And Then it Happened

19

The first thing I did when I got home was immediately rip my wet clothes off in order to change into some warmer, dry clothes. I pulled on a pair of baggy grey sweatpants and shrugged on a ratty white t-shirt. Tying back my long hair into a messy bun, I grab my phone.

Remembering I had told Cameron I'd text him when I got home, I begin to type my message.

Me: Hey, I got home. All safe!

Seconds later, my phone buzzed, indicating that I had a new text message. I clicked on the notification, pulling up the new message I had received from Cameron.

Cameron: Good. Wouldn't want that pretty face of yours to get hurt, now would we?

My eyebrows scrunch in confusion as I re-read the message from Cameron. Pretty face? What was he talking about? My face was not pretty.

Me: Pretty face? Uh no, there's nothing pretty about this face

Cameron: Don't say that, it's not true. I think your freckles are pretty cute ;)

My heart palpitated. I read the message once. Then twice. Then a third time. Was Cameron flirting with me? He said my face is pretty and that he thought my freckles are cute. He even included a winky face at the end!

I inhaled sharply before slowly exhaling. I was just over-thinking this text way too much; he was just being nice. He was dating Sydney, why would he be flirting with me if he was with her? As for the winky face... it was probably a typo; he most likely meant to put a smiley face but he accidentally clicked the semicolon instead of colon.

Yes, that had to be it. There was no other explanation...right?

The sad thing is that deep down, I secretly was hoping that maybe he was flirting and that he meant what he said. Which is a completely awful thing to think about my best friend's boyfriend!

Shaking my head, I tossed my phone on the bed, not responding to Cameron's text. I didn't know how to respond so maybe leaving him on read was just as good of an option as any. It's not like he'd care that I didn't respond anyway. I laid back down on my bed and covered my face with my hands. My thoughts were reeling; I was having nearly a thousand thoughts a minute.

What was I doing? I had to think of Sydney! She was my best friend, and here I was, having a crush on her boyfriend.

I groaned in despair. How did I get myself into this situation? I was a terrible friend. Sydney really liked Cameron, and here I was, going to the movies and doing photoshoot dates with him behind her back basically.

The minutes ticked by as I continued to lay in bed wondering how on earth I got here to this point. Eventually, I realized what I had to do.

I had to distance myself from Cameron. That was the only way to go about this.

I had to respect Sydney's relationship with him, and I had to get over this silly crush. Cameron didn't even like me, so knowing that fact would hopefully make this easier on me. Sydney had been my best friend since elementary school, and I didn't want a stupid boy to get in the way of the friendship we had – let alone have that stupid boy be Cameron. It just wasn't worth it.

~

The next day, school was back in session. Winter break had ended and now the halls of our high school were filled with kids walking to and from their class with their back packs slung over their shoulder. Nearly every student had the same void, tired eyes as they had to get back into the swing of waking up early for school now that the holiday was over.

I walked to my locker, turning the lock to enter in my code to open the locker. When the locker was open, I grabbed my textbooks and binder I'd need for the next few class periods.

"Rachel!"

I turned my head to see that it was Sydney who was running towards me, practically full speed ahead. I gasped in surprise when she nearly pounced on me, wrapping her arms around me in a warm embrace. I awkwardly put my arms around her to hug her back and her long blonde hair lightly tickled my face.

Sydney pulled away from the hug with a smile on her face. "I've missed you girl, how was your break?" she asked.

I smiled back at her before responding. "I've missed you too! You have to tell me all about your trip. I saw all your photos on Instagram, but I gotta know all the deets! As for my break, pretty boring...per usual. Just laid around and watched Netflix, ate, slept, and repeat."

"Hey, sounds like a pretty good way to spend the break if you ask me. And the Bahamas were so pretty! I forgot how much I hate the cold, being on the beach without a care in the world was so nice. The only downside was I had to shave my legs more often because I was wearing shorts again!"

Her comment about shaving causes me to chuckle.

"Overall, pretty fun though. A lot of walking around and touristy things, you know." Sydney finished, shrugging her shoulders.

"Ah, the life of the rich and famous," I tease. "Wish I could have gone on a cruise for Christmas, I've never even been to Florida, let alone out of the country."

Sydney laughs. "Hey it's not all it's cracked up to be, my cell service wasn't great so not being able to talk to Cameron as much kind of sucked."

As if on cue, Cameron pops up around the corner and struts over to us and places his arm around Sydney's shoulder. "I heard my name, were you lovely ladies talking about me?" he jokes, flashing Sydney his beautiful grin. His deep blue orbs were shining with mirth.

Sydney gives Cameron a side hug and slightly nuzzles his cheek with hers. "As a matter of fact we were, I was just telling Rachel that I missed you over the holidays," Sydney says.

I feel a jealous pang in my heart, but I force it down, grimacing slightly. Wow, seeing them together was going to be harder than I thought.

"Aww babe, I missed you too!" Cameron exclaims and gives Sydney a quick peck on the cheek. Cameron then turns to look at me, almost as if he's expecting me to do or say something. I don't; instead I have chosen to ignore him. Ignoring him was the only way I could get over this stupid crush I had on him. When he realizes I'm staying silent, he looks back at his girlfriend and gently draws circles on her arm in a seemingly cute and romantic gesture.

The moment between the time that he was looking at me quizzingly and the time that he decided to focus back on his girlfriend, was so quick that any normal person would have never noticed it happened. However, Sydney, being the observant one she is, seemed to pick up on the moment. Her smile faded and her lips were pursed into a slight frown.

The atmosphere among us had suddenly grown awkward and frigid; none of us were saying a thing and we all seemed to be dwelling on our own thoughts. Deciding that I didn't want to be a part of this exchange anymore, I mumbled a dumb excuse as to why I needed to leave and practically booked it down the hallway.

The image of Sydney's frown was now etched into my memory. Her frown worried me and now all I could think about was the worst possible outcome:

Did she somehow find out about my crush on Cameron?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I am so sorry for the long over-due update everyone! College starts back up for me tomorrow (I'm a senior this fall, so tomorrow is my last first day of school!!) so I've been busy preparing for that and moving back into my apartment for the year.

Updates will probably be less frequent once school starts just because I will be super busy with school and everything! I currently update about once a week, but I'm thinking when I'm in school, my updates will probably be biweekly... so once every other week ideally. We'll see if that actually happens 😅

Love you all! Until next time :)