by Reed, Zoe
Camille allowed a small, approving smile to escape her lips. As we reached our lockers she opened hers as she asked, “What did you say to him?”
“I told him you hadn’t mentioned anything and he left.” I followed suit and opened my own locker, but stopped to look at Camille nervously. “Did I say the wrong thing?”
“No, no, you did fine,” she reassured me and, having grabbed a book she needed, closed her locker. After I had finished getting what I needed we started on our way to the exit. “But that’s the kind of stuff we need you to pull to find out what he knows.” I nodded in understanding, but Camille could read the concern all over my face. She held the door open for me as we left the school, and after letting it slam shut resumed her stride next to me. “He won’t hurt you in the middle of class – there’s too many people around. All he can do is try to intimidate you, but if you see him for the lowlife creep he really is then you don’t have to be afraid of him.”
As we reached my car I smiled and leaned against the side. “Yeah I guess you’re right. Next time we have a lab together I’ll do what I can.”
Camille nodded. “Just go home today, relax. Don’t go anywhere alone. You know the rules, you’ll be fine.” She gave a reassuring smile and shrugged nonchalantly as she stuck her hands in her pockets.
“Okay,” I smiled, hesitating as I selected the ignition key from the set in my hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
As I said my goodbye I threw my arms around Camille’s neck in a hug, entirely unsure of why I did so. The only time I’d ever hugged her had been when I’d fallen off the ladder in the barn, and then I had been scared nearly to tears. Was Camille even okay with being hugged? Were we even the kind of friends that hugged? The rhythm of my heart picked up as I grew worried that Camille would find my impulse awkward. But to my relief I felt her arms wrap around my waist and a second later I let go, releasing the blonde from the embrace.
What now? With a brisk nod of finality I turned and hopped into the truck, closed the door and started the ignition. However, feeling as though I needed to say something I rolled down the window with a smile. “Don’t forget to come make cookies with me.” I waited for Camille to nod and wave bye before pulling out of the parking spot and watching her fade in the rearview mirror.
When I got home to an empty house ten minutes later, after greeting my uncle’s dogs, Brandy and Blue, I stood in the hall and looked around causelessly. All the excitement I’d felt the past couple days faded away when I was alone, and now I didn’t know what to do with myself. With a heavy sigh I made my way to the living room where I flipped on the TV and lay on the couch. Brandy came in excitedly and sniffed me up and down, wiggling up to her nose as she wagged her tail, and after having done so she let out a concerned whine.
I patted the small bit of couch next to me for the dog to come and curl up by my side. “What’s the matter girl? You smell something funny? Is it Camille?” The dog cocked her head and then buried it under my arm, whining again but continuing to wag her tail. “What’s she smell like Brandy, is it confusing? A dog-person.” I sighed and rubbed Brandy fondly on the head. “Don’t feel too left out, she confuses me too sometimes.”
For the rest of the night I occupied myself with reality shows and the one homework assignment I had from English. Then after dinner I quietly practiced on my guitar until about eleven, when I got tired and went to sleep. The following day of school was just as boring. Jonathan didn’t show up to chemistry and Camille was out for the day because she had a patrol shift in the middle of the day. I didn’t know how she did it. If I’d had to be up long hours at night, continue patrolling during the day, deal with the stress of the ordeal, and go to school, I thought I might have a meltdown. I’d never met anyone so… strong, even if it was a matter of survival. Camille definitely didn’t get the credit she deserved.
When school finally ended I went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for my cookies, taking my time as I strolled through the aisles. As I sat at the island in the center of the kitchen at six waiting for Camille to come over, I sighed at the realization that the only time I wasn’t bored lately was when I was doing something with her. I had few chores compared to my brothers since I was the only one in school, and all my classes were easy, making homework a quick task. Even though I had little things to do around the house, everything seemed so insignificant compared to what Camille was dealing with.
