In Love With My Best Friend

by Sheena Binkley

  I removed my hand from Camille’s back and picked up her chin. I stared directly into her eyes, wanting to stare into them forever. We stopped dancing as we both gazed at each other with a look we had never given each other before, which was a mixture of love and lust.

  “I know, but maybe this was a chance for me to be close to you and touch you,” I blurted out.

  Camille looked at me, not sure what to say after that comment.

  I suddenly felt embarrassed making that statement. Maybe I didn’t need this class, but I knew it would give me a chance to touch Camille in a way I never thought about. Sure, we had our share of play wrestling and brother/sister taps, but we never touched each other in a romantic or sexual way. But as I looked at Camille and the way she felt against me just now, I definitely wanted to touch her again.

  Several of the other couples stop dancing and were watching the scene between us. Danielle looked at us and started to clear her throat, which made Camille and I immediately snap out of our trance.

  “All right, everyone, let’s move on to the next dance, which is the waltz,” she said as she went back to the stereo.

  Camille and I turned toward the instructor without even looking at each other.

  I should have kept my mouth shut.

  Chapter 7

  Camille

  A

  fter learning how to do the waltz, the class was over, and Trevor and I were alone. We couldn’t rely on any dance moves to occupy our thoughts and avoid what happened in class. A part of me was jumping up for joy over what Trevor said earlier, but a part of me was a little upset that he would embarrass us like that in front of a room full of strangers.

  “Can we talk about what I said earlier?” Trevor asked while sitting in my driveway. As soon as class was over, I bolted out of the dance studio in a hurry. Trevor followed me home, and we were sitting inside his car trying to decide what to do next.

  “What is there to talk about? I think you were caught up in the moment and you said what you said, simple as that.”

  “You think that’s the only reason I said that? Camille, I’ve been noticing a change in me about you since I first came back.”

  “What was that?”

  “I don’t know, I’m still trying to figure it out. But when I saw you the night of the engagement party, it seemed as if maybe we should have given ourselves a chance with a relationship. I don’t know if I’ve been feeling this way all along, but my feelings for you have slowly started to change.”

  “Trevor, maybe you’re getting cold feet about getting married, and you’re using me as an excuse.”

  “I would never do that to you. What I’m saying is the honest truth.”

  I started to look ahead at my garage in confusion. I’d wanted to hear Trevor say those words to me for so long, so why was I feeling guilty about my feelings now?

  “Trevor, I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  “Do you feel something for me? Have you ever felt anything for me besides friendship?”

  “Tre...”

  “Have you?”

  I sighed as I put my head in my hands.

  “Why didn’t you ever tell me, Camille?”

  “Why would I? You were so in love with Chelsea, I didn’t have the heart to. I didn’t want to ruin your relationship with her or our friendship.”

  “Wow, so I guess we were both in denial,” Trevor said.

  “How long you been having feelings for me?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “I would like to know.”

  “Since the first day I saw you. At first, it wasn’t full blown, but they were there; it just sort of progressed.”

  Trevor looked ahead at the garage as well, speechless after what he’d just heard.

  “If you don’t want to go to the dinner party tomorrow, I’ll understand. I wanted to bail on it anyway, so this will be a good excuse.”

  “I’m not bailing on the party, Cam. I’m the one who wanted to do it, remember? As far as our feelings, maybe we should see where things are between us.”

  “We can’t do that. You’re getting married soon…”

  “Camille, just trust me, OK?” he said as he put his hand on my cheek.

  I smiled as I placed my hand on his.

  “And we will go to the dinner party. It’ll be fun.” I stared at him wondering if we were making a big mistake.

  z

  The day finally arrived. The dinner party I’d been dreading to go to. Although Trevor and I had admitted that something was definitely there between us, I couldn’t help but think that our charade would blow up in our faces big time. I couldn’t concentrate at all during work, and I was supposed to meet Tia at lunch to go over the official proposal the company would submit to Tia’s supervisor later that afternoon.

  As Tia looked through the proposal, she gave me thumbs up and smiled.

  “Great proposal. I’m sure Mr. Davidson will love it.”

  “Thanks, I was up all night working on it.”

  “Wait, you went to the dance class with Trevor and you were still able to work after that?”

  “Yep, I needed to do something to keep my mind occupied.”

  “How did it go anyway?” Tia asked while taking a bite of her chicken salad.

  “It went great, actually. We danced and he blurted out in front of the class that he has feelings for me.”

  Tia dropped her fork, causing a loud clank on her plate.

  “Back up; did I hear you right?”

  “Yeah, he actually admitted he started to have feelings for me once he came back to town. Although I should be happy about it, I feel like I’m the other woman in a bad affair.”

  “That’s because you’re too nice. You’re concerned about Chelsea and what it would do to her if she ever found out her fiancé secretly has feelings for his best friend.”

  “You’re saying I shouldn’t care about Chelsea?”

  “I’m not saying that; I’m just saying that you don’t want anything to occur because of Chelsea and the fact that Trevor invested so much into that relationship.”

