Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 3

welled up in his eyes.
    "Oh honey, I'm glad I'm here too," she said hugging Cameron tightly. Stepping back, Suzie looked at Cameron with a hesitant expression. "Is he... is he still acting like nothing happened?"
    "Yeah," answered Cameron looking away to hide the hurt he knew Suzie would see in his eyes.
    "What an ass," Suzie said with disgust. "He goes and does that to you then walks around like all is fine and dandy."
    "The worst part is that I go out of my way to avoid or ignore him," Cameron admitted, blushing with the embarrassment of his confession.
    "No way," said Suzie with disbelief in her tone.
    "Yeah," Cameron says turning back to face Suzie. "If I'm in the studio talking to some of the engineers about something and he comes in I flee into the sound booth. I can't even look him in the eye."
    "Cam," Suzie said putting a hand on Cameron's shoulder in a reassuring manner. "You did nothing wrong. This isn't your fault. He took advantage of you..."
    "And I let him," Cameron interrupted.
    "Because you're trusting and loving," Suzie urged.
    Silence fell between them until Cameron said, "I thought he felt something for me. There's no hope for Morgan and I now so I thought he and I were... something. But he was very straight forward with the fact that he and I were nothing."
    "Do you still feel anything for him?"
    "Does the urge to either cry or punch him in the face every time I see him count?"
    "Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that counts," Suzie said with a light chuckle. "And if you don't act on it I will. The puching... not the crying."
    "Go for it," Cameron said with the tiniest of smiles.
    "Speaking of Morgan, have you heard from him?"
    "I've called and texted," Cameron said finding it hard to keep the tears from falling. "Nothing. No response."
    "I've tried calling and texting him too," Suzie admitted. "I didn't want to say anything except to tell him to stop ignoring you but I couldn't get a hold of him either. I even went by his trailer to see if I could catch him in person but his dad said he wasn't there and didn't know where he was. Just that he ran out yesterday and hasn't been home since."
    "Great," Cameron said immediately going to the worst case scenario as he usually did. "So, they'll find his body in a ditch somewhere or he's moved to the big city to play on the corner for spare change all because..."
    "Stop," Suzie said firmly. "I'm not going to let you blame this on yourself. Whatever he's done or wherever he is, it was his choice. Not yours."
    "But I..."
    "Was here," Suzie finished for him. "He didn't respond to you when you tried to reach out to him. That's his fault not yours. Don't blame yourself. Now, we have a concert to get ready for don't we?"
    Nodding, Cameron said, "God I missed you."
    Over the next few hours everything moved in one dizzying blur for Cameron. He and Suzie barely had a chance to catch up before his parents arrived with Mr. Wolfe to whisk him off to the theater for his concert. In his dressing room, Cameron changed into the outfit selected for him by a stylist and sat in a chair while a makeup artist made him stage ready. Finally, Cameron hugged his mom, dad, and Suzie before they were escorted to a private box to watch the concert.
    As he was taking a few moments to calm his nerves, there was a knock on his dressing room door. "Come in," he said.
    To his surprise, in walked his mother. "Cameron," she said shutting the door behind her. "I just wanted to let you know how incredibly proud of you your father and I are. I know we come off a bit cold and harsh at times but we just want you to continue to push yourself."
    "I know," Cameron whispered before hesitantly adding, "Mom, I need to tell you something."
    "That you're in love with that boy? Or that you like boys in general?" she asked calmly.
    "Are you mad?" Cameron asked as his nerves riled up and he began to sweat and feel cold all at the same time.
    "Just that you waited so long to say something. Then again, I guess we didn't make it easy for you to tell us anything," she admitted sadly.
    "I wanted to tell you," Cameron said softly.
    "Well," she said crossing the room and taking Cameron in her arms. "You just did and I'm proud of you for being so brave."
    "What am I going to do though?" Cameron asked as they drew apart. "I'm about to go on stage and lie to everyone about who I am."
    "What have we always told you Cameron Elijah Boresky?"
    "No matter what I do, being true to who I am is all that matters," Cameron repeated the