A few more minutes of sitting passed by before a knock finally came from the front door. “Oh thank God.” I pulled Camille by the arm into the kitchen. “I’ve been dying of boredom for the last twenty-four hours.”
She laughed and looked around the kitchen. “Well then we shouldn’t waste any time! Where should we start?”
Before she could even finish her sentence I was excitedly pulling ingredients out of the refrigerator and cupboards, and before answering I turned on the oven to preheat. “I guess we’ll both start on making the chocolate chip cookies, and then while you’re mixing and putting them on the baking sheet I’ll get started on the snickerdoodles.”
“Sounds good to me,” Camille answered and took her place in front of the large bowl I had put on the counter. She then grabbed a measuring cup and started measuring flour to pour into the bowl. “What are you doing this weekend?”
I stood next to her and began breaking eggs into the bowl, making sure I didn’t get them on Camille’s hands as she poured in a cup of sugar. “Aaron is coming, so I have to pick him up from the airport tomorrow. Why, what’s up?”
“Oh yeah, that’s right. I was going to see if you wanted to go on a patrol in town with Luna and me tomorrow after school. But don’t worry about it, you should spend time with him.” Camille dumped in an entire small bag of chocolate chips instead of measuring, and looked up with a shrug and an innocent smile. “You can never have too much chocolate.”
I laughed and nodded agreement as I poured in the vanilla flavoring. “Well we should hang out sometime during the weekend. I want you to meet him,” I said, to which Camille grunted a half-acknowledgement. A slight twinge of confusion caused my eyebrows to furrow. Wasn’t it the right thing to invite her to meet Aaron? She was already one of my closest friends, shouldn’t she want to meet him?
Camille picked up and studied the recipe. “Okay, what are we missing? Oh, vegetable oil.”
I reached for it and poured it into the cup Camille was holding. Compared to everything else that was going on, meeting Aaron was probably the least of her concerns, so I let it go and asked about patrols. “Did you guys find anything on your patrol last night? Or today?”
“Nope,” she answered, the frustration obvious as she pursed her lips. “We even widened our search and still came up with nothing. They have to be staying pretty far out of town and driving everywhere.”
“Well hopefully I can find something out and help.” I poured in the last ingredient and handed Camille a spoon to start mixing.
She nodded as I grabbed another bowl and started measuring ingredients for the snickerdoodles. After she had finished stirring, but before she started putting the dough on the cookie sheet, she scooped some up with her finger and held it out to me. “Here taste this.”
Since I was carefully pouring vegetable oil, I leaned my head over without looking up from my duties and took Camille’s finger in my mouth. “Hm, needs more brown sugar I think.”
Out of the corner of my eye I could see her nod, but other than that the rest of her body didn’t move. More than that, she was completely frigid. Stupid. I scolded myself without looking at the blonde, instantly aware it was my fault she froze. She probably didn’t expect or know what to make of my complacency with things like that. It wouldn’t shock me if it made her severely uncomfortable, and yet I did it without thinking. Just like the hug the day before, even though then Camille hadn’t been quite so tense with the display.
Finally, after a few seconds, Camille recovered from her shock, mixed in more brown sugar and started s
cooping dough into her hands and pressing it into little balls to place on the cookie sheet. I finished throwing all the ingredients into the bowl and looked around for the electric beater, which lay on the counter a few feet away. After plugging it in I turned it on slow and started mixing the dough. A few seconds of mixing passed before my patience failed, so getting bored I stretched to turn on the radio a few feet away.
I successfully turned it on, but as I stretched my body, my grip loosened and the beater started to slip out of my hand. As quickly as I could I returned my other hand to the handle and let out a shriek as I accidentally bumped the dial, turning the beater up all the way and sending pieces of dough flying everywhere. I scowled at Camille who stood there laughing at me, beyond amused as I grabbed a paper towel and wiped dough off of my face and shirt.
“You missed some,” she informed me, still laughing as she pointed. “Right there.”
