of it that way, but she was not going to get herself into that equation again. Moose felt out of place for the first time since he met her, Cam didn't say anything unpleasant to him, but she didn't welcome been with him like she used to do.
"Are we ok, Cam?" She didn't hesitate to tell him yes and assure him that he was doing the right thing at not been afraid to change his behavior for the best. She then excused herself because it was getting late and she needed to be in class soon, but at the insistence of Moose, they promised to each other that they could have something to eat at lunch time together. And that is how several hours later Moose and Cam found each other sitting on a bench talking about what has been going on in each other's life the last couple of weeks, laughing and joking around. It was like nothing had changed, but at the same time, every single aspect of their relationship had and that scare Moose.
Day after day he went back to have lunch with her on that bench and every day he felt a little more infatuated with her. Spending time with her listening to her stories about kids and her day to day made him feel like he was part of something greater than himself, without even saying a word they both had decided not to mention Sophie. Cam had asked about her the first couple of days but aside of "she is good." Moose wouldn't say more about the girl and focus the conversation on something to happened to Cam or him so she finally gave up asking.
However, Sophie didn't like that her boyfriend seemed to distance himself from her more and more every day, his constant texts and calls during the day asking her about her routine were now to a minimum, especially at lunch time. After a week of that, she confronted him, and he told what was happening "Look, Sophie, I'm really busy right now. I'm in my last semester. Also, I'm job hunting and trying to convince my professor that he should give me a chance after I basically threw away my internship with him. Of course, I don't have the same amount of time that I used to when I wrote to you every single moment of the day, and yes I'm also not calling you at lunch because I'm having lunch with Cam. Is nice to have some friendly chit chat with a someone that I don't usually see and that has another perspective on life."
That last part was what put Sophie on alert about what was going on with him; she pondered if maybe she should try to guilt him into spending more time with her, but she didn't want that. A girl wanted her boyfriend to be with her because he wanted too, Moose always had proof to her that he put her over any activity or person in his life and she loved it. Suddenly, that was not the case anymore, and she hated every second of it, Sophie wanted Moose to be like he always had been, a little puppy that followed her around. Deciding that the best option was to make him want to spend more time with her like he used to do Sophie decided that she would show him what he was missing out whenever they weren't together, let's see if little Cam could compete with her. After getting back with Moose she had spent some time asking him if he had ever been with Cam and to her joy he said no, she love that he never was completely over her to engage in something more with the girl that almost stole him from her. From that moment on every day in whatever opportunity she had, she would kiss him and start to undress him, sure that it was a matter of time for her old Moose to come back to her.
Moose ended his story, obviously unaware that he was right about the reason Sophie was more affectionate with him and everybody in the vault stayed quiet. Natalie congratulated him on the fact that he had decided to grow up and was quick to point out that in her opinion Sophie was using sex to try to keep him with her. Most of the pirates agree with what she said, but some also point out that if he was happy with Sophie, he should just enjoy this weird change of events and start having some quality with his girlfriend. And there lay the real problem that only Natalie and Luke had realized already; Moose wasn't as happy as he used to be with Sophie not even now that for the first time since they got together she was putting an effort on their relationship.
His alarmed beep and Moose shout a quick goodbye to his friends and run to meet Cam at their bench, yes he refer to it as their bench. By the time he arrived she was already sitting there looking at her phone and laughing, he approached her and asked her what was she laughing at when he arrived. Cam show him a couple of messages from one of her coworkers, and he noticed that the name in the chat was Eric and a pang of jealousy hit suddenly confusing him.
He tried to focus on her stories, but his mind kept going back to the chat and the name on it, Eric. Who was Eric? He was sure that Cam never mentioned him, but sometimes she would just say the teacher in the room next to her or something like that. Moose had always assumed that everyone she talked about were women but now he realized that he had been wrong in his assumptions and worried started invading him. Unexpectedly, Cam was saying goodbye to him announcing that her lunch time was over and telling him that she would see him next Monday. Moose was startled and sad by her goodbye and only managed to way at her and smile wat he hoped looked like a sincere smile.
That day when Sophie tried to kiss him, he turned his head and told her that he was feeling ill, which wasn't a lie. He went back to his house and lay on his bed hoping for Monday to come as soon as possible, he needed answers, and he needed them now.
Notes
Hey! Soooooo, what do you guys think? This chapter was so easy to write like I couldn't help myself, but now I´m exhausted, so I´m going to sleep. Please Review..thank you so much to all the people that are reading this and the ones that review. You really make my day.