Every Time You Lie

She sat alone another night, her knees pulled into her chest as she stared out into the night. She didn’t know when, but the rain had started to fall. The droplets accumulated at the base of the apartment window but her initial tears had made it barely noticeable.

Camryn Starr waited. That’s what she’d always done.

Since the day she met Damon Holmes, her life revolved around his every movement. She liked it that way in the beginning, planning her days around seeing him at every possible moment. She loved him, and for a while, she’d even believed that Damon loved her too.

His love was a lie. Every word, every touch, every gift, and gesture; none of it was real.

When Camryn started to notice the change in Damon, she ignored it. She brushed it off as her imagination when she thought she smelled perfume on him or when she’d manage to catch him faltering on a story he’d told her. Even when she discovered the truth, she didn’t want to admit that he was unfaithful or that he didn’t love her.

Then, she waited. She waited for proof. Her heart didn’t want to believe what her head seemed to tell her. So with every move he made, she waited for him to slip. He’d walk into a club that her friends were at or absently stop into the store that her parents owned when he was with her[/]. She knew it was just a matter of time.

And it was. It was longer than she’d thought, but she got her proof.

When Haley showed her the photos, she didn’t want to believe it. It didn’t make sense, she thought. She’d been praying that it wasn’t really happening.

Every night when he came home, Damon assured her of his unwavering love. Night after night though, she began to hear the truth.

-- xoxo --

After working another Sunday, Damon headed straight to the bedroom without so much as a hello. Camryn was curious, though she didn’t know why anymore. She knew that everything was falling apart though he constantly would convince her otherwise.

Now she knew better.

“Damon, we need to talk,” Camryn told her boyfriend, who stared back at her cluelessly.

“About what,” Damon said.

“You know what. I saw the pictures, Damon so don’t try to deny it anymore.”

His dark eyebrows knit in confusion. She had to admit: he was a good actor.

“Why?”

“I think we need a break, Camryn. This is just not working out,” Damon said calmly.

Because you can’t keep your hands to yourself, she thought.

“We’re just done, then? That’s all you have to say for yourself? You’re pathetic, Damon.”

Damon didn’t say anything; he just watched the fire that continued to burn in the small fireplace. It hypnotized him, kept him from thinking about the huge mistake that he knew he’d made.

“I’m sorry, Cam. I’m selfish, you’re right,” he said, looking to Camryn. She was unwavering in her stance. This was over in her mind; nothing he could say was going to change that now.

“You’re not sorry. If you regretted it, you wouldn’t have done it,” Camryn shot back. “I should have known better than to think you would change. She didn’t ever leave your mind, did she?”

Damon looked surprised; just another expression he’d mastered, Camryn decided.

“Who?”

“Kayla. She’s always been the one, hasn’t she? She’s the one in the pictures,” Camryn shouted, throwing the photos she’d gotten onto the bed next to him. He looked at them briefly, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I can’t believe you. Camryn, you know I love you. Why are you doing this?”

A frustrated sigh fell from her lips again. “Damon, you just ended this, not me. But you know what? I’m fine. This doesn’t bother me a bit. There are a lot of guys that would line up here for me, so don’t worry about me. You just go live your life. Be with her,” Camryn said, “That’s what you want.”

“I didn’t mean that. You’re what I want, Camryn. Not her.”

He waited for a reaction that never came. There were no tears; there was no comeback. All he heard and all he saw was nothing.

Damon followed Camryn out of the bedroom and downstairs where she was already dialling the phone. She was leaving, and probably for good this time.

Camryn shoved past him when she was done, barely acknowledging his existence.

“Are you leaving,” he’d asked from outside the bedroom door.

“I have to. You’ve lied to me enough, I think. I deserve better than this,” she told him firmly.

Damon didn’t say another word until Camryn reached their front door.

“Are you sure this is what you want,” Damon asked.

“This was your decision, not mine.”

“I love you, Camryn. It’s only you.”

Camryn couldn’t stop herself from getting in the last word.

“You even believe your own lies, don’t you Damon? Because I can hear the truth. Everytime you lie, I know the truth.”

Confused, Damon watched her walk away.

She’s the one, he thought. It just took me too long to realize it.

And for the first time that day, he’d admitted the truth.