always & forever

Part 6 - Can I?

James's POV

Camille was everything. Everything I ever imagined, everything I ever wanted.

She was gentle, but feisty. She was pure, but seductive. She was wrapping me around her little finger with every passing second. The whole day after I inadvertently spent the night in her room, I lived in some sort of haze, just waiting for seven in the evening when I would pick her up for our date.

Our first date. I couldn't believe my luck.

Finally, the time arrived and filled with jitters, I knocked on her front door like I hadn't been to her house thousands of times.

But before she could run down the stairs to get the door, Kevin appeared in front of me, angrier than this morning.

I understood. It was weird to him. It seemed incredibly weird to me at first too, and I was fully planning to help him work through it. At first.

"What the fuck are you doing here?! She's not going anywhere with you." Kevin spat out with his arms crossed and blocked the door.

"Honestly, Kev, relax! Get out of the way." Camille spoke up somewhere behind him and tried to push his large body out of the way but he blocked her efforts.

"What are you doing, James?! You think you can play with my sister like that? Have your fun in the summer? I thought you were my best friend!"

"I am your best friend, Kevin. But I fell in love with Camille. I understand it's very strange right now, but I have no intentions of playing with her." I spoke as calmly as I could.

"Love?!" He scoffed. "She said the same thing, you two are in love?!" Deep disbelief and something akin to disrespect echoed in his voice and I was fully attuned to his next message.

"Let me through!" Camille struggled to push through him but like me, Kevin was tall and bulky; we both played the same sports and swam for years.

"Yes. Stop acting like we're teenagers Kev, I'm pretty sure this isn't the first time two friends who've known each other for a long time fall in love." I placed my hand on his shoulder to move him out of the way, but within a second, his fist was flying into my face and he landed right into my left eye.

The pain zinged through me, overwhelming with the shock of his action. I stumbled back, immediately landing my palm at the excruciating pain in my face. Kevin and I had a number of disagreements throughout the years, but we had never been involved in a physical altercation. With every single fibre of my being, I restrained myself and didn't answer back even though I wanted to crush my entire body into his.

"Kevin! You asshole!" Camille's gentle voice accused him and she finally broke free from behind him, taking urgent steps toward me. "Oh my God, are you okay?!" She inspected my face, but my eyes were on Kevin while I gently held her around her waist. "You're insane! Why did you do that?!" She turned to Kevin, but I didn't recognize him.

"Go on your little date." Kevin spoke coldly. "But know this, James: you and her, will never work out. You two are from different worlds. She deserves someone who can take care of her. Not a loser who will never leave this town. So don't get too comfortable together."

And it all became clear to me.

While Camille continued to accuse Kevin, him and I merely stared at each other, and the realization that our friendship was hollow was slowly dawning on me. He didn't see me as an equal. He saw me as a stepping stone, a friend of convenience, someone to play sports with and go to parties and pick up girls with. I wasn't a real friend. All these years? All these years he felt that he was better than me?! Because his father earned more money than mine and he drove a brand new BMW while I was behind the wheel of a used Jeep?