Twelve Truths and a Lie (6 page)

I
arrived
at the movie complex first and headed to the window to purchase our tickets, though I wasn’t sure if Aurora would give me the third degree about being able to pay for herself.

She seemed flustered walking up. Her hair was windswept and her cheeks a rosy shade, which complemented her flush pink top.

“Hope it’s okay that I already bought the tickets,” I said.

She looked momentarily dazed, her wheels spinning, and I wondered if I’d made the wrong choice. Would she think this was a date? “Okay, cool, then the popcorn and drinks are on me.”

“Deal,” I said, breathing out in relief.

We stood in line for the concession stand and ordered a large container of popcorn to share along with Skittles and sodas. It was crowded when we arrived in the theatre, but we found two seats almost dead center and hunkered down.

As the trailers began, the young teenager seated behind Aurora kept thumping on her seat with his foot or maybe his knee. She looked behind her two times to see if the kid would get the hint, but he was busy talking to the rowdy crew he’d shown up with.

I leaned over into her space. “Switch seats with me.”

“What?” Her shoulders stiffened. “No way.”

“Let’s change before the movie begins,” I said, grabbing her drink to move it to the opposite slot.

“I’m not some damsel in distress you need to save,” she hissed at me.

“Of course you’re not,” I said with more conviction. “And I’m not trying to be some muscled superhero, but I need you to get up.”

I nudged her out of her chair, and she huffed as she sank down in the seat I’d just evacuated. I slid down in her chair, in front of the same offending kid.

“What the hell, Cameron?” she muttered. “I can take care of it myself.”

“Nobody would ever doubt that,” I said in a level voice. “You drive into high crime neighborhoods and walk up stairwells where drug deals are being made to save families, for Christ’s sake.”

Her jaw dropped open and she moved her lips, but no sound came out.

“I just wanted you to be comfortable and enjoy the movie,” I said. “I’m the one who invited
you
.”

“I…” She sank down in her seat and grabbed the popcorn that had been resting between us. “Thank you.”

When the kid thumped my chair, I twisted my head toward him. “Dude, not sure you realize it, but you’re kicking my seat like every minute or so.”

He put up his hands. “My bad.”

“Nah, we’re cool,” I said, hoping I got my point across.

I turned back to the screen and pretended Aurora’s eyes weren’t focused on me. She reached out to grip my arm once more in thanks. My fingers caught hers before she could remove her hand and I squeezed back, wanting to feel her warmth for a moment longer. What in the hell that meant I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t feel like analyzing it.

The entire movie, our elbows rested close together and sometimes brushed, causing the hair on my arms to stand up. I didn’t know what it was about this experience that was messing with my brain. I’d been with plenty of girls and on plenty of outings. Maybe it was the idea that this was something different. A straight-up friendship and I couldn’t have her in that other way, even though she now sometimes starred in my fantasies.

It was so fucked up to think that I couldn’t be just friends with this girl. Maybe if she didn’t smell so good or have such an impressive brain and hell—who was I kidding—such amazing-looking breasts in that tight T-shirt. Fuck.

She leaned over at one point to whisper something to me about continuity from the last Avengers movie, and her lips brushed my ear. I bit down on my gums and resisted the urge to turn my head toward her mouth.

As the music in the movie crested, I angled my head toward her and replied to her question, my mouth at the shell of her ear. When I heard a gasp I thought maybe I’d gotten too close. Or maybe her response only confirmed that there was mutual attraction. But that wasn’t what this was supposed to be about. We needed to prove to ourselves that we could maintain healthy distances and relationships with people.

After the credits rolled, we walked to a cafe across the street, ordered coffees, and sat discussing the movie over our drinks. The place was jam-packed as was to be expected for a Friday night, but we still were able to find a back corner table.

“You have to admit that Black Widow is pretty bad ass,” she said, sipping her latte.

“For sure,” I said. “And the way Hulk responds to her? Pretty cool.”

All I could think was,
damn this was nice, let’s not blow it by bringing in messy things like sex or sore feelings
.

“Have you told the guys about this?” she asked, motioning with her coffee cup.

“About…” I trailed off, my eyebrow quirked.

She leaned toward me, almost conspiratorially. “Us meeting out like this?”

I avoided eye contact because I hadn’t and maybe I should’ve been embarrassed about that. I hoped she didn’t think I was trying to keep our friendship a secret for all the wrong reasons.

But I didn’t have to say a word because she got it. Got me.

“Me neither,” she said, sighing, and my eyes snapped to hers.

“I just…” I tried to find the words to explain how it felt to have something for myself, something I enjoyed, and didn’t have to answer to.

“Right,” she said, nodding at me.

My stomach tightened. “You just want to keep it under wraps for a while?”

“Exactly,” she said, blinking, as if deep in thought.

