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It had my heart pounding, the way she casually held onto my hand the whole time—never addressing it, but as the lights darkened and the theater fell into a hush, and spotlights shone down illuminating the stage as the curtains drew back, quietly in the darkness, she still held firmly onto my hand. And as the singers’ vocals filled the space with aching for a tragic, beautiful love story, I wondered what it meant to fall in love. What it was supposed to feel like.
It didn’t matter. What mattered was right now, I was sitting next to Cameron, her hand in mine. And I couldn’t afford to overthink a thing.
∞∞∞
It was a magical high once we were heading back out of the theater, riding the emotions of the play until we were sitting there side-by-side in her car, which was when we finally stopped to breathe. The moment settled in over us as we stared straight ahead through the windshield, the parking lot lit only by streetlamps and the light from other people’s cars.
“So?” I said, after a pause that felt like it stretched until the end of time. “Enjoyed your first opera?”
“I did,” she said, not looking at me. I glanced over at her.
“That’s a lot of reservations for a yes.”
A faint smile passed over her lips as she turned the other way. “I don’t know if the opera itself was really the only reason I enjoyed it…”
My throat tightened, and I found myself slipping a hand to her arm, the soft fabric of her dress silky under my fingertips. “Et… pour moi, c’est la même.”
She turned to me with an impossibly sweet smile, her eyes sparkling. “Now you’re playing dirty.”
“Mm. Salesperson’s job.”
She moved fiercely, furiously, across the center console and into me for a kiss, her lips crashing against mine so hard it knocked me breathless. I felt myself reeling, head spinning briefly, but Cameron didn’t let up—she slipped her hands to the back of my head, pulling me into her, kissing me, and I didn’t think anything in the world could ever be so perfect. I moved my hand to the back of her neck, shifting awkwardly in the confines of the car, and I kissed her, not giving a damn how many people were around the car.
We kissed hot and fiery, moving against one another, her lips silken soft slipping between mine and nipping at me with broken gasps in between, grabbing at one another, moving like we’d suffocate without this—I was willing to believe we would. I would, at least. Cameron’s soft gasps and quiet murmurs against my lips, her hands gripping at my hair, my head, my sides, all of me—like a dam had burst—it was a delirious dream I was getting high on and never wanted to come down from, and I felt the loss achingly when she pulled back, even though the heat in her eyes didn’t die down a fraction.
“I can’t shake you, can I?” she said, her voice a husky growl. I shook my head.
“Got a case to close, you know—”
“Oh, stop it,” she laughed. She leaned in again, but she went lower this time, pressing her lips lightly to my neck. “Come to my place,” she whispered, her lips moving against my skin. I nodded without even processing it, the sense of her lips on my neck electric out to my fingertips.
“My place is closer…”
She laughed, low and murky against me. “Good point.”
Sitting next to her in the car for the drive was maddening, feeling like I could explode in the loaded silence that settled between us, Cameron holding the wheel lightly but her gaze resolutely ahead. My heart pounded as we came up towards where the shape of my apartment complex cut lines against the sky, and pulling into the garage under the complex, parking in the open spot across from my car, it left me fluttering down to my core.
I unbuckled and went for the door, but Cameron didn’t let me, catching me and pulling me into a kiss across the center console. We stayed like that for a minute longer, kissing slow and hot in the front seat, before she pulled away with a laugh sparkling in her eyes.
“Sorry,” she said. “Couldn’t help it.”
“I can’t either. But I, uh… don’t want to go any further in a car.”
She laughed. “Not into that?”
“I mean, not this time…”
She stepped out of the car, taking me by the hand as soon as I got out on my side and pulling me towards the elevators. With just the two of us in the elevator, she kissed me again the second the doors shut, her lips pressed into mine, and there was something intensely exciting about seeing our vague reflections in the metal elevator wall—me getting to kiss Cameron. Still, we managed to pull away from each other by the time we got to my floor, and we pretended to be decent all the way down the hall to my apartment, where I slotted the key in the lock and pushed the door open, only to have my heart stop at the sight of Ruth in the kitchen, making herself a cup of tea.
I fumbled, coming to a stop, and Cameron bumped into me from behind. Ruth flushed pink, looking between the two of us with her eyebrows raised.
“Oh… hi, Ruth,” I said, burning with embarrassment and trying to play it cool. “Didn’t think you’d be here right now.”
Ruth cleared her throat. “I’ll, uh, leave you to it.”
Cameron laughed, and really, deeply, I envied how relaxed she was about this. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Ruth. Heard plenty about you.”
Ruth pushed the cup of tea away. Guess it was my tea now. “Look forward to meeting you again under different circumstances sometime soon, Miss Mercier. Have a great night.”
