Fake It Til You Make It

22

Esmeray pushed Cameron off of her and stood beside Valentina across from him. Cameron looks at Esmeray perplexed but turns his gaze to Valentina.

"Please don't tell me you drove here," Cameron said sternly.

"No, Dad, I didn't drive here." Val's slurs her words.

Esmeray proceeded to inform Cameron that they got an Uber to the party. Cameron looked at Esmeray, noticing how distant she was being with him.

"What's going on? I wanted to see you and you'd rather striptease in front of everyone than be near me." Cameron says.

"Don't assume you know what I did what I did. I'm drunk and I felt sexy so I wanted to do something sexy." Esmeray rolls her eyes at him, annoyed at the way he was scolding her at this party like he was her father. Esmeray can't stand to be smothered, She likes her freedom, it's the main reason she's stayed single. She didn't want anyone tying her down and stripping away her freedom.

"I know you're sexy, I could've told you that," says Cameron. Valentin sighs dramatically and rests her head on the cabinet above her. "Come on, I'm taking y'all home."

"Cameron, I don't need to go home. I'm having fun, I'm not ready to go yet." Esmeray tells him. Cameron shakes his head and scoffs in disbelief. "Whatever you need to talk about, tell me after the party. I feel good right now, Cam. Have fun, go be with your guys, Joe or something he misses you."

Cameron shook his head. His friend's name was Zero, not Joe. "No more stripteases," Cameron points at Esmeray. "If you both are not at the door by 2 a.m., I'm shutting the whole party down."

"Yes, Mr. Boss-man," Esmeray says mockingly before she and Val make their way to the floor.

Cameron sucked his teeth, watching Esmeray dance with Valentina and talk to people. Cameron would never wait on a girl. But somehow, Cameron Carter—who was planning on storming out of the party right then and there and dealing with Esmeray at home—was waiting for her to be ready to go. Esmeray is the one and only person who won't take Cameron seriously. She knows she'll get her way.

~~~

Esmeray goes straight to Cameron's refrigerator while he takes a seat on the couch. Cameron was upset, Esmeray knew that. He made sure she knew that. She closed the refrigerator empty-handed and joined Cameron in the living room, standing in front of him.

"What's wrong, Cameron?" Esmeray asks him. He was resting back on the couch, his eyes locked on her with a hint of disappointment behind them.

"I don't know what you're trying to do, showing off in front of all those people," Cameron scolds her.

"Cam, I'm having fun. I'm just trying to enjoy myself. I can't believe this. You can identify every girl nearby just by looking at her lips, but God forbid I slip my shoulder strap off."

"Do you have something you're not saying?" Cameron asks her.

"It is hard to ignore your reputation when people are constantly reminding me of it. I feel like I'm a bad person," Esmeray finally confesses.

"Because of me," Cameron says.

"Cam, I know who you are. But everyone else knows you for what you show them." Esmeray tells Cam assuredly. "I think you need to work out a way to get a job for Eryn's mom."

"Essy, I have no problem apologizing, I'm sure I can convince my dad to work something out for her mom."

"But why did I have to ask you? Why didn't you just say that when she was at the shop?" Esmeray questions.

Cameron stands up swiftly and Esmeray crosses her arms across her chest defensively. "She was insulting you, I wasn't really thinking about that. What's really going on? You can't even come to a party with me," Cameron points out. "We haven't told our parents," he adds.

"This is what I didn't want," Esmeray shakes her head. "I didn't want you to get controlling and think my life revolves around you," Esmeray tells Cameron. She always hated the idea of giving up her freedom for a relationship. "I'm not your girlfriend, we both know this."

Cameron takes a few steps closer to her. "Would that be so bad? Why are we not together, Essy?"

"Cam, what are you talking about?" Esmeray gave an exhausted sigh. Esmeray was beginning to feel drained. It was 3 a.m., she'd been drinking all night, and the last thing she wanted to do was argue with Cam.

"What is it? Are you ashamed of me? Do I still repulse you?" Cameron looked at her agitated. "You said this was real, Esmeray," Cameron says to her softly.

Esmeray's eyes soften. "Cameron, stop," she speaks firmly. She approached him and pushed on his hip to make him sit on the couch. Esmeray took a seat on the ottoman in front of him. "I like you, Cameron. When I am with you, I feel comfortable. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm scared. I want to be with you but I still want to be my own person." Esmeray paused. "I just don't think we should put pressure on it right now."

Cameron looked at Esmeray with an empty look in his eyes. "Right." Cameron got up suddenly and grabbed his car keys off of the counter.

"Cameron," Esmeray calls out to him but he doesn't look at her while he heads toward the door.

"I'm gonna take you home," he says finally.

Esmeray stands and throws her arms out to the side. "Right now?" she questions. She could understand if he was upset but it was nearly 4 a.m. and Esmeray wasn't expecting him to say that.

Cameron turns to face her, he's never looked more serious. "Yes, right now. I need to be alone."

Esmeray stood still. "Fuck you, Cameron," Esmeray spat at him as she stormed past him and swung the door open.

"Fuck me? Esmeray, we didn't speak all night. I had to drag you off a table because you would rather dance with random guys than be with me." Cameron shouts at her.

"I'll call Val to get me," Esmeray tells him. She pulls her phone out and begins walking down the street.

He followed after her. "Yes. Call Val, listen to her tell you about how you should've listened to her and she was right about me being terrible."

Esmeray spun around to face Cameron. "You wanted to do this, Cam." she snapped at him. "You came to me and begged me to fake date you after you tormented me for years. You were terrible, and I wasn't listening but maybe I should."

Esmeray kept walking and Cameron didn't stop her. A small part of him wanted to. He wanted to go back inside with her and talk everything out. But a bigger part—his ego, didn't let him.