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Like A Knife Part 20


*Cammy’s POV*

I slowly became conscious again, realizing that I had drifted to sleep next to Pete in the sunny weather. I looked over at him, his eyes just beginning to open as well.

“Cammy!” I heard someone’s voice say that wasn’t Pete’s. “Pete! You finally woke up!” Brendon exclaimed, running over to us.

“Uh, yeah…Might I ask what you’re doing here, Brennybear?” Pete asked curiously, stretching his stiff arms out.

“You scared the Hell out of us, guys!” Brendon replied, a mix of fear and anger in his eyes.

“Us?” I wondered, as he was the only one standing in front of us.

“Oh, yeah, Ry went walking off. He muttered something under his breath about memories and just left me to watch you guys until you woke up,” Brendon explained to us.

“Memories? Oh…Where did he go?” I asked, understanding why he had been so irritated after seeing me and Pete alone in the meadow.

“Back to my car,” He informed me. “We parked near you guys.”

“I’ll be right back,” I said quickly, rising to my feet. I hurried to the cars, but upon seeing Ryan sitting in Brendon’s, I stopped myself and hid behind a tree.

He sat in the passenger seat, his eyes red and stinging. I knew why; he had been crying. He put his head in his hands and sighed for a long moment; I felt horrible. I had never been alone with anyone else in that meadow except him, and he must have felt betrayed. We only ever went there in either groups or just me and him, and I had changed that. If I were him, I’d be hurt, too.

I approached the car and swiftly opened the door. He looked up at me, startled and troubled, his eyes still light red. I tried to smile, to get him to follow suit, but in return I got nothing except a frown.

“Ry…?” I asked, pulling him out of the car onto the side of the road. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Fine,” He replied hastily, obviously still a bit angry.

“Is it because Pete and I came here? I didn’t mean to make you upset,” I assured him. Clearly, I would never want to make him upset.

“No. I told you; everything’s fine. I’m glad you had a good time with Pete,” He said, managing a smile. I could never be sure if it was fake or not. “Now let’s get Pete and Bren. Everyone’s waiting at my house to play football,” He told me.

“Football?” I wondered, puzzled.

“Another one of Bren’s random impulses,” He replied, laughing a little bit.

“FOOTBALL!” I heard him yell, running through twigs and decaying leaves.

“Speak of the devil,” I said to Ry, just as he emerged from the trees with Pete behind him. “Let’s go play some football.”

We got into the cars and headed back to Ryan’s house, mostly silent on the way back. Pete and I were in his car, just watching the scenery fly by as we passed the high school, our reminiscences lingering fresh in our minds.

We pulled into the driveway packed with cars, ten to be exact. Patrick, Joe, Andy, Spencer, Jon, Moony, Addi, Brendon, Pete…I recounted them to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. And then it hit me.

Keltie stood on the front lawn, waving eagerly to her Ryan. The rest of the group was sitting around on the front porch, sipping sodas and in shorts and tee shirts. Keltie was sporting cutesy sweatpants with ‘love’ written on the back, and a large tee shirt that appeared to be his. I sighed and got out of the car.

“Ryro!” She squealed happily, running up to hug him as he walked over to the lawn. She kissed him passionately on the lips, clearly happier than ever.

“Hey, Kel…” He said, not as ambitiously as she did, but still happily nonetheless.

I just kept walking past them to everybody else without breaking down into tears. I longed to be in his arms, but I wouldn’t let her see that. Her smile was a knife, sharp and intended for piercing.

“Hey, Cams!” Patrick said, rising from his seat on the porch and smiling.

“Hey, Patrick. Sorry I didn’t get to see you yesterday like I said I would. Things got busy for me all the sudden. It was weird,” I admitted honestly.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind…There’s always later. And I’m seeing you now, so I’m happy,” He told me.

“Are we going to play football or just sit around and kiss all day?” Jon wondered, implying for Ryan and Keltie to stop. They all knew how much I hated it. I watched Spencer walk up to Brendon and whisper in his ear.

“Why did you invite her?” He asked him angrily.

“She is Ry’s girlfriend, you know,” Brendon pointed out. “We can’t just leave her out of everything. That’s mean.”

“Well, it was mean to invite her. What about Cammy?” Spencer reminded him.

Brendon whispered something even quieter that I couldn’t quite understand. Spencer nodded his head and went into Ry’s garage to find the football.

“All right. Let’s make teams,” Joe said over the talking. “Captains? Anybody want to be a captain?”

“I do!” Pete and Ryan both said at the same time.

“Then it’s settled. Pete, Ry, you’re captains,” Joe said.

“I want Cammy,” They both started out.

“That’s not fair!” Ryan objected. “Who chooses first?”

“I’m thinking of a number between one and ten,” Andy compromised.

“Five,” Ryan said first.

“Seven,” Pete said simultaneously.

This was the least fair for me. They both wanted me, and only one could have me on their team.