I'm Looking For Her But I Found Him (Cameron)

[Joshua Ortega]

Hide and seek, normally a game Josh was great at, except for when his cell phone was his opponent. That thing always had him searching for it, it was like his pocket wasn't a good enough resting place for the device. Josh's phone got left behind the most out of everything that ever gets left behind when he teleports, and he is usually far to many teleports away to have any idea where he might have left it once he realizes it is no longer with him. He hated his phone.

After spending thirty seconds popping all over his dorm searching for the phone, Josh decided that it just wasn't there, he figured he must have left it somewhere else. It took him all of three seconds to come to the conclusion that Callie might have it. He was with her earlier that day and if she noticed that when he left his phone stayed behind, she might have grabbed it for him. Besides, if she didn't have it he knew she'd help him hunt it down.

With Callie's dorm being only a few floors down and since Josh had been there before, it was breeze for him to pop downstairs right into the common area of her dorm, which he did. "Callie, you got my phone!?" Josh Called out, as he checked himself making sure his black and gray striped wool hat still remained on his head, his gray jogging pants were still around his waist, and his gray wife beater was still on. He wasn't trying to impress anyone with his wardrobe at the time.

After assuring himself that his teleport was successful, he didn't notice his missing ear ring, Joshua quickly scanned the common room. It was empty. He called out for Callie again when she didn't answer the first time and still didn't get a response. "Where is she?" He asked himself as he scratched his head. He looked absolutely clueless standing there in the middle of the room.

[Cameron Osiris]

Phones were tricky little things with minds of their own. That’s why Cam had this sweet app on his that turned it basically into a GPS. All he had to do was go online, put in the little number code, and BAM, it would start ringing. Really useful actually. But let’s be honest, Cam’s so busy trying to keep up with everyone that he’s always on his phone. That or his laptop, and the latter is pretty hard to lose.

But it was just a typical day. Callie had had someone over just a little while ago, and Cam had stayed in his room. Again, school was starting and he wanted to stay ahead. Most people didn’t give him enough credit in that department, but he really is trying to get somewhere in life. He knows life continues past high school. The lights were all off in his room, and instead, a glowing orb, bluish in color, was floating in the middle of the room, and giving off the perfect reading light. Cam enjoyed his power as much as anybody else.

Typing away on his laptop, he heard someone come in looking for Callie. He smirked to himself, snuggling deeper in his bed sheets. That girl, he was going to have to tell her to lock the friggin door. Oh well. Silly Cam had his converse on in bed, jeans, and a v-neck red and grey striped sweater. He was desperately trying to find a movie he could watch later with Chester.

But he could still hear muttering, and so, set down his computer and opened the door, walking out into the hallway, he brought his ball of glowing light with him.

“There’s no Callie... here.” He said, a bit taken aback by the dude standing in the common room. He was beautiful. Cam grinned, his eyes lighting up. He raised his hand. “Hi,” he said, “I’m her roommate, I’m pretty sure she’s not here.” He raised an eyebrow at the brunet. It looked like he had been looking for something, or someone. “And I’m pretty sure she’s not stuck in the couch either,” he laughed a little, holding both of his elbows in his hands.

[Joshua Ortega]

Josh was often oblivious to most things, it hadn't crossed his mind once that when he entered his friend's room unannounced that he might stumble across someone that wasn't Callie. Startled by a voice that wasn't owned by a female, instinctively Josh teleported back a few feet and turned to face the young man.

The very moment Josh observed the boy addressing him, all thought just sort of vanished from his head. He had a blank expression on his face and couldn't remember at all why he was in... what's her names dorm. Josh's attraction to this unknown boy was instant and the first thought to re-enter his head as he stared blankly at the boy was what his sweater would look like if it was on the floor instead over covering his chest.

After realizing that he was staring into the other boy's light blue eyes and that he hadn't heard a thing that the boy had said, Josh spoke. "Um what? I uh, I'm looking for... Callie." He struggled to get the words out of his mouth. Josh wasn't sure what exactly was going on, he didn't know why he was having such difficulty functioning. He also didn't know when he had raised his own hand in response to the other boy's. He yanked it down and shoved it into his pocket.

Josh laughed nervously about Callie not being in the couch and started playing with his left ear lobe, realizing now that his ear ring was gone. "Why am I so nervous?" He thought. "I was looking for my uh... cell phone." He explained. "Have you seen it? It's an android." Talking to that guy was very difficult and Josh wasn't sure how he felt about that. Talking was his thing, he felt funny having such a difficult time conversing.