  “What am I going to do? We’re supposed to go to this dinner party tonight as a couple. What if things between us get out of control? What if we can’t control our feelings anymore?”

  “Camille, can you stop overanalyzing everything and just have a nice time with Trevor? You two have been best friends for years. Just think of it as two good friends going out for a few hours. Nothing more, OK?”

  I sighed as I looked at my pasta salad and pushed it away.

  I’d suddenly lost my appetite.

  Once getting through the afternoon at work, I was at home looking through my closet trying to decide on what to wear for tonight. Tia offered to help me get ready for the party, but I insisted on getting ready on my own. I was going to buy a new outfit for the occasion, but I figured this was just a casual night out with my best friend, nothing more. Although I was thinking it, my body was saying otherwise.

  I searched toward the back of my closet, landing on a dress that still had the price tag on it. It was a purple, low-cut dress that would definitely accentuate every part of my body. I stared at it, deciding if I should wear it. I looked at the clock and noticed the time. I had to shower and change quickly since Trevor would be at my house soon…

  After thirty minutes of showering, shaving, and getting my makeup to look extra perfect, I was ready to go. I glanced at the wall clock in my living room wondering where Trevor was. The dinner party was going to be held at Perry’s Steakhouse & Grille, which was a pretty fancy place. Everyone from both the PR and marketing departments would be there, making this charade even more intimidating.

  “Where is he?” I asked, looking at the clock again. As soon as I said that, the doorbell rang. I walked toward the door, hearing my purple heels click back and forth on my hardwood floor.

  When I opened the door, Trevor looked at me, not knowing what to say. He looked at my dress and then at me with a look
of desire. I suddenly became shy at how Trevor was acting.

  “Hi,” he said softly while walking into the house. He began to check me out from the back too, making me even more nervous.

  “You look beautiful,” he said as he glimpsed the back of my hair, which flowed in waves down my back.

  I closed the door and stared at him. He looked incredibly sexy dressed in a fitted black suit with a crisp white shirt with no tie. I hadn’t noticed before, but he was letting his hair grow out, making him even hotter. I wanted so badly to go over to him and kiss those lips of his, but I had to restrain myself.

  “You don’t look too bad yourself,” I said as I went over to the couch to get my clutch and keys.

  Trevor started to lick his lips, making my insides exceptionally moist. Trevor loved to do that, which drove me crazy since I wanted those lips all over me.

  “So what should we tell your coworkers?”

  “What you mean?”

  “I mean with the relationship. How did it start, why you never mentioned me?”

  “Do they really need to know why I don’t mention you?”

  “You know they’ll ask. Have they met Eric before?”

  “Once at a function.”

  “They will want to know, so we’ll make up something on the way.”

  I couldn’t find the remote for my alarm, so I went up to the keypad to set the code. Trevor walked over to the door, patiently waiting for me to set the alarm. Once the alarm was set, I went to the door as well. Instead of moving, Trevor gave me a flirty stare as he pulled me close to him. I could smell the mixture of cedar and amber from the cologne he always wore, which made me want to pull him into my bedroom instead of out the front door.

  He moved his hand up and down my shoulder, giving me a tingle between my legs.

  The alarm continued to go off, indicating we had ten seconds to leave before the alarm was officially set. But as we stared at each other, neither one of us wanted to leave that exact spot.

  “I needed to touch you,” he said as he stared into my eyes.

  “We have eight seconds to leave,” I said softly as I took his hand and we walked out the door.

  If we stayed at my house any longer, we definitely wouldn’t have gone to the party.

  Chapter 8

  Trevor

  H

  ow am I going to get through tonight? I thought as I looked at Camille sitting in the passenger seat.

  All day I’d been completely nervous about tonight. To make matters worse, today was the first day of my new job, which didn’t go as well as I would have liked it to. I was making so many mistakes, my boss probably wondered why he had hired me for the job. I didn’t normally make mistakes on anything; that’s why I knew this situation between Camille and me was bigger than what I thought.

  Looking at Camille wearing that tight purple dress only made my thoughts about the situation even more complex. I’d never cheated on Chelsea, ever, and the thoughts I was having about Camille made me feel as if I was doing just that.

  Camille looked at me as she placed her hand on mine.

  “You sure you want to do this? I can tell you’re kind of hesitant about going.”

  “It’s not that; it’s just looking at you right now wearing that dress, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off of you tonight.”

  Camille let go of my hand and put it in her lap, as she was blushing from the comment.

  Once we pulled into the parking lot of Perry’s, I turned off the engine and moved Camille’s face close to mine. I gave her a longing glance as I searched into her eyes for any type of expression or thought. She stared at me, wanting to say something but couldn’t.

  “This is awkward,” she finally said as she continued to stare at me.

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Do you think it will be like this forever?”

  “I don’t know; we’ve never experienced this feeling between us before.”

  “Trevor, whatever’s going on between us, I don’t want it to interfere with what you have with Chelsea.”

  “I think it’s too late for that, Cam.”

  “I don’t want me being the cause of you having problems with Chelsea.”

  “You won’t be. If anything does happen between Chelsea and me, it will be my doing. Remember that, OK?”

