Suppressed (Suppressed Saga) (13 page)

Eric was sitting in the passenger seat looking chipper. My comment did nothing but make the smile on his face grow wider. I turned to Seth with wild eyes as he dragged me away to the back of the truck.

“
Why in the hell is he coming with us? Why can’t you come?”

“
There’s some stuff I have to take care of that only I can do. Your brother asked us both to go but seeing as I have to do this we figured Eric should still go with you. It’ll be a lot safer.”

“
No it won’t, we’ll end up killing each other.” I snapped back.

He placed both his hands on my shoulders. “No you won’t. You’ll be fine, just ignore him.”

I let out a sigh as he kissed my forehead.

“
You better give me a better kiss than that, it might be the last time you see me.”

Even though my brother was probably watching I didn’t care. I snatched him to me and kissed him till my knees grew weak. Lance honked the horn and I started laughing against Seth’s mouth.

He buried his face in my neck. “I don’t want you to go now.”

“
Then don’t let me.”

“
You have to. I’ll be right here waiting for you when you get back tomorrow night.”

I kissed him one more time before walking back to the truck. Seth stood at the open door as I hopped in and he shut it behind me. “You guys have fun.”

I slid my sun glasses over my eyes and gave him a fake smile. He waved bye to Eric and Lance as we pulled out of the parking lot.

“
I’m going to need a lot of coffee to put up with you for a six hour car ride.” I said.

Eric laughed and turned to look out the window. “Aw come on Cam, we get to spend some quality time together.”

“
Yippy” I said dryly.

After I saved him last weekend I hadn’t seen him at all. I didn’t get a thank you or anything. It made me mad that he was so shallow and self centered to not even say, ‘Hey Cam, thanks for picking me up off the road and cleaning my bloody, gutted stomach.’ Nope, I got nothin. Thinking about it, I don’t even think I told him thank you for what he did when Chris attacked me. Maybe that’s why he didn’t thank me. I wasn’t going to let it bother me; he would probably do enough of that in the next forty eight hours.

Four hours into the ride I was feeling a little ill. I had a tendency to get motion sickness when it came to long car rides. Lance glanced back at me in the rear view mirror and could instantly tell what was wrong.

“
Oh no, do I need to pull over?” he said looking panicked.

I nodded without a word as he pulled the car to the side of the road. I quickly slid to the other side of the car and opened the door just in time to get sick. The passenger door opened and I saw the tip of Eric’s Timberlands underneath my door. Of all people I didn’t want him to see me getting sick.

I sat up when I thought I was done and saw Eric’s hand shove a napkin through the crack of the door. I grabbed it without a thank you and leaned my head back on the head rest.

“
You want to sit up front?” he asked.

“
No it’s fine. It’ll be better if I stay back here to lie down.” I said shutting the door.

Lance turned around in his seat, “Are we good to go or do you think we need to sit here a while?”

I lay down in the seat and rested my head on my duffle bag. “We can go. Stop by the next store you see so I can get a bottle of water.”

I went in and out of sleep till the car came to another stop. Someone tapped my leg and I sat up to get out of the car. Lance was on the phone in the driver seat, I figured with our mom to tell her we were close. Eric stood outside smoking a cigarette and I walked by like I didn’t even see him there.

I got in line after quickly snatching up a bottle of water. There were four people ahead of me in line and the cashier was taking her merry old time like it was her first day on the job. I still felt a little queasy and didn’t have the patience for this. As I looked around to pass the time I saw a guy that looked around my age watching me from behind a chip aisle. The second I looked at him he looked back down at the chips. Real subtle, I thought to myself.

A few minutes later I looked over and saw the same guy talking to an older man and I swear he nodded in my direction. I kept my gaze on them as the older man looked right at me and stared like he was burning a hole right through me. I didn’t like it. I walked out of the line and set my water on a random shelf before leaving the store. Eric was still standing outside and I made my way to him.

“
Where’s your water?” he said looking at my empty hands.

“
There were two guys staring at me in there.” I said pointing at the door.

“
Well you’re beautiful who wouldn’t stare at you.”

I was a little startled by what he just said but brushed it off and gave him a stern look. “No, I mean they were staring, staring. It was like they were watching me or something.”

“
What’d they look like?”

“
One was around my age with wavy blonde hair and the other was an older man with brown hair and big, thick, black glasses.”

Before I got a chance to say anything else he disappeared inside the store. I didn’t want to be standing here by myself so I went back to the car and got in. Lance was still on the phone; my mom was probably asking him a hundred questions about the drive. She was a worry wart.

In no time Eric hopped back in the car and I leaned up to him. “Did you see them?”

“
No and I didn’t see them walk out the front either. They must’ve left out the back. We’ll have to keep an eye out.”

I sat back in my seat a little flustered. Maybe I was just being paranoid. Eric didn’t seem too bothered by them. I was turning into a nut case who couldn’t even walk into a store without thinking someone was stalking me. The worst part was I didn’t even get my water.

