Last night's shenanigans got everyone but Emery sitting in complete silence over breakfast the next morning. He had just woken up, and it rarely—almost never—happens that Emery is stirred in his sleep over the lack of noise. The eerie quietness of the house had led him to believe that everybody had been murdered. Thankfully, everyone was alive by the time he checked, however barely.
Silence has always been a hangover's right-hand man.
"Fuck," Emery heard Bryce hiss, the blond throwing his head back in agony. "Someone kill me. Please."
Beside Bryce, Ian was suffering through the other half of his scone, chewing as if every bite is killing him inside. "No. We're suffering, you suffer with us," he stated.
With his undry mouth and crystal clear headspace, Emery managed to laugh without it feeling like his brain was being smashed by a hundred sledgehammers.
"Woah guys, who died?!" he yelled from the top of the stairs, adding salt to his poor friends' wounds.
Everyone perked up and shot the redhead a glare. Their sentiments were gracefully appreciated as Emery skidded down the handrail with a happy grin on his face.
"Shut up, Emery oh my God..." Ian winced, knocking his head on his wrists. "I'm never fucking drinking again."
Emery was animatedly glowing with happiness by the time he reached the kitchen. He excused himself between Asher and Blake as he reached for the untouched scones in the middle of the table, curious when he saw Allison.
"I thought you weren't allowed to drink?" he asked her before gesturing towards her brother.
"I wasn't, I didn't. But these loud fools kept me up all night," Allison grumbled, pointing at Blake and Asher.
"I'm too tired to feel sorry for you, Allison," Asher groaned, massaging his temple.
Blake sulked. His hair was a mess, but then again, so was everyone else's. "Shit, I don't even remember a thing."
Allison ignored him and beckoned her brother over. "Did Mom call by the way?"
"What?" Asher looked annoyed.
Allison leaned over the table, equally annoyed. "Did Mom call?" she asked loudly.
Everyone groaned. Now everyone was annoyed.
"I don't know, fuck stop yelling!" Asher sobbed.
Bryce scowled at him, his bloodshot eyes directed at Asher. "You stop yelling!"
"You're yelling too!" Ian scolded his boyfriend.
Cate breathed in loudly and snapped, "Okay, nobody yell! Just-" She made a zipping gesture over her mouth, effectively shutting everyone up.
Being the only member of the group who was smart enough to supervise his own alcohol intake, it was hard for Emery not to feel strangely in bliss. Watching his hungover friends in misery provides a tiny dose of satisfaction, especially after the night he had.
Speaking of. "Where's Cam?" he asked over a mouthful of scones.
Cate, who now has her face buried on the kitchen table, pointed at the door without looking up. She may have been telling Emery to get his sober ass out of it, but the redhead thanked her nonetheless after grabbing himself a cup of coffee.
With a scone lodged in his mouth and an extra one tucked in his free hand, Emery made his way over to the door on his bare feet, wincing when the sun hit his eyes as he opened it. He scanned the terrace for Cameron and found him sleeping on the pillowed benches with a straw hat on his face. Emery smiled.
Cameron must've heard the door open and close. "I am not giving you any more aspirin, Blake," he said.
Emery tiptoed beside him before whispering next to the blond's ear, "Hi, Adele."
"What?" Cameron sat up and groaned when he realized he did it a little too hard. "Fu-"
The hat fell on the floor, and Emery bent down to pick it up and put it back haphazardly on top of the blond's head. "Aw, that's cute. You don't remember," he said.
"Remember what?" Cameron looked a little irritated, which wasn't hard to tell, Emery was staring at him since he got there after all. The blond's brows were drawn together, eyes barely open, and expression a little askance. Cameron summoned what appeared to be two oranges from his back and offered one to Emery. "Tangerine?"
The redhead grimaced and shook his head.
"Really? You don't like tangerine?" Cameron said as he stripped the fruit off its peel. He looked at Emery, who clearly couldn't be less interested. "Why does the bathroom always smell like it then?"
"Maybe because I don't eat my body wash," Emery mumbled. "Do you not like the smell? I can always switch."