  Camille nodded her head as she unlocked her door.

  I opened the door and went to the passenger side to open the door for Camille. As she stepped out, I slipped my arm around her waist and we walked into the restaurant.

  Once we were inside, Camille went up to the hostess area to ask where the dinner party was located. As I began to look around, my eyes landed on someone that I did not expect or want to see.

  “Shit,” I said silently. Camille looked at me wondering what was going on. “You OK?”

  “Look who’s here.”

  As soon as I said that, Chelsea’s brother Ron and his wife, Stacy, were walking over to us.

  “Hey, Trevor, Camille. What brings you two here?” Ron asked as he gave me the one-arm hug.

  “Wow, Camille, you look gorgeous,” Stacy said as she went up to her for a hug.

  “Thank you. We’re here for a dinner party my coworker is giving. Trevor decided to be my wingman,” Camille said while looking at me.

  “Yeah, what she said,” I said while plastering a grin on my lips.

  Ron and Stacy looked at the two of us as if we were on something.

  “OK, well, we were just waiting for our table when we saw you, so we’ll let you two go,” Stacy said.

  “Yeah, have a good night, you two.” Ron said.

  We both smiled as we followed the hostess to the dinner party. Suddenly I heard something that made me stop in my tracks.

  “Hey, Trevor, remember to call Chelsea, your fiancée, when you’re finished with the party,” he said in a strange tone, emphasizing on the word “fiancée.”

  I turned around and gave Ron a harsh stare as Camille and I continued toward the back of the restaurant.

  Camille gave a nervous glance at me while we were walking. “You don’t think Ron thinks something is going on, do you?”

  “We didn’t give him a reason not to. We were both looking at each other like we are more than just friends.”

  “I didn’t think there was such a look,” Camille said.

  “Well, he knows something is up. Hopefully he doesn’t call Chelsea.”

  The hostess stopped at a large table near the window, showing a picturesque view of the city.

  “Camille, Trevor, I’m so glad you two showed up,” Vicky said in a syrupy sweet tone. She went over to Camille and gave her a huge hug. She stepped up to me and gave me a hug as well, which was a little uncomfortable, considering she was trying to feel me up. I pulled myself away from Vicky, realizing I would need to keep an eye on her for the rest of the night. I noticed Camille wanted to pull out Vicky’s blonde extensions as she gave her one of her evil stares before sitting down.

  “Camille, we didn’t even know you and Trevor were dating. When did this happen?” asked one of Camille’s coworkers from the PR department.

  Time to deliver our story.

  “Emily, right? We were friends for a long time but decided to take the relationship to the next level. All that time we’ve been friends, we didn’t realize we had romantic feelings for each other,” I said while stroking Camille’s hair.

  I didn’t know whether Camille was touched by the story or if she was getting turned on by my touch, because she was giving me a look that definitely had me turned on.

  “How long have you two been dating?” another coworker asked.

  “Six months,” Camille said, smiling.

  “But we’ve known each other for seventeen years,” I said.

  “I love these kinds of love stories. Best friends turned lovers, so perfect,” Emily said while smiling.

  I took Camille’s hand in mine and gave it a kiss. Camille looked at me with a lustful gle
am in both her eyes.

  “Why didn’t you ever mention Trevor to anyone, Camille?” asked Vicky.

  I looked at Camille with an I-told-you-so look and smiled.

  “Well, the subject never came up,” she said, giving me an I-shouldhave-known stare.

  “Well, I think it’s great. Camille can stop being a hard-ass since she’s getting some on the regular,” another coworker said, while laughing with her date.

  Camille tightly sneered at the person, which I knew to be her attitude face. She usually gave one of those before telling someone off. Before she could get to that point, I put an arm around her chair and lightly touched her arm.

  “Trust me, everyone will notice a carefree and happy Camille from now on; right, baby?” I said as I pulled her close to me and reached for her lips.

  I knew I took Camille by surprise when I kissed her. Just the way her soft lips felt against mine was not only powerful but down right hypnotic. I don’t think I felt this way when I kissed Chelsea, whom I completely forgot about at the moment.

  We deepened the kiss, allowing Camille to slip her tongue in my mouth, making me want to skip the dinner altogether, take her back to my place, and make love to her for the rest of the night.

  While some of the guests were encouraging us to continue, Vicky started to clear her throat, mainly because we were stealing her hosting thunder.

  “This is a public place, you two. You can do that in the privacy of your bedroom,” she said in a hostile tone.

  “Oh, come on, leave those two alone; they are clearly in love,” said Cliff, who Camille had mentioned was Vicky’s husband.

  Vicky sighed as she turned away from us and quickly grabbed her glass of wine.

  Once we pulled away, Camille put a hand to her chest, completely floored with the whole scene. Since we were supposed to be the happy couple, this was supposed to been a normal thing; but for us, it was our first kiss ever, which was pretty damn good.

  I stared at Camille, wondering what was going through her head right now. She looked at the guests and smiled.

  “Excuse us,” she said as she pulled me from the table. She took my hand and we moved toward the direction of the restrooms, which was out of earshot of any guests.