Before he was able to describe his cell phone any further, Josh got a glimpse of the blue orb that had followed the inhabitant of the dorm into the common area. Instantly intrigued, Josh teleported closer to the boy and his orb hoping to get his mind on something else other than the guy's smile. "What's this? Your power? What's it do?" He asked as he attempted to touch the orb. Focusing his attention on the ball of light seemed to bring his verbal skills back to normal.

[Cameron Osiris]

“Whoa,” Cam said, his eyes turning into large orbs. This guy had teleportation. Did everyone associated with Callie have the same power? He was going to have to ask her about that later. He grinned at the boy. Cam looked pretty good without anything on, but it was best if Josh kept that to himself. For now.

“Sweet power,” he said, his orb still above him like an obedient dog, or a strange halo, trying to fill the silence as Callie’s friend collected himself. Cam was smiling to himself, an eyebrow raised in observation. He was making the guy nervous. Blinking a couple times, Cam checked his pockets, taking out what he thought would be his phone, but nope, it wasn’t his at all. It was an android. “Weird...” he said, giving it a funny look, before passing it over to the cute visitor, now a lot closer than he had been before.

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Cam said, pushing the guy’s hands down. “Don’t touch that, unless you wanna be electrocuted,” he said with a small chuckle. “Name’s Cam, and that my friend, is a ball of light,” Cameron pointed at his head, “light manipulator at your service.” The Ball flickered and then went out. Seriously, why did his power have to make him look bad at the most crucial of times?

Problem was, Cam had to find his phone now.

[Joshua Ortega]

It was extremely rare, in fact unheard of for Josh to miss a compliment. The fact that he did miss Cameron's praise of his ability should show just how discombobulated the tall blonde made him.

When Josh asked if Cam had seen his phone, he didn't think at all that he would actually have it. At the time, he just needed something to say to take the focus off of him ogling Cameron. "Hey! you found it!" He said excitedly, taking the troublesome device from Cameron. "Where was it? I gotta stop dropping this thing, my grandma has probably called me a hundred times. She probably thinks I died or something. Damn, it's dead... I wonder where my charger is." Josh rambled on, not without even thanking Cameron for finding his phone, not because he was ungrateful but because things like apologies and thank yous just flew over Josh's head. He always assumed things like that were implied.

Josh moved back a few feet in his usual way after Cameron's ball of light fizzled out of sight. Even after Cameron had warned him about getting electrocuted he still kind of wanted to touch it. He was disappointed to see it go. "I'm Josh, and teleporting is my thing, feel bad for all you guys who can't. It takes you guys forever to get places. Can your light manipulation ... um, get you anywhere? Can you beam yourself somewhere in a ray of light? Can you ride it without getting electrocuted?" It wouldn't be the strangest thing he had seen at Hammel.

Josh was relieved that his verbal and motor skills were working correctly. He thought for a moment that the thoughts and feelings he was having when he first started talking to Cameron were a fluke, that was until he started thinking about him shirtless again. Being a horny teenager was not easy, but at least cam wasn't a telepath.

[Cameron Osiris]

Wow, and to think, Cameron wasn’t even trying to compliment Josh yet. Soon though, Josh would get sick of Cam and is unending praise. Especially if it was something silly like the way he dressed. Josh looked pretty cute in his comfy clothes.

“Yeah, now I just need to find mine,” he said, checking his other pants pocket, “nope, and no charger either.” Cam shrugged. He wasn’t a miracle worker, but he did do his best. Something about a grandma, and the blonde was grinning. That, was also pretty cute.

And he thought he was full of questions. Cam laughed and put his hands behind his head. “Uh, can’t say I’ve tried that one yet, but once I do I’ll let you know.” It was a good idea, and Cam wasn’t beyond giving it a shot. “I can go invisible though,” he said, smiling proudly. That wasn’t even a tall tale, it just wasn’t a flawless trick yet.

“So, are you close with your grandma?” He asked, having a seat on the couch. No, he wasn’t too concerned over finding his phone right now, not when he had a perfectly viable distraction.

[Joshua Ortega]

If Cameron had managed to pull Josh's charger out of his pocket, Josh might have started to think that their meeting was no mere coincidence but he wouldn't be to upset about it.

