When I reach her porch, I knock the snow off my shoes and let myself in without bothering to ring the bell. Rose lives alone, so she didn't have any roommates to approve it with when she finally gave me a key.
I lock the door behind myself and strip off my layers in the hallway, hanging them up before making my way through the house and calling Rose's name to let her know I'm here. She appears a second later from the kitchen, cradling her fat cat Choi-Choi in her arms.
"Hi, babe!" she cheers. "You surprised me. I thought I'd get a text before you were on your way!"
"Sorry," I say hazily. "I got distracted."
Choi-Choi starts to squirm so she lets him drop to the floor. "You okay?" Rose asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I shrug. "Cameron and I...I don't know. I got pissed at him, so now he's pissed at me."
Rose nods for me to follow her. We walk into the living room and sit on the sofa.
"Want anything to eat or drink?" she offers.
"Uh, yeah, that might be a good idea."
"What do you feel like?"
"Whatever you have."
"All right," she says, heading into the kitchen. She's gone for a few minutes, but when she returns she has a tall glass of water and a bagel with cream cheese.
"Thanks," I say, taking it from her.
"So, want to tell me what happened?" she asks, sitting down next to me.
I take a long sip of water. "We were both pretty drunk…" I confess. "He said some messed up shit about Rudolf. So, we argued about that. It's like we kept arguing about everything. I tried to say the right things, but it's like he wouldn't let me."
Cameron holds onto shit. I think he interprets everything as a personal attack and then internalizes it. I still feel bad about starting shit with him over Rudolf, but the drunk driving was seriously the last straw.
"Aw yeah," Rose sympathizes. "You know how he can be."
Exactly. I know how he can be, so I ought to have known better than to stir shit up. I get that I bitch and moan a lot, but I sincerely don't want him to stop inviting me out. That's like the only socialization I get outside of him and Rose and it's enough to make me feel like I actually did something with my weekend without having to expend too much energy.
"Try not to worry," she reassures me. "He'll cool off."
I'm worried though. Ugh. I feel terrible. Why do I always do this?
"I hope so," I murmur.
"How did you guys get home?" she asks.
For a moment, I hesitate. Do I want to tell her? Do I want to open this can of worms?
"Cameron drove," I admit, not wanting to lie.
Rose's facial expression immediately changes.
"But you said he was drunk."
"He was…"
"What the hell, Avery?" she asks sharply. "What were you two thinking?"
"We weren't!" I exclaim. "I didn't even realize he was trashed until he started joking about it. I told him to pull over, but he wouldn't until I pissed him off and then he kicked me out of the car!"
Rose rubs her temple. "Shit… I should call him… make sure he made it home alive."
"Go for it," I mutter. I'm too mad to even care right now.
She gives me a little nod and then pulls her phone out of her pocket, dialing Cameron's number and setting it on the coffee table. She turns on the speakerphone and then brings a finger to her lips, telling me to stay quiet.
The phone rings through but there's no answer. It stresses me out. I can feel myself starting to sweat. I should have tried to get him to stay over. Rose doesn't look fazed though. She just ends the call and tries again. This time, he picks up. Thank God.
"Hello?" comes his voice.
"Cameron!" Rose snaps. "Are you home?"
"Yeah, jeez, I just got here. Why? Avery rat on me or something?"
That makes me feel guilty as hell. I wasn't trying to be a rat. Ugh. He's fine. He's safe. I should have kept this all to myself. I'm seriously the worst.
"Oh, shove it," Rose grumbles. "You should NOT be driving drunk, Cameron, what the hell were you thinking? You should know better than that. Avery didn't even know!"
I wonder if Rose will be able to stay calm. I don't think I've witnessed her have a fight with Cameron. She doesn't really fight with anyone. At least not full-blown fights. Just little arguments or disagreements here and there and most of them are with me.
"Guess I'm good at hiding it, unlike her," he replies with a laugh.
I want to roll my eyes at that.
"It's not funny," Rose says sternly.
That seems to shut Cameron up.
"If you had gotten pulled over you would have literally gone to jail," she continues. "They would have taken away your license and you'd have a DUI on your record. I know you think you're invincible because your dad's a lawyer but I can promise you that if you had killed someone you would not be getting off the hook."
There's silence on the other line and I feel my jaw physically drop. Rose must see my expression change because she gives me a funny look out of the corner of her eye.