"Don't, it's fine." Cameron chuckled. He popped one of those little pieces of tangerine in his mouth, side-eyeing Emery. "You sure you don't want one?"
"No."
"Fine, your call." Cameron took the hat off and placed it on the table in front of them, revealing the tangled hair beneath it, leaving Emery to think about the fact that he'll never be bothered to fix it all day. "So what don't I remember?"
"I'm not gonna tell you when you're hungover, that would be cruel," Emery said, stifling a giggle.
"You know not telling me and making that face is the same thing, right?"
Emery chuckled, not saying a word as he stuffed his face with scone.
Cameron rolled his eyes before snatching the food out of Emery's mouth. Rude. The latter gasped, and he smiled in victory. "Don't leave me hanging, just say it."
"Why don't I just show you?"
Cameron watched curiously as Emery took out his phone to play what seemed to be a 1-minute video clip. He was on the thumbnail, so Cameron figured he already wasn't liking this whole ordeal.
The muffled sound of Emery's voice played over the black screen. "I thought I already put you to bed."
Cameron looked at the boy beside him before watching himself come out of their shared bathroom on the video. He could tell that something was about the happen with the way the redhead was smiling to his ears, but he was too curious to snatch the phone and save himself the trouble by deleting the footage right then and there. Probably his worst decision ever.
"I don't know," Cameron sluggishly admitted as he looked around, seemingly lost both physically and in thought. "I can't find my room."
An airy laugh could be heard, definitely Emery's. "You were just in your room. It's next to mine."
Cameron scoffed. "How should I know where your room is?"
"It's this room," Emery enunciated.
"No, it's not," Cameron insisted. He got himself in a much closer shot as he sat on Emery's bed, blinking at the boy behind the camera. "What are you doing?"
Emery was clearly trying not to laugh judging by the tone of his voice. "I'm taking care of my face," he said. "What are you doing?"
His question was answered when the left side of Emery's bed was eventually occupied by an overly drunk Cameron.
"You can't sleep here, this is my room..." Emery scolded, but the blond wasn't going anywhere. "Cameron! God..."
Cameron thought that was the end of it, but then the blank screen cut to himself again, this time with his back turned against the Camera as Emery brought it close enough for him to see the guitar he was holding.
"It's 1 in the morning," Emery narrated, wheezing. Clearly, he was laughing about something else before the cut. "Dear sober Cameron, what are you playing right now? Because drunk you can't seem to figure it out."
"Okay..." Sober Cameron squeezed his eyes shut, probably in hangover residue or embarrassment. "Cut it out now, I get it."
"No. I suffered through two hours of this last night, you have to too," Emery insisted as he resumed the video.
Judging by the lyrics, Cameron seemed to be making a horrible attempt at Adele's Set Fire to the Rain but only managed to play scattered noise.
Drunk Cameron began singing like a drunk person, which he was, not that he knew it. He looked as if he was trying to be aggressive with the strumming and the singing, but was careful not to wake anybody in the vicinity.
"And the games you play... you would always win, always win..." The lyrics were all over the place, as was his pitch. Emery, on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing, especially somewhere in the middle when Cameron for some reason started singing 'The Hills' before reverting back to Adele.
"I set fire..." he sang lazily to the ceiling. "... to your face..."
Emery was giggling in the background, clearly entertained as the camera shook. "That's morbid."
Over time, Cameron sounded less and less Adele and more drunk pervert on a rat-infested sidewalk. "Watch it na... nuh... hmm... touched... err, yeah..."
Emery seemed to have ditched the phone to the side as it went from static to black. "Okay, we've got to get you to bed now."
The video transitioned to a close-up shot of Emery's face, smiling underneath the clay mask, laughing as he struggled to flip the camera.
He finally managed after five tries. "Good night. Don't come back here," he whispered before it panned over Cameron with his ass flat on his bed, desperately clinging to consciousness. The video ended there.
Cameron has never utterly expressed the words "what the fuck" in his face until today.
Meanwhile, all Emery bothered himself to do was laugh out loud as he watched his friend's world crumble beneath them both. "I never knew that there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew, Cam," he teased.
