Something Ends, Another Begins

"Do you really have to go?" Cameron asked me, covering my hand with his as I reluctantly made my way towards his driveway where my car was parked.

I sighed and squeezed his hand in an apologetic way. "Yeah, I'm sorry," I replied. When we reached my car, I leaned up against the driver's side door and Cameron stood in front of me. "You know how my mom calls me every five minutes if I'm not home when I say I will be."

Cameron groaned with frustration before he slowly wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. His face leaned down a little so that his lips could tenderly press against mine. My arms slid around his neck as I closed my eyes, not wanting to pull away from him. Our lips disconnected for a tiny moment as Cameron leaned back just a couple centimeters to whisper, "I'm sure it won't hurt that you stay for a couple more minutes, right?" Before I could answer, he leaned toward me again to lightly kiss the side of my mouth to my jawline and then to a spot on my neck just below my ear. I giggled and leaned my head back against the roof of my car. Cameron knew what he was doing and knew that I was going to give in.

"I guess you're right," I said, but it unintentionally came out as a contented sigh. His lips lingered on the nape of my neck for a couple more seconds before lifting his face back up to kiss my lips again. I had a feeling we stayed like that for more than a couple minutes, but at that time I didn't even care.

However, my carefree attitude ended abruptly when I noticed an extremely bright light coming towards us on my left. Cameron must have noticed it, too because he quickly pulled away from me to see where the bright light was coming from. As luck would have it, that bright light was coming from Liz's car, which was slowly pulling up next to my car.

Oh. My. God. This is so embarrassing. Cameron's aunt just witnessed her nephew and a girl (who she only identified as Cameron's friend) kissing passionately in front of her house, on her driveway. I felt my cheeks get warm and I immediately covered my face with both of my hands, wanting to disappear. I heard Cameron chuckle at my reaction and pried my hands off of my face. He didn't seem at all bothered, embarrassed, or uncomfortable in any way. How was this not embarrassing for him?

I kept my eyes on Liz as she cut the engine of her car and stepped out casually. She walked towards us at an excrutiatingly slow pace and folded her arms across her chest, with an amused smile forming on her lips. "Well, well, well. What's been going on here?" Liz asked us. She wasn't angry or annoyed. She didn't even seem surprised. It was like she expected to find me and Cameron standing on her driveway.

"Hey, Liz," Cameron said casually. He didn't seem the least bit bothered. I glanced at him, silently asking him why he wasn't a little more panicked like I was. He threw me a glance and sides of his mouth curled up into a small smile before he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. I held his hand tighter, calming down a bit.

"Hi, Liz," I said to her quietly. As I nervously twirled a piece of my hair between my index finger and middle finger, Liz smiled at me. It was a warm and understanding smile which made her look pleased at the sight of me and Cameron. Her calm and pleased reaction threw me off guard because I expected her to be either disgusted, shocked, or both.

"Hello, Ali," Liz replied as if nothing happened. She started walking up the driveway and towards the front door of the house when she asked, "I'm going to order a pizza for dinner. Do you guys want some?"

Cameron shrugged and replied, "Sure."

Both he and Liz looked at me, waiting for an answer. "I actually should be heading home. I have some homework to take care of."

Liz's smile faded a little. "Oh, okay, Maybe next time, then."

"Definitely," I said.

"Alright. Bye, Ali. Drive safe," she told me before opening the front door and disappearing inside the house.

Once she was gone, I breathed a sigh of relief and Cameron started chuckling and shaking his head. "What's so funny?" I asked, confused.

"You should have seen the look on your face," Cameron replied, still laughing with his (adorable) dimples showing. "You looked like you just got caught committing a crime or something."

I gently shoved his shoulder, a little offended. "Hey, how do you expect me to react? We just got together not even two hours ago and suddenly your aunt comes home and sees us...you know. I just expected her to be more surprised," I said, defending myself. "She didn't even mention the fact that we were kissing right in front of her. It's like she expected to find us kissing. Isn't that weird?"

Cameron stopped laughing and wrapped both of his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. I rested my hands on his shoulders as he told me, "It's not that weird." Before I could respond, his face leaned down to mine and kissed me for what seemed like the millionth time that night. Not that I was complaining.

After a few more minutes, I finally built up the strength to slightly pull away from him and whisper, "I really have to go now."

Cameron's eyes were still closed as he slowly nodded and said, "Okay." His arms reluctantly slid away from my waist and back to his sides. I felt him kiss my forehead as I grabbed my keys from my purse. "I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked me.

I looked up at him and smiled widely. "Yes, you will." I quickly pecked him on the lips and added, "One for the road."

Cameron smiled and watched me as I got inside my car and pulled out of his driveway, waving him goodbye as I made my way home.

***

Once I got home, I heard two distinct voices coming from the kitchen. Those voices belonged to my mom and Daniel. They were both talking and laughing as classical music (my mom's favorite) played from the radio. When I entered the kitchen, I saw two glasses of wine sitting on the table, Mom pouring a large pot of spaghetti into a spaghetti strainer, and Daniel chopping up some vegetables. I smiled and made my way over to them. Mom jumped a little, startled, as I hugged her without saying a word.

"Oh, there she is," Mom said happily as she hugged me back. "How are feeling about spaghetti for tonight, honey?"

