The Pursuit of Felicity

{ Chapter 9 }

True to his word, Cam arrives at my apartment at 7:30 on Saturday night. I barely managed to get Gen and Mel to leave. I had to tell them a girl I'm talking to is coming over so they'd agree to go. The last thing I wanted to tell them was the truth. If they knew Cam was on his way to the apartment, they'd freak out. They know about my rule and they know my original intentions with him. They'd make the assumption and wouldn't let me say otherwise.

"Will Mel and Gen be joining us for dinner?" he wonders as he follows me up the stairs to the second floor.

"No." I push open the door and let him trail in behind me. I watch as his eyes admire the feminine decorations around the apartment. Gen and I both gave Mel free reign over designing the apartment. All we did was chip in money. This resulted in an assortment of vibrant decorations being tossed around the apartment. The kitchen is bright yellow; the bathroom is a popping turquoise; the living room is bold red; everything in our apartment looks like it's straight out of a pop art portrait.

"Are they here?" He peers around as he follows behind me.

"Does it matter? I'm not sleeping with you either way," I reply jokingly as I lead the way to the kitchen. He offers up a short laugh as I shake my head and motion to the front door. "They're hanging out with our friend."

"Interesting." He sheds off his jacket and I'm pleasantly surprised to find that he's not dressed in his usual attire- a hoodie and jeans. Instead, he has a plain white t-shirt on and black sweatpants. I sigh to myself as I mentally drool over how good he looks. If only he was a normal college guy, then I'd be able to admire him up close and personal in my room with less clothes.

"So what's on the menu?" My lips curl into a suggestive beam and he assesses my face while laughing.

"Well, did you defrost the chicken like I asked?" I point to the poultry that I set out earlier per his request. He nods in approval before approaching the sink to wash his hands. "What do you want?"

I fight the desire to let out a quiet groan as I stare at him. Oh boy. I know what I want. I clear my throat and shrug as I pull myself onto the counter. Mel would have a heart attack if she saw my bottom on the marble. "Whatever you can make," I insist while admiring his muscular forearms as he shakes the water droplets from his hands. "I'm not picky."

"Oh, I know." His rude comment paired with a teasing laugh earns a lemon to the chest. He watches it fall to the ground before picking it up and rinsing it off. "Stop throwing fruits."

"Would you prefer I throw knives?" I motion to the wooden block of sharpened silverware to the left of me.

"Sure just make sure they stick the landing." He searches my cabinets for ingredients and slowly takes them from the shelves. "Speaking of Rex and Danny-," he attempts to start a conversation but I cut him off as I shake my head in surprise.

"I haven't said a single thing about them at all." I didn't even know he put two and two together that Rex and Danny are my "friends." He's smarter than I thought.

"I think I have a class with Rex." He finds a mixing bowl and places it on the counter beside me. "What does he look like?"

"What does your Rex look like?" I flip the question and he lets out a small chuckle.

"Tall, dark skin, skinny, ear length locs, a nose piercing," he describes Rex pretty accurately. I purse my lips awkwardly. How do I react to this?

"Yeah, that's him." My confirmation earns a slow nod from Cam.

"Is he also a finance major?" I allow my shoulders to lift and drop the over-sized sweater hanging off my torso.

"No clue." We've never really gotten to know each other, unless you count getting to know our bodies. But I don't think he wants to know about that and I don't really want to tell him about that.