“Think they’ll raise eyebrows or question us?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

“Oh yeah. Wouldn’t be our friends if they didn’t.”

“Truth,” I replied solemnly, as I took in the throng of customers waiting in line at the counter.

“I mean, didn’t Maddie question you tonight?” she asked, around another chug of her coffee.

“He wasn’t home, thank God,” I said. “Probably out with somebody.”

An apprehensive look flitted through her eyes, and it made my gut tighten. Did she have a crush on my roommate?

Well, fuck, had I been reading this wrong the whole time?

Should I call her on it? And why did it bother me so much?

“So, is he dating somebody regularly?” she asked, sliding her bottom lip between her teeth.

I couldn’t help myself then. “Do you—”

I felt my entire body flush. I was jealous. Seriously?

Her eyebrows drew together. “What?”

Honesty, right? Lay it all out on the table. That’s what friends did.

“Do you have a thing for Maddie?” I asked in as steady a voice as I could muster.

Her eyes became wide as headlights. As if she’d been caught. My heart was thrashing in my chest. Except, fuck, it was probably for the best, after all of my reckless behavior the last few months. Maybe she was biding her time until she got herself together as well. In the meantime, she’d keep tabs on my roommate through me.

My thoughts were racing all over the place, along with my pulse.

Would I continue to meet her?

Just friends, right?

“Can you keep a secret?” she asked, leaning forward conspiratorially again.

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Uh, sure.”

She bit her lip and looked around, as if mustering the courage to break it to me gently. “It’s not me who has the crush.”

I was momentarily blindsided as fresh air filtered back into my lungs.

“It’s a…friend of a friend, so don’t say anything,” she said, looking over her shoulder, as if that person would magically appear. “And yeah, I suppose I was fishing for information.”

Relief surged through me, which was all kinds of fucked up. But my roommate wasn’t the one for her; of that I was certain. My instincts already told me that nobody would be and I needed to tread carefully because Aurora and I weren’t together, not like that.

And then I remembered that she wasn’t trying to have a relationship with anybody, not right now. The whole purpose of our club and our meetings. I had lost myself again in all the qualities she possesses that I admired.

But that didn’t mean she could help having a crush. Neither could I.

“I won’t say a word,” I breathed out. “Maddie’s a good guy. He’s been dating around a bit before he settles down. It’ll sound archaic if you don’t understand the Hindu religion or their customs, but his family has him matched up to marry somebody in the near future.”

“What?” she replied, nearly dropping her pastry in her lap.

“Yeah,” I said, with the calmness of a person who’d had this knowledge about his friend for years. “They think it’s time since he’s pretty well established in his career.”

“No way,” she responded, her mouth falling open. “Oh my God.”

She appeared completely stunned, as if I had just told her she was adopted or something. But knowing her, she’d go home and look it up and have an understanding of the traditions by our next meeting.

She’d tell me all the ways the religious custom was admirable. The way it was constructed in reality, not based on the notion of soul mates or destiny. And then give me the pros and cons of such an ideal.

She was just that way—smart and empathic, and fuck, so damn lovely right now. Her cheeks glowing, her eyebrow cocked, as if her brain was working hard to wrap her mind around the very concept of Maddie and his future wife.

“Wow, you’re really taking this hard,” I said in a teasing tone. “Are you
sure
you’re not the one crushing on my friend?”

She blushed a beautiful shade of crimson. “And if I was?”

“Then I’d have to break it to you gently,” I said, thumping my wrist on the table. “He’s not going to be available long-term.”

“Well, that’s okay, remember?” she replied in a flippant way. “I’m only supposed to be looking for short-term. Or really, one night.”

Good God, that husky voice of hers.

“Well, you keep saying it just like that,” I said, gulping, “and you’ll have a string of guys following you around.”

Did that really just come out of my mouth?

Her cheeks deepened further. “Geez, maybe I need you to coach me. You’re good for the self-esteem.”

Were we now in flirting territory?

“If you were truly serious, I’d help you out,” I said, my heart crashing against my ribcage. “But I don’t think it would go well.”

She picked at the chocolate chips in her dessert. “Why not?”

“Because you said so yourself,” I replied, the idea of it making me want to vomit. “You’re not a person who can be with somebody you don’t know for just one night.”

She shrugged, steeling her jaw. As if I had just challenged her. “We’ll see.”

Well, fuck me.

I
was
at lunch with a co-worker at a little diner around the corner from the Belleview offices. “So, what are your plans this weekend?”

“Meeting my pals at the bar tonight and then yoga class tomorrow,” I said before biting into my chicken salad sandwich.

“I love that you get together with your friends on a regular basis,” she said. “It seems harder to make plans the busier you get. And if you add kids to the mix, forget it.”

My thoughts flew first to Nicole, who tried so hard to juggle it all and then to Sydney. How a missed period could’ve also happened to me when I’d been sexually active and how I hoped it didn’t result in a pregnancy for her. Not until she was ready. And not with a guy who was betrothed to somebody else.

