Camille: By Sunday evening, I was already feeling ten times better. Only then did Lucia truly believe that my illness had been indirectly caused by her brother’s actions. One of the perks of feeling better was the fact that I could finally read my erotica in peace. However, after hours of doing nothing but read, my stomach began to rumble out of hunger. I was tired of eating cereal at this point, and since the pasta I had prepared the day before was long gone at this point, I knew I had to prepare something else. Sighing, I got up from my cozy bed and walked down to the door. Holding the door handle, I didn’t move another inch for a few seconds. Lucia had gone out to see her new boyfriend, a nursing student she had met at the hospital, so that meant I was stuck with Daniel all alone until she returned. Being locked up in my room gave me temporary rest from him, and I was reluctant to give that up. I put headphones on my ears like I had learned, to ignore him even if
Camille: I managed to gobble down the food that had gotten stuck in my throat as I reflexively moved away from him. “I didn’t ask you to come in,” I said, immediately regretting why I hadn’t just locked my door like I always did right after I got in. He looked at me like he didn’t understand what I was saying. “Your door was open. It’s been locked for days now so I assumed it was an invitation,” he said with a shrug as he made himself more comfortable on my bed. “So what are we watching?” I turned off my phone and made it lie face down on the bed. “What is this about? What game are you trying to play here?” I asked him straight to the point, with my arms crossed over my chest. If he thought he could just waltz in here and pretend like we’ve been buddies ever since, then he was completely wrong. He took a bite of his food and hummed. “Just when I thought you couldn’t possibly get any better,” he said as he savored the taste of the food. I felt a blush color
Camille: Words could not describe how embarrassed I felt. The way Lucia kept looking down at me with disappointment only made matters worse. What was my excuse? I wasn’t drunk. What then was my excuse for resting on her brother’s shoulder while he touched me, just a day after she had expressly warned me to steer clear of him. I suddenly felt so dirty, even without having to look at her. No wonder he didn’t take me seriously. Even after all the hurtful things he had said countlessly to me, I still managed to let myself be putty in his hands. My food was halfway gone, but I no longer had an appetite for it. I placed it on the chair Daniel had vacated, before laying on the bed and covering myself with the duvet, just to protect myself from her silent but deadly glare. She didn’t let me do that. “What is the meaning of this?” She asked, lifting the top of the blanket away from my face. “How did you get in?” I asked, avoiding her eyes. What was it with locked doors today?
Camille: On Monday morning, I felt much better. I dressed up for school early enough and left without seeing anyone. Fortunately, Daniel didn’t come out throughout the time I had my breakfast, the leftover food from yesterday, and I was thankful for it. When the third professor for the day didn’t show up, I got busy with reading one of the novels for my Romantic literature course. Even though I had read it before, I still read it again to refresh my memory. At least it was a well-deserved break from erotica. Apparently, that genre wasn’t doing me any good lately. “Hey,” a male voice said to me and I recoiled inwardly. I ignored the voice as well as his shadow that was blocking my line of sight. I hoped he would just walk away if I ignored him long enough, but unfortunately, he didn’t. “Hi,” he said again, pulling an empty seat in front of my desk. I wished I could just disappear. “Hello Ezekiel,” I said with clear irritation as I dropped the book I had been reading. “
Camille: Warning bells went off in my head when he said that. “You’ve been waiting for me?” I repeated, watching him closely. “Well, yeah,” he said with furrowed brows. “Why do you look so surprised?” “Oh it’s just uh…” I lost my trail of thought when he started moving toward me. “It’s what?” He asked with a smirk as he moved, making me step back until my back hit a wall. He was just a few inches away from me at that point, his hand over my head, caging me while his eyes bore on my lips. “I didn’t uh…” I said and stopped, getting distracted by what was in front of me. We were so close that I could almost see the pores on his face. His chest was directly in my line of sight, but I forced myself to look up at his equally handsome face instead. “We weren’t quite finished yesterday, were we?” He asked, slowly touching the tip of my ear with his other hand. I couldn’t understand what was happening to me. Why was I getting so turned on from my ears being touched?
