"Hm," He just grunted, kind of giving her a weird look. He was from Russia. He would know that. He wasn't planning a pleasant getaway. He was planning to go home. In fact, he'd probably pull out his old coats and go out in the winter to avoid the heat so he could spend more time with his family.
"When I left. They were all rather disappointed I left, but I talked to them as much as I could."
"What's that look for? I was merely making a comment." She shakes her head a little as she takes another drink. Russia being nice in July and August is just her opinion. Slowing down would be wise but this is the most relaxed she's been in years so she'd like to enjoy it. At his answer, she nods her head a little. It must be tough for him to be so far away from his family.
"Yeah I know. I'm just saying you can't tell someone who originates from somewhere a touristy time to go. You know what I mean?" He asked over the bottle of bourbon he just picked up and took a sip from. It was too frustrating to fill a cup. He was kind of glad they were able to pick up a topic to talk about. He was running out of cool facts about himself that she didn't know.
She laughs and fondly rolls her eyes at him. "I've only been in July and August so that's about all I had to offer." Leaning back against the throw pillow, she sighs contently. "You know how much I hate the cold. Being in Russia during the winter would kill me." She sighs dramatically. "Russia is actually where I got Kreja and where I died so I have mixed feelings."
Cameron chuckled and looked back at her from where his head was resting, smiling at her fondness. "Well, since you're not dead anymore and Kreja is well and alive, I think your feelings should more or less be good. Russians can breed one hell of a dog," He murmured, before taking another swig of bourbon. "Mmm… this is good-ass bourbon. You wanna try? It's the first drink I had when I came over here."
"My poor baby was left in a dumpster, Cameron, a dumpster. Who could do such a thing to such a precious puppy?" Ava briefly closes her eyes, remembering when that crazy dog came into her life. It's hard not to smile at the thought. She opens her eyes when offered a drink of the bourbon. "Yeah, I'll give it a try." She agrees, reaching out to accept the bottle from him.
"Awww, maybe not then. I dunno, we love our puppies, Ava," Cameron hummed wisely as he forked over the bottle, which was already halfway empty. When she tried it, it had a smoky bite to it, but was also really smooth on the tongue.
"Gimmie gimmie gimmie. Tell me more of how you met Kreja," He prompted as he made grabby hands for the alcohol.
"No puppies deserve that. My sweet little darling angel was frozen and half starved. I would kill the people who did that to him if I ever found him," Ava huffs quietly as she takes a swig of the bourbon. "Damn, this is good." Before he can think of taking it back, she takes another drink. "Sharing is caring." She sticks her tongue out at him as she hands the bottle back. "This is a long story so prepare yourself."
Cameron clicked his tongue and took a large mouthful of the alcohol, humming as he drooped off the couch to look at her better, hanging his head. "Isn't it? Ughhh I want more…" Even though the bottle was still full. He set it down after another big mouthful, grinning dorkily as he hung upside down.
"Don't stop yourself. Tell me alllllll about it."
Ava laughs when he suddenly decides to hang upside down off of the couch. Tipsy just won't work anymore. "I broke out of the hospital, right? There were a bunch of doctors and nurses and shit chasing after me but I didn't wanna be caught. I threw myself into the nearest alleyway to hide from those assholes. That's when I heard the whimpering. Once those fuckers were gone, I threw open the dumpster and looked through it. A little ball of fluff was hiding in some bags of trash. I pulled him out, stuffed him into my jacket, and ran. When I finally got somewhere safe, I took him out and checked to make sure that he was okay. The little shit bit my nose and that's when I knew that I was keeping him."
Cameron started laughing his hearty Russian man laugh at the end of the story, waving a large hand in her direction. "Nice end, there, Ava. What did you do after he bit you? You just decided he was gonna be yours forever?" His tipsy self had decided the whole story was too amusing not to ask for more stories from her. "Also, you should tell me more about his puppyhood. I bet it was a wild ass ride."
“I flicked his nose and told him not to be a little shit. He only seemed to agree once I gave him the only food I had on me, a single can of spam.” Ava laughs, laying down on the chair and stretching out. “I was honestly just going to drop him off at the shelter but even at that age he had the cutest damn begging face.” She caved quickly after that. “Despite his idiotic behavior, Kreja is super smart. He knows commands in Russian, Croatian, and English. And you’re right, he was a crazy puppy. Do you want to hear about the time he caused an entire boat full of people to just jump overboard?”