It was amazing how those inanimate objects could slip away from there owners as often and easily as they did but Cameron didn't seem to be as worried about his phone as Josh was about his own. Josh would have helped him search for it if he had wanted him to. "If my phone wasn't dead I'd call it for you... but it is... oh and I don't have your number... and like I said.. my phone's dead." Real smooth Josh.

Disappointed that Cameron wouldn't be light beaming around, that would have been cool to see, his disappointment quickly changed to excitement when he heard him say invisible. "You can be invisible! You should have started with that!" As much as Josh did enjoy looking at Cameron, he would have love to see him fade from sight right then and there. The ability to turn invisible was almost as good as cool as teleporting in Josh's book. Almost. "If your invisible you can do... whatever you want! Can you make other people invisible?" He asked excitedly.

Josh performed his ever so special trick again and landed next to Cameron on the couch. He made sure not to sit to close though, he wanted to remain in control of himself and he had learned pretty quickly that getting to close to his Cameron usually resulted with Josh's brain turning to mush. All he had to do now was hope Cam didn't smile again, because that resulted in mush brain for him as well.

"Yeah I'm close to my grandma... she's my grandma." He explained slightly puzzled. Josh couldn't imagine not being close to his grandmother. He knew then that no one could just know that without asking but it was odd for him to realize that others might assume that she wasn't an important person in his life. "She calls me all the time, I mean I talk to my mom and dad to, but I talk to my grandma the most cause she worries so much. She didn't want me coming to Hammel in the first place, and she demands that I come home on the holidays." It wasn't strange at all for Josh to be talking so openly with someone he just met. He made friends really easy, and as far as Josh was concerned they were friends already. Josh was also slowly, so slowly that he kept pushing certain thoughts out of his mind when they would arise, learning that maybe he wanted certain friends, to be a little more than just friends.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam would think of other ways to get Josh’s attention. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll give you my number,” he said with a wink and a smug grin. Really, that was just too easy. After announcing his number to Josh, Cam carried on as though he hadn’t just given out his number with strong hints attached. “But don’t worry about my phone, I have this app to find it, you know, since you don’t want to call me,” he said, looking at the ground, and then glancing up at Josh with very well placed puppy dog eyes. He knew Josh’s phone was dead. He didn’t care.

Laughing, Cam shook his head. “I kind of like making friends Josh, and I’m pretty sure people don’t want me being invisible around them,” he said. Besides, he liked being in the spotlight. Kinda hard to do when no one could see you. “I can do whatever I want in the open too,” he said, dismissing the subject with a wave of his hand. Really, he just hadn’t perfected his power and was looking for excuses. “I can make other people invisible,” he said, though he hadn’t tried it before. But why not?

Laughing again, Cam shook his head. Josh was a riot. “I’m close with my dad, I don’t have grandparents,” he offered, running a hand through his hair. His mother had left his dad when he was an infant, and his dad’s family was all gone. It was just the two of them against the world. But Cameron didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. “She didn’t want you coming here? Huh? This is like, a great school,” he said, a puzzled look on his face. “Well tell ya what,” Cam patted Josh’s leg, “if I can find my phone before you find your charger, I’ll let you borrow it to call your grandma.” A dashing smile followed suit, “unless, you know, you don’t know her number by heart.” He knew his dad’s, but he certainly didn’t call him every day either.

[Joshua Ortega]

A phone number, a wink, and a grin, all ingredients needed for a successful come on. Josh recognized the signs, he had done some flirting in his time and this wasn’t his first time being hit on, however, for him this was the first time flirting had involved another male, it was nice. Josh paid close attention as Cam recited his number for him. He hoped he’d remember it, but if not he’d make sure to ask Callie for it later, they were roommates, Josh was sure she would know it.

“I wanna call you!” He announced without thinking, his voice cracked in the process. “I mean uh...” Josh cleared his throat desperately wanting thoughts to re-enter his brain. He resembled a deer caught in someone’s headlights as he stood there, his cheeks a light rosy color from embarrassment. His stomach felt like he had just swallowed a bunch of butterflies, he would have much rather preferred teleportation nausea than this. “Uh, I meant I will call you.” He began as his vocal skills returned. “ You know, when my phone gets charged.” Not exactly the perfect save but it was gonna to have to do.

Josh was astonished by how Cameron dismissed his potential to be invisible so easily. If Josh could do what Cameron could, he might not ever sleep. Being invisible would be Josh's default appearance and he would have the time of his life. “Yeah but aren’t you tired of getting in trouble? When I do whatever I want I always end up with detention or I’ll get grounded or something. It’s really annoying.” He had a sour look on his face as he remembered his most recent chastisements. Punishment was a frequent issue in Josh’s life, but he had no one to blame but himself.