I wiped at my neck, but by the grin on her face I knew I wasn’t getting it. Still embarrassed I gave up and stretched my head in the opposite direction, hinting at her to wipe it off for me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Camille glance at her own dough-covered hands, and then she stepped closer and lowered her mouth to my neck. The second her warm lips touched my skin a million powerful jolts went barreling throughout my body, causing an unbearable heat. The shock slowed time and I became aware of everything around me. The direction of each wanton jolt. The breath Camille let out that tickled my neck, accentuating the feel of her warm lips. The heat and blood that flooded my cheeks as I thoughtlessly closed my eyes.
After two long seconds I felt her tongue lightly flick against my skin to remove the dough. Her tongue was hotter and softer than her lips, and the touch of it was too painfully light. By the time Camille’s lips lifted unwillingly from my skin my heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. I stood there speechless. I couldn’t think past the hammering of my heart and the strong pulsating between my legs. There was absolutely nothing I could do to calm it.
“Thanks,” was all I could manage in a desperate whimper and Camille smiled, turning back to her work with deliberate preoccupation.
She had to have known what she did, but the way she smiled didn’t seem like she’d done it on purpose. Just like that night at the school. What was she thinking?
I tried to return to the task at hand, but now I was flustered and weak. I kept dropping things, making a mess with flour and salt as my shaky hands spilt it everywhere. The throbbing continued to distract me from tasks as simple as breathing, and caused me to feel faint even though nearly every ounce of blood in my body was in my bright red cheeks.
Camille finished putting the chocolate chip cookies on the cookie sheet shortly after. “Do you want some help?” she asked me, and I nodded and moved aside so she could finish.
I stood there watching her. I had moved aside, but barely, and now stood less than a foot from the girl. Close enough to feel the heat that poured off her body. Staring at those silky lips did nothing but intensify the pulsating, but I couldn’t look anywhere else. I wanted more. Wanted to feel Camille’s melting tongue on my skin again, anywhere on my skin. Hell, I just wanted her to touch me. Caress my cheek, my hand, any feeling in the world to free me from the debilitating throb.
Camille glanced up at the clock. “It’s already seven, I have to go. Will you be okay without me?” I looked from Camille to the dough and back to Camille, still unable to form words, and after frowning, nodded. “Okay, they’re ready to go in the oven. I’ll see you later.”
I just gave a meek wave and watched her run out the door. After the taillights disappeared down the driveway I collapsed into a chair at the table. I took a deep breath, willing away the throb, which instead just calmed into a dull ache. As I got up to finish baking I started to panic. What would Aaron do if he found out about this? If he knew that someone else, that a girl, just made me feel a way no one ever had?
I grabbed a glass of water and pushed away the panic. I didn’t really do anything wrong. Camille didn’t touch me, or kiss me. I pushed all thoughts of Aaron out of my head. While I didn’t feel like I was being entirely dishonest, I didn’t want to be thinking about him while I was still aroused. I busily scooped spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a baking sheet and then stuffed both batches into the oven. As I closed the oven door and set the timer my family came home from seeing a movie in town.
“Hey, it smells good in here,” my mom said, sniffing the air vigorously as they entered the kitchen.
“Thanks. I just put some cookies in the oven for a school party,” I told her as she grabbed a cup and filled it with water. “But I’m actually feeling pretty tired. You don’t have to take the cookies out or anything, but when it beeps do you think you could just make sure the oven’s off?”
She nodded and hugged me goodnight, and I made my way up to my room. After changing into pajamas and turning off the lights I lay down in bed only to find that I couldn’t get to sleep. Not only was it too early, but also with nothing to think about but Camille, the ache returned to a pulsating. With a heavy, frustrated sigh I turned to lie on my back. Folding my hands across my stomach I tried to justify ways I could satisfy the lust that had begun to grow. Justify what I knew I was about to do. I had school in the morning and I needed sleep. And I couldn’t get to sleep with that agonizing ache. I knew though that I didn’t feel the need to justify the what. It was why, and it was who.
