Ghouls

It took Cam an extra 10 minutes to arrive. The whole time I could feel someone’s eyes firmly locked on me. Eventually, the smile on my face faded as I started to panic; paranoid that someone was watching me. I looked over to where the guys were earlier and they were still stood there, I noticed Zacky watch me walk away but as soon as I sat back down, he turned to Matt and they started joking. There was a small part of me that was petrified they were laughing at me but judging by the way Zack was acting, I doubt they were laughing at me, then again, could it have all been a hoax? A way for them all just to take the piss out of me? I started to heat up as tears began to for in my eyes just as I was saved by the grace of Cameron actually turning up.

“Hey,” he walked over to the table I was sat at, beaming.

“Where the fuck have you been? You said 10 minutes for fuck sake!” I cursed, getting angry at him for taking so long to get here.

“Whoa, Lau, I’m sorry; I just got a bit held up with Jade.. you okay?” He asked, obviously concerned.

“Yeah, I was just getting worried, that’s all...” I lied; I wasn’t ready to tell him everything yet.

“Well, will some ice-cream with a side order of good news cure your pissy pants or am I going to have to remind you exactly who I work for?” Cam said, winking at me, trying to cheer me up.

I let out a weak smile, “strawberry please,” I asked, looking up to him.

“Okay, any sauce or?”

“Strawberry sauce...oh, and sprinkles!” I called as he walked to the counter.

Whilst sat waiting at the table looking down at my phone, something caught my attention; someone whistled, making me lift my head to see Zacky and Matt walking by, Zacky giving me ye olde ‘call me’ sign. It made me smile and blush as I looked back down at my phone only to begin to wonder where Syn had gotten to, dare I look back to where they were? My human inquisition got the better of me as I slowly turned my head to my right to look for him and sure enough, he was still there. Looking right at me, Pinkly leaping around at his feet. The weirdest thing was, he noticed me watching him yet he didn’t stop... now, this guy may be hot as fuck but he’s a freaking creep, gosh.

I was brought back from his gaze by Cam coming back with our sundaes, placing my tall, pink, strawberry sundae in front of me along with a spoon and placed his own toffee sundae (with chocolate sauce) before himself.

“Oooooh, that looks good!” I swiftly grabbed my spoon and dunked it into Cam’s sundae, making him scream; none of us were the sharing type but we were all the sneaky, ‘dip the spoon in quick while they’re off guard’ kinds of people.

“That’s not fair!” He squealed, trying to stand up quick enough to try and get some of mine but I was quicker than that; I knew he’d try to get some so I’d already picked up my glass and was starting to run before he’d even picked his spoon up.

We both started laughing as I made my way back to the table, still a little conscious that Brian was still leant against the wall and watching me but, when I discreetly looked in that direction, he’d disappeared. Where the fuck did he go? Oddly, this made me feel more uncomfortable; I suddenly had no small amount of control; I didn’t know where he was; I didn’t know if he could still see me. But then again, why did I care?! He was a creep, I should’ve been glad he wasn’t watching me anymore!... but I wasn’t. I was ridiculously self-conscious and... needed to know where he was.

“Oi, you alright?” Cam asked, he obviously noticed I’d zoned out.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine! Just blanked out for a sec,” I smiled at him, almost embarrassed that had to happen. “So, what’s this big news you so desperately needed to tell me that somehow turned you from Mr. Misery to Mr. Cheery.?”

“Well, firstly, I got another call from the vet and they said little Maxi’s making an ace recovery right now and should be able to come home in the next few days –“

“Awww, yay! I can’t wait to meet her! I haven’t met her yet,” I squeaked, excited that Maxi could come home soon; with any luck, Cam and Jade will cheer up.

“Yep, and, on top of that, a certain Matt and Jason Berry have invited us over for a barbeque this weekend!” He had a huge smile on his face; before I knew he was working for A7X, he’d told me he’d made really good friends with the roadies he’d been working with, who I now understand, are the Berry’s.

“Oh, yeah! Sounds great!” I shuddered a little, luckily not enough for him to notice, at the thought of having to see the guys again. Well, not the guys but seeing Brian.. but at least then I wouldn’t be worried that I didn’t know where he was.

“Yep, you know who’s going to be there?” Cam bit his lip, attempting to hold back the grin.

“Well, the band?!” I squealed, faking my excitement, somewhat.

“Yep! I tell you, Lauren, you’re going to love them!” He smiled, looking back down at his sundae that had almost gone.

"Well, I can’t wait,” I smiled back at him, watching him as he smiled as he finished his ice-cream; this was the brother I loved; the miserable one broke my heart; Cam was like my other half, my twin and after 4 years of being apart and seeing him like that was almost breaking me down but now, I was so SO glad he was happy; this was the Cam I knew and loved.

“Welp, I’m spent. You ready to head back? It’s getting kinda late and I believe Jade is cooking some tea for tonight!” He stood up and stretched, making Hudson stand up from his spot from under the table, as he grabbed his keys and took our glasses back to the hut.

“Do you seriously always think about your stomach?” I asked him when he got back.

“Yes.”

“Well okay then.”

Laughing, we walked back to his SUV and got in. The ride home was fairly quiet; the faint hum of the engine along with the whisper of the radio playing was all we heard. When we got in, Cam went to help Jade with dinner while I unpacked, sorted Hudson’s things out, washed Hudson, fed Hudson then went for a shower before tea.

Tea was then quiet also, we simply spoke about each other’s days (me casually skipping the parts where I almost hurled, met half of Avenged Sevenfold and ended up in tears I was panicking so much) and how excited we were for Maxi coming home for her and Hudson to meet; we kept coming back to the dramatic size difference; a 4 and a half ft Great Dane in comparison to a Jack Russell Terrier that barely stood 30cm from the ground, was something we were dying to see.

After Jade’s delicious lasagne, we had desert, which was in the form of potted yoghurt simply because Cameron had apparently refused to go shopping earlier in the week, which I didn’t mind; I liked yoghurt, so. After that, I was exhausted and decided I’d go to bed; I said goodnight to Cam and Jade, who stayed watching the TV, then bedded Hudson down; I’d put his bed in the corner of the room next to the window, behind the sofas but opposite the telly. He moaned and wept as I left, I assume because he was somewhere unfamiliar and I wasn’t going to be able to stay with him and I wasn’t in a position to ask Cam or Jade whether he could sleep on the bed with me.

Once I was finally in bed, after pulling myself away from Hudson, washing my face, brushing my hair and teeth and gotten changed, I was truly exhausted; I still had a bit of jetlag and today was tiring as it is. Despite this, I pulled out my phone and began looking through all the old pictures of me and my friends. In spite, I deleted them all. Tears were flowing like a stream down my face once I’d done and my door opened. I expected to see Cam, possibly overhearing my sobs, but it wasn’t; it was Hud.

“Hud, you’re not supposed to be up here,” I grounded, my voice slightly breaking from the tears.

He jumped up onto the bed, “nooo, Hud, baby, you can’t be up here,” I tried to push him off the bed but he wouldn’t budge; we was way too big. (That and all he wanted to do was cuddle so he kept nudging back into me.)

“Fine, be like that,” I put my phone away, cuddling up to the only true friend I would have left now, letting my tears soak into his back, knowing that whatever happened, he’d never leave.

Notes