Cameron shrugged and poked Kreja's nose. "I guess you'd better take him, then. I'll just turn on the fireplace." Lily's tail started to wag at the mention of the fireplace, getting down to sit down in front of the heating unit expectantly. Cameron chuckled.
Kreja’s head snaps up when Cameron pokes his nose. He barks once and smacks the human’s face with his paw. After stretching out, he hops off of the couch and barks again.
Ava laughs and shakes her head in amusement at Kreja’s reaction. “Who wants to go for a walk?” She asks the pups, gathering their leashes.
Cameron huffed loudly at Kreja's reaction, rolling his eyes. "You're no fun, Kreja. You hate me booping your nose." He crossed his arm, but settled down on the couch anyway.
Lily stood up and followed Kreja towards Ava, sniffing her leash, her tail wagging. She seemed to be completely woken up by the thought of a walk with Kreja.
Kreja grabs Cameron’s toe and playfully bites it. He only stops when he hears the sound of his leash. All thoughts of biting feet subside as he scurries across the room, suddenly wide awake.
Ava gets the leashes clipped to the dogs’ collars. “See you later!” She calls out to Cameron before leading the dogs out of the house.
Cameron wagged his foot a little to dislodge Kreja, sighing down at him. "You're a traitor and a lair, Kreja," Cameron huffed with a slight grin on his face. He sighed and relaxed again into the couch, looking up at the wall. Getting bored almost immedately, Cameron stood from his couch and into his kitchen, where he picked up his phone off of its charger. Only one notification had popped up, and it read: Cormac's birthday.
Ava clips her phone to her running pants and puts in her headphones, turning on her workout playlist. With a content sigh, she leads the dogs down a new path today, deciding that venturing towards the beach could be interesting. Within a few minutes her pace has picked up from lazy walk to energetic jog. They'll only be out for about an hour since she's still bitter with the colder weather.
Cameron frowned a little to himself and flopped down his phone. Thankfully he set that reminder for himself. He wasn’t sure when he was going to have to start preparing. Another smile graced his lips as he quickly started to clean. He wasn’t sure when his son was going to appear, but he was going to stay all day in wait for him. Ava would understand.
"Come on, angels, let's pick up the pace," Ava calls out to the dogs, giving their leashes a gentle tug. An hour and a half later, they return to the house. "We're back!" Yanking out her headphones, she bends down and unclips the dogs from their leashes. "Go get some water," She tells them softly before she starts to head up the stairs. Getting in the shower and getting a fresh change of clothes would be nice.
Cameron was still cleaning his kitchen, and was about to move on to vacuuming. “Damnit. I was hoping you would come back after I vacuumed. All well.” He grinned faintly at her, but he looked pale and nervous. “Welcome back.”
Ava pauses halfway up the stairs before she turns and heads back into the kitchen. "What's up with the cleaning spree?" She asks with a frown. "Cameron, are you okay? Why are you so pale?" Something seems off but she's just not sure what it is.
“Just… nervous,” He answered with a soft chuckle. “My son might be coming today. Remember Cormac? It’s his eighteenth birthday today and I need to prepare. I don’t even know if he’s coming, though, and that really sucks.” He shrugged. He just hoped Cormac would be able to. Or remember the promise he made five years ago to his father.
"Oh, yeah. I didn't realize that his birthday was today." She had almost totally forgotten about that. "Let me get a quick shower and then I'll help you clean." This means a lot to him and she knows it so she wants to help as much as possible. "Just try not to worry about it too much, you'll just get yourself worked up. Things are going to go well if he comes today or later."
“I did too. Thankfully I had presents ready and stuff.” He chuckled at himself. “Oh. I’ve gotten worked up about it so many times. This has just been the worst. I’ve never gotten so nervous about it that I’ve tortured my kitchen and house with more cleaning. I don’t know if it’ll go well. But just go take your shower. I’ll be okay cleaning by myself.”
Blinking, she stares at him for a few moments. She's never seen him this worked up before. "I got him a present too." It's just something simple since she doesn't know much about him but she figures that it's better than nothing. She offers him a reassuring smile before bounding up the stairs. After grabbing a change of clothes, she heads into the bathroom.
Cameron went to wrestling with the vacuum to avoid looking into her staring eyes, his cheeks a little pink.
“A present? W— you didn’t have to!” He said, but when he looked up she was gone. He sighed softly and turned on the vacuum.
Ava spends about ten minutes showering and then another ten drying her hair, braiding it, and changing into a pair of jeans and a white tank top. Moving into her room, she shuffles around in the closet until she finds a neatly wrapped gift box. She makes sure that it's the right present before she heads back downstairs. "Alright, what's left to clean?"
Cameron had gotten a lot done in ten minutes. He had vacuumed, washed down the tables, replaced the wood in the fireplace, spray down the couches with a nice cleaner he got a while ago, and had just started on a lunch for himself, Ava, and Cormac if he came around. Cameron turned when Ava bounded in. He still looked pale and nervous.
“Oh, nothing much. I wanted to clean out the closets but that’d be stupid. What’d you get him?”
Ava glances around the house, surprised at how clean and tidy everything is. "It looks like we're living in a home decoration magazine," She comments, shaking her head a little. "Yeah, I don't think that cleaning out the closets is nessicary." Ridiculous is more like it. "I got him a camera, a notebook, and a pen," She says with a slight shrug. "There's also a ten dollar Amazon gift card in there in case he doesn't like it."
