Warning: RWB spoilers ahead.
Some say the best love stories often take time.
Emery Chernychevsky has had a crush on Cameron Brooks since he can remember. Watching him date different girls all throughout high school was nothing if not pure torture...
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No matter how loud the thunder got outside, nothing was as unsettling as the silence that followed Cameron's question. No one barges into a room, panting and soaking wet bearing good news, and that is exactly what Cameron looked to Emery at that moment. Rainwater clinging to his skin, eyes wide and glistening, chest heaving as he struggled to speak.
"I..." Cameron tried, breathing staggered as he clutched the front of his shirt. "I just..."
With furrowed brows, Emery's hand extended hesitantly, just enough so that his fingertips were touching Cameron's shoulder.
"Easy..." he whispered. "I'm here. Just tell me what's wrong."
Cameron closed his eyes, repressing the emotions that one single contact elicited, and tried to look at Emery without breaking down.
Finally, he said, "'You really like me, do you?'"
Confused, Emery let him go. "What?"
"You asked me that when we were in Yosemite and I never answered."
Emery chuckled, not quite sure what to feel yet. "You know that question was rhetorical, right?"
Cameron laughed. "I know."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"I could've said yes," Cameron heard himself say, and pretty much after that, the words wouldn't stop coming. "I could've told you how much I liked you then and you would've believed me but I know it wouldn't be the full truth."
Emery wasn't sure what to expect at this point. His heart was beating fast and for some reason, he couldn't stop imagining the worst. Of all things the first to come rushing were his insecurities, waiting for just the right word to be validated, just one tick for the rest of Emery's world to crumble. Is this him admitting that he never liked me? Will he ask me not to contact him after this trip again?
Endless questions enough to make a man insane and all he could muster was, "Cameron, what is going on?" At least, he thought, he could still talk.
"I can say I like you all the hell I want, I know, but it still wouldn't do how I feel any justice, Emery because I have tried and failed to find in every single person I ever dated what I feel when I'm with you," Cameron continued, passion filling the silence between his words as his eyes grew watery. Emery wanted to take his hand and prevent those tears from falling, but he couldn't move, and even if he wanted to, he wouldn't trust himself to do anything right now.
He was scared to breathe, scared that the slightest movement might unravel the vulnerability Cameron was allowing him to see.
"Cameron what are you..." Emery tried to say, but his voice broke. Cameron was looking at —no — into him, and in that moment he felt naked, the instinct to cover himself kicking at the same time as he willingly ignored it.
