Temporary Bliss

After finding a parking spot nearly a block away, Cameron and I began the walk to the popular ice cream shop.

His hand casually reached out and grabbed mine, causing my eyes to shift down to our hands as his fingers laced with mine. I raised my eyebrow as I glanced back up at him.

He suppressed a grin, “What?”

“Your hand is sweaty.”

“Maybe your hand is sweaty, and it got mine sweaty.”

I chuckled as I shook my head, and let go of his hand. But he didn’t let go. “Give me my hand back!”

“But I wanna hold your hand,” his hand grabbed my free hand as he stepped in front of me and began walking backwards. He then started to sing, “Oh yeah I, I’ll tell you somethin’! I think you’ll understand, when I, say that somethin’.”

My eyes immediately went wide once I noticed his voice getting louder, “Cameron! Don’t you dare!”

His mouth was agape and he flashed me a wink before singing at the top of his lungs, “I WANNA HOLD YOUR HAAAANDD!!!!”

The people around us casted weird glances at us as Cameron continued singing. Blush was creeping up my neck and, though I couldn’t see, I just knew my face was as red as a cherry. I managed to get one of my hands free and tried to hide my face, thinking that would somehow make people not notice me.

Right as he was about to continue onto the next verse I clamped my hand over his open mouth.

“Okay, I get your point, just stop singing, people were staring!”

“I know, that was my intention.” His arm wrapped around my shoulder and he placed a kiss on the side of my head, “your face was so red.”

I shook my head at him as he laughed, “So what kind of ice cream are you getting?”

“I was thinking about twist. Little bit of chocolate, little bit of vanilla, can’t go wrong there. What about you?”

“I was thinking chocolate malt sounds pretty good,” he paused and pondered it over in his head, “But I think I’ll go with a chocolate cone, because I’m in the mood for a cone.”

“I love how much thought you put into it.”

“Ice cream is a big decision. Like, think of it as electing a president, but the candidates are ice cream…you can either vote for vanilla or chocolate. You can’t have both, so you really have to take your time and decide. So that way, when you vote, you don’t wish you would have voted for the other one. Or in my case, I don’t wanna get vanilla and wish I would have gotten chocolate.”

He finished his theory just as we approached the door. I pulled on the heavy door and was met with a wave of cool air that felt refreshing compared to the eighty degree heat outside. The door got lighter as Cameron held it open with one hand for the both of us, while his other was lightly placed on the small of my back, guiding me in.

We were greeted with blank stares from the workers behind the counter, probably because we were two more customers they had to wait on, when really they just wanted to get home.

Cameron let me know he was going to the bathroom real quick which gave me my chance to order both of our ice creams and pay for them. There was no way Cameron would let me pay for mine, so I did what I had to do.

I stepped up to the counter and smiled politely at the pale girl behind it, wearing the same orange shirt as every other worker. Her blond hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She returned my smile and revealed the metal braces on her teeth. Been there, done that.

“Hi, what can I get you tonight?”

“I’ll have a small twist cone, and a medium chocolate cone, please.”

After pressing a few buttons on the register she looked back up at me, “Five-oh-seven, is the total.” I pulled a ten out of my pocket and handed it to her. I held my hand out as she counted the change back to me. I placed the bills in my back pocket and put the rest in the small plastic box on the counter, labeled ‘Help a child in need’ with a picture of a young girl, probably 4, underneath the lettering.

I stepped off to the side, to allow the next person to order, and waited for our ice creams. A few seconds later Cameron emerged from the bathroom and stood by my side with his hands up.

“Look Charlotte, sweat free!” I rolled my eyes and lightly hit his arm.

He placed his hands in the pockets of his shorts and rolled back onto his heels, then up on his toes, “Are you ready to order?”

I bit my lip and looked up at him through my eyelashes. He cocked an eyebrow as to say, ‘what’, just as the employee behind the counter said,

“Ma’am, here are you cones.”

I released my lip and gave Cameron a big smile, then took our cones from the employee, saying a quick thank you, and headed out the door. Once outside I handed Cameron his cone and took a lick of mine.

“Charlotte…”

“hmm?”

“You know what.”

“Well, you were in the bathroom, and I know you would never, ever let me pay, but I wanted to, so yeah.” I replied as I headed back to his car.

His arm wrapped around my stomach from behind me, preventing me from walking, “You know I’m going to pay you back, right?”