Camille: After school the next day, I made my way to a store to buy earplugs. I was tired of deafening my ears every night with noise canceling headphones because of my roommate’s brother. If Daniel planned to bring more girls over, I would have to find a better way to block my ears every night since his room was right next to mine. I arrived ten minutes late to the bookstore and snuck in from the back just in case Miss Winston caught me and decided to lecture me. However, that backfired, because when I made it to the cashier counter, she was already standing there with Reggie, apparently waiting for me. “My favorite employee is here,” she squealed when she saw me and came to hug me. I tensed a little, wondering why she was so excited to see me. “You remember Reggie, don’t you?” She asked, pointing at her son. He waved at me with a smile on his face. “Hi.” “Hey,” I responded, unable to meet his gaze for some reason. “Reggie just came over and he won’t stop talki
Camille: When Daniel yelled at me to get in, the guilt I had felt disappeared immediately. What right did he have to yell at me? Was I his responsibility? He was the last person to lecture me on the right way to behave. “Don’t raise your voice at me,” I said in a small but steady voice. I staggered a little, but fortunately, Reggie held me. Daniel’s eyes darkened with rage. “You’re drunk,” he accused me. “You’re fucking drunk.” “And what’s that to you?” I asked, equally raising my voice. “You get drunk everyday and you and your drunk disgusting friends mess up my house. If anyone should yell at me for this, it shouldn’t be you.” Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t. He leaned against the door and crossed his arm, turning his gaze on Reggie. “Get in,” he repeated to me, still looking at Reggie. “Don’t tell me what to do,” I slurred. “If you don’t get in in ten seconds, get ready to sleep outside,” he warned me. “What the hell is wrong with y
Camille: When I woke up the next morning, I felt like shit. It felt like someone was throwing the loudest party in my head. It was already bright so I knew it was morning. As I sat up, I began to remember some of the events from last night. I remembered coming back with Reggie and being yelled at by Daniel. I frowned. However, I also recalled him rubbing my back and holding my hair while I threw up. He also gave me some water and a drug that was supposed to help with my condition. I shuddered. At least I was still alive so that meant he hadn’t poisoned me. This was not my first time being hungover, but for some reason, this one was the toughest one I’d ever dealt with. I couldn’t miss school again. Groaning, I picked myself off the bed and managed to change my clothes and tie my towel around my chest. My legs still felt wobbly, but at least it was not as bad as yesterday. There was a knock on my door and I hesitated before opening it. “Hey,” Daniel said, coming i
Camille: “You don’t have to watch me the whole time I eat. I’m not judging your meal. I’m just hungry,” I said sharply. I was nervous, but I wasn’t about to let him meander back into my life like he always did after hurting me. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake for the fifth time in a row. “Sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. He started to eat his meal instead. He was silent until I finished my meal and all he did was look at me for a while, before going back to eating his own meal. Was I crazy for hating the fact that he listened to me and kept to himself? I mean, it wasn’t my fault. I had nothing else to do. I had no desire to go through my phone or read and it was still too early for me to sleep. A part of me had become accustomed to listening to the stupid things he said and reacting to them that I had even began to indirectly yearn for them. No matter how messed up that sounded. “I want more,” I said, giving him my plate. “Oh,” he said and happily
Camille: “I think I should be going now,” I said, getting up. Reggie pulled me back. “So soon?” I showed him the time on my phone. “It’s already after six,” I said. “I better get going. I have to prepare for my other tests at home.” He frowned. “Why can’t you just read at my place instead? It’ll be more convenient for you to be honest.” “I just…I’m just used to my room,” I explained, wishing he would just let me go. I was really tired of being here. I just wanted to be alone. “You don’t even close from work till eight in the evening and you never get home until after eight. Why don’t you just stay here till then?” Why was he making this difficult? “Miss Winston gave me the day off so why don’t I make use of it…?” “She gave you the day off so you could spend it with me,” he said abruptly, shocking me. “Sorry,” he apologized when he saw my expression. “I just really want to spend some time with you.” “We have all the time in the world,” I said,
Camille: I was breathing fast. This was too much. Reggie was glaring at me, obviously mad that I had answered Daniel’s call in front of him, or was it because he realized I had his number? Daniel’s voice sounded equally mad on the phone. Wait a minute. Neither of them had any right to be mad at me. I was the one who was having a bad day and yet somehow without being in each other’s presence, both of them had managed to make it about them. I frowned. “What kind of question is that?” I snapped at Daniel over the phone. “What’s your business with where I am?” There was silence. I held the phone with both hands, slightly shaking, but I didn’t take back my words. I heard him sigh over the phone. “Just be careful,” he said and hung up. “What was that?” Reggie asked, taking the phone from me and growing when he saw the call was already ended. “I was talking to Daniel,” I said. “That much was clear. What did he want?” I stared at him. “I don’t think that’
