Conversations From Afar

convince me / 92

"Who... runs... in... the winter?" I'm utterly out of breath and Gabriel bounces on the balls of his feet as we wait for the light to change.

"It was half a kilometre, bruh." He replies, annoyingly perky in his Dal hoodie and track pants. It's a step above freezing and the sidewalks are clear for the first time in days.

"It's so cold," I hug myself and jaywalk around a crawling Volkswagen to run up the steps to his parent's house.

"Don't you feel invigorated?" He shuffles off his Nikes and slips into his bedroom at the foot of the stairs.

"I'm never running again."

"Pshhhh..." I climb up to find the entire family seated around the table and Akari with a tri-food presentation board.

Cam leans against the wall cradling a bowl of cereal and reaches out to me the moment I step onto the landing and I gravitate to his side.

"What's going on?" He slips an arm around my shoulders, cumbersome hoodie and all, and I hug his side with both arms.

"They're trying to convince the parents to get them a dog to Christmas," he murmurs, conspiratorially. "Little do they know that we had a dog back when it was just Gabriel and I."

"What happened?"

"He literally ate the couch and was pawned off to my Mom's brother in Nee Brunswick."

"How much of the couch?"

"The whole thing."

Milo cuts off Akari, "And shar-pei's are just really cute."

"But why would we buy a wrinkled dog?" Isaiah asks, his hand folded on the table like it's an actual meeting.

"I already told you, they're cute. Look at his legs, he has leg rolls. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?"

"Plus, we found a breeder just an hour away," Vivienne interjects with a pleading smile.

"How are you feeling?" I ask him, and he chews a mouthful of granola before answering. He looks better, he's shaved and his eyes a little livelier than yesterday. His face with a little more colour.

"Okay, I haven't felt like I was about to hack like a lung all morning so that's a plus. Did you like running?"

"No, oh my gosh. It was cold." I shiver to prove my point and he runs his free hand up and down my arm, warming with a smile. He reaches to put his bowl on the counter then draws me against him with both arms, tucking me under his chin and hugging me in that warm, whole sort of way that makes my heart happy.

"Well, we will review your terms and get back to you on the twenty-fifth." His mom says, standing up and shaking her children's hands.

"My parents are such dorks," he murmurs into my hair and it tickles.

The younger de Luca's and Gabriel migrate upstairs to strategize while we sprawl across the couch with Christmas movies. It's Eloise at Christmas Time while I'm falling asleep against Cam's collarbone when his mom drops onto the armchair and kicks her feet up.

"Maybe we will get a dog," she says. Cam looks up at his mother with an arched eyebrow.

"Need I remind you of Shiny?"

"He was a Labrador and completely untrained." She waves away the notion and Cam's hands find their way into my hair which doesn't help with the grogginess.

"Whatever you think, Mother dearest." He replies and she picks up a lifestyle magazine like she'll be here for a while.

I wake up in Cam's bed, still in my running hoodie, unconsciously hugging a pillow to my chest.

He doesn't look up from the book he was reading ("500 Books to Read Before You Die").

"It's one p.m."

"I'm always falling asleep."

"Well, we've been up until the early hours every night so it only makes sense," he says, reasonably, turning the page of his book.

I wriggle out of the hoodie that isn't even really sweaty anymore and return to hugging the pillow. It smells like him; like comfort and cotton and cologne.

I watch him read with half-lidded eyes, and when he finds an intriguing book he read the summary aloud but mostly we sit in silence.

There's something so special about having someone to be quiet with.

"Hey," I say, knocking his shoulder just a bit when I'm tired of the quiet. "Do you think they'll get a dog?"

"Probably, they love to be convinced of things."

******

question: does fluffy ever get boring? also i'm updating this is chemistry even though i'm two days behind