Always (Landon Cube/Cam Haller)

7

Landon's POV

We arrived at Tate's, a small diner on the West Side. I knew that Brit would feel out of place but for me Cam and Payton, this felt like home. We used to walk here from my house, just six blocks, when we got old enough. We started going by ourselves at 8 or 9 years old and we thought there wasn't any place better to be in the world.

Sitting there, being there again, felt different for me. I felt like a stranger in this room, next to my best friends. In just seven short months, all of this- would be history, would be just high school. And all that I would be bringing with me was Brit. My heart sank as I sat there in the booth, munching on fries and absentmindedly looking out the window. I saw the same view and I was tired of it.

"You okay?" Brit nudged me in the booth with a smile, sipping on her vanilla milkshake. I pulled myself back into the moment to look at her, and somehow all I saw was this town. My mistakes.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just thinking is all." I had already said too much. Everyone suddenly was looking at me intrigued, like what would I possibly be thinking of.

"About?" Cam asked, I locked eyes with him.

"We should really get this YouTube thing to take off, Cam. Let's brand it, really make it ours." I proclaimed. This wasn't a new thought whatsoever but I'd been meaning to bring it up,

"I've literally been thinking the same. I have like, a hundred video ideas...what do you think of the name CUFBOYS?" He asked suddenly.

Something in my brain lit up, like fireworks. It felt electric. The name was perfect. How was it that everything was coming together in the last few months before I was going to leave? I knew my destiny. I knew it was for bigger and better things, and yet I didn't want to leave. I wanted to selfishly pull Cam and Payton from their lives and agendas and bring them all with me in my little red car. My chest hurt thinking about leaving them, and I couldn't bear the thought of spending every waking moment with Brit by my side.

"I think it's fucking perfect." I grinned, Cam and I exchanging grins. Payton encouraged the conversation even though I knew Brit was probably already bored sitting there next to me. I felt her shift uncomfortably as we all talked about ideas of the channel and ways to improve it.

We were smiling and laughing and making fart jokes within minutes, and it was almost like it was just the three of us again in that booth. Of course it was. That's how it was meant to be. The three of us in the booth at Tate's. My coffee shake, Cam's chocolate one and Payton's strawberry one. It was us against the worlds.

"I'm gonna miss you when you go." Cam frowned, looking down at his mostly eaten food.

"Same here." I gave a sad smile. Me leaving felt like this looming cloud and it seemed to follow us no matter what.

"It's going to be huge though, I can't wait for apartment tours." Brit's arm slithered around me.

I physically felt sick to my stomach as I watched Payton's face fall.

"You're going with?" That's cool." Cam offered, seeing how fast the situation got awkward. Payton just sat there, giving a fake grin, and staring down into her milkshake, playing with the straw and watching it ever so intently. My heart thumped. I could see somehow that she was visibly upset.

Payton was hella quiet for the rest of the time at the restaurant. I knew this was a shit idea. Cam and I split the bill even between us, leaving the tip lazily as we left that booth, our booth. I felt so numb. I just wanted to talk to Payton but I could hardly even open my mouth.

_

Cam dropped me and Payton in front of my house. I watched them kiss, through the window of his Beamer, the clearly new Gucci bag he'd given her hanging perfectly off her arm. It was stark in contrast to her tomboy clothes and ghetto princess swagger. A girl with a Gucci bag didn't belong in this hood. Things were changing. And I felt every little part of it. I didn't want to kiss Brit, as she hopped into her Mercedes and took off back to the East Side. She didn't belong here either. None of us did.

She started towards her house and I turned, walking away toward mine. Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks and turned around, wondering what I could possibly say at such an awkward moment. All the fancy cars were gone and it was just the two of us, standing on the street we had lived on our entire lives.

"Payton." I called out. She stopped suddenly, too, and turned to face me.

"Yeah?"

"Please come inside." I nodded towards my house.

"Why?" She shrugged, turning away.

"Because-"

"No! I don't wanna be here to watch you destroy yourself but being with that-that cheating bitch!" She yelled. She was angry.

"Just please- you don't get it- please, come inside. I-I need you." I choked out. Maybe that was the real truth. I needed her. My eyes started to well up with tears and she noticed it too. Her body relaxed almost instantly, staring at me.

She began walking in my direction, and we walked right in into my house, me a pace an a half behind her. She only walked fast when she was upset.

She waltzed right into my room, waiting for me then shutting and locking it behind us. She never locked the door.

"What do you want, Landon?" She breathed. She pulled off  her jacket, setting her new bag and things on the chair in my room. She even started to get changed into her clean pajamas she'd left here from weeks ago, ignoring the fact that I was standing right in front of her.

"I want- I, I want you." I said darkly.