Cameron
We stepped off the plane and I grabbed her hand. Once we were in the airport, she looked around as if she was in a foreign country; unsure and skeptical.
“Welcome to North Carolina, Sierra.”
“It looks nice.” She smiled.
“It’s the airport.” I laughed.
She sighed because she knew she wasn’t fooling me. She was out of her comfort zone and out of her own world. But I had hoped to change all that for her during our trip.
“How far is it to your house?”
“About a two-hour drive. I rented a car. We need to go and pick it up.”
“A limo?” She smiled.
“No, babe. A regular car.”
“Did you just call me ‘babe’?”
“Yeah, I did. Sorry about that. It just kind of slipped out.”
She arched her eyebrow at me, but I didn’t care. I could tell she secretly liked it. We stepped up to the desk of the Enterprise Rent-A-Car and I handed the clerk my driver’s license. She keyed in all the necessary information and handed it back to me along with the keys to a Toyota Prius. I opened the door for Sierra, and she looked at me.
“Really? It’s so small.” She hesitated.
“I guess it’s all they had. Get in and put on your seatbelt. You’re going to fall in love with the scenery. It’s a beautiful drive. There’s no smog or tall buildings.”
“I like the smog and tall buildings.”
I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, you’ll like this scenery too. It’s very peaceful. It’s not a chaotic mess like Los Angeles is.”
“I like the chaotic mess.” She smiled.
“Okay. I’m done trying to convince you. You’ll just have to make your own judgments.”
She rubbed her thumb across my cheek. “You’re so cute when you’re irritated.”
We finally reached my parents’ house and, when we pulled up the graveled driveway, Sierra squinted her eyes and leaned closer to the windshield.
“Your house is a log cabin?” she asked.
I chuckled. “It’s a house made out of logs. It’s not a cabin. Pretty cool, huh?”
“Sure,” she said hesitantly.
I could already tell this may not have been such a good idea.
****
Sierra
The house was cute from the outside. I’d never actually seen a house made out of logs. It looked quite cozy. As I was taking in the surrounding area, a man and woman, who I presumed were Cameron’s dad and mom, came from the house.
“Cameron.” She smiled with her arms out.
“Hi, Mom.” He hugged her tight.
“How’s it going, son?”
“Hi, Dad.” They lightly hugged.
“Mom, Dad, I would like you to meet my friend, Sierra Adams.”
“Hello.” I smiled as I stuck out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too. Please call us Jerry and Luanne.”
Good boy, introducing me as his friend. I stood there with a smile plastered on my face, waiting for the obvious question of the day. One. Two and three. Go.
“So, how did you two meet again?” Luanne asked.
And there it was.
“We met at Starbucks and now I’m doing work for her on her house,” Cameron said.
His dad took my suitcases and Cameron took his.
“So, you work at Starbucks making the coffee drinks that everyone seems to be obsessed over?” Luanne asked.
Really? Did I look like a barista chick?
“Yes. She’s the barista at Starbucks and she can make one hell of a cup of coffee.” Cameron smiled.
“So, are the two of you having sex?” Jerry blurted out as we entered the house.
I gasped. “Ah, no, Dad. We’re just friends. When I told her I was coming here for my birthday, she asked if she could come because she’d never been to North Carolina. Sierra’s birthday is tomorrow too.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jerry said. “Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
I narrowed my eyebrows and then looked at Cameron. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.” I looked to the right, behind me, and then to the left. I leaned in closer to his parents and softly spoke.
“I’m a lesbian.”
Jerry’s and Luanne’s eyes widened. “But you’re too hot to be a lesbian,” Jerry said as he looked me up and down.
Cameron put his hand on the small of my back and squeezed a little too tight. I took in a deep breath and tried to wiggle my way away from him.
“Come on, Sierra. I’ll show you to your room.”
“Aren’t we sharing a room?” I whispered as we walked up the stairs.
“No. My mom has a strict rule. If you’re not married, then you aren’t allowed to share a room. But now that you told them you are a lesbian, I’m sure they won’t care!”
“That’s a dumb rule. How are we supposed to have sex?”
He laughed. “You’ll be sharing a room with Jolene and we’ll have to sneak around.”
“You started it,” I said as we stepped into Jolene’s room.
He set my bags on the bed across from Jolene’s. “I started it? You started it when you told your mother that I was the escort you hired!”
Okay, so I started it. Whatever. He didn’t have to go and tell them that I was a barista.
“Okay, fine. But a barista, Cameron?”
He laughed, and as he stepped closer to wrap his arms around me, his sister walked through the door.
“Cam, you’re here!” Jolene said as she ran in and hugged him.
“Hey, sis. I want you to meet Sierra.”
“Hi,” she said with a big smile. “I’m happy to share my room with you.”
She was cute girl with her brown side braid and green eyes. “Nice to meet you.”
Luanne called up the stairs for us to come down because the rest of the family had arrived, except Kelly, and dinner was almost ready. I followed behind Cameron and Jolene and met the rest of the family. Austin, the eighteen-year-old, looked just like Cameron. The only difference was he wasn’t as tall.