"Fuck, okay…sorry," I finally hear Cameron say. He sounds legitimately shaken.
"I'm not messing around," Rose's mouth tightens. "That was really reckless. You could have hurt yourself or Avery or literally anyone else on the road. You could have even just screwed your car up."
I can't believe he just apologized to her. Have I ever heard him say he was sorry before? I don't think I have. It sounds so foreign to my ears I almost don't know what to think.
"You're right…I'm sorry."
There it is again! What the fuck!?
"You should apologize to Avery, too," Rose says pointedly. "She's the one who was in the car with you."
"Okay," Cameron agrees.
"I'm really disappointed in you," Rose continues giving him a mouthful. "What the hell's wrong with you?"
She sounds like a mother scolding her child.
"I don't know, Rose, sorry."
Cameron must not know I'm listening. He'd try to act a little tougher if he did.
When Rose is finally finished, she tells him goodnight and that he better never try something like this again. He agrees awkwardly and then says he'll see her later.
"Rose, holy shit," I say as she hangs up and slides her phone back in her pocket.
"What?" she looks surprised. "He needed to hear that. I didn't think I was being too harsh."
"No, just, I mean," I trip over my words. "I don't think I've ever heard Cameron let someone talk to him like that. Usually, he'd flip out."
"Oh, well," she shrugs. "I've known him for a really long time. It's hard to get too mad at someone you've known since you were 14."
"I guess so," I murmur.
Maybe it's because she's older, too, and wouldn't take any of Cameron's shit. I'm still surprised he said he would apologize to me though. I'm pretty ready for that.
"Are you okay?" Rose asks.
"I guess," I say once again. "That was just so fucked up. Cameron's a moron."
"He can be," Rose agrees with a sigh. "I didn't think he would do something like this, though… If he pulls another stupid stunt I should honestly call his parents."
"Oh geez, don't do that," I try to reason with her, imagining how my dad would react if I were in the same boat. "Cameron will literally kill me."
"Why? It's his own fault for making stupid choices."
She pauses and then adds, "As I said, he should know better."
"He should, but I don't know," I mumble. "His mom would probably march over to the DMV herself and personally get his license revoked."
"Or stop paying for his car," she rolls her eyes. "It probably wouldn't hurt for him to have to deal with some consequences for once."
"He'd lose his mind," I say with a laugh.
"Do you know how many years it took for him to get her off his back?" Rose gives me a cheeky grin. "He played 'good little boy' for literally so long. You should have seen it. It was crazy to watch."
"Oh, I've seen it," I assure her. "His parents come to all his art shows."
"It was different," Rose insists. "He has the whole charade down to a T. Now he has more freedom because his parents can't watch everything he's doing, but the hoops he used to jump through to make them believe he was obeying their every whim was nuts."
"I can't even imagine that," I admit. I wish I could have seen it. It sounds fucking hilarious. I also feel like if I had known him at that point, then he might act a little differently around me now.
I keep eating my bagel and sipping on the water Rose gave me. It feels good to have something more than liquor in my system, but I'm starting to get tired. I want to keep listening to her talk because it's funny to hear this shit about Cameron, but I'm about to pass out.
"Wanna go up to your room?" I ask her.
"Sure," she says, taking my plate and setting it in the kitchen sink.
With that, we head to bed. I take the water with me so I can drink it throughout the night. I stifle a yawn with the back of my hand. Fuck, I can't wait to go to sleep.
Rose looks at me and smiles slightly. "Tired?"
"Big time."
"Let's crash then. You don't have anything to do tomorrow, do you?"
"Nadda," I shake my head.
"Good!" Rose exclaims, grabbing my hands and falling into bed, pulling me down with her. "Let's get breakfast then!"
I slide one of my calves between her legs and cuddle up. "Do we have to wake up early?" I ask in a whining tone.
"Yep!" she nods vigorously and I let out a groan. "So we'd better get to bed!"
"Fine," I struggle out of her grip and unbutton my pants, shimmying out of them without bothering to stand up.
I take off my sweater, tossing it to the floor along with my pants so I'm left in a t-shirt and boxers. I rest my head against the pillow, trying to get comfortable as Rose pulls the blankets up over our bodies. She inches closer and kisses the side of my face.
"Goodnight," she says in a quiet tone.
"G'night," I mumble back groggily, closing my eyes.