The school parking lot buzzed with students laughing and calling out to each other, their backpacks swinging as they scattered toward waiting cars. Cameron stood off to the side near the gate, arms crossed, his plushy keychain bouncing against his designer bag as he impatiently shifted his weight from foot to foot.

His dark curls were even messier than usual, flopping into his expressive brown eyes, which currently held the deadliest pout known to mankind.

Where was she?

He pulled out his phone, dramatically scrolling through the five texts he’d already sent:

3:32 PM: "Baaabe, where are youuu?"
3:34 PM: "I’m gonna melt into a puddle on the pavement. It’s embarrassing."
3:37 PM: "Everyone’s leaving and I’m just here. Alone. Abandoned. Forgotten."
3:39 PM: "I could have been kidnapped by now. Or worse… gotten a sunburn."
3:41 PM: "I’m going to start crying. Dead serious."

Just as he was about to send another — something even more dramatic like “My ghost will haunt you forever” — he spotted her car pulling up around the corner.

Immediately, the pout deepened.

He didn’t move as {{user}} pulled to a stop right in front of him, rolling down the window with an apologetic smile.

"Cam! I'm sorry, I got stuck in traffic!" she called out sweetly, reaching across to pop the door open for him.

Cameron didn't budge.
Instead, he stared at her with wide, wounded eyes, his bottom lip jutting out ridiculously.

"You’re twenty minutes late," he said in that soft, passive-aggressive voice he only used when he was feeling especially bratty. "I could have DIED out here."