We trudged back to work and after a couple of no-shows, which seemed to happen regularly on Fridays in our industry, I finished my session notes and packed up to go home.

I felt excitement and anxiety coursing through me. I didn’t know what to expect tonight when I met my friends out at Flanagan’s for our usual monthly get-together. It was as if Cameron and I shared a secret, which we hadn’t exactly planned on, but we simply weren’t ready to confess anything to our friends.

I pulled on my favorite jeans and blousy top and grabbed my keys. Maybe Cameron wouldn’t even show up. We hadn’t discussed it at all in our texts this week.

When I stepped inside the bar, Sydney, Nicole, and her husband, Michael, were already seated at the large round table, pitchers of beer in front of them.

“Hey you,” Nicole said, waving me over.

I hugged each of my friends and then sat down near Sydney.

I noticed only a glass of water held a place in front of her at the table. I made eyes at her, and she shrugged and shook her head to ward me off. This was not the time to bring it up anyway. But her taking such a precaution only meant that she was nervous. She said she was going to give her period another week before she took any kind of pregnancy test. It seemed too early anyway. But maybe not by today’s technology.

Should I divulge what Cameron told me about his roommate? Did she already know since she’d been intimate with him?

As Nicole and Michael shared about their workweeks, Maddie and Cameron showed up, along with one of Maddie’s engineering co-workers. Cameron sat down in a seat directly across the table from me. Our eyes met and held as a crimson line crawled up his neck. He adjusted the collar on his shirt looking as uncomfortable as me in that instant.

After another pitcher of beer, Nicole began a game of kill, marry, or screw using celebrity names. Sydney pretended to sip at the beer Maddie had poured her as she mumbled thanks and kept her eyes mostly averted from his. If he hadn’t had his co-worker there, who was yammering in his ear the whole time, it might’ve been even more awkward for them at this table.

Cameron’s answers to Nicole’s game questions were interesting indeed. All his celebrity choices for screwing had been brunettes. It made me wonder if his ex was brunette, since he spent the better part of a year beneath the sheets, working her out of his system.

My chest felt crowded with an emotion I couldn’t quite place my finger on. It wasn’t quite jealousy, more like sadness and protectiveness over the fact that he had been dumped so ruthlessly by a woman who didn’t appreciate his great qualities.

Cameron was making fun of Maddie for saying he’d kill any girl in the game who seemed high maintenance, and when Sydney dipped her head, I couldn’t help thinking of the improbability of a match between her and Maddie based on that quality alone. I mean, even on a bad day, she looked dolled up and blinged out.

As if wanting to embarrass Cameron in return, Maddie suddenly asked, “Who did you go to the movies with last week, Cam?”

“You had a date?” Michael said, narrowing his eyes.

I tried not to make eye contact with Cameron, but it was nearly impossible. So I lifted the pitcher of beer and began refilling glasses.

“No big deal,” Cameron said, nudging my foot beneath the table, and my entire body grew warm from that contact alone. “A group of co-workers met at the theatre.”

“He was home at a reasonable hour like a good boy,” Maddie said, smirking.

“Screw you,” Cameron said, barking out a laugh, though there was a tone of seriousness beneath it. I held my breath, hoping he didn’t mention that Maddie hadn’t even been home that night.

“Whatever,” Maddie said into his beer. “I’m proud of you, buddy. Getting your act together.”

“What am I, a dog?” Cameron snorted. “
Good boy
. How about you get
your
act together now?”

Maddie’s mouth twisted into a frown. “How so?”

“Never mind,” Cameron grumbled, and I realized that these guys acted more like brothers than anything with their teasing and quibbling. But what was Maddie saying that I was missing? Or was I just reading into it too much again? Cameron wasn’t excessively drinking or sloshing his beer around, so maybe my warning flags were way out of sync this time around.

The same bouncer from the other night walked by in his sexy kilt, and Sydney nudged me as we made googly eyes in his direction.

“What is it about women and kilts?” Michael asked, shaking his head.

“Maybe it’s the question of what’s underneath?” Sydney suggested, waggling her eyebrows. “Our friend, Aurora, here needs to do some investigating.”

If a hole had opened up beneath the table, I would’ve crawled in right then.

“Yep,” Nicole said. “Then the dude would fall under her spell, and they’d run off to Scotland and have kilted babies.”

My cheeks heated up and I could feel Cameron’s eyes on me.

“Ugh.” I dropped my head to my chin dramatically. “Stop it right now, people.”

“Maybe guys just know she’s a good catch,” Cameron said, and our gazes clashed across the table. My heart was thrashing in my chest, and I could feel the heat climbing my cheeks. He was being a good friend, saving me from mortification, but I could tell my friends were shocked that he had said anything at all.