I took my seat at the table next to Cameron. Luanne had made a nice dinner that consisted of a rather large pot roast, mashed potatoes with gravy, creamed corn, a tossed salad, and biscuits. The feeling of awkwardness settled in as the whole Cole family took turns staring at me. Cameron poured me a glass of wine and smiled as he sat down. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Sorry, there’s no tequila.”
“This is fine. Thank you.”
Mark, Cameron’s bartender brother, kept looking at me in a way that told me he may have liked me. “So, are you and Cam shacking up?”
“I didn’t think anyone said that anymore. It must be a southern thing.” I smiled.
“No, Mark, they aren’t shacking up. Sierra is a lesbian.”
Mark was in the middle of taking a drink of water and he inadvertently spit it out.
“Are you serious? You’re really a lesbian?” he asked.
I slowly nodded my head as I tore into a biscuit. “Yep. One hundred percent pure lesbian.”
Cameron wrapped his foot around my ankle and lightly tapped it. I looked at him and smiled.
The whole family took turns talking about their jobs and lives and, as I sat there and listened to them talk, I sort of wished I had grown up in a family like this. Once dinner was finished and I helped clear the table, Cameron took me down by the lake.
“I don’t think your mom likes me.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Have you seen the way she keeps looking at me? She must hate lesbians.” I smiled as I nudged him.
“She’s staring at you because you’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever brought home.”
“And the only lesbian you ever brought home.”
“Will you knock it off with the lesbian shit?” He smiled as he brought his hand up to my cheek. “So, what do you think of it out here?”
“It’s nice,” I replied as I smacked my arm to kill the mosquito that had landed on it.
“Nice? Is that all you can say?”
“I told you that I’m a big city girl. The country life doesn’t really do it for me.”
I could see the look of disappointment cross his face as he stared straight ahead at the lake. I took hold of his hand and gently squeezed it.
“Thank you for saying that I’m beautiful.”
“You’re welcome and don’t ever let anyone tell you different.”
My heart was pounding and my palm was starting to sweat. Shit. My whole body was sweating in this swamp-like heat.
“So you’re okay with our relationship as is? Just friends with benefits?”
He looked over at me with the corners of his mouth slightly curved up. “Yeah. I’m okay with it.”
“Why? Why would you be?”
There was a moment of silence between us before he turned his head and looked in the other direction.
“Because if being friends means that I get to spend any time with you at all, then I’m okay with that. I like spending time with you and I like doing things with you. Like when we went shopping for bathroom fixtures and dance shoes. I don’t want to do anything to compromise that. So, yeah, I’m okay with it.”
That had to be the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. Why the hell did my heart have to hurt so bad thinking about relationships and being with someone? Cameron was a sweet guy. The sweetest and nicest guy I’d ever met and he deserved so much more than me.
“My dad is taking all of us out tomorrow night for dinner and then Mark wants us to come to the bar after. So, what would you like to do tomorrow during the day?”
I could have thought of a million things to do. Shop on Rodeo Drive, get a facial and massage at the spa. Maybe fly to New York for a Broadway play or even spend the day on a yacht, soaking up the sun and drinking lots of tequila.
“Oh, I don’t know. You pick. It’s your birthday too.”
“I would love to go out on the boat.” He smiled.
Now he was talking! “I would love to go out on the boat.”
“Great. Then we’ll spend the day on the boat and then go to dinner and the bar at night.”
“Damn it!” I yelled as I smacked the side of my leg. “These bugs are driving me crazy. Can we go inside?”
Cameron put his arm around me and kissed the side of my head. I ducked out from under his arm and waved my finger at him.
“No. No. I’m a lesbian, remember?” I laughed as I ran ahead of him.
“A damn hot and sexy one,” he said as he grabbed me, picked me up, and carried me around to the side of the house. He took my face in his hands and pressed his lips against mine. His tongue slid through my parted lips and met with mine.
We heard footsteps and he immediately broke our kiss. “And this over here is where—Hey, Mark,” Cameron said with a small wave.
“Hey. Mom wanted me to come find you. It’s time to start game night.”
Game night? Was he serious?
“Okay, we’ll be there in a sec.”
“Games?” I said.
“Yeah. Whenever the whole family is together, we have game night.”
“What kind of games do you play?”
“You’ll see.” He smiled as I followed him into the house.
When we walked through the door, there were two games set up. One game was Monopoly and the other was the game of LIFE.
“Everyone take a seat at a game board,” Luanne said.
“Which game do you want to play first?” Cameron asked.
I seriously couldn’t believe that I was going to sit here and play a board game with this family. “Since I’m already playing the game of life, I guess I’ll play Monopoly.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. I always win.” He smiled.
Since there was an odd number of us, Cameron, Jolene, Mark, Austin, and I sat down at the Monopoly table. The rest of the family sat at the game of LIFE.
“You need to watch out for Cam. He likes to cheat.” Austin smiled.
Cameron looked at me with those piercing green eyes and smiled. “I do not cheat. I’m just good at this game.”
“We’ll see.” I smiled back.