Cameron looked up from his hands and smiled condescendingly. "Oh, you think you're funny now, do you?"
"As a matter of fact, I do," Emery let out with confidence, looking at his phone and shaking his head as he suppressed another giggle. "God, I really do."
"Delete that." Cameron pointed at the phone.
Emery pursed his lips to keep himself from laughing. "No."
"I'm not gonna tell you twice."
"Technically, you just did."
Cameron crossed his arms and stood up in front of Emery, who didn't seem like he was getting the hint, or rather refused to. "Delete the video, Emery."
"No..." Emery looked behind the blond, creating a false diversion before attempting an escape. Of course, he would have better luck escaping a den of hungry alligators with hotdogs stuffed in his pockets than he would dodging Cameron's reflexes.
There was a small smile on his face when Cameron caught Emery's wrist. "You really like testing your luck, don't you?" he let out, his eyes accidentally staring at a pair of jade ones. They were both laughing, one for getting caught, the other for the lack of effort it took.
"I never test my luck." Emery jumped on the patio table, probably to annoy Cameron into letting go of his hand but the blond just stood there with utmost patience. "I also never leave the house without sunscreen."
"Get down here, Emery," Cameron ordered, stern.
Emery pretended like those words in that tone didn't do anything to his already tainted mind and instead began to bargain like a child, "Let go first."
Cameron was obviously keeping a tight hold of his smirk as he did Emery's wrist. "You're gonna delete that video."
Emery crumpled his face and grinned. "How? 'Cause, like, you can't make me," he said with a little too much sass than he probably should have, groaning in laughter as he tried to wiggle out of Cameron's hold.
The blond's eyebrow rose at Emery's words, and he took those words at heart, catching the redhead by surprise when he tugged harder on his wrist, causing Emery to trip and fall onto his chest with a loud yelp.
Emery could feel the air being knocked out of his lungs, and he struggled for a while to get it back. As he refused to acknowledge the hot breath against his forehead, and the disparate brown irises that seemed to crystallize the longer he stared, Emery convinced himself that God created the heavens and the Earth in six days, then took a break on the seventh to make Cameron to keep him from functioning like a normal human being.
"I'm still not deleting anything..." Emery muttered with a smirk, trying hard to act cool as he held Cameron's daring gaze.
Cam opened his mouth to say something, and Emery couldn't tell whether he forgot what it was or decided against it. He wouldn't have heard anyway, considering how hyper-focused he was at how close their faces were, or their bodies, or how Cameron didn't seem to be aware of both.
The sound of the door plowing open almost made Emery scream.
"Guys! Guys! Guys!"
He jumped in surprise just as Cameron's grip loosened before the pair turned in the direction of the voice. Allison excitedly waved his phone in the air while all Cameron could do was ask, "What?"
"We're going dolphin watching!" she beamed. "Lucas asked us to meet him at the lighthouse."
As much as that announcement would've excited him, Emery's heart was racing over something entirely different, so it was hard to appreciate the promise. After awkwardly clearing his throat, he and Cameron exchanged fiddly glances before all three of them eventually went back inside the house to get ready.
. . . . .
"Yes," Cate breathed in, the wind hitting her face just right as she relished the taste of the afternoon ocean breeze. "I could definitely die like this."
As it turns out, the genuine cure to a hangover was an afternoon to spare on a yacht with free crackers and soda. Thankfully, Lucas came prepared with both. Everyone was excited; well, at least almost everyone. It's really hard to tell excitement from the very limited range of Cameron's emotions. Emery was just thankful he decided to go with them since he had grown very attached to his bed for the past week.
"How you guys doing?" Emery heard Lucas ask as he momentarily left the wheel to hang with the others.
He was enjoying his own brief time alone while he watched his friends mingle with each other. They were all huddled near the mini bar on the deck, enjoying the sun's heartbeat as they waited for dolphins to show up.
Yes, there was a mini bar. Emery isn't so sure how that managed to slip out of his notice.
"I didn't know your family name was Waywright," Asher commented.
