Asphyxiate

.18

The moment I wake up, I suddenly feel a sting on my right cheek. And that's when I recall everything.

The fight, the punches and the slamming of doors. I groan. I have to talk to Cameron today. I roll over in my bed. Shouting into the pillow.

***

Knock knock

Seconds later, Nat opens the door, with a baby in hand.

"Holy shit Harper. What happened to your cheek? Were you the one in the fight with Cameron, it looks like you beat him up pretty good too." She laughs a bit, she must have seen Cameron's bruises and thought it was me and him fighting. I laugh at the thought.

"No. It's a long story Nat. Is Cameron home?" I ask her.

"He left really early. He came home pretty mad last night, slamming all of our doors, I honestly thought he'd broken them." She chuckles but then her smile falters. "What happened?"

I think I know where he is. "I'll explain later Nat, right now I gotta go get Cam. Bye!" I say as I run out the apartment building.

"Bye!" I hear her call out before I leave.

I ran all the way to where Cameron was, loving the feeling it brings to my lungs. It wasn't that far, but it wasn't close either. By the time I get there, I was panting roughly. Then I see him. Sitting at the same place we always hang out at. The dock.

I sit down beside him and he looks at me, scowling.

"You should really go away, if you know what's best for you." He tells while looking straight ahead. I examine his face. His right eye is banged up pretty badly.

"You don't look so good today." I joke at him. Ignoring his warning. He laughs bitterly and stands up.

"Well, neither do you." I stand up and smile at him. He doesn't return it though.

"I'm sorry." I genuinely say. He stares me right in the eye for quite a long time and we just stare at each other. This time, I don't look away.

"I like you Harper." This takes me by surprise and I back away a bit, only to trip on a rope that I didn't know was there. And like those cliché books we read, the hot bad boy catches me just in time.

"Well, this is a horrible timing." I chuckle a bit. He stands me up and I see the disappointment in his eyes and immediately I understand that he misunderstood that. "Wait no, it's not like that. I like you too actually." I blurt out, mindlessly. Which sends a smile to his face and a blush to mine. I cover my mouth quickly.

"You do?" He grins like an idiot. I nod. Unable to find the words to say.

"I came here to explain." I start slowly. "I've liked you quite a while now," He mutters a 'Me too' and I smile, I swear if the circumstances were different I'd be over the moon right now. "and I never knew that until yesterday, so I told the twins but then they kept saying you like me too and I didn't want to believe them so they came up with that idiotic plan about that Bobby guy, I didn't even know until that very second they told you. They say if you got jealous that meant you had feelings for me too, Bobby is actually Lynn's boyfriend and we didn't really go on a date, me and Jamie just sat in a bar while Lynn and Bobby danced the night away, I swear." I rambled on like a mad man. Cameron suddenly pulled me in for a tight hug. Resting his chin on top of my head.

"Those twins are right though. That made me want to assassinate whoever that Bobby was." He said with a laugh. I laughed with him. I pulled away and looked at him.

"I really like you Cameron, you make me really happy and mad at the same time," He laughs at this, so do I, "I really don't know how you do that. It's so different with you but it's Morgan..." I finish dimly. His smile fades and the glint in his eyes scare me.

"Ah Morgan. That bastard." He says his name like spitting out poison.

"I'm also sorry I chose to attend to him last night. Is your eye okay?" I ask touching his eye ever so lightly. He flinches.

"The eye is fine, the bruise will go away but I was fuming mad Harper, you have no idea. I have never been so angry in my life. I was hurt." He said, the glint in his eyes expressing sadness and it shatters my heart that I was the one who hurt him. I take his hand in mine.

"I'm really sorry Cameron. I was just so confused and I didn't really know how to react, PLUS, I was still mad at you too."

"Look, Harper, before I met you, I never batted an eyelash to a woman the way I pay attention to you. I always look at them as my conquest for the night. They knew what they were getting into though. But when I met you, all that was thrown out the window. I haven't even looked at anyone else I swear. My sex life has plummeted greatly and I don't even give a shit. I really like you because you're you and not just because you're hot." I chuckle at his confession. "I just can't explain it. I've never felt this way before." A blush creeps its way into my face and he caresses it. "And when I said you didn't look cute when you blush, I was lying." He smiles cheekily and so do I. "We need to put ice on your cheek too." We both laugh at this.

"I wish it was just easy as this Cameron. But now that Morgan is back..." I drift off, not knowing how to continue the sentence but seeing the look on his face really broke my heart. "No! I'm not saying that I still love him, okay? It's just that I am really confused right now." He nods at me.

"I know you have unfinished business with Morgan. I trust you little bee." He says as he smiles at me and ruffles my hair. "You go fix that with him, and I'll be here waiting for you. Whenever you need me, I'm right here, you know that. And when you're done. Let's pick it up from there, okay?" He tells me as he smiles at me, looking goddamn handsome.

I ram myself into him and hug him. I bury my face in his chest. "Please stay with me. Don't leave me too. I just want to close this door with him, get it all over with." I say into his chest. He clutches my hair and caresses it.

"I don't think you'd let me leave even if I wanted to, right? Not that I would want to, I mean, who'd infuriate you if I was gone?" I laugh into his chest when he does. He pulls me out of the hug and stares at me right in the eye. "I'm dead set on all my plans Harper. You know that, and my plan is you being mine."

I might as well have jumped off the harbor at that moment, good thing he was holding me because my knees were giving in.

"You know what? Screw Morgan." He grins evilly at me like he thought of something really evil in that evil brain of his. I stare at him, confused. "I've been wanting to do this ever since that night at McDonald's." I was trying to think about what he meant when suddenly he closes in on me and next thing I know, his lips are on mine and my hands fly onto his neck and his to my waist.

Cameron's kissing me!

I am kissing Cameron!

He tastes like peppermint!

His lips are so soft!

Oh my God!

My thoughts were cut off when his tongue invades my mouth. He smiles into the kiss. I meet him halfway with mine, my turn to smile. We make out for a while, denying our lungs of air. Unable to let go of each other like we were holding on for dear life. He pulls me closer so that there is no space between us. I feel his hard-on through his jeans and I smile into the kiss again, after a while, the need for air just became unbearable and we pulled apart.

Panting heavily for air.

"You literally took my breath away little bee." He chuckles at me. Our foreheads touching. "Let's pick up from there when you're all sorted out."

We both laugh again and he takes me home.

We depart with a kiss and make my way upstairs.

Where Morgan was waiting for me right outside my door.