LOVESICK {Cameron James}

CHAPTER THREE

"Hey, babe." Julia nonchalantly said while standing on her tiptoes to kiss Joey on the cheek. In response, he slyly put his arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, Lia." He smiled at her, before leaning over and greeting Chastity and Bianca. "Hey ladies. Would you sweet young things like a ride?" He said, addressing all three of them. Julia looked unamused at his comment.

Chastity and Bianca looked at each other, excited at the offer to ride in his convertible. "Julia, it'd be okay right?" Chas said as they both looked towards her for assurance.

"Duh!" She smiled. Julia then mentally cursed herself for overreacting to Joey's previous comment. "Thanks for giving us a ride, babe." She kissed him as an offer of her gratitude.

一一一

Michael mounted his old bike with a dorky red basket sporting the front. Jetting a bit out of control, stopping in front of Kat Stratford's car. Great. Just great. "Remove head from sphincter, then drive!" Kat yelled, obviously annoyed by Michael's lack of motor skills.

Rushing over to his new friend, Cameron asked "You all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Just a minor encounter with the shrew. You know, that shrew happens to be the sister of your new girlfriend's best friend."

"What? That girl knows Julia?" Cameron couldn't even imagine them in the same universe, let alone a social circle.

"I hate to break it to you, but everyone knows Julia. And I'm sure you're not the first to try and avert her gaze from the divvy that is her lover. And look, Cameron, she's still with him."

Cameron rolled his eyes at Michael's lack of faith in him. "You're wrong, man."

"Whatever. Stay cool, bro."

一一一

"Guess what, Joey?" Chastity asked while sitting in the back of his convertible beside Bianca. Julia sat shotgun. "Julia found a Spanish tutor. His names..."

Before she could say Cameron's name, Joey cut her off. "A guy." He scoffed. "Seriously, Lia? There are no girls that speak Spanish at Padua?"

"Don't worry. He's a total social reject." Said Bianca, meditating on the situation.

"Well, whatever! That doesn't mean he can't still make a move on her!" Joey said, raising his voice.

"God, Joey. Can you not be so difficult in front of my friends? This is so embarrassing!" Julia whined. She always hated when Joey made a scene. Unfortunately for her, that was his specialty.

"Fine." He sighed, trying to calm down. "But if he makes a move on you..."

"He won't!" the girls reassured him. This was humiliating for Julia.

一一一

Finally, The moment Cameron's been eagerly waiting for. As Julia gracefully, or quickly, walked up to his table in the library, Cameron perked up in his chair. "Look, can we make this quick?" She asked, sitting down next to him. "Roxanne Korrine and Andrew Barrett are having an incredibly horrendous public break-up on the quad. Again" It's not like Cameron knew who these people were, but it didn't matter. He was enamored.

Awkwardly, Cameron said, "Oh, yeah, okay. I thought we'd start with pronunciation if that's alright with you."

"Not the rolling R's and silent J's. Please" She groaned. Good for Cameron, he wasn't exactly prepared to teach her a language he only learned moments ago.

"Well, there's an alternative." He gulped, working up the courage to ask Julia this question. "Latin food. We could eat some together. Saturday night?"

"You're asking me out?" She giggled. Joey was right, for once. "That's so cute." She couldn't help but notice Cameron's childlike tendencies and the adorable way he scrunched his eyebrows in hopes that her answer would be a yes. "What's your name again?" Distracted by the break-up she's missing out on, she totally blanked on what his name was. Her friends only referred to him as the perv that stares at them during lunch.

"Cameron. Listen. I know you're sort of seeing Joey. But I thought if it was for Spanish class it..." He hopefully asked, wishing that Julia would not see his blatant attempt at breaking up her relationship.

"Well, listen, Curtis..." She sighed, about to reject yet another guy. This time, she actually felt bad.

"Cameron." He stated again, his wishful thinking starting to fade.

"I've been seeing Joey for a while now, and I don't think he'd like it if I went out with you. Even if it was for class." Julia tried to say in the most reassuring way possible.

"Yeah, I get it," Cameron said quietly. Man, Michael was right. But this didn't mean Cameron would give up so soon. Time for plan B.

一一一

"I need a plan B," Cameron said, well, more like asked, while talking to Michael during lunch.

"Giving up so soon, Romeo?" Michael sarcastically replied, accepting his victory. Indeed, Julia Chalamet was just as untouchable as he'd made her out to be. However, Cameron wasn't so convinced.

"No! I just need a different way to go about it. C'mon man, help me out." Graveling, Cameron clasped his hands together in prayer in order to show Michael how helpless he was.

"Well, you could always make her jealous. You know, go out with one of Julia's friends." Michael offered the best idea he could think of that wouldn't result in him getting socked in the face by Joey.

"That's a terrible idea!" Cameron immediately responded. He didn't want to waste any time, but after some thinking, he realized that might be his safest bet. "It just might work." He thought about the girl he'd seen her with most. "What about that blonde girl?"

"Bianca Stratford? No way. Forget about it, Cameron. Bianca is strictly off-limits. Much like Julia, herself." Michael continued, "Incredibly uptight father. She and her sister aren't allowed to date."

"Well, it's going to have to work. So how am I going to date, Bianca?"

"She can date when her sister does. But, it's not like any man would date that shrew. She's a particularly hideous breed of loser. And that's coming from me."

"Yeah, yeah. I noticed she's a little anti-social. Why is that?"

"Unsolved mystery. She used to be just like Julia our first year of high school. All of the sudden, it was like she got sick of it. There is a bet as to why, but I'm pretty sure she's just incapable of human interaction. Plus she's a bitch."

"Well yeah, but I'm sure, you know, that there are lots of guys who wouldn't mind going out with a... difficult woman. I mean, you know, people jump out of airplanes, ski off cliffs. It would be like extreme dating."

"You think we could find someone that extreme?" Michael was puzzled, he couldn't believe Cameron would actually go through with this plan.

"Yeah sure, why not?" Cameron optimistically said.

"And you would do all this for Julia?" Still, Michael couldn't believe that Julia had stolen his affection. The same one-sided, selfish, and ditsy Julia Chalamet he'd known for a lot longer than he had.

"Hell yeah!" Plan 2 was in action.