Grrr, why does he have to be so infuriating? I walk out to the front and find Dani starting the coffee. “That was fast.” She says, smiling wide.
“That was… that was… you know what that was, a mistake.”
“It didn’t look like a mistake from where I was standing. That man has had the hots for you since before ninth grade, and I don’t know if he’s ever stopped.”
Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. “No, he hasn’t.”
“You sure about that?” She asks before going to the back.
I think about that summer night out on the docks. We had been hanging out for weeks, just the two of us, and I had a major crush on him. He kissed me, and at first, it was perfect, then he pushed for more, and it scared the crap out of me. When he tried kissing me again, I was pissed that he wasn’t listening. I pushed him away and walked home, but not before he had to dig the sword in a little deeper by blaming what happened on me.
I was so angry. I didn’t want to see him, and more than anything, I was hurt that he had turned something so special into something ugly. I refused to see him when he came to the house, and when school started, things went from bad to worse. He walked into the same homeroom I was in and glared at me the whole time.
He has been an epic jerk ever since that night. I have wondered what he would have said if I would have given him the chance to explain. Could things have been different if we had both reacted differently?
When seven-thirty rolls around and Cam doesn’t come walking into the shop like usual, I start to worry. Is he okay? Did he get hurt? Did he find Brent and something happened?
Some teenagers walk into the shop laughing and goofing off as they order their morning coffee and take a seat at one of the tables. The scene brings me back to a night years ago that should have gone a lot differently.
“Monroe! Girl, what is your fine ass doing here?”
“Give it a rest, Cam. Go find your friends, and I’ll stick to mine.”
Cam holds his hands up dramatically in front of his chest. “Truce?” He asks, tilting his head to the side adorably.
I shake my head and sigh. “Fine. Truce.”
“Good, come dance with me,” Cam says, grabbing my hand and pulling me onto the dance floor. He starts dancing, if you want to call it that, doing moves only our parents would know.
“Are you drunk?” I ask.
“No,” he says while shaking his head up and down.
Oh goodness. “Cam, let’s go get you a bottle of water. How much have you had to drink tonight?”
“You’re so beautiful, Monroe. I don’t tell you that enough.” He slurs as he pulls me towards him then spins me around.
I can’t help but laugh at him. At one point, we were the best of friends, and just for a moment, it feels like that again. I know tomorrow we’ll go back to hating each other, but for now, I’ll treasure this short reprieve.
For the next couple of songs, we dance like no one is watching and sing along to the songs that are played. Cam keeps bumping into people and saying sorry, and I can’t help how good it feels to just be normal for once. This is my first party, and I only came because my friend wanted to go and needed someone to go with her. I don’t care what these people think of me, because in another month, I’ll be going to the University of Georgia, and all of these assholes will be a distant memory.
Everything is going awesome until Cam stops dancing and throws up everywhere, but mostly on me. He runs off, saying he’s sorry and leaves me in the middle of the living room with people from my high school staring at me in shock.
“You know he planned this, right?” Justin says, walking over with his arm around Mindy’s shoulders.
“What are you talking about?”
“No one wants you here. Not even your friend wants you here, look,” Mindy says, pointing at my friend who’s standing in the corner of the room looking at me with wide eyes. “The only reason you’re here is that we told her to ask you to come.”
“Shut the hell up, Mindy,” I say, making my way to the bathroom to clean myself up.
“No one has ever wanted you here, especially Cam. Did he finally prove it? You came back to school day after day and ruined everything, tainting everyone around you. Leave! So that we can enjoy the rest of our senior year without you making it worse!” Mindy screams.
I look around at the crowd of people who have gathered. Everyone’s eyes are one me. Is this how they really feel? I don’t know if Cam planned to get me here tonight, and I wouldn’t think my friend would agree to this. The fact that no one is telling Mindy to shut up and everyone is letting her tear at me is the last straw. I’ve put up with so much shit over the last four years, and I’m done. “I’m fucking done. You want me gone, fine.” I say as the first tear falls. I run out of there as fast as I can, not wanting them to see me cry. They don’t get that part of me. I’m halfway out the door when I hear Cam call my name, but I keep running.
Chapter Six
Cam
On my way to see Monroe this morning, I get held up in a minor traffic accident. By the time I make it to Brew for You at nine-thirty, she’s nowhere to be found. I ask Dani if she’s seen her, but she says she ran out of there around eight and hasn’t seen her since. I run out of there and head to her house, but her car isn’t there. I drive around town for over an hour looking for her but never find her. It finally dawns on me where I might find her.
“You shouldn’t be alone right now,” I say, sitting down beside her on the dock.
Monroe looks over at me and rolls her eyes. “Yeah, well, I needed a breather.”
“From what?”
“Life?” She laughs.
“Did he contact you?”
She shakes her head, no. “Oddly enough, I haven’t heard from him, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t.”
“You want to talk about what sent you running?”
“Not really.”
She’s quiet for a while until she finally clears her throat. “Do you remember that party?”
“Kind of… bits and pieces are blurry while other parts stand out. I had a lot to drink that night.”
She laughs. “Yeah, you were pretty lit.”
“I’m sorry I threw up on you. I think all that moving around combined with the drinking did me in. I remember going to get a rag to clean you up, and when I came back, you were running out the door crying.”
“Is that all you remember?”
“Pretty much. Everything after that is blurry. Why?”
“I didn’t care that you got sick. I mean, I cared because that was gross, and I felt bad for you, but shit happens, you know.”
“So why did you leave?”
She studies me for a while, and I can tell she’s trying to figure out what to say. “Justin set his attack bitch on me.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “She was a real bitch. You know they got married a year after high school because she got pregnant. He’s a truck driver now and is rarely home, and she’s constantly having affairs. No one talks about it, but everyone knows.”
Monroe’s eyes get wide as saucers. “Nooo,” she says, shocked.