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: Daniel didn’t take his eyes off mine for several moments. It was as though time had paused as we stared at each other. I had no idea how to react, and neither did my body. That was what I got for being curious. Now I was an accessory to a crime I knew nothing about. My throat suddenly became too dry that I started to cough. Daniel brought out a glass and put some water with a few ice cubes in it before handing it over to me. He didn’t take his eyes off me as I downed the entire glass in one go. He didn’t turn back to the meal even after he rinsed the glass and placed it back with the others, just relaxed by the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, still watching me. “Anything else you want to know?” He asked. I shook my head, my chest constricting. He started to laugh. It was hard and loud. “I was joking,” he said when I didn’t laugh back. “I suppose I may have gone too far. I can’t remember the craziest thing I’ve ever done. Can you ask something else?” Whe
Camille: He pursed his lips when I asked the question as if just the sound of Reggie’s name irritated the hell out of him. I mentally prepared myself to hear him say I wouldn’t understand or something of that sort, but surprisingly, he didn’t. “I found out something messed up about him. As much as I would have liked to tell you, he did make me promise not to tell a soul and in return, he’ll stay the heck away from me,” he said and bit into his chicken with so much force, it was as if he wished it was Reggie. “Why are you asking about him, anyway?” I shrugged, eating the last bit of my meal. How would he react if I told him the truth? I mean, telling him Reggie had asked me out would probably anger him so bad that he would end up spitting out the ‘disgusting’ thing his friend had done since it meant Reggie hadn’t kept to his part of the bargain, but on the other hand, I wasn’t sure I was ready to face an angry Daniel. It was nice having him this cool for a change an
Camille: We stared at each other for like ten seconds before we were in each other’s arms, me on his thighs and him straddling me over him. I had no idea who had made the first move, but from how passionately I was kissing him, I had to admit I was sure it was me. We were kissing like hungry people. His lips felt so familiar at this point and as I kissed him, I realized how badly I had missed making out with him. We kissed like lovers who had been separated for years and had just found their way back to each other but with limited time. We only broke the kiss to let my shirt over my head. I raised my hands up to wiggle out of them, impatience and desperation to be as intimately close to him as possible, clouding any sense of insecurity or restraint at him seeing me naked. Daniel’s tongue caressed my breast before swallowing my nipple, while the other hand palmed the second one. I grinded against his slightly raised crotch, a small smile marking my lips when I felt the unmis
Camille: Daniel helped me take off his jeans completely and when he did, I started to wonder what even made me ask to do this. “Is the door locked?” He asked, before standing up to check. I worried when I felt a tingling in my legs when I imagined Lucia bursting into the room and catching me in her brother’s room completely naked. I wasn’t worried about that though. What bothered me was the fact that the tingling was coming from excitement. The idea of being caught doing something I clearly wasn’t supposed to be doing was thrilling. What the heck was wrong with me? As I stared at the thick long pulsing mass of his bare cock, I realized I had no idea what to do with it. He was sitting patiently and watching me, waiting for me to do what I had been begging him to let me do. ‘Ok Cam, you’ve read too much erotica to be clueless right now,’ my subconscious reminded me. In my defense, the erotica I read were never this vivid. This was not my first time seeing a man nak
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
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: “What the hell!” My peaceful sleep was interrupted by the loudest screech I had ever heard. I opened my eyes slightly and looked around. Thankfully, my head didn’t hurt as much as it had the night before, but if she kept screaming like that, the headache would be sure to return. “You? Him? Get up right now!” Lucia continued, her face reddening as the words left her lips. She was livid. If looks could kill, there would have been two bodies on my bed. “Hmm,” Daniel grumbled, half-asleep, as he burrowed his head deeper into my neck. “What the fuck is going on? Cam? You slept with him? Is that it?” She yelled, turning her attention to me. I could feel the warmth from Daniel’s body where he had fallen asleep behind me. His left arm was wedged under my neck and his right arm wrapped around my waist. One of my legs was draped over his and one of his was lazily hanging over mine. He was topless and it appeared as though I was wearing nothing but his shirt which he
Camille: That face. The one I thought I would never see again. He was glaring at me, the lines on his cheeks on the same spots they had been more than a decade ago. No matter how much I kept running, I would never be free from him. “Come here!” He groaned, his voice sounding as close as if I had never even started to run off in the first place. His big burly hands caught my shoulder and spun me around, while he laughed in my face, his cigarette flavored breath choking me. “How many times have I asked you to stop being a pain in the a*s and do as you’re f*cking told?” He yelled, before shoving me forward, and catching me by my hand which was now so tiny, right before I hit the ground. I heard a crack and I was so sure it was from my now dislocated shoulder. I cried, but my cries only seemed to fuel him. He laughed some more, as his minions who looked just like him, joined in. I cried, physical pain and humiliation clouding my brain. I hated it here. I wanted out, no matter what.
Camille: Hearing him say that just confirmed my suspicions. I was confused. Lucia was my best friend. She always meant well for me. Why would she purposely try to worsen the situation between her brother and me? And if she knew I had been in the closet and had said those things just to ensure I heard them, then it made even less sense. Did she really think we would never talk to each other again and figure it out? I felt a pang in my stomach and swallowed. Daniel seemed to notice. “Sorry,” he said softly. I nodded. “Thanks. You can leave now,” I responded, looking at the door. He looked surprised. “But…” he started to say. “You asked me to yell at you, I did. You asked me to tell you all the hurtful things I thought about you and I did. You asked me to ask you questions and I did. I feel much better, thanks, but I don’t need you again,” I said, wrapping the duvet over my stomach. His lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn’t make any move to leave.
Camille: For what felt like eons, time seemed to stand still. Daniel successfully hid his amusement as he watched me process what he had just told me, his eyes trained on nothing else but me. One would wonder why I was reacting so dramatically over being reminded I had my period, but it was much deeper than that. I was being bombarded with several emotions at once, which had begun even before now. Everything was confusing. Just when I thought I had it all under control, he had to go and say something like this to remind me that I was currently not the one calling the shots in my own life. Lucia, my own best friend was lying behind my back for some reason, Reggie was putting so much pressure on me even though we hadn’t started dating yet, school wasn’t going so great, and greatest of all, Daniel who was like hot water one day and cold water the next, constantly reminded me of how unstable I was, that a seemingly harmless truth he had said could elicit such a reaction from m
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