That sour look was gone in seconds replaced by a bright grin. Cameron could make other people invisible, or so he said and Josh believed him. He was ecstatic. “Are you serious! that’s awesome! You gotta help me scare Callie one day!” That was one of Josh’s more innocent plans for invisibility.

Playing with his left ear again, Josh listened to Cameron talk about his dad and his lack of grandparents. Josh wanted to to know more about Cameron’s grandparents. “Everyone has grandparents, what happened to them? Where’s your mom?” All questions that would remain in Josh’s head. Callie had explained to Josh many times before that there are somethings you don’t just say to people and if you do there was a way to say it. Josh usually got these lectures from Callie and many other loved ones after he had already upset them by saying something he shouldn’t have. Since he didn’t know how to inquire Cameron the “right” way, like Callie says, he decided it’d be best to just keep his mouth shut about it, not something done easily for him. “I’m close to my dad too. I love hanging out with him.”

Josh’s eyes locked onto Cameron’s hand the very second he began patting his leg. He was again unsure why he was so nervous. He liked Cameron’s hand there every time it touched down to his leg. He really wanted nothing more than for Cameron to leave his hand there. Josh really did not want to be talking about his grandmother at the moment. “Um thanks.” He answered slowly, slightly slack jawed. He knew he could find his charger and calling his grandma was not a top priority but he could barely think at the time.

When Josh finally looked up from Cameron’s hand and got a glimpse of that smile, the young Meta couldn’t help but send a goofy smile his way. “Yeah, I uh... I know it.” Actually at the time Josh didn’t know anything about anything except for how much he wanted to kiss this boy he had just met.

[Cameron Osiris]

Cam was laughing again. He really liked Josh, even though he was a stumbling mess. He leaned in closer, like he needed to tell Josh a secret. “Most people do,” he said softly, reassuring Josh. Seriously, Cameron was so popular, it was amazing it didn’t get to his head. Maybe Josh wasn’t used to being hit on, though Cam wasn’t sure why that would be the case – he was perfectly attractive.

“Everything’s legal if you don’t get caught,” Cam said, totally kidding. “But seriously, I don’t really do things to get into trouble, I do things that are fun and totally legal. You know, like sky diving and stuff.” He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. Cameron’s smile faltered teasingly. “Wait, you get into a lot of trouble?” He asked, before smiling again. He couldn’t help it, smiling was his own default position. “I mean, should I be worried?” Okay, now he was definitely flirting with Josh. Success.

Cameron brought his hand up and made a fist, and then pulled it down in triumph, like he had just won something spectacular. “Pranking Callie, that is such a win.” He raised his hand at Josh for a high five, hoping not to be left hanging.

Maybe if they went out, Cam would be more inclined to let Josh in, though that would take some time. All this flirting and surface conversation he could handle. “Cool,” the blonde said with a smile. They both loved their dads, awesome. “My dad’s pretty, uh, progressive,” he said, trying to fish for the right word. In other words, he didn’t mind that Cam liked every human being under the sun in a romantic way. So long as there weren’t any grandchildren popping up.

Why was Josh staring at him like that? Seriously, the only other person who had ever given him that look was Fer. Fer... Cameron wondered if Josh’s thoughts were the same as the Brazilian boy’s that night at the dance. Josh looked like he was in another world, and Cam decided to take a shot. “So you’re free on Friday night, right? ‘Cause I think we should hang out, you know, when you aren’t looking for your phone or your phone charger and totally distracted,” he said, leaning back on the couch and looking at Josh. Cam knew Josh wasn’t distracted by the missing items.

[Joshua Ortega]

Cameron knew exactly what he was doing, it was like that boy had read a Joshua Ortega handbook and knew exactly how work him. He was easily able to reduce Josh to a mumbling mess several times already, and seemed to enjoy doing so, considering he was doing it once again. Josh watched Cameron intently as he leaned closer and closer to him. He wasn’t sure what to expect but his heart sure was racing as he stood there with anticipation.

The anticipation turned out to be well worth it. The way Cameron had whispered into Josh’s ear was almost to much for the kid to take. He did his best to cover up how heavily Cameron had left him breathing. Why was Cam’s whispering so much different than anyone else's. Josh wasn't sure, but he wasn’t complaining.

