A Missed Opportunity

43

✧𝙽𝚘𝚊𝚑✧

"Dude!"

Cameron—who may just be a sociopath—laughs like the fucking joker as he throws my solider clean across the room after making the cute puppy stuffed animal shake him around in its mouth, mauling the soldier to death.

I scoff and stare at my soldier on the ground all the way across the room. "There was no need for that." I grumble bitterly as I get up off the ground.

"I win!" He declares proudly. "I get to have cake!"

"Yeah, yeah." I sigh. I wave my hand in the direction of the hall. "Go get your shoes." I dismiss. He grins as he runs off to his room. I walk over to the couch to grab my jacket off the back of the couch, sliding it on while I wait for him.

I make a mental note never to make deals with my kid ever again. He will find a way to win and he's going to be a fucking psycho about it.

He's beaming as he runs out to join me in the living room. I lead the way towards the door, deciding to leave the living room light on while we're gone. "We should get a puppy." Cameron decides as I lean my back against the wall beside the door to support me as I get my shoes on.

I scoff at that. "A puppy?"

"Santa forgot to get me a live Taffy and a puppy."

"Yeah..." I squint at the ceiling while I stomp my shoe the rest of the way on. "I don't think we're getting a puppy, man." I dismiss as I reach over to open the door. I nudge him out and grab my keys off the hanger beside the door before I follow. "That's kinda a lot."

"Elaina has a puppy." He reasons on a pout.

"No, Elaina's dad has a devil dog." I correct quickly while I absently lock the door behind us. "He is not a puppy."

"I want a puppy."

"Hey, listen, you're already getting dinner and dessert." I remind on a hum. "You wanna make another deal? Go make it with your mom. I'm not getting a puppy."

He frowns deeply. "Mom said I couldn't have one."

"So, you're trying to get me in trouble with her then." I dryly conclude. He scrunches his nose. "Tell you what. If you can convince Mom to let you have a puppy, I'll get one."

It does get a little lonely here. Even more so now that the guest room is decorated and ready for my son whenever he wants to be here. It wouldn't be awful to have some other presence with me while I'm alone here. It'll be kind of just a plus that the presence is connected to Cameron like a dog that he's named and loves. And he learns to be responsible which I think is important to start to learn at his age.

So, a win, win. Kiara will love it if and when I tell her I get lonely and was thinking of getting a dog anyway. I don't tell Cameron that yet though, very aware that she'll still want to think about it. Doesn't matter that it's not her house at the end of the day, the decision will be hers anyway.

"Okay!" Cameron beams. Here I go making deals with my psycho of a kid again. I never really learn my lesson.

__________

I know Cameron's a curious kid. I mean, he put a hole in his favorite stuffed animal because he was curious about her stuffing. Which was creepy, but kinda just shows how curious he can get about random shit.

So, really, I shouldn't be that surprised by the question that pops out while he eats his little funnel cake across from me. But I am. He never fails to catch me off guard.