“Well, at least somebody sticks up for me,” I responded, cutting my eyes away and playing it off.

“Oh, stop,” Nicole said, rolling her eyes. “Of course you’re a good catch. The best. That was never the issue. Now, the guys on the other hand…when the right one comes along, we’ll all know it.”

“Whatever,” I said, desperate to move away from naming any of those guys or their issues. “Besides, I discovered I like being alone.”

“Told you so,” Sydney replied. I noticed how desperately she was avoiding eye contact with Maddie, and I felt bad that she was struggling for a wholly different reason.

“Right,” I said, continuing my point. “Nobody’s needs to cater to. I can even eat a bowl of cereal for dinner while watching a sappy Lifetime movie whenever I want.”

I heard Cameron snort, but I ignored him, because if he caught my eye, I’d probably burst out laughing.

“Hear, hear,” Nicole said, and we toasted with our plastic beer cups.

I certainly learned more about Cameron from his friends’ point of view as the night wore on, mostly that he was dedicated to his job and family. But the truth was, I kind of missed my one-on-one time with him, and I’d have to wait until next week to get my fix again. And yeah, that logic right there was a hundred shades of messed up. I’d just blame it on the therapeutic effects of the Chastity Club.

“Are you going to your ten-year high school reunion?” Michael asked Cameron, and everyone stopped chattering to listen in. Nervous eyes darted all around.

What was I missing here?

“Yeah, I was planning on it,” he mumbled. “Plenty of friends to reconnect with. My old football coach is supposed to show up, and my former teammates messaged me about it.”

“What are you going to do?” Maddie asked, and I could see trepidation in his eyes.

“Bring a date, I guess.” Cameron’s gaze scanned past me at the table. “Or I could always go alone.”

“No way,” Michael said, pouring his wife a drink and then grabbing for a nacho. “You need to take somebody, especially if Mike is going to show up with her.”

“Her?” I asked aloud without meaning to. Sydney raised her eyebrows at me.

“The ex who cheated on him,” Michael replied, leaning around Maddie to look at me.

I pretended not to already know the information about his ex while my stomach seized up. Cameron wouldn’t meet my eyes across the table.

I took a sip of my beer and considered heading to the restroom because I didn’t want him to be uncomfortable during this conversation.

“How about a co-worker you can be casual with?” Nicole asked.

“Casual?” Maddie snorted. “You remember what his casual has looked like?”

“Enough, guys.
Fuck
,” Cameron said, looking like he was ready to bolt from the table. I didn’t blame him. Our friends could be too perceptive, too nosy, and too damn much sometimes. “Obviously, I got my shit together.”

“I know, dude,” Maddie said, reaching his hand to his shoulder, but Cameron shrugged him off. “Just yanking your chain.”

“How about asking Aurora?” Sydney’s voice pitched, as if it was the best idea in the world.

My head snapped up. “Me?”

“Sure, you’ll keep him in line,” she said, winking.

“Who’s going to keep Aurora in line?” Nicole asked, grinning. “She’d have somebody down on one knee by the end of the weekend.”

“As long as the ring is at least a carat,” Sydney deadpanned, and Nicole and Michael snickered.

“Stop.” I was beyond done with this exchange, especially at Cameron’s expense and
mine
.

“Or maybe you’ll let loose and find somebody to hook up with from out of town,” Nicole said, giving Sydney a fist bump. Though Sydney now looked like she might puke, the idea having hit too close to home.

“Do we really have to discuss this publicly?” I said, grinding my teeth.

“Seriously,” Cameron said, meeting my gaze. “You’d think we couldn’t make adult decisions on our own.”

“Like we’re a couple of kids and these guys are our annoying family members,” I said waving my hand at the table, maybe hoping they’d magically disappear.

“Right?” He laughed, and it was as if everyone else at the table faded into the background and it was just him and me in our own little bubble again on a Friday night.

“You want to go with me, Aurora?” he asked in a low and smooth voice, and I nearly swooned. He held my gaze for several long seconds.

“When is it?” I finally asked, after I got my cemented lips unstuck.

“Weekend after next,” he said, and I was thankful that our friends had finally shut the heck up and were no longer inserting themselves in the exchange.

Still, I felt like I was in grade school and everybody at our table was now privy to a private moment. “Sure, I’ll go with you.”

He looked relieved and thankful, and I was glad I could provide that reassurance for him. He was still getting over his girlfriend’s betrayal, and behind the gleam in his eye, it wasn’t difficult to spot the still fresh wound. If I could help ease the discomfort by hanging with him and providing a listening ear over a weekend, I’d do it, no questions asked.

After Cameron broke eye contact with me and looked around, he noticed the smug looks on our friends’ faces and shook his head.

When his shoulders shrank in this perfectly boyish and self-deprecating way, I already knew my heart was headed for trouble.
Le sigh
.