Camille: “I…I…” I stammered, unsure of exactly what to say. Was I supposed to apologize for my status? “Are you a freaking virgin?” He asked me in a sharper tone this time, pulling every part of his body away from me. “I am…” I finally answered. “Shit,” he groaned before running his hand through his hair. “And you never seemed it fit to tell me before anything happened?” I studied his face which was a mix of anger, frustration and disappointment. I still didn’t understand why finding out I had never had sex would elicit such reaction from him. “I didn’t think it mattered,” I said. “You didn’t think it mattered? Seriously?” He snapped, standing up from where he had been kneeling to eat me out. “Tell me. What did you think was going to happen?” To be honest, I didn’t fully understand why he was making such a big deal about this. What did it matter if he was the first or not? I was tired of waiting to make it special. Since when did he make a distinction about who
Camille: “Daniel, just leave me alone,” I screamed before pulling away from the man who had grabbed me by my shoulder. I felt dumb. After my tactical escape, he had still managed to find me out here. It didn’t matter though. I wasn’t going down without a fight. I rolled my eyes as I walked away, waiting for him to apologize for what he had done to me. He rarely did, but recently, he had become more sensitive to my feelings. A part of me was hoping this would happen. A part of me had left the apartment, hoping he would come after me, but I was too proud to admit that. When the man pulled me back so roughly, I swear I heard my wrist crack. My eyes widened as I looked very well at him, realizing he wasn’t Daniel. This man was way bigger and scarier. I couldn’t make out his face in the dark, but all I saw was the faint glow coming from a stick in his mouth, a cigarette, and the stench I had assumed was coming from the alleyway, but was actually from this man. My heart started to po
Camille: Daniel held my hand all the way back through the tunnel. I didn’t breathe until I was back inside our apartment building. My entire body was shaking, as I imagined the several horrific things that crazy man in the alley could have done to me if Daniel hadn’t shown up when he did. Daniel let me go once we were in the elevator, but immediately started turning me around and checking for any signs of violence on my body. “Did he hurt you?” He asked with a voice that was a mix of tenderness and anger. “Not physically,” I answered, not trying to stop him when he raised my cheek slightly to check for any bruises on my neck. When he was sure I was in good condition, he finally let out a deep breath and relaxed against the wall. The rest of the ride went on in silence until we got to our floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” He asked me when we got out. I stood awkwardly by his side with my head facing the floor and my hand holding my elbow as he unlocked the d
Camille: If it had been Daniel’s intention to make me speechless, he had succeeded. My knees immediately felt weak and my eyes were screwed shut. As if he hadn’t tormented me enough, he remained in the same position, his lips by my ear, but the rest of his body wasn’t touching any bit of mine. “Is that why you went on this little adventure?” He asked. “Did you run out because you knew I’d come after you?” I crossed my arms over my chest, with my closed eyes facing the floor, and tried to steady my breathing. I couldn’t walk away. He would simply pull me back and force me to listen to this speech of his. I didn’t know where he was going with this. At least he had moved on from talking about our little make out session… “I want to go to bed now,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around myself. Something about him by my side made me really self-conscious. Silence. I could imagine him watching me, but I couldn’t imagine the thoughts going on in his head while he did.
Camille: “You look so beautiful,” Reggie said when he saw me. I smiled as I slid into the seat in front of him, but it didn’t quite reach my eyes. I had just put on an old Jean dress that wasn’t even normally appropriate for a ‘date’, so I knew his compliment was just his way of buttering me up. “Thanks,” I said off-handedly, lifting the menu that was on the table and glancing through it. “So how have you been?” He asked. “Fine,” I replied without looking up. “Okay…” he muttered. At that time, the waiter got to our table and asked us if we had made a decision on what to eat. I gave him my order and so did Reggie. After he left, I dropped the menu and started to scroll through my phone. From the corner of my eye, I saw him fidget with his hands and look around, clearly unsettled by how uninterested I was acting around him. That had been my intention and I was glad it was taking place. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said finally, hitting the nail on the head. “I shouldn
Camille: As I walked home that evening, I kept asking myself the same question. ‘Why did I tell Reggie I liked him?’ I mean, I kind of did like him, but still, telling him outrightly that I did, and then taking his hands in mine had made me seem too desperate, which was far from what I was. I still remember the smile he had given me as he squeezed my hands back. It was an assured smile, like he was a hundred percent certain we were now a couple. I felt a chill run down my spine. Why exactly did I feel so weird? I didn’t want to say it, but I knew why. It wasn’t the countless excuses I had given myself about why I couldn’t go out with Reggie; like how awkward it would be to have to meet Miss Winston’s knowing glances each time I came to work and having to answer the questions I knew she would definitely ask about me going out with her son. It wasn’t because I wasn’t completely sure how I felt with him either. I mean, I had almost forgotten all about him after he
Camille: Eons seemed to pass since Lucia asked me that question. My eyelids fluttered as the meaning of her question settled on me, and slowly, a scowl resembling Daniel’s covered my face. “I’m not even going to dignify that stupid question of yours with a response,” I said quietly, with a voice that was laden with a lot of anger. I couldn’t believe she would just ask me if I was sleeping with Daniel. “Sorry, I just…” she mused, looking down. “I don’t know why I said that.” I relaxed a little. She had just been making a speculation. She didn’t know for sure that we had come really close. I switched off the cooking stove completely and led her to sit on the stool while I squatted next to her, making her feel I was no longer mad at her but really wanted to help. “What’s really going on with the two of you?” I asked her, deeply concerned. She stared at me for some moments without speaking, something she had started to do that pissed me off. “I really wish I coul
Camille: Breathe. Just breathe. Why did I always have to make things so obvious? Daniel could manage to appear stoic and in complete control of his emotions, constantly revealing his ability to change from really angry to playful at will, but here I was, standing like an open book with my mouth agape just because he was standing in front of me. I cleared my throat and crossed my arms over my chest, hoping I looked as unperturbed as he easily did. “You flatter yourself,” I mused. “I wasn’t talking to you.” That seemed to interest him. He took one more step forward; an exaggerated movement that brought him right in front of me. It took everything in me not to cower and step back. I could feel the warmth of his bare chest so close to me, and even though I kept my eyes glued to his gray ones, it was hard to concentrate because all I could breathe in was him. “Who were you talking to then? Alone in this kitchen with Lucia away in her room,” he muttered, squinting like
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