always & forever

Part 7 - So Be It.

Camille's POV

Just how I wanted, James came to visit me every weekend when I started my semester. He slept in my bed, he made me breakfast, he kissed every inch of my body, igniting a fire inside me that I'd never felt before.

I'd been with some boys before, just never had sex, but I kissed and touched and did other things but with him, God, with James, my skin tingled at every touch. His kiss awakened every sense I possessed.

Entangled with each other, every morning when we would wake up in each other's arms, I would rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat. His heart which belonged to me. His strong but gentle fingers made their slow way through my hair and we stayed like that every weekend morning when he would come visit me in Boston.

Days turned into weeks and the crunchy leaves morphed into snow squalls, right before Thanksgiving weekend. Reluctantly, I was on my way home.

I didn't want to be there. Maybe I could spend the entire weekend with James, just like he implored me to do.

Fall décor adorned every corner of our house which looked unusually grey and felt terribly cold this year. Kevin was already home and based on my mom's updates, dad stopped cheating. For now.

"Pass the stuffing, please." Kevin's cold voice jerked me awake from studying the green beans on my plate. Ever since James and I started dating, my whole family turned away from me.

After our first date, my dad had a 'stern talking' to me about how James wasn't for me. If I wanted to get some experience, sure, he was a great man to use for that but I had better break it off before Thanksgiving.

That obviously didn't happen. In fact, James and I were more in love than ever and that made this trip incredibly uncomfortable. My dad had the strongest opposition to my relationship with James, followed closely by Kevin who kept repeating the same sentiment - You're both sick for fucking around together. However he was mostly focused on his own life and failing grades to invest too much time into dissuading me.

But my father made it his personal mission, his whole life's purpose. He called every day to lecture me about how wrong James and I were for each other.

My mother would jump on the call every once in a while and add her two cents, albeit she was always kinder.

"Why don't we go around the table and tell everyone what we're grateful for." My mom finally broke the awkward silence when she sat down after serving everyone dessert and by everyone, I mean my father and Kevin, since I helped her. "I'm grateful for my loving and kind husband. That he always takes care of our family, and is always there for all of us."

Ugh, it was painful to listen to her. I wondered why she lived in denial. She was a lawyer just like my dad, she earned a ton of money. She could have left him and lived happily without him, why was she so hellbent on living in a lie? It's not like she needed him to support her.

"My Lilly." My dad smiled at my mom momentarily before asking Kevin for his musings.

"I'm grateful for law school, I don't know. Thanks for encouraging me to attend." Kevin spoke quickly, not having any interest in this discussion.

It was my turn.

"I'm grateful for the people in my life." I merely responded something convoluted but knew that the only person I was grateful for right now was James.

"And I'm grateful for my kids. Who always make the right decisions." My dad still held onto my mom's hand and killed me with his eyes before he added, "Did you make the right decision, Camille? Like we discussed?"