"Yeah, it's my dad's name," Lucas pointed out satirically.
Asher decided to go along with it. "That's how it works? I had no idea."
Emery watched as Lucas laughed and tapped the boy on the back before his eyes went to Emery. The next thing he knew, Lucas was walking up to him.
"Hey," he said.
Emery took his earbuds out. "Hi."
"Enjoying yourself?" Lucas asked with a small tilt of his head.
"Super," Emery replied. "Thank you for this, by the way. I'm sure you have better things to do than take care of a couple of children."
"Are you calling me old?" Lucas said, positioning himself on the rail so he was eye level with Em.
Emery looked around teasingly. "I mean, you do have a boat with your name on the side of it..."
Lucas snorted, clearly not expecting Emery to tease him back. "Okay," he said. "For the record, I don't own this boat."
"Whatever you say."
Emery felt Lucas nudge closer to his side, though he paid no mind to it. "Last night..." Lucas trailed.
Emery hummed. "What about last night?"
"Did I say anything weird to you?"
Emery paused in thought, his lips quirking a little. "What constitutes 'weird'?"
"You use very big words," Lucas teased.
"Answer the question."
Lucas sighed. "I don't know, you tell me." He scratched the back of his neck. "It's just I don't remember anything and the last thing I do was me coming up to you at the bar and I don't know, I get real stupid sometimes so I got a little worried and..."
Emery laughed, putting his hand on the man's chest before Lucas could spiral on and actually say something stupid. "Calm down, Lu. You were too drunk to finish a thought, let alone say something weird."
Lucas was smiling when he looked back up. "Did you just call me Lu?"
Emery's eyebrows met. "Yeah? Is that weird?"
Lucas rested his elbow on the redhead's shoulder, looked ahead, and breathed in the air with an even bigger smile on his face. "No."
They broke apart at a sudden commotion behind them. Bryce and Asher had both their right hands knotted around each other, their elbows anchored on the table with such force. They were arm wrestling, solely judging by the intense eye contact and manly huffs.
"Lucas, get over here and do it with me," Blake called.
Lucas looked at Emery as if asking for permission. Em nodded with a laugh, shaking his head as Lucas joined the others.
As his friends' noise grew, Emery's eyes wandered over the only other occupied table beside them. Cameron had his earphones on, just as Emery figured, frowning a little as his head softly bobbed with the music from his phone. He was leaning comfortably in his chair, completely confined in his own bubble. Emery was just about to test his luck in poking that bubble and sit beside Cameron when a sudden splashing noise halted his steps.
He couldn't even be embarrassed at the little squeak he made the moment he realized what they were.
Amidst the overwhelming rush of dopamine in his body, Emery's first instinct was to call his best friend. "Ian! Ian!"
Worried, Ian ran over to his side. "What? What?" The brunet gazed below them and gasped. "Oh my God, you guys better come over here!"
Everyone, even Cameron, made their way over to the pair, curious as to what the fuss was about. They all made noises of delight at the sight of four, maybe five dolphins that decided to make a stop by the bottom of their yacht. Cate and Ian were the first ones to get their phones out to take pictures.
"They're so shiny!" Blake pointed out excitedly. "Can I touch one?"
Cate cooed at the creatures. "Aren't you guys cute?"
"Shit, I've never even seen one of these guys before!" Asher said with a happy smile on his face while he held his waist like a proud parent.
Emery didn't hear any of his friends' musings of course, with him busy naming the dolphins in his head and all.
"I wanna take you home with me," he mumbled low enough so no one else but the dolphins could hear him.
Emery watched curiously as Allison positioned herself in the space between him and Ian, tying her hair so it doesn't get in the way while she waved her hands over to the dolphins, as if calling their attention. Soon, they began circling below her, clicking and whistling happily as she made playful gestures over their head.
"How are you doing that?" Emery asked.
"I don't know, they must like me a lot." Allison giggled proudly. She looked over to Emery, and chuckled at the jealous expression on the redhead's face. "Here..."