“
Here,” Eric’s hand came from the front holding a bottle of water.

I looked up at him confused.

“
You didn’t get your water so I got one for you.” He shook the bottle in his hand and I grabbed it.

“
Thanks” I said in an off voice.

“
Bout time you said thanks for something.” He mumbled from the front seat.

If I didn’t really want this water I would have chunked it at the back of his head. But I did so I just ignored his comment.

The last hour was the worst. Lance tried explaining to Eric the concept of Lacrosse but he said it sounded stupid. As I figured Eric was into football, his favorite team was the Giants and the Ravens. I liked football but didn’t have a favorite team. Unfortunately, sports were the main topic of conversation for the rest of the ride. I kept quiet the whole time and laughed to myself every once in a while when they said something stupid. Finally we turned onto the road where my parents house was and I sat up between the two front seats.

I leaned up to Eric before we made it into the driveway. “Don’t mention Chris to my mom and dad, they don’t know about it.”

“
Alright, are there any other rules this weekend?”

“
Don’t be rude.” I added.

He looked at me like I had three heads. “When am I ever rude?”

“
You’re rude to me all the time.” I said pointing a finger at my chest.

“
No, you’re rude to me, I just put up with it.”

I opened my mouth to argue back but Lance cut me off.

“
Will you two give it a rest? Good lord you’re like an old married couple.”

I shut my mouth at his comment and sat back in the seat. Eric’s shoulders were jumping up and down laughter and I wanted nothing more than to reach forward and smack him.

The truck came to a stop in the driveway and I grabbed my duffle bag to get out. I glanced up at the two story Victorian house; I had just been here a little over a month ago for Christmas but it felt like longer. I was glad I didn’t live here anymore. It’s not like I had a bad child hood or anything, my life here was great, but I had completely out grown it.

We all three walked up the winding sidewalk that was lined with flowers. The glass door swung open and there stood my mom with her shoulder length wavy blond hair and her hourglass figure. An excited squeal escaped her as she hopped down the steps in a hurry and bound in Lance’s arm. You would think she hadn’t seen him in years. She put a big kiss on his cheek and then came to me with a wide smile. I hugged her just as tight as she hugged me before she turned to Eric.

“
And who’s this?” she said with a grin.

“
Eric,” he said holding out his hand. She swatted his hand away and pulled him in for a hug. Her body looked so tiny in his big arms. I laughed a little to myself; I bet Eric was dying inside at this stranger hugging him. Then again he probably liked it.

“
Are you friends with Lance or Cammy?” she said looking between all three of us. I knew what she was getting at and to me it was crazy that she would even consider it.

“
Both, but
Cammy
is dating my roommate.” He looked at me with a sly grin and I glared at him seething.

My mom looked at me almost appallingly, “You have a boyfriend? Why didn’t he come?”

“
He had to work.” Eric answered for me.

“
Well that’s too bad.”

We all headed for the house and I felt Eric bump into me. I started to walk faster just to get away from him, God he was irritating.

My dad was in the kitchen sitting at the island. He had dark brown hair that was always untidy and thin wire glasses. I went to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek to say hello.

“
Hey dad.”

“
Hey Cam, how’s school?”

“
Stressful.”

I plopped down beside him as Lance introduced him to Eric. My mom bounced around the kitchen as my dad talked to Eric about random stuff, I don’t know what exactly because I wasn’t listening. At least he was being friendly. I guess he knew how to put on a front to normal people.

“
So what are we doing for your birthday?” I asked my mom.

She leaned beside me with her elbows on the counter. “We’re going to the Lagoon for dinner.”

“
Shane isn’t coming home?” I asked.

“
No, he couldn’t get off work.” She seemed a little disappointed by this but in my opinion she shouldn’t be. Shane and I got along for the most part but he took life way too seriously. Everything was work, work, work all the time.

“
He said he would be here for Easter though. Are you all going to come home for Spring Break?”

I thought back to what Seth said; that I better enjoy being here while I was because he didn’t know if it would be safe for me to come back.

“
Maybe, I don’t see why not.” I threw a little white lie out there. You never know, I might be able to come back.

“
Good. Well we’re going to leave around seven for dinner.”

I looked back at the clock on the microwave; it was four. Reaching down beside my chair I grabbed my duffle bag to head up to my old room. My feet pounded against the oak stairs, something I didn’t miss at all. I remember trying to sneak home after curfew when I was a teenager and the squeakiness of the stairs always gave me away. Shane, Lance, and mines senior pictures were lining the wall up the stairs and I glanced at them all thinking how dorky we looked. It was weird how much people changed after only a few years.

I walked into my room that had red walls and black and white orchid blossoms painted all over. My mom loved to decorate. The whole house was filled with pictures and different kinds of art.

I threw my duffle bag in the corner and pulled out my cell phone before falling on the bed. My finger slid down to Seth’s cell phone number and I put it to my ear.

“
Hey” he answered.

“
Hey there.”

I heard him let out a little laugh, “You still alive?”

“
For now.” I breathed out heavily.