Page 2 of Pride High 2: Orange

“You’re teaching him to disregard my opinion! How would you feel if I did the same thing?” Trevor turned to him. “You don’t have to go to school next week.”

“Of course he does!” Brenda shot back.

“Don’t listen to your mother,” Trevor said gleefully. “Do whatever the hell you want!”

“Please,” Cameron tried again, beginning to despair. “Let’s just—”

“That’snotwhat I was saying,” Brenda shouted over him, “and you know it!”

Trevor shook his head. “Apparently I don’t know anything until I’ve run it by you.”

“Don’t play innocent,” Brenda sneered. “You know exactly what I’m referring to!”

Cameron stood and slammed his palms on the table. “Is this even about me? Or am I just another excuse to pick at each other?”

His parents stared at him in shock. Cameron didn’t lose his temper often. And it didn’t feel good. “Whatever,” he snarled, turning and heading for the entryway. “I’m full anyway.”

He took the stairs two at a time, pressing his hands over his ears as soon as he was out of sight so he wouldn’t have to hear them blaming each other like they had done for years now. When he was safely shut in his room, he went to his stereo, grabbed a cassette tape, and pressed play after slotting it in. Then he almost cried, because the song was special. “Ceremony” by New Order. Anthony had made the mixtape for him, choosing music that captured how he felt. They had kissed under a willow tree while listening to it. That night had been the polar opposite of the toxic mess downstairs. Cameron knew what love looked like. Anthony proved that it was more than a dream. They had found it together. And now he wanted nothing more than to escape into his arms.

Except it was a holiday, and unlike Cameron, Anthony had plenty of family in the area.

“I made the mistake of complimenting my great aunt’s deviled eggs,”his boyfriend had told him recently.“Now when she visits, no matter the occasion, she always brings half a dozen just for me and expects me to eat them right there in front of her. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except they make me really gassy. And she’s so freaking old that I’m worried she’ll keel over if I tell her the truth. So you don’t want to be around me on Thanksgiving, believe me.”

Cameron laughed at the memory. Those were the sort of problems a family was supposed to have. Caring too much about each other instead of not caring enough. He found himself reaching for the phone, needing the comfort he felt in Anthony’s presence, but he let it remain in the cradle, not wanting to intrude on a happy family just because his was so dysfunctional.

He thought then of Mindy. How her parents had gotten a divorce some years back and were still living together peacefully. Maybe they had been just as bad as his own before that happened. He wanted to know, but again, it didn’t seem like the right day.

“You can always come to me. I’ll be a sympathetic ear.”

That was what she had told him on their first and only date, which had been a total farce. And yet he wouldn’t change one bit of it, because that was the night he’d realized just how cool Mindy was. If she could handle going on a date with a closeted gay guy, an unexpected call on Thanksgiving wasn’t likely to ruffle her feathers. Cameron grabbed his address book. Then he reached for his phone.

* * * * *

He was the hottest guy that Mindy Beaumont had ever seen. This week anyway. His hair was blond and perfectly styled, his skin tan despite the late season. She watched pink lips frame perfectly straight teeth, the words he mouthed lost on her, but Mindy laughed along with the rest of her family, who seemed just as taken by him. More people than usual were gathered around the dining room table, but she was barely aware of them as her attention alternated between her sister, Jessica, and her new boyfriend, Brett. Who really was incredibly handsome. Mindy twirled a lock of shoulder-length ginger hair around one finger as her attention lingered on his handsome face.

Jessica seemed to be the only person not completely enthralled by him, but then, Brett was only one in a long series of hunky guys who were all too eager to please. Which was frustrating, because if Mindy was in her shoes, she’d be fawning over him no matter how desperate it seemed.

Piercing blue eyes met hers from across the table, as if Brett had sensed her inner thoughts. He stood while holding her in place with his gaze. Then he swept his arm across the table, clearing it of food, and reached for her with transparent need. Jessica tried to pull him back down, but he shook her off because it was too late. Their hearts and souls had connected. The rest was destiny!

The phone rang, jarring Mindy back to reality. Brett was indeed looking at her, although quizzically instead of passionately. She realized she was holding the gravy boat and vaguely remembered being asked to pass it to him. Her cheeks flushed as she set the gravy on the table between them. Then she launched herself out of her chair, muttered that she would answer the phone, and hurried into the kitchen. How long had she sat there staring at him? And why did her life have to be so embarrassing?

She grabbed the cordless phone from the charging stand and moved deeper into the house. Even if the caller was a telemarketer, she would talk to them until her face stopped burning.

“Hello?” she said after pushing the button to answer the phone.

“Mindy?”

She felt another kind of flush and didn’t fight against it, because she genuinely liked Cameron. She thought he was handsome and sweet and wonderful to be around. Best of all, he wasn’t interested in her. But not for the usual reasons. Cameron had never spelled it out in so many words, but he was already in love. With their friend Anthony.

“Cameron!” she exclaimed joyfully. “Hi! Happy Thanksgiving!”

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Cameron echoed. “I’m sure you’re busy. I can call back some other time.”

“No!” she said, perhaps a little too forcefully. “It’s good to hear from you. I’msoover this holiday.”

“Same here,” Cameron said, tension in his voice. “My parents are… well, remember what we talked about?”

She did. “I know exactly what you mean. And I’m so sorry. Holidays were always the worst.”