PARTICULAR TASTE

CHAPTER SIX - THE BET IS OVER

She couldn't help but draw a parallel between Benny and Shawn. Friends. Her best friends. Both of them had feelings for her. Both of them she cared about, a lot. But only one of them made her want to throw off her clothes and leap on top of him, even with her mother upstairs. Only one of them made her heart feel like it had grown five times as big. Only one of them made her lips feel like they were on fire where he had kissed her. And yet, the lesson was the same. Friends needed to stay friends. Kissing, other stuff, it would just ruin their friendship, and the fear of losing him as a friend was even bigger than this crazy desire. Benny had been right, her Mom had been right, friends should stay friends, otherwise one or both of them would end up hurt.

"Shawn," she began, all the words laid out in her mind, ready to pour out.

"Yes?" he asked and she realised he must have scooted a little closer. How had he done that? His thigh was suddenly pressed against hers and he took her hand in his. His hand with it's swallow tattoo was large and firm, her own disappeared within it.

"I..." she croaked, suddenly unable to think of a single thing she had planned to say. He reached out and tucked a hair behind her ear.

"I know," he said so softly she could hardly hear him. "We're friends, right? We don't want to ruin that."

"That's right," she breathed, relieved. He moved his head so he was so close his breath touched her face.

"If you're sure that's what you want," he almost whispered.

"It is..." she croaked. I think. Am I being stupid? I've crushed on him for years, and he obviously felt the same way, what was wrong with letting them see where the feelings took them? But... "I don't want to lose you, you're my best friend."

"You'll never lose me, honey, no matter what happens," he said. "I promise."

No matter what? Even this? She pulled his head down and kissed him. It was only meant to be a quick kiss. Sure, her inner voice laughed. Yet, once their mouths fused it was impossible to stop. His hands slid around her waist, burning the bare skin there, causing goosebumps to rise all over. Her nipples were standing out through the thin t-shirt she wore and now she was held tight against him he must feel them. She pulled away, gasping, and he slid his lips down her throat to the hollow where her shoulder began. His hands moved up, under the t-shirt and she realised she wanted nothing more in the world than his hands on her breasts, but her Mama was upstairs and this was wrong, so wrong. It would ruin things forever! She slowly pulled away, before things could go any further. They were both breathing raggedly. He didn't say sorry this time, after all she had started it.

"I should go," he said, in a strained tone. She nodded, unable to speak, crossing her arms over her chest. He stood. "I'll let myself out." He started to walk to the door then turned.

"You know, neither of us won the bet, that means we have to go to the Met Gala together. It's in three weeks."

He was right, the bet was over.

"OK then," she whispered, and watched the very attractive rear view of him departing her house. She sat still for a little while, catching her breath, trying to make sense of her thoughts and feelings, then stood and locked up after him before returning to her room. She wasn't quite sure what had just happened, but a shiver of excitement ran down her back and she figured she would soon find out.

***

Making a music video was a lot of fun, but the director wanted to film it out of town, and so all together Shawn was up in Northern California for almost a week. When he got back, Camila was deep into dance rehearsals for an upcoming award show and then he went into band rehearsals for his own performance. But they texted. It started the day after the night at her house when everything had changed. Yeah, they had decided they were just going to stay friends, that nothing would change, but it HAD changed and there was nothing they could do to make it go backwards.