A giant smile crept across Josh’s innocent looking face. He loved Cameron’s logic, even if it was a joke, the only problem was Joshua always managed to get caught. Before he could ask Cameron if he got into trouble often, his question was answered with Cam’s next statement. “You skydive?” He asked intrigued. Sky diving wasn’t something Josh had ever done before and it actually sounded like a lot of fun despite it being so innocent. “Is skydiving hard? Where do you skydive?What else do you do.” Cameron got more and more interesting the longer the two of them spoke. As if it wasn’t already tremendously obvious, Josh liked Cameron a lot.

This time, it wasn't going to be so simple to get Josh all flustered. He was a little prepared this time for Cameron’s light teasing and was more than happy to flirt back. “Oh yeah, all the time.” He began, attempting to sound as cool as possible. “Not as long as you stay on my good side.” He tried to keep his face as serious as possible, but did fail miserably. He couldn’t help but smile and laugh. Josh was no thug, and definitely could pull of the hardened bad boy routine.

Josh was ecstatic at how Cameron had taken his request to prank their friend, he couldn’t possibly leave him hanging. “Yeah! I can’t wait, Callie’s won’t ever see it coming.” Josh couldn’t wait to pull something off with Cameron.

Dad’s were great, something the two boys obviously agreed on. Josh and his dad were often more like two buddies than father and son. Josh could get away with almost anything when it was just him and his dad, and Mr. Ortega got yelled at by Josh’s grandmother and mom almost as much as Josh did. The two of them together were quite a handful. Cameron and his dad seem to have a good relationship too, at least that’s what Josh took from the word progressive. He wasn’t entirely sure what Cameron meant by that but he got the jist of it.

Who knows what it would have took to break Josh from his trance if Cameron had not gone and asked him out on Friday night. Josh looked taken back for a moment. He had to stop and register what Cameron had just asked him. He wasn’t sure if he meant hangout out like video games and fart jokes or hangout I wanna lock lips with you before the night's over. Josh knew which one he wanted it to be but what did Cameron want. Josh was a little to dense sometimes. “Uh yeah Friday night, I’m not doing nothing.” He said beginning to smile. He had decided that Cameron wanted the latter like he did and decided to take him up on his offer. “I’ll have my charger by then, and I guess all I’ll be looking for on Friday is you.” He scratched the back of his head nervously as he continued to smile. He needed to talk to Callie, and maybe even Noah too. Quite a bit had just taken place and he needed his council to converse with him.

[Cameron Osiris]

More like he wrote the book. Cam was enjoying the effect he had on Josh and would be sure to keep it coming if he could help it. Josh was attractive of course, but Cam wasn’t getting sweaty palms over it, not yet anyways.

“I have, lots of times,” he said, even though it’d only been once. The thrill of jumping out of a plane was enough to boost anyone’s adrenaline. And Cam pretended there wasn’t a giant parachute in his backpack and pretended he was flying instead. Oh yeah, that was the stuff. “No,” Cam said with a laugh, “you put on a parachute and jump out of a plane. More of the prep is for in case the chute doesn’t open,” he said, enticing Josh into the meat of the story. “I skydived... skydove? Anyways, I did it over the Grand Canyon,” he said. Not a lie. “It’s on YouTube,” he said, unable to hide the grin on his face. Oh yeah, he was big on making epic things available for all to see. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” he said with a wink. He couldn’t give away everything and still be interesting now could he?

Josh seemed to be getting the hang of things. Only took him what, five minutes or so? “Oh yeah?” Cam said, making to settle in. “So tell me a story about it then,” he challenged, raising an eyebrow. “Funny, I thought I was on your good side,” he said, musing over the statement as his eyes wandered away from Josh for no particular reason.

“Well I’m her roommate, it shouldn’t be hard to pull something off,” he said, “but she’s gonna get me back you know. Totally unfair that I’m gonna get the wrap for that.” Cameron laughed again and shook his head. Oh Callie, he liked her so much. Enough to prank her of course.

Cameron laughed a little at the shocked expression on Josh’s face. It was the most adorable thing he’d seen in a while. Either direction Josh was thinking of was fine with him. “Seriously dude, lighten up, you’re acting like you haven’t been asked out before.” Cam tried not to think of himself as oh so clever for the pun he snuck in there. “It’d be hard to miss me,” he added like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He stood up then and made for the door, opening it up for Josh. “See you on Friday then.” If it wasn't evident by the smile on his face, Cam was pretty excited about this.