by S. J. Sylvis
“Are you ready to go? I made us reservations at the Rooftop.”
My eyes smiled for me. The Rooftop…it was the most romantic restaurant here in New Bern. I’ve only ever been there to eat during the day, in their small lunch café. The riveting part of the restaurant was the actual Rooftop part, which overlooked the Neuse River. It was lined with those adorable, little, twinkly lights, and they even offered handcrafted wine from their local winery. It was breathtaking, and I’d always admired the top part of the restaurant from my back deck late at night, where I could see the lights sparkling through the vast darkness.
I smiled. “Wow, that’s fancy.”
I decided I was totally buying JoJo a coffee from the corner café tomorrow and taking it to her shop, because not only had she set me up with the most handsome man I’ve ever been on a date with, but she also dropped by an outfit for me to wear. I’d guessed we were going somewhere fancy with the light pink, flowy dress and heels, but I’d hadn’t realized it would be the Rooftop.
“Well, from what JoJo said about you, I wanted to make sure I really wowed you so I can take you out again.”
He grinned at me and I swooned, right there on the spot.
I could feel the warmth beginning to set throughout my body.
“Let me go grab my bag, and we can go!” I was trying to the hide the giddiness in my voice, but I failed. Miserably.
I ran inside, heels clicking on my hardwood floor, and hurriedly came back to make sure my date was still waiting for me.
When I swung open my front door, it felt like someone was squeezing my throat. NO!
“There she is! My shining star!” Luke. His voice carried a possessive tone and my ears instantly starting burning.
“What? No, I’m not. Go away!”
Jason was beyond confused. “Your shining star? What?”
I looked over at Luke, gave him a glare, and then put my arm in Jason’s.
“Ignore him. I don’t even know him.”
“Stop trying to hide it, Cammie. If he is taking you out, he needs to know about us.”
I felt like I had been slapped.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I exclaimed. Oh, he’s going to freaking get it. He’s going to get it good.
Luke pleaded, “Cammie...”
I ignored every bit of him, even the fact that he looked just as attractive as Jason in just jeans and a freaking t-shirt.
“Let’s go, Jason. He’s nuts, and he’s lying.”
Jason’s pretty blue eyes were full of confusion, but he let me drag him down my concrete steps and all the way to his SUV.
I gave Luke a withering stare. I hope he gets chlamydia tonight from whatever tramp he sleeps with.
Or herpes.
Or syphilis.
Or anything, really.
My fist banging against Luke’s wide, oak door was loud and refreshing. It gave me the slightest outlet for all the anger that I have had hours to simmer in. He made the wrong move tonight. Sure, the date was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing because he’d made me feel like a loser for not having any dates, or any social life, for that matter. But when Jason showed up looking all Damon Salvatore-ish, I couldn’t help but feel thousands of little butterflies swarming around in my stomach. He was the first guy who had actually given me any feeling at all, besides boredom or annoyance (annoyance referring mostly to my run-ins with Luke).
When the door flew open, I didn’t even care if Luke had a girl with him. I was going to ruin his night just like he’d ruined mine. He was such an inconsiderate jerk! I’ve never ruined any nights with his bimbos. I’ve stared at them with a look of disgust on my face, but I’ve never truly ruined his dates, not on purpose, anyway.
“Move.” My palm laid flat on his bare chest, right between those hard pectorals. His skin was flush against mine, but I pushed away the tingles that sparked from my fingertips. He wasn’t expecting a shove, so thankfully, even with my lack of strength, he moved backwards easily.
I brushed past him, heels clanking on the hard floor, and placed my hands on my hips, feeling the silkiness of my pretty, pink dress.
“You totally, fucking cock-blocked me! Why did you do that? Why would you cock-block me, Luke?” I yelled, voice straining. “This is not okay. You’ve taken this little bantering between us way too far this time.” My chest puffed up and down as I stared at his naked torso.