"Sounds good," I replied. "Hi, Daniel," I greeted as I set my purse on the table.

"Hey, Ali. What's up?" Daniel asked, giving me a smile.

"Oh, not much. Just had one of the best days ever." I sighed contently as Mom shot me a glance.

"Are you going to tell us what happened?" Mom asked.

"Maybe later," I answered, still smiling. "Right now, I just want to take a quick shower. I'll be back downstairs for dinner in about twenty minutes."

About an hour later, I found myself starting to clean up the table and the dishes as Mom said goodbye to Daniel outside. When she came back into the kitchen, I noticed her staring at me, When I looked up, she didn't look away. She had this suspicious look on her face. "Since when have you ever smiled while cleaning up after dinner?" she asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, which was when I realized how much my cheeks were hurting because of all the smiling I've been doing.

"What happened today that made you over the top giddy?"

I bit my lip before sitting down in one of the kitchen table chairs. Mom sat next to me, waiting for me to explain myself. I took a deep breath before looking at her and saying, "Cameron and I are...together now."

Mom's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow," she replied. She seemed to take her time processing this new information in her brain, not saying another word.

"That's great...isn't it?" I pushed, trying to get a little more of a reaction out of her.

"Oh, sweetie, of course it's great. I'm really happy for you, I am..." her voice trailed off, as if she wanted to say something else but was trying to find the right way to say it.

I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. "But?" I asked, knowing that a "but" was inevitable.

Mom gave me a look along with a sympathetic smile, "But," she said, "I just hope you know what you're doing."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just...a few days ago, you were crying your eyes out because you felt that you couldn't move on from Josh and now, you're already in another relationship."

I almost cringed at the memory of me crying at the cemetery for hours and hours. "Mom," I replied, "I know what I'm doing. Of course I miss Josh, I always will. But, remember, you helped me realize that I can't live the rest of my senior year in sadness and thinking I'm never going to get better. Cameron is a good guy and I really care about him. I know he cares about me, too. Also, it's not like we're jumping into some serious commitment...not right now, anyway. We're taking things really slow, one day at a time, and whatever happens will happen."

Mom smiled and gave me an understanding nod. "I've raised a smart girl," she said. I rolled my eyes playfully as she added, "I believe you know what you're doing and I trust Cameron to know what he's doing, as well. My mother senses just get really strong once and a while and I worry about you, that's all."

"You don't have to worry about me, Mom," I replied. "Cameron and I are going to be fine."

***

Cameron and I spotted Jenny down the hall the next morning at school. She had her headphones in and was cheerfully bobbing her head to the beat of whatever song she was listening to.

"Are you sure you want to tell her?" Cameron asked me, grabbing my hand and intertwining his fingers with mine.

"Yeah, I just hope she doesn't faint from over-excitement."

Cameron nodded knowingly and chuckled a little. I noticed a couple of glances our way from people passing us in the hallway. The shocked and surprised glances mostly came from those familiar with Cameron's history of relationships (if you would even call whatever he used to do with girls "relationships", but I prefer not to think about that). Cameron seemed unfazed by the stares, however, and I decided to ignore them, as well.

"Hey, Jen," I said, squeezing Cameron's hand.

"Hey," Jenny replied happily, not making eye contact with me as she slid her headphones out of her ears and placing her iPod in her bag. After shutting her locker, she faced me and Cameron. "Oh, hey, Cam," she greeted, surprised. Then, a smile appeared on her lips. "It's about time you guys made up. I'm telling you, all of those awkward silences and unbearable tensions was really starting to get to me. I didn't know---" she stopped talking as her eyes shifted down to my hand holding onto Cameron's. She stayed quiet for a while and just looked at us, with the same suspicious look Mom had the previous night. "Wait a minute," Jenny said quietly as she studied our faces. "Are you guys...?" My smile got a little wider and I nodded my head. Her eyes became wide as her head whipped towards Cameron. "Are you?!" she asked again and I saw Cameron nod his head, as well. Jenny squealed loudly and happily, attracting the attention of two girls who slowed their walking paces as the passed by us. Jenny didn't seem to care as she started jumping up and down and throwing her arms around me and Cameron.

I laughed as I hugged her back. "I'm glad you approve," I said.

"Oh my God, are you kidding me? Of course I approve! This is so great!"

Cameron looked at me and slid his right arm across my shoulders. "I know, it is," he said as he pulled me closer and dropped a kiss on my forehead.

Jenny placed a hand on her chest. "Aww," she said, "you guys are so adorable." Her eyes drifted past me and Cameron for a second before she squealed again, "Chris! Christie, come here!"

Suddenly, Christie appeared, looking a little concerned at Jenny's burst of excitement. Christie then looked at me and Cameron and smiled widely at us. "Finally you guys got over your childish, immature behavior. I swear, Jen and I were about to start an intervention."

I laughed and said, "Actually," I leaned a little closer to Cameron, "Cameron and I are together now."

Christie gasped quietly and responded," Oh, that's so great for you guys! I have to say, though, I'm not really surprised. Jen and I knew it was going to happen eventually."

Cameron looked a little confused at Christie's last comment, but before Christie could explain herself, the bell rang for first period.