heart beats for you (Book 2)

Chapter 10

The next day, Marissa was woken up by the doorbell. Before she could fully open the door, her best friend Jenny entered and hugged her tight.

"Why had you never told me about Rob and everything else?" She asked Marissa.

"I never found it necessary. The incident with Rob was something which happened two years ago and the rest of everything which happened to me is in the past. I have come a long way from that." Marissa explained.

"You surely have Marissa. But two years or not, you should have told me."

"I know, but I didn't want to bother you with my problems." Marissa smiled sheepishly.

"Risa, you are my best friend, and it's my duty to know about you. Anyway, I am glad that you told me about him. If I find him next time, I will kill him myself." Jenny stated furiously.

"You will do no such thing. I have already forgiven him."

"But..."

"No, Jenny. Forget about it. Rob is my past so I do not want to think about it. Now tell me what you want to do with me today?" Marissa tried to change the topic.

"No dance class today?" Jenny asked her in surprise. Her best friend never misses her dance class.

"Well, Ronny specifically asked me not to show myself in the institute or else he will forcefully drag me out and throw me at my house." She rolled her eyes.

"Finally, he did one good thing in life; well, of course, asking me to marry him doesn't count." Jenny stuck her tongue out. "Since you finally took a leave, let's have a movie marathon."

"Gerard Butler?" Marissa asked.

"On it, girl."

While Jenny and Marissa were having fun, Cameron was worried sick about Marissa when he reached her class in the dance institute. Instead of her, it was some other person who was teaching her class their routine.

At first, Cameron thought he should go in the morning to check on Marissa, but then he decided otherwise and thought he would talk to her after class. But he learned that she had taken a day's leave when he got there.

So, he went to Nick to ask him about Marissa's well-being.

"Hey, Cameron." Nick greeted Brook's uncle.

"Hey, is Marissa alright? She didn't come in today." He asked her.

"Yes, she is fine. It is unlike her not to show up as she hardly takes a holiday, but she wasn't up early in the morning. Plus, when I came here, Ronny told me that she wouldn't be conducting our class today as she was exhausted yesterday and could use a leave. Anyway, it's good that she took a break. As it is, she hardly takes time for herself so she deserves it." Nick explained to him.

"Yes, that's true." With that, Cameron left and dropped Brook off at Olivia's and decided to wrap up his work early.

After finishing his work, he went home and decided to meet Marisa first to see for himself that she is fine. Since last night, he has been restless and curious about this Rob guy.

He rang Marisa's doorbell, but instead of her, it was Jenny who opened the door.

"Cameron, what are you doing here?" She asked him, clearly surprised as she wasn't expecting him here.

"I could ask you the same question." He replied back to her. He wasn't expecting Jenny to be here.

"But I asked you first. And Marissa is my best friend, so I can come and spend time with her whenever I want."

Those words from Jenny's mouth made Cameron feel stupid for even asking that question.

"Don't you have work?" Cameron asked her sister, trying to divert her from her curiosity. But he should have known better.

"I do but I took a leave. Did not feel like working today. Now you tell me, what are you doing here? You hardly know Marissa, and it's unlikely that you will take your time out of your work to meet people." Jenny stated.

"Marissa is not people; she is also my friend. Plus, she is my neighbour as we stay in the same building if you have forgotten. And I just came to check one her if she is alright as she left rather early yesterday." He explained.

"Wow, this is the first time I am seeing that you are actually worried about someone who is not your family. I am impressed." Jenny gave him a smirk and patted him on his shoulder.

"Stop getting any stupid ideas and let me in." Cameron pushed past her and went inside to see Marissa, who was watching a movie.

"Jesus, you are impossible." Jenny huffed.

"Who's there at the door, Jenny?" Marissa asked loudly from the living room.

"My Satan brother," Jenny told her friend.

"I didn't know that you thought so highly of me, sister." Cameron glared at her reply.

"Whatever! I will leave you to talk as I cannot tolerate my brother more than I am already tolerating. Doodles fellas!!" Jenny left, bidding goodbye specially to Marissa.

"Popcorn?" Marissa asked Cameron as he sat down beside her.

"Sure." He took a few of them and popped them into his mouth.

"So, how are you?" Cameron asked her after a few minutes.

"Fine, why did you ask?" She asked him, confused.

"Yesterday, you rather left abruptly." He stated.

"Oh, sorry about that! I wasn't feeling up to it." Marissa bit her lips.

"You really think I would believe that?" Cameron asked her with raised eyebrows.

"I don't know. It's not like we are best of friends or anything, but it was worth a try." She brought her focus back to the movie and crossed her fingers, hoping that Cameron would drop the subject.

"Marissa, we might not be best friends that does not mean I don't consider you as my friend. I do care about and I want to get to know you better." He told her sincerely.

"I would like that. But Cameron, you cannot know someone in one day. It takes time so we will come to understand each other with the passing of time." She agreed with him.

"I get that. Will it be too soon to ask who exactly this Rob person is?" He asked her hesitantly.

"He is a friend." She kept her answer short.

"He didn't look like one." Cameron didn't believe a word she said.

"Cameron, leave it. Rob is a friend, and whatever problems we had are in the past, and it doesn't matter now." She told him briefly, implying that she wouldn't be answering any more than this, but he was not ready to drop the topic.

Marissa wished she knew him better to deal with this inquisitive guy but she did not. However, unlike him, she was not too keen on opening up to him either. Surely, she has come to accept Cameron back in her life but in the end, she still considers him as Jenny's brother and nothing else. Further, she highly doubts that he could be anything else to her personally other than being her ex-husband.

"Marissa..." He was going to say something, but Marissa interrupted him.

"Drop it, Cameron."

Leaving with no other choice, Cameron dropped the subject for now and enjoyed the remaining movie with her.