I swallowed quickly as I raked my gaze down his stature. He was still standing near the wide-open door, allowing the breezy fall air to flow inside and surround us. His bare feet were peeking out from below his black sweatpants…and that was all he was wearing. That’s it. Everything else was bare.
Bare naked.
Bare fucking naked.
My mouth parted at the sight of his defined ab muscles, which all led down to one of those devourable Vs that men had when they were in perfect physical condition. His sandy blond hair wasn’t in its usual parted hairstyle; it was disheveled like he had just run his hands through it. My eyes zeroed in on the piece of pizza he was holding in his one open hand, and I literally salivated.
Luke pushed his front door shut, and I continued to stare at the piece of pizza he was so gracefully holding upright.
“Well, hello there, Cammie. Would you like to come in?” He looked at my face and his voice went squeaky. “Oh, sure. Thank you, Luke. By the way, you look fucking amazing without your shirt on. Can I take mine off, too?”
I growled, “I’m not wearing a shirt, idiot. And why did you cock-block me, Luke? That guy had some serious potential.”
Luke leaned back against his dark navy wall, facing me, and took a bite of his pizza. He licked his lips, and my entire body lit up in flames. A sexy, shirtless man like Luke, eating a slice of mouth-watering pizza, was beyond anything I could dream up.
After he swallowed, he asked, “Can you please stop saying the word ‘cock’?”
I grinned mischievously. “Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock. Cock. COCK. YOU COCK-BLOCKED me!” My grin faded because I remembered that I was seriously pissed off, and extremely disappointed.
His eyes darkened and his chest rose as he took a huge inhale of breath. He ran that tongue of his along his bottom lip, and I clanked my teeth together. Whew, did it just get hot in here?
“I take it your date didn’t go well?”
“Are you freaking kidding me? I spent the entire dinner trying to convince him that you and I weren’t sleeping together! I didn’t even touch my food, because I was trying to explain this weird neighborly relationship we have, which is nonexistent, by the way. You annoy me to no fucking end, and that’s all there is.”
He chuckled. “You’re forgetting all this sexual energy that the two of us possess when we’re together.”
I gasped. “There is no such thing!”
“Mm, kay. You keep telling yourself that.”
I ignored all the thoughts jumping around in my head from that comment.
“Seriously, I’m angry, Luke. I have never ruined one of your dates. Or, booty calls, I should say.” I ran my hand through my perfectly curled hair. “Why did you do that?”
“You’ve ruined almost every single date or, booty call, that I’ve had.”
My mouth gaped. “What? How? I’ve never done a single thing!”
“You sit over there on your porch, with your nose in a book, wearing some outfit with just enough skin peeking out to make it noticeable, and all you are is a big, fucking tease. Miss I-can’t-date-Marines; it’s stupid.”
I thought for a moment to take in what he had just said. It’s not stupid. My rule wasn’t stupid. It was in place for a reason. I needed to protect myself.
I whispered, while spinning around slowly, “It isn’t stupid…”
Then I started to look around his house, all while trying to wrap my mind around the fact that he had also called me a tease.
A tease? That’s ridiculous.
I met his eyes once, while scanning the wall behind him, and they ha
d softened. His face was relaxed, and he was studying me. Like he was trying to figure me out. I turned my gaze at the last second and tried to shake off the feeling of confusion.
Luke’s house was almost identical to mine on the outside. The only difference was that mine was yellow and his was a light grey. The inside was set up the same, with a long hallway leading down to the kitchen, and with what I was assuming was another hallway to the left, where the bedrooms and bathrooms were. The only other difference was that our kitchens were on opposite sides of the house. His window over the kitchen sink mirrored mine over my sink.
The walls were a dark navy, and my eyes washed over his living room. It was modern, with a huge TV mounted on the wall.
Luke cleared his throat and I finally tore my eyes away to rejoin the thoughts in my head about him calling me a tease.
I muttered, “Whatever. You’re only saying that because you want to act like I’ve done something equally as bad to you, but I haven’t. You owe me.”