Camille: At school, there was no sign of Carla anywhere. She still hadn’t been regular in school for the past few weeks no matter how often I begged her to come , but I was sure that my friend would come to her senses and at least show up when we had a test. We had a free period just before the test, so everyone was studying seriously, since we had been told beforehand that it was going to be worth over fifty percent of our total score. Frantically, I dialed my friend, Carla’s number over and over again but got no response. Was she seriously going to dump her education because of that stupid boyfriend of hers who clearly didn’t even like her? I mean, what kind of boyfriend uploads dirty pictures of the girl he claims to love just to spite her because they had some silly argument? “Hey,” Ezekiel, the most annoying boy in my class said to me, before pulling his seat closer to mine. “Wanna study together like old times? With me on your side, you could smash this.” “Thanks,”I s
Camille: That Tuesday morning, all I wanted to do was throw myself against my bed and sleep until the next day. This would be the third night of sleep Daniel had stolen from me because of another one of his stupid parties. Staying at Reggie’s hadn’t been all that bad, but I hadn’t been able to sleep there either for reasons I was yet to revisit. When I heard yelling from the living room, I was not the least bit surprised. When Reggie insisted to ride with me up the elevator to my apartment after dropping me off in his car that morning, I had known that if they eventually met face to face, there would be a clash. I wished they would just stop it already. What pissed me off the most about their sudden resentment for each other was the fact that neither of them would tell me the reason behind it. They had been great friends at the beginning and abruptly started hating each other. No matter how much I had pressured Reggie the night before, he still wouldn’t tell me what had to
Daniel: Sometimes, I tell myself the truth. I’m really childish. Like today. Why on earth did I throw a party last night? I hadn’t even enjoyed it. I just spent the whole time taking shots and watching the door like a hawk when I wasn’t drinking, waiting for her to come in and yell at me for throwing the party. Turns out that today out of all days, she didn’t even show up. Why the hell do I care? And why on earth am I acting like an idiot? “Hi, baby,” the girl whose face and voice I don’t recognize said sleepily beside me and wrapped her arm around me. I flung her arm over my shoulder and climbed out of the bed. “Hey,” she called out, her face falling as she struggled to cover her naked body with the duvet. “What’s wrong? I thought we had something special.” My head was pounding so hard from my hangover, and the last thing I wanted to do was give this random woman who I didn’t even remember a pep talk about why she shouldn’t still be in my bed till this mo
Camille: “This is the second room. It hasn’t been used in a while, so…” Reggie said, scratching the back of his neck. He didn’t look at me while he spoke, but kept rummaging and rearranging anything he could get his hands on around the room. “It’s fine,” I assured him, finding his nervousness cute. “It’s nice. I honestly don’t mind a little dust just as long as it’s not a party.” He nodded, clearly relieved. “Will you like something to eat?” He asked, holding my hand and leading me to where I presumed was the kitchen even though I hadn’t responded yet. “I ordered Chinese.” I rarely ever ate food I didn’t prepare myself, but the food ended up being better than I expected. “How is it?” Reggie asked. “It’s great,” I said honestly. Besides wanting to be as far away from Daniel as possible, I had come here because I wanted to get certain questions answered. However, as we ate in silence, I couldn’t think of a way to bring them up. “How has work been?” He as
Camille: Although I was extremely angry, I still had to tiptoe carefully into the bathroom. I had barely got in when Lucia came out of the kitchen with her food. “Cam,” she called out to me. “Where have you been? I’ve been searching all over for you. I even called your name. I thought you went out.” “Oh,” I said with a nervous laugh and prayed my voice wouldn’t betray me. “I was in the bathroom with my head…” I almost mentioned my headphones when I remembered she had seen them in Daniel’s room. If I completed my sentence, she would know I had been in his room. “…my head in this new book I was reading online. It’s so interesting. It’s about a girl who gets betrayed by her best friend and the man she loves but finds a man that’s like a hundred times better…” I was rambling, but it was better than nothing. Lucia rolled her eyes, already bored of my story. At least, she believed me. “Ugh. Isn’t that like the storyline of every erotica you read?” She asked, ushering me
Camille: If Lucia opened that door, I would be done for. I was naked in her brother’s closet. There was no other explanation for that other than the obvious. Plus I could tell that Daniel was mad at me. Even if his sister caught me in here, I would be getting no help from him. “Lucia, wait,” he said, pulling her away from the closet right before she could open it. “Wait a minute,” she said, staring at a spot on the bed. “Aren’t those Cam’s headphones?” My eyes popped open. How could I have been dumb to leave them out there? Ugh. I was done for. “Yeah, I asked her for them,” Daniel said, but it wasn’t a very convincing lie. “And she gave them to you?” Lucia asked in a way that showed him she didn’t believe him at all. “Why’s that so hard to believe? We’ve gotten pretty close recently. That’s why it’s strange that she talked about me leaving this morning. You can help me give them to her when she comes back,” he said offhandedly. Now, that was a little more believ