Chapter 11

The rest of the week passed too fast, and Cameron found herself missing Taylor the second she went back on tour. Drew eventually came back around and they tearfully talked things out at the park, where they hugged and agreed to remain friends. It seems like he has a new admirer anyways, and Cameron never failed to tease him about it. But once Drew learned about Cameron’s feelings for Taylor, he joined Abigail in the teasing and Cameron found herself avoiding both of her friends in order to not think about what those feelings meant.

Her relationship with Taylor didn’t change much, they still called every Friday and when Taylor returned for prom and graduation, Cameron tagged along with Scott and Austin to pick up Taylor and Mama Swift.

“You know, it’s almost offensive that Taylor ran to you first,” Scott called from the driver’s seat later in the car as they started the drive home. Cameron blushed, and Taylor hid her face in Cameron’s face from the middle seat.

“It’s not my fault that Cameron was the only person not being embarrassing,” Taylor muttered from Cameron’s flannel. The brunette ran her hand through Taylor’s hand, who sighed in content.

“I was not being embarrassing,” Scott protested, and Andrea gave him a look from the passenger seat. Scott rolled his eyes. “My sign was not embarrassing, and I was simply cheering on my country singer daughter. There is nothing embarrassing about that.”

“It was pretty embarrassing, dad,” Austin called up from behind his dad, and Scott rolled his eyes and muttered about children being ungrateful. Austin laughed and turned to look at his sister and Cameron cuddled up together. He gave Cameron a badly done wink, which Cameron chose to ignore and stare out the window instead. There was no way Austin knew of her feelings too.

The rest of the car ride was filled with Mama Swift blasting Taylor’s song through the radio, and Taylor refusing to look up from Cameron’s flannel until they’re back home.

“Have you two girls got a prom dress yet?” Mama Swift asked as Cameron pulled Taylor into the house by the hand.

“I’ve got a blue one!” Cameron grinned, ignoring how cute Taylor looked as she wiped her eyes groggily.

“Any dates, Cameron?” Mama Swift raised an eyebrow and Cameron blushed. “What happened with that Drew boy? He was super nice.”

“We just weren’t meant to be, Mama Swift,” Cameron shrugged nonchalantly. “Plus I heard he got a new girl, Alice. She’s super nice, and I think she deserve him more than me at least.”

Cameron trailed off in the end, and Mama Swift gave her a soft look. “You’ll find someone one day, and the two of you will live happily ever after and ride into the sunset.”

“I think that’s a little unrealistic, Mom,” Taylor rolled her eyes and pulled Cameron along. “Me and Cameron will be in my room if you need me.”

“Don’t do anything I won’t do!” Austin called out and Taylor rolled her eyes again, flipping him off when neither of her parents were looking. Cameron made a ‘cut it off’ motion with her hand before letting Taylor drag her upstairs.

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

Abigail stood in front of Cameron’s mirror, holding a curling iron to her hair and making a face every time Cameron pushed her to get a better view of her own braid. “Watch it Elsher, or else I’m going to burn your hair off.”

“It’s not my fault that you’re taking up so much space,” Cameron protested, making a face and a groan as she tried to redo her hair again.

“Are you calling me fat?” Abigail raised an eyebrow challengingly.

“Shut up, Anderson, that’s not what I mean and you know it,” Cameron rolled her eyes, starting to braid down her hair again. Abigail got closer to Cameron again. “Stop invading my space.”

“Excuse me, this is my mirror,” Abigail rolled her eyes. “You should’ve done your hair at home if you wanted the whole mirror to yourself.”

“Well-”

“Are you two done?” Taylor called from the bed, where she looked perfectly ready. There was a book resting between her thighs and both Cameron and Abigail turned back to the blonde. “What? I’ve been ready for hours. If you two stop fighting for a damn minute we could’ve left hours ago.”

Cameron gasped in offense. “We were not fighting! It’s just my way to show love.”

“Okay,” Taylor looked back down at her book and Abigail nudged Cameron’s side with a wink. She shoved her again.

“Hey Tay, can you do my hair?” Cameron looked back at the blonde. Taylor dropped her book and jumped off the bed.

“I was waiting for you to ask,” Taylor grinned cheekily and stood behind Cameron, pulling her hair into the braid piece by piece. Cameron ignored the blush that began to color her cheek and sent Abigail a death glare. Taylor continued to work, none the wiser. Cameron held still as Abigail finished up her hair besides her.

