"Me neither," I whisper honestly. Cam pats my wrist where he's secured my grass-made bracelet. I hold in my wince.
"There you go."
I laugh. "Thanks, Cam."
A strong gust of wind sends my hair flying in all directions and a few locks settle right in my face. I laugh again as Cam tucks it behind my ear. We both look up in time to see ominous charcoal clouds roll in.
"Not sure that storm's gonna wait 'til tomorrow," Cam murmurs. "Let's get goin'." He stands, long limbs unfolding gracefully, and holds out his hand to help me up.
Once back in his truck I take his phone to check the local news website about the storm, since I haven't seen my own phone since last night, and see several missed calls and texts from Cam's mom. He instructs me to read them and we learn that that the storm system had sped up and is expected to hit the area tonight instead of tomorrow. Michelle is planning on staying at the hospital through Sunday to help treat storm related injuries.
It's already raining hard as we pull into Cam's driveway. It's only late afternoon, but the sky has darkened considerably. It doesn't seem like we'll be heading out again today. I know I need to find my phone and check it, and I'm grateful that Robin will be stuck in Gainesville and my parents at my grandmother's.
"Hope you didn't have plans tonight," I tease as we race indoors.
"Already canceled 'em anyway," he murmurs nonchalantly.
"Oh yeah? Missy or Laura?" I tease, inwardly grimacing at the pang of jealousy twisting my stomach.
"Lacey, actually," he replies absentmindedly while he searches through kitchen drawers.
Oh.
Cam pulls a couple of flashlights and some candles out of a drawer. I doubt we'll need them, but better safe than sorry I suppose.
"You could still go, uh, see her," I murmur reluctantly, feeling guilty for ruining his plans. "I mean, I could just stay here and watch a movie. Or I could go to my house," I offer.
Cam stops what he's doing and walks back over to where I'm standing in the breakfast nook looking out the window. He tugs my arm to get me to face him, but I flinch, and without even thinking I snatch it back. He narrows his eyes at me, but doesn't call me out on my strange behavior. I was never jumpy about being touched, especially not by Cam. I wonder idly if Robin has messed me up for good.
"Like I said, I cancelled this morning... You need me, Ror," he says, softly cupping my jaw and stroking my cheek with his thumb.
"I do," I admit, turning into Cam's touch. My skin tingles from the contact and I swallow nervously. Cam has never made me nervous, but I just feel so aware of him right now, in a way I've never felt with Robin.
I inhale, careful to be more subtle than last night when he accused me of sniffing him. His scent both calms and exhilarates me. My eyes haven't left his, and I nearly gasp when his gaze drops to my lips. I worry my bottom lip between my teeth, and Cam inhales sharply. If I didn't know better, I would think he wanted to kiss me.
But I do know better.
Cam suddenly steps back and heads into his kitchen. He pulls out some takeout menus and I turn back to look out the window.
No, Cam doesn't want to kiss me. He's my best friend, I know that. But for the first time, I realize, I wanted him to.
"I should go pick up some dinner before it gets too bad out there. You want anything in particular or you just gonna look through these menus for thirty minutes,get overwhelmed that there are too many choices,and make me pick?" he asks.
"Ha.ha." My voice drips with sarcasm, but he's right. That is exactly what Iwould have done. I smile to myself. "You're not goin' out in this anyway.I'll make us something to eat, you pick a movie."
"You gonna cook for me?" he asks excitedly.
I nod. It's rare that I cook, but when I do, Cam acts like it's Christmas come early. I only even know how to cook at all because my Grandma Mimi would teach me different recipes whenever we used to visit her up in New York before she passed.
"Damn, I love storms!" Cam exclaims, and his joy is like a drug to me. The shadows fade more and more with each of his crooked smiles.
After looking through the contents of his freezer and fridge I go with simplicity. I defrost some chicken cutlets in the microwave and put Cam to work peeling potatoes so I can boil and mash them. I batter and bread the chicken and start frying, and have Cam wash the vegetables for a salad.
Once the chicken is done I add salt, butter, and milk to the potatoes, dress the salad, and we sit and eat on the coffee table in the living room like we always have.
After dinner I load the dishwasher while Cam heads to his room to choose something from his DVD collection. I realize I need to find my phone, I'm sure my mom is looking to check on me, even though she probably thinks I'm in Gainesville with Robin.
Cam is still looking through his movies when I enter his room. He shakes his head when I ask if he's seen my phone, and I find it buried in his comforter, turned off.