"Wait really??" Cameron sat up and looked around, his hair all frizzed out again. Then he seemed to remember the pups were sleeping and leaned back down. "Попробую позже," He mumbled before looking back up at her.
"Hell yeah I do! Sounds really great."
“Yep! He’s really smart!” Ava nods her head, super proud of her dog. “Он по-прежнему просто делает то, что хочет,” She warns, knowing that Kreja might not listen. “Okay, we were heading out of the city and needed a ride. This boat was docked at the harbor and I managed to pay my way onto it. I didn’t mention Kreja. Come night time, everyone is wandering around on the deck. Kreja managed to skip out of the room. All hell broke loose. He ran around, destroying everything. The other people were flipping the hell out since they could only see his eyes and flashes of fur. To make matters worse, he had just killed a rat so there was blood everywhere. They thought he was a demon or something so they abandoned the boat.”
"If he is smart yet still does what he wants, then that is just… hm." He paused to listen with amusement, smiling at her and shaking his head.
"So you made people convinced your young dog was a demon and just let him run around. That is incredible. I don't have interesting stories like that. Well, I mean, sort of. But not about dogs." He grabbed up his bourbon and chugged some more down.
“It’s called being stubborn. He’s smart as hell but he’s just so damn stubborn. Training him was a real bitch. The only time he’s guaranteed to behave and listen is on a mission.” She grabs the near empty bottle of vodka and polishes it off. “Oh, that was one of the tamer stories.” There are a lot that just seem too crazy to be true. “Tell me one of your stories,” She requests, sitting up a little.
"Tamer." He rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Oh, my stories? Most of mine are super fuckin' raunchy but I'll tell some. So there was this guy who came in totally fucking toned to camp. And Ста́рший сержа́нт was all like, okay do some rounds, do стрельба practice and stuff, and he's sitting there putting his gun together, but he's trying to put his журнал in his морда, so Ста́рший сержа́нт comes over and demands what he's doing and the guy, once he gives his answer, gets himself fucking shot by the same guy! It was great."
She sits up straight, her eyes widening. “No way!” She exclaims, utterly shocked that someone could be so stupid. “Tell me another one.” If something like this could happen even once then there’s bound to be another story like it. “By the way, that was not raunchy.” Not by her standards at least.
Cameron waved his legs on the couch, making his upper body slide and slowly touch the ground. He started rambling in loosely put together Russian as he tried to think of a story. Suddenly he came up of one when he was at boot camp (he was still speaking Russian), and they were marching and practicing firing, when a fighter drone landed messily nearby and killed twelve people. But then it turned out it was empty! He spoke of the suspicion behind it and how every small soldier got questioned for it, but it was no one in the Russian core.
Ava is more than happy to listen to his ramblings and then to his story. About halfway through it, she ditches the chair and flops down on the floor. Once the story is over, she just studies him for a long while. “Can I touch your hair?” It’s a random question and she never would have asked had she not been so reckless with her drinking.
"My hair?" He asked her, his eyes barely focusing on her at her question. "Oh, ya, sure, but I ain't moving." His goofy grin returned to his face as he finished off his bourbon, humming a song happily, waving his head back and forth on the floor, looking up at his legs and feet in the air. "This is great. I like getting drunk with people. It's so nice."
With his permission, she scoots over to him and reaches out to touch his hair. “It’s so soft!” She gaps, petting him like she’d pet a dog. The curls seem to intrigue her as she runs her fingers through them. “We are not drunk.” Her words are starting to slur. It’s gotten to be very late and she’s much too drunk to walk home so she’ll either have to try to figure out her phone and order an Uber or she’s crashing here.
"Yes I take much care of it. Lots conditioner and stuff you know," He hummed rather drunkenly, smiling like a dork as he grinned up at her. "Hey but I think you should stay here in case we are you know?" His legs bobbed. "We can have like, маринованный сок and go get something to eat," He hummed, leaning his head back in her hands. It felt good to his stupid drunk self.
She hums quietly in response as she turns her focus to braiding and unbraiding little sections of his hair. “I wish that I had your curls,” She murmurs quietly. It would be a lie if she said she wasn’t even a little jealous of his curly hair. At his suggestion, she looks down at his face and just beams at him. “It’ll be a sleepover!” She exclaims with glee, clearly delighted by this.
Cameron watched her braid with his eyebrows raised a little. "I like my curls, and I also like this braiding thing, it feels very nice," He complimented. His face broke out in a stupid grin with her, his eyes reflecting her glee.
"Yess!! We can make a pillow fort again!!" He added on, his voice up an octave with excitement.