Emery blinked as she stepped on the rail, making her dangerously close to being thrown overboard. "Be careful, Al," he warned.
"Don't just stare at me. I thought you wanna get them to play with you?" Allison told him. "Come here and try putting your hands over like this..."
Emery did as he was instructed and climbed over, still cautious. He could hear the others having the time of their lives beside them but was too focused on himself to know what they were doing. "Like this?"
"Yep." Allison nodded. "Lean a little bit more."
Emery waved his hand over, his other hand keeping him from falling as he tried to get the dolphins' attention. Soon enough, his whole face lit up when he noticed them jumping over as if trying to reach for his hand. "Oh my God..."
He could hear Allison giggling beside him. "Allison, they're so cute!" he sobbed.
She beamed, "I know!"
Unfortunately, they were too preoccupied to notice Blake stumbling behind them, the boy equally unaware of the redhead's dangerous position over the rail. He and Bryce were chasing each other down in a battle of who gets applesauce on their face when Blake tripped over against Emery and Allison, effectively knocking one of them overboard.
A loud splash was the next thing Allison heard as she watched Emery fall off with a startled a yelp.
She shrieked, "Oh my god, Em!"
Before she could call for someone, two shirts fell on her feet, followed by two more loud splashes.
"Sure when I fall off the boat you guys whistle for sharks but when Em does it two hunks take their shirts off..." Blake rolled his eyes, and Asher wrapped his arm around him in a playful, consoling manner.
"They do know he can swim right?" Asher wondered.
Ian pulled his sunglasses down as he went back inside. "Give 'em a minute," he muttered.
"Something's happening here..." Allison mumbled. Cate just laughed and said, "A lot of things have been happening here, sweetie."
Emery surfaced from the water with a little gasp, clueless about anything that was happening. "That's refreshing," he sighed.
When he blinked his eyes open, he was greeted by the sight of Lucas and Cameron staring at him much like his mother does when he goes around acting stupid and childish.
"Oh hey guys," Emery beamed, his cheeks flushed and wet red curls covering his eyebrows, the boy smiling from ear to ear while the two men in front of him stared, panting.
"Shit, are you okay?" Lucas let out, reaching forward just as Cameron blocked his path.
"What the hell happened?" Cameron frowned up at the people on the boat. "Did you push him?"
They all shouted, "No!"
Emery, as confused as ever, had his brows stitched together as he asked, worried, "What's wrong? What happened? Did someone drown?"
He looked up, unsurprised yet a little confused when he saw everyone twinkling at the sight of the three of them.
Emery didn't bother to wonder what that was about, especially when he felt something against his leg. He twisted around and gasped at the sight of one of the dolphins hitting him with its nose.
Emery burst into giggles, trying his best to hide how close he was to crying out of happiness. "Oh my god, hi!" he squealed, careful as he reached out to touch the animal.
Blake was right. They were shiny.
. . . . .
Ian spoke without warning as soon as downed his first gulp of Dr. Pepper. "Those two are into you."
Emery blinked. "What? No, they're not."
"How dense are you?" Ian asked. "Those two literally just risked getting eaten at sea to save your ass, however unnecessary."
Emery huffed at the last comment. "You ever heard of doing things out of kindness?"
Ian looked at the redhead as if Emery was a bottle of store-bought salad dressing. "Ew, no." He crossed his legs and stared at his best friend with his chin propped on his hand and said, "Seriously though."
Thinking that the conversation was getting ridiculous, Emery turned his face away. "Shut up and eat your crackers."
However, just like the karaoke microphone whenever he's drunk, Ian wasn't dropping it. "Let me ask you a question," he started again, and Emery groaned as his best friend swung his arm over his shoulder. The brunet pointed at Lucas, then at Cameron, and started wiggling his fingers between the two men. "Have you ever seen Lucas and Cameron exchange more than five words and a nod in one day?"
Emery thought about it for a while. "No," he answered. "But-"
Ian refused to let him finish. "Believe me, those boys are into you, and they know it," he stated, standing up to grab another soda for Emery.
When he turned back, he still wasn't done with his case. "And by knowing it, I mean they know their competition," he finished, popping open the cold can in his hand before setting it in front of Emery.
