Burnt Lies

Pinky Promise

Cameron

Alara walked out of the office a exasperated expression on her face and her phone pressed against her cheek, "Yeah, just forget about what I said, I'll explain it later, bye,"

She hung up and slipped her phone in her pocket. 

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Oh, just Echo he was wandering where I ran off to, and to be fair is a little annoyed at me because he was supposed to keep me at the base, but that didn't really work out."

"He has a right to be concerned because if anything happened to you it would be his neck on the line."

"Well," she gave me a giddy smile whilst linking her arm with mine, "It's good I'm fine."

"It must be a record for you to be fine for this long," I deadpanned. 

She swatted my shoulder lightly, "Hey, that's mean," she scrunched up her nose to emphasise her feigned hurt. 

"What did my father want with you?" I posed the question gently as I remembered the look on her face when she had stormed in, full of resolve and a little pinch of fear. 

She avoided my gaze when she spoke, "Oh nothing, just explaining how he wanted to move the wedding up," after a moments pause she added, "For extra protection."

"Did he want to speak to me again?"

"Oh no, he just said to tell you that the wedding is going to be in 2 weeks now," she explained softly her eyes drawn back to me. 

I stopped her for a moment turning to face her and really assessing her features, "And how do you feel about that?"

"Does it matter," she quipped her voice light and airy but there was an undercurrent of something not so dissimilar to sadness. 

My palm cupped her cheek, gently caressing it with the pad of my thumb, her eyes drifted to my hand before fixating back on my eyes, "Of course it matters."

Her eyes fluttered close for a singular moment as she leaned into my touch, "Cameron...I-" she stuttered a little opening her eyes I could see the sheen of tears. A singular tear dripped down her face and landed on the back of my hand. 

"Alara, what's wrong?" my voice was quiet as though I was afraid to scare her. I had never been this gentle with anyone else, it was a side of me that only she could bring out and that only she could witness. 

"Cameron, do you," she sighed heavily, shrinking away from my touch but not able to bring herself to break the connection, "Do you ever regret it? Do you ever think that you could've found someone that you loved instead of being stuck in a marriage with me?"

The words cut deeper than I had expected, a feeling of pure hurt rising to the surface, "Darling, do you really think I don't care about you? Do you really think I would want anyone else to be by my side?"

"Cameron," she choked out, new tears spilling from her eyes, "You don't mean that, you can't. I've ruined your life, I've stolen your chance at love, I have. I just I can't bring myself to steal any more from you,"

"Alara, you're not making sense," I felt the need to pull her closer. I needed her to know how I felt and despite all that she had said I pulled her close, flush against me so she could feel the erratic beat of my heart, so she could feel what she did to me, "You have done everything but ruin my life darling, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I can't imagine being with anyone else. This is what I want, Alara, I want you. And I always have."

She pulled free from my grasp staring deeply into my eyes more tears spilling down her face, "Do you really mean that?" she choked out another sob hastily wiping tears away with the base of her palm. 

"I mean every word, sweetheart," I interlocked my hands with hers, so she could feel my pulse, the elevated beat that only she could bring about.

"Cameron what the hell did I do to deserve you," she smiled slightly before pulling me into a tight hug her thin arms wrapping around me and pulling me inexplicably close. 

While in that position I whispered ever so gently in her ear, "No Alara, what the hell did I do to deserve you," We stayed like that for a moment that felt like an eternity distilled into a second. 

"Come on lets go back to the base and make sure Echo's not pulling his hair out trying to find you," this elicited a laugh from her as she wiped the final tears away from her face, as though they had never fallen at all. 

As we climbed into the car I turned to her, "Alara?"

She hummed in response, "Yh"

"Let's make a pact," she turned to face me with a look of slight confusion on her delicate features.

"What sort of pact?"

"A pact where we promise never to feel like we are not enough for each other, never to doubt the care we have for each other. Never to question if we truly deserve one another," I held out my little finger for her and she gave me the most beautiful smile. 

"You should be careful Cameron Grayson, pinky promises are the most binding pacts out there."

"Oh, believe me darling I know," I lifted my little finger up to hers and she carefully wrapped the digit around mine, we shook on it and then it was forever bound. 

"You know if you break that promise I'm allowed to break your pinky finger," she mused giving a playful deadly look at my little finger. 

"Oh I know," I began, "And if I ever break that pact, I give you permission to break more than just my finger."

"Just don't go breaking my heart, Grayson."

"Or you mine."