His eyes twinkled. “Okay, what do you want?”
I stopped breathing. What do I want? I want you to stalk over here, rip this pretty dress off my body, and make me forget about my crappy date. Wait, what?
I stared directly into his playful eyes, reached down slowly, and unclasped both of my heels, kicking them off to the side. Luke’s eyes were hooded as he watched my every move. I could have sworn I heard him take a sharp inhale of breath when I started to pad my way over to him, where he leaned against the wall. When there were only a few inches between us, I licked my lips, smiled, and darted my eyes down to his mouth. His lips were perfect for a man: they were slim but the not too slim. His bottom lip was slightly fuller than the top and for a brief second, I wondered how it would feel to kiss him. Would it take my breath away? Would he slip his tongue inside?
Feeling my heart pick up speed, I quickly snapped out of it and went back to my plan. I didn’t dare take my gaze off his lips when I slowly reached over and grabbed the pizza. When I looked back up at him, his eyebrows were furrowed, and his head tilted just slightly. Once I had that cheesy piece of heaven in my palm, I skipped off into his open living room and sat right down on the grey leather couch.
When I looked back over at him, his mouth was still wide open, and I cackled, taking a huge bite of the pizza.
“You owe me this pizza…” I said while chewing. Then I grabbed the open beer sitting on the coffee table in front of me. “And this beer…for now.”
The beer coated my throat and went well with the pizza, so well that I ate the entire piece and drank almost all of his beer before he came and stood over me. Still eyeing me with a look of rapt interest in his squinted eyes, he picked up my bare legs and sat underneath me, placing them on his lap. He turned his attention to the TV right before running his hand through his hair, making him look even more devourable.
I sighed, flexing my feet on his clothed legs, feeling more relaxed than I have in a really, really long time.
Seven
“He did what?” JoJo cried out while pulling different types of dresses out of a huge cardboard box. I’d kept my promise and brought her a vanilla latte from the corner café and walked it down to her shop right after she opened. She was prepared for me to tell her about the amazing time I’d had on my date with Jason (who I found out was her accountant), but she was totally blindsided and engrossed in the surprise ending to my night.
“Oh, yeah. Then I stole his pizza and beer, and fell asleep on his couch…”
JoJo’s head popped over her counter, dropping all the clothes in her hand. They landed with a whoosh right back in the box.
I allowed the shock to wear off before I continued on with the story, leaving nothing out. I even told her about the little tease I’d done with taking my shoes off and walking over to him to snatch the piece of pizza right out of his hand.
And then, I explained what I’d done when I woke up at three that morning. I never get a full night’s sleep because of working night shift. I only sleep in small intervals of hours, but it worked out perfectly for me this time because it gave me the chance to get him back after I found out what he’d done to me.
“When I woke up at three, I was on his couch, with the TV on mute, the lights turned down low, and a grey blanket draped across my body. He was nowhere to be found.”
JoJo’s face softened, “Aw, that is so sweet, Cammie. See, he has a soft side.”
I held my hand up and pulled the piece of bacon out of my mouth and pointed it at her.
“Don’t ‘aw’ just yet. He’s a freaking pig!” I looked at her, then down at the piece of bacon in my hand. “No pun intended,” which left us in a fit of laugher.
Once the laughing wore off, I went back to my story.
“Anyway, when I sat up and climbed off the couch to find the bathroom, I had the exact same thought. How can he be such a date-destructing, jerk of a man-whore, but also cover me up after I ate all his pizza and drank his beer?” I shrugged. “But after I peed and looked in the mirror, all kind thoughts diminished, because there was a GIANT PENIS on my forehead!”
JoJo laughed so hard she had to cross her legs to keep from peeing.
“Why do you think my forehead is bright red? It’s taken me, like, five squirts of soap and several washcloths to get it off.”
“That is hilarious!”
“It isn’t hilarious when it’s you. But, no worries!” I grinned. “I did something to get him back.”