“Camille!” Luna called up to me from downstairs. “Are you ready to go?”
After school on Friday it was once again my and Luna’s turn to patrol town together. My brothers, Carter and Niko, would be patrolling separately but at the same time.
I ran down the stairs, almost barreling into my twin. “Okay, I’m all set.”
She nodded and hurriedly pushed me out the front door. The four of us rode into town together and went opposite directions from our parking spot in the grocery store lot. Luna and I started our rounds toward the east side of town, checking the start of every alley and back door we passed.
“How was baking cookies with Kyla?” she asked, lightly bumping me with her shoulder as we strolled down the sidewalk, keeping our eyes and noses alert for anything useful.
I raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “What makes you ask?”
“Ever since you got home last night you’ve been quieter than normal. You didn’t steal any of my food this morning either. Something’s on your mind.” Luna smiled proudly at herself. It had to be because we were twins that she could always tell what I was thinking.
“I kissed her,” I blurted, to which Luna gave a shocked but approving grin. “I mean, I didn’t actually kiss her. I licked cookie dough off her neck. Well, first she put my finger in her mouth to eat cookie dough off it and that got me all antsy, and I lost control of myself. And I don’t know how she felt about it. Plus, she has a boyfriend and now I feel really guilty.” I paused while Luna patiently waited for me to continue. “Then after she kind of just stood there, and said thanks. I mean I know she was, you know, turned on. God, I could just smell it on her.” Just remembering it stirred me in places I didn’t want to think about. Not when I couldn’t have what I wanted. “But I don’t know how she felt about that.”
“Well that explains it,” Luna laughed and linked her arm with mine as we turned down another street. “Was she awkward after it?”
“I don’t know if I’d say awkward. She didn’t really say anything at all.” I turned the side of my mouth down in a baffled frown as I remembered what had happened. I couldn’t even believe myself when I’d done it. If I hadn’t been so caught off guard and worked up from Kyla’s mouth on my finger, I never would have taken it as far as I did. It was on a whole other level from what she had done, and I knew it. The action just couldn’t be stopped. The wolf had more power over me than I thought. “Argh, she makes me so impulsive.”
Luna was quiet for a few thoughtful seconds before she shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe actually try to make
a move or something? You should have kissed her for real.”
“Yeah, but I already told you I can’t do that, she has a boyfriend.” I gloomily kicked at a rock on the ground. “And he’s here this weekend and they’re probably being all cuddly and shit.”
“I still think she likes you. No matter if she has a boyfriend or not. She’s in denial,” Luna told me matter-of-factly, adding a direct nod.
I laughed skeptically. If Kyla liked me then why would she still have a boyfriend? It didn’t make sense. “Why do you think she likes me?”
“Because of the few times I’ve ever talked to her in class she uses any excuse to talk about you she can. ‘Does Camille like the same foods as you? Camille said you have the same tattoo as she does. Camille this and Camille that.’ And if she didn’t push you away when you sucked her neck, then she obviously didn’t mind.” Luna paused. “And you said so yourself, she was turned on.”
I squeezed my sister’s arm fondly. She always knew what to say to make my troubles seem less difficult. I wanted to hear more encouraging things, maybe then I’d even work up the courage to do something about it, but my nose stopped me before my brain registered the scent that we’d come across.
I looked at Luna who nodded. “I smell it too.”
We followed the scent into a specialty school supply store, and each of us gave the other a puzzled look as we followed the smell directly to the chemistry aisle. Once again it was Charles’s scent, and it was strongest at the flasks and gas burners.
“Doesn’t the school supply chemistry equipment?” Luna asked, even though we both knew the answer was yes.
I nodded my head, struggling to think of other uses for chemistry equipment. Luna and I looked at each other simultaneously.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked me.
Again I nodded. There was only one thing criminals could want with that kind of stuff. “But if they’re making drugs, why? And what kind?”