Cameron huffed at her softly, waving a new plastic spatula in her direction. “I want it to look good for him. I don’t know what lies my ex-wife has told him. So I want to contradict them all.” He turned back to the stove. “Those are good gifts. I’m sure he’ll like them. Does the notebook have anything cool on it? Or is it just a generic notebook?” He was genuinely curious.
"Everything looks great, Cameron. You're going to prove anything your awful ex-wife said wrong." Ava assures him. "It's hardback and made out of leather. Kinda old timey looking. There's a strap and some secret pockets." She offers a general description of the object. "Oh! I got it personalized so his name is burned on the front cover. It looks pretty cool."
“Oh, sweet. That sounds awesome!” He hummed with a grin to her over his shoulder. Anyway, I’m almost done with lunch so you can go ahead and—“ The rest of his sentence was interrupted by a single ring of the doorbell. In about half of a seocond, Cameron was gone from the stove (which rarely happens) and to the door, beating the two dogs that would have gone nuts at the doorbell.
Ava works fast to to the stove off so the house doesn’t burn down. She’s learned from expirance that fires actually do happen that way. Knowing that things are about to get crazy, she grabs Kreja and Lily by their collars, getting them into the living room. She can still see the front door from where she is so she won’t miss anything but this way the dogs will be kept in check.
Cameron had paused near the door to fling off his apron and smooth out his hair, making sure he didn’t look like a complete mess. His hair was still fluffy and curly, and he looked… familiar.
Shaking his head and making sure the dogs were contained, he carefully opened the door. His son was standing there, looking up at the house curiously. He was holding a backpack full of stuff. He didn’t look of his father, his face was thinner and so was his body. But his hair was the same shade and texture of Cameron’s. The pair set eyes on each other, and their smiles were almost identical. Cameron took his son into a hug without a word, squeezing him close. Cormac laughed in that strange way that sounded like a choked sob, tucking his head into his father’s arms.
Ava watches quietly as this plays out. Her sharp blue eyes study the young man, examining his features. Though he's rather scrawny compared to his father, the hair, the crazy hair, is the same. When she sees those smiles, she can't help but crack one of her own. This is such a sweet moment. She should leave and give them some time to themselves. "Smiri se, ti velika Šunko," She murmurs when Kreja starts to growl. The dog's fur is on end and his teeth are bared. Having a stranger in the house isn't going over well with him. She tugs on the dogs' collars, working on getting them over to the stairs.
Cameron had dipped his head to lean it against Cormac’s. And they stood there for quite a while, a lot of Cameron’s worried thoughts melted away. This was his son. His adult son. And he had come back like he promised without any second thought. It was still noon on the day of his birthday. He could’ve gone off with friends or stayed home to celebrate. And it meant everything to Cameron that he came to spend it with him.
Lily was pushing against the hold of the human at her collar. The old girl wasn’t barking or being hostile, she just seemed excited and curious.
Ava hangs onto to the collars as best she can. It's a difficult task since both dogs are huge and neither wants to go with her. "Lily, come on," She says, gently tugging the dog's collar. If she can get Lily to come then she knows that Kreja will come as well. She's not worried that Lily will attack, the dog is much to sweet, but her own ball of energy is being protective and aggressive. "Who wants a treat?" Bribing them may not work but it's certainly worth a shot.
Lily whined back at Ava, but allowed herself to be bribed by the treat. She looked up with big puppy eyes at Ava, her tail starting to wag slowly. She seemed convinced. Lily loved her treats. She let out a soft bark.
Cormac jumped a little at the barks and growls from inside, glancing up at his dad from the hug.
“You got another dog?” He asked in a voice akin to Cameron’s as well.
“Oh. Well, sort of. I still have Lily but my roommate has another dog named Kreja. You can probably hear him growling, but he’s very sweet.”
"There's a good girl." Ava smiles at Lily, bending down to kiss the top of her head. "Sit." The treats are in the kitchen so she'll have to go grab some. "Kreja, sit down." Her tone is warning now. The last thing that's needed right now is for Kreja to break free and to scare Cameron's kid. With a disappointed huff, the dog sits down. Rolling her eyes at his attitude, she releases their collars and heads into the kitchen. She riffles through the cabinets until she finds the treat jar. Bingo. Pulling it down, she takes out two treats.
“Can I go meet them?” Cormac asked, peering over Cameron’s shoulders by standing on his tippy toes.
Cameron released his son and stepped to his side, peering into his house. “Hmm. Wait until Ava gives them a treat.” He set a hand on Cormac’s shoulder, tilting his head to gaze at him. “Thanks for coming by. And on your birthday. You’re still the sweetest boy I’ve ever met.”
Cormac blushed and tilted his head away from his father. “Thanks dad. I didn’t want to stay with mom anymore. She was kind of annoying me about not leaving. But ironically she got me a car for my birthday so… I dunno.”
Cameron seemed to deflate a little. Dammit, she already had the upper hand.
Ava steps over to the dogs, handing them each a treat. "And I don't want to hear another word out of you." She warns Kreja, fixing him with a stern look. The pup looks up at her and wags his tail, barking once happily. "You were just hangry, huh?" Laughing, she shakes her head a little in amusement. She takes Kreja's leash off of the peg and clips it to his collar. She trusts Lily but it's best to keep Kreja on a short leash. Literally.