I arched my eyebrow and let my inner-psycho laugh fill the room.
“What did you do?”
“Well, it was three in the morning, so my thoughts were a little hazy and the prank wasn’t as good as I’d like...but I stole all of his shower stuff and towels and deposited them on the front seat of his beautiful Camaro. That way, when he goes to shower after his run this morning, he won’t have anything to shower with. He’ll have to go to work, disgusting and smelly.”
JoJo paused. “You’re right. You can do way better than that. But it’s still good, because I’m guessing he’ll be pissed.”
“Yeah. I’m hoping so. I did leave his razor, because I know he’ll get in trouble if he doesn’t shave.” I shrugged, taking a sip of my iced latte.
There was a beat of silence before I made eye contact with JoJo again, who was biting her bottom lip.
“What?”
“It’s just… you’ve got it bad. The both of you do.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, feigning innocence.
“You know what I mean. You two are obviously attracted to one another, and who could blame you? You banter back and forth, which is just a different form of flirting.” She held her hand up so I couldn’t argue. “And, even though you two pick on one another, you still do things that show that you care.” She turned around and started picking up the clothes she’d dropped and folded them again, neatly. “He covers you up on the couch, and you leave his razor behind. You care, yet you’re trying really hard not to. The both of you are.”
“I might be attracted to him, but that’s it. He annoys the living shit out of me. He just…irritates me.”
“In the best way, though.”
I thought for a few moments before I responded. “It doesn’t really matter, and you know that.” I jumped up onto the counter, just beside the cash register, and let my legs dangle below.
“Okay, let me ask you this. If Alexander had come home safely…would you still have this silly rule?”
Ouch. She hit me right where it hurt. I wasn’t like this before. I wasn’t so closed-off. Things were just different now. Everything was. My dad and his new family, my mom off tramping about the world with her boyfriend…Alex was gone, and then there was me. Just trying to get through each day.
“Your silence is an answer in itself. I just think that if you opened yourself up a little, you could be happy with a guy like Luke.”
“I don’t want a life with someone like Luke, JoJo. I don’t want the military life. I don’t want
to have something with Luke even if I did like him, because what happens if we get into a relationship, and he deploys and doesn’t come back? I won’t be able to move on. I won’t be able to live my life carrying such a big burden. It’s one thing losing Alex; it’s another thing losing someone I’m in love with. And to think that I would be carrying around both of those deaths? No, thanks.”
JoJo’s honey-like eyes softened. “You said you won’t be able to live your life carrying such a big burden, but are you even really living now, Cammie?”
It felt like I’d swallowed my own heart. My legs stopped kicking back and forth, and I knew my face was solemn by the way my muscles involuntarily formed into a frown.
“Do you think I like the military life? You know I’m not a fan of the long-distance shit, the worry that a deployment brings, no matter where it is in the world. But when you love someone, none of that matters, Cammie. None of it. Even if Ryan had died in Afghanistan on his last deployment, I wouldn’t do a damn thing different. His love and our life would be worth every single heartbreak that you’ve felt every day of your life since Alexander didn’t come home.”
The second the words left her mouth, I squeezed my eyes shut so the tears had nowhere to go. I wasn’t going to allow myself to cry, but her words, they spoke volumes to me.
Her warm hand landed on my forearm when she whispered, “I’m just saying, sometimes you have to take the big leap and fall, because you just might like the ground you land on.”
I only nodded my head, because my voice was nowhere to be found.
I was reading on my porch when the rumble of Luke’s Camaro sounded in the distance, igniting nervous jitters in my stomach. I wasn’t here this morning when he’d gone for his run; I was already down at JoJo’s shop, so I was dying to see what he had to say about my retaliation.
My eyes stayed glued to my paperback book, and I fought the urge to smile. I heard the slam of his car door and his footsteps clumping against the pavement. When I looked up, I saw him staring at me from the bottom of my concrete steps.