Close As Strangers (Jessie J Fanfic)

fifteen: had i known

|close as strangers|

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

camille's pov

My head was empty. I had never before experienced any trouble writing, to be honest, the words just seemed to pour out of my fingers. I had a whole world made up in my head, a whole new life, but now, it seemed like it was no longer there. I think it's because finally, reality was better than any story I could ever think of.

You know, it's odd. Usually people speak of their lovers as there muses, but to me, Jess was no such thing. She was like the spinning top in Interception; she was the one that kept my sanity. What's even odder is how quickly you can grow attached and get used to someone. I've only spend time with her for a ridiculous short amount of time, but the comfort I felt around her made it seem like years. Decades, even.

I toyed with the paperclip between my fingers, treating it like putty, making a ring shape of it and slipping it around my finger. It's a thing I do when I'm anxious or just plain bored; I have quite a few paperclip rings lying around in my office.

With a sigh, I turned back to the computer screen. I had to focus. I needed to write, I needed to finish my book, and I needed to publish it.

"Babe? Will you please stop groaning for a moment -what is it you're doing in there, anyway? - and give me a hand?" Jess' gentle voice floated through the air. Her voice had always been so beautiful, still it never ceased to amaze me.

"Yes, of course. Do you require my assistance immediately?"

"Quite immediately, yea," she replied, sounding strained.

Instantly, I rushed out of my room to see what she needed my help with. I found her in the kitchen, carrying a large bag with groceries. Her cheeks were flushed, her arm muscles prominent, a thin layer of sweat covering her forehead.

"There's two more in the boot, can you get them please?"

I shrugged, and first took the one she was carrying out of her hands. I pressed a kiss to her cheek as I lifted it onto the counter, and then proceeded to escape her grabbing arms and head outside to get the last two bags. They weren't anywhere near as heavy as Jess made them out to be, but I did like her little act.

"There you go. Do you need anything else?" I asked.

Jessica opened a random cupboard and dumped some vegetables in it. She shut it and leaned back against the counter, and that's when I finally noticed her tear-stained cheeks. I rushed closer to her, wrapped my arms around her waist in the longed-for embrace. Jessica's head immediately dropped onto my shoulder, her arms finding my waist blindly.

"I saw Alex just now," she mumbled, "in the supermarket. I started panicking, so I went through the whole store, which why I bought so much. He was following me. I was so scared."

I could feel her tears soak through my shirt, and I squeezed her waist. "He didn't get to you. And he can't get to you while I'm here; he will have to get through me first. I won't let him close enough to hurt you," my words were whispered directly into her ear, not losing their intensity.

"Can you promise me that?" she whispered back. "Promise me." Jessica lifted her head off my shoulder, her weary eyes finding mine. She was scared, so scared, and oh so vulnerable. I had her heart in my hands, I realised, as she carried mine.

"I promise, baby. I swear it. I will protect you." The intensity in my voice remained. Jess leant closer, tilting her head sideways, her eyes not leaving mine until they slowly, sweetly, fluttered shut, barely a second before her lips touched mine. I kissed her back, softly, trying to transfer everything I was feeling that moment to her through our connected lips. Her hands disconnected from each other and instead found mine, our fingers slipping next to each other like it was meant to be. And we were.