All the redhead could do was stare as the bubbles fizzled along with his confusion.
"Clearly, you're insane," he condemned his best friend.
"If I'm insane, then you're judgmental." Ian stuffed his mouth with chips, brows furrowed in fake dismay. "And frankly a little hurtful."
Emery rolled his eyes. "Nobody's into anyone."
Ian's face lit. "Wanna-"
"I'm not betting with you."
"Buzzkill."
Ian seemed to be on his way to a different yet probably equally futile topic when he noticed something wrapped around his best friend. His lips stretched into a smirk, and when he opened his mouth, Emery refused to stoop down to a level that required him to flick his best friend's forehead with a nickel.
"Remind me, whose towel is that on your shoulders again?"
Emery answered without giving it much thought. "I don't know, Cam or Lu's."
"Fun fact about dolphins, they sleep with only half their brain." Ian stood up with no intention of coming back this time. "In a way, you and dolphins are similar, Em."
Emery scowled. "Shut up." He stood up once Ian was out of earshot. "You're wrong!"
The redhead plopped back down on his seat with a pout. He doesn't know what he was so upset about. It's not like the thought of two men having the hots for him was upsetting. He's not pretentious. If there was even the slightest possibility that Ian was right, he'd bask in the glory of two gorgeous gentlemen lining up for his goods the same way he basks in the glory of Idris Elba.
"That towel comfortable enough for you?"
He looked up and saw Lucas, his well-exposed torso dripping with water as he attempted to dry his hair with a little towel that was wetter than he is.
"Oh, this is yours?" Emery touched the fabric on his shoulder consciously and smiled. "Thanks. I'll get it cleaned before the end of the week."
Lucas shook his head, making Emery wince as water droplets flew everywhere. "Keep it. No one's gonna be looking for that back home," he said. "You should see my place. Towels. Everywhere."
Emery laughed and thanked him, but insisted on returning the towel anyway. When Lucas excused himself to the wheelhouse, Em felt a figure approaching from behind, turned around, and saw Cameron bending over to get a can of soda from the cooler. He didn't expect the man to accompany him by the boat's rail, but nowadays, Cameron Brooks is far from predictable.
"Do you ever wonder how someone as dense as Asher manages to float like that?" he asked as they both watched Asher and the others play with the dolphins from where they stood.
"What are you talking about?" Emery laughed.
Cameron returned his smile. "Never mind," he said, looking away as he rested his elbows on the metal bar, playing with his nails, his wet hair falling limply over his forehead. He looked at Emery. "So, did you delete it yet?"
"No, and I won't."
"You know I'm getting that phone from you one way or another." Cameron's tone was far from condescending.
Emery snorted. "I'm shaking in my chanclas."
He looked at the blond, his shoulders shaking as he laughed. Lately, humor and making fun of Cameron seemed to be Emery's go-to approach to ignoring the way his heart felt like it was swelling every time they touched, or talked, or looked at each other. Cameron Brooks is like a page out of a romance novella. He's a delicate man with a rough charisma, and Emery likes and at the same time hates that about him. He began reflecting on his own thoughts for a little bit, then his mind went back to his best friend's enticing words.
"Those boys are into you."
Boy. If he was right, Cameron could be one of those.
Emery wasn't sure who else he was convincing other than himself, but unless one of those two gorgeous gentlemen actually says the words "I like you in an I want to date you way" he was not going to build a parapet over his wall of confidence for nothing, especially not when they're finally comfortable enough to joke around each other. Emery doesn't want to trade that for anything.
Because he did the whole hopeful romantic thing once before, and it didn't end very well for him.
A/N: Biting my nails hard writing this chapter ong! (ﾟ┏Д┓ﾟ ;) We're getting out of the burning woods... nearly, almost, I think... probably mehehehe~ (￣∀￣)
Nah we totally are can't wait to show you guys what happens in the next chapter! (ノ〝∩｡∩)ﾉ: ┛'Д｀┃┛))
Update: Wattpad updates will resume on May!