The sudden arm thrown around her made Cameron freeze up as her best friend’s face was suddenly pressed up beside her. “How does this look?”

“Good, really look,” Cameron breathed out. Taylor grinned and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“You should’ve asked ages ago, it could’ve been done way sooner,” Taylor flipped her hair before walking out of the room and striking a conversation with the Andersons.

Abigail gave Cameron a look, who glared. “Shut up.”

“We will be talking about this.”

“No we will not,” Cameron ran out of the room after Taylor before her friend could grill her more about it.

──────⊹⊱✫⊰⊹──────

There was a boy on Taylor’s arms, and Cameron sip her most-likely-spiked-drinks as she glared. Abigail sticks faithfully by her side, making fun of cheerleaders she hates while Cameron tells her to knock it off. “You do know those are my teammates that you are insulting, right?”

“You’re the only cheerleader I tolerate, Elsher,” Abigail shrugged, before pointing out Emily’s short dress and how the blue doesn’t flatter her. Cameron rolled her eyes and lit up at the welcome interruption of Drew, a dark-haired girl on his arms. She looked all giggly and looked amazed that the school’s star quarterback wants to take her to prom.

“If you keep staring, Stephen will be dead,” Drew brushed his shoulder with Cameron’s before introducing the girl. “This is Alice, we met in English class.”

“Hey, I’m Cameron,” Cameron offered a hand to the girl, who took it with a smile. But a laugh came from the otherside of the room and Cameron found her eyes drawn to her best friend again. It was a laugh she could recognize anywhere.

“Knock it off,” Abigail followed her line of sight and waved her hand in front of Cameron’s. “I thought you like Stephen, why are you trying to kill him now.”

“I’m not trying to kill him, I just don’t think he deserves Taylor,” Cameron rolled her eyes, gulping down the rest of her drinks. “I’ll be right back.”

“Cameron!” Abigail called out, but it fell to deaf ears as Cameron pushed through the crowd and shouldered her way to Stephen and Taylor, the two of them giggling in the corner. She “accidentally” stumbled into Stephen, who let out a gasp before steading himself and getting a hold of Cameron.

“Woah, Cameron, careful there,” he steadied her and Cameron brushed her hair behind her ears. “Are you okay?”

“Just one drink too many,” Cameron laughed, before turning to look at Taylor, trying to act surprised. “Taylor! I didn’t see you there!”

Taylor raised an unimpressed eyebrow before giving Stephen an apologetic smile to Stephen. She took Cameron by the arms and started to drag her outside. Cameron felt the world spin around her, maybe she actually did have one too many drinks.

“What is wrong with you? Are you trying to sabotage my relationship,” Taylor demanded as she pulled Cameron to a secluded corner. Cameron tried to find her balance as she shook her head.

“Whaaaat, nooo, I would never do that,” Cameron tried to put on a serious face, but she must have failed somewhere because Taylor looked mad. “Okay, fine, I’m a little jealous. But I didn’t know you had a boyfriend! I wanted to be the one to hold your hands during prom and complain about how boring it is with you.”

Cameron knew she was pouting, but she didn’t care. Taylor dropped the look of anger. “I’m sorry, I just… he asked me out and I didn’t really know how to say no. And he’s a sweet guy, so I thought I would give him a chance during prom. You don’t have to be jealous.”

“Sorry, I just really wanted to enjoy prom with you,” Cameron sniffled, trying to figure out when she started to cry. She was not emotional, damn it. “It’s the hormones.”

“Sure,” Taylor nodded unconvinced, but wiped away Cameron’s tears with her thumb. “You can spend the rest of prom with me and Stephen?”

“Okay, he’ll get a shovel talk from me though,” Cameron wiped his eyes with a small smile. It was totally not because she wanted to scare him away. Cause she knew Taylor deserves a chance at love, even if it isn’t with her.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Taylor grinned, before taking Cameron’s hands in hers and dragging her back to the party. Abigail gave her an unimpressed look from the sideline, making a bunch of gestures with her arms. Cameron just flipped her off. If she wants to ruin her heart by spending it with the girl she loves and said girl’s boyfriend, then she would do that. She was a masochist after all.