Captivated Hearts

Chapter 18

Arya's stomach began to growl, and Cam must have heard it because he gave her a concerned look.

"I'm just hungry." She laughed.

Spending time with him, made her all giddy and nervous. It was weird because no guy had ever made her feel that way before. Especially not a guy that was just a friend.

"You want to stop and grab food? Watermen's Grill is pretty close." Cam asked.

It must have been a coincidence because he knew nothing about her but, Watermen's Grill was her favorite place to eat.

You could lounge around talking for hours, watching the kite boarders dance across the top of the ocean with their kites strapped tightly to them. You could walk along the shorter trail of grass and play a few games of corn hole against the people or person you were with and, if you got tired of all of that which was unlikely, you could simply take in the view of the ocean on the small patio they had at the edge of the grass to admire the water.

Arya smiled, all the memories she had there coming back to her. Arya and her dad used to always go there to eat lunch and play a couple rounds of corn hole. There was one day, her dad hit her with one of the packs in the eye and she had spent the rest of the time there crying. Her dad felt bad and tried to make it up to her by buying her ice cream on the way home but, considering she was so stubborn, it took her over a week to forgive him.

"Of course. I love that place!" She exclaimed.

"Really? I used to go there with my Dad all the time." He smiled, an awkward silence beginning to fill the air.

Arya waited for Cam to pull up the directions for Watermen's Grill, watching his smaller movements. Something about the way he presented himself was so relaxing and she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Unlike everyone else, she had never wanted the American dream. A big house touching the waves of the ocean, a reliable vehicle that wouldn't stall when you least expected it, two or three kids wandering the beach for seashells. But, for some reason sitting here with someone she felt so drawn to, she couldn't help but picture something bigger.

The planning of Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner and how to set the table, or the fighting over who would make the turkey better while the children sat laughing in the background making fun of their silly argument. She felt a large smile grow on her face and she tried to brush it off with thought of how it wouldn't work.

Maybe the child part would be more accurate now that she was pregnant but, Cam wouldn't ever want to settle down with someone who was already keeping such a big secret from him. Another reason they'd never be more than friends.

Her heart sank in her chest at the thought that if she didn't make such a huge mistake, maybe that dream could have come true with him. As much as she tried to avoid it, she couldn't seem to control the tears that were falling from her eyes. Hoping to keep them unnoticed, she wiped them away and looked to the road just as Cam had the directions pulled up. She sniffled, keeping the snot from pouring itself out of her nose.

One of her favorite childhood songs came on the radio and she reached to turn the knob for the volume and Cam's hand met hers. Every time she pushed the thought of being with him out of her head, he did something to bring it right back. It was like the one scene in Chucky where the guy sent the doll away in a package and the package came right back to him with no return address and was spooked about how it got there.

"Sorry." She said, moving her hand from the knob.

"You know this song?"

The beat took over in her ears and she tapped each finger along with the beat, bobbing her head in the mix.