I shook my head to protest.

“I am your boyfriend, which means I pay.”

“I know, but, can’t I just pay once in a while?”

“Nope, because I’m a gentleman.” I craned my neck to look back at him and gave him an innocent smile.

“How much do I owe you?”

“I will never tell.” I gave him a quick peck on the lips and continued walking.

He sighed and fell into step next to me, “Since you aren’t budging, I guess I should say thank you. So, thank you for the ice cream, Scar.”

“You’re welcome.”

Once we reached his car we got in and headed to my house, Maroon 5 playing softly in the background.

“This was a lot better than a movie.”

“You think they believed our lie?” I asked.

“Zach seemed pretty convinced, but then again it‘s Zach.” he shrugged.

“I‘m telling him you said that.” I smirked, taking a lick of my ice cream.

He chuckled, “Do it, I don‘t….shit!” he yelled. I glanced over at him, knowing that sentence didn’t make sense. “Aw, dammit, I like this shirt too!”

Right down the front of his shirt was chocolate ice cream; all of it had fallen off of his cone.

“Maybe we should have eaten there.” I giggled, handing him a few napkins.

“I know right.” he groaned, wiping his shirt off as I steered for him from my seat.

“It‘s just ice cream, it probably won‘t stain. But if you wipe it, it might, you‘re supposed to dab at it.”

“You sound like Hermione from Harry Potter, when she corrects Ron,” he repeated the line in his best British accent, “’It’s Levioooooosa, not Levio-SAW.’” he rolled his eyes, grabbing the wheel again.

“You and your Harry Potter.” I sighed as I looked out the window, propping my feet up on the dashboard.

He gave me a cheeky grin, and responded knowingly, “You love it!”

“You go ahead and think that.” I smiled, patting his arm.

He winked then turned his attention back to the road. “I still can‘t believe I spilt ice cream on my shirt.”

“How did that even happen?”

“I have no clue.” he sighed.

“Note to self: Cameron is a messy eater.” I teased.

“Charlotte.” he warned.

“Maybe we should make a quick stop at Babies“R”Us and get you a bib.”

“Ha-ha, you’re soooo funny.”

“I thought so.” I defended.

“I thought so.” He mocked.

“I’m not talking to you for the rest of the ride home.”

“Thank you!” he breathed a fake sigh of relief. This earned another roll of the eyes from me.

Once we pulled into my driveway we headed into my house and up to my brother’s old bedroom to get a new shirt for Cameron.

“You can go into my room and change, I need to go tell my parents I‘m home, I‘ll be right back.” I said as I ran downstairs.

After I found my parents and told them I was home and that Cameron was here I walked back upstairs and into my room to see Cameron having issues putting the shirt on.

“Another thing to make a note of: you have problems putting on shirts.” I laughed, as he tried to put his head through the arm sleeve.

He dropped his hands and sighed dramatically, “I think my head is too big.”

I smiled and walked over to him to help, “No! I can do it!” he argued when I touched the shirt.

I ignored his protest and tugged at the bottom of the shirt. I let out a soft laugh as I saw how messed up his hair was. His large hands quickly cupped my small face and brought our lips together for a quick kiss. He rested his forehead on mine and slowly opened his eyes as his hands dropped down to my waist.

I smiled, resting my hands on the sides of his neck, “Your lips taste like chocolate.”

I felt his thumbs slide under the hem of my shirt and start to softly trace circles on my hip bones. “It’s weird to think that I can kiss you whenever I want now.” I chuckled as his lips captured mine in a sweet kiss, “It’s nice, to not have to resist that urge of wanting to kiss your soft, soft lips.” He left a quick kiss on the corner of my mouth then rested his head on my shoulder. I smiled as I felt him leave delicate kisses on my collar bone, “I don’t know how I survived that first month.”

He picked his head up and looked me in the eyes before picking my legs up and wrapping them around his waist. I let out a small squeal, as he spun around a few times. I wrapped my arms around his neck as we fell back onto my bed. I cupped his face in my hands and looked up at him as he smiled down at me, both of us laughing lightly.

I let my fingers slowly trace over his stitches, “Not to be a total buzz kill, but we have to get out of my room, if my parents know we‘re in here I‘ll be in sooo much trouble, and my dad will probably murder you.”

I felt his chest vibrate as he let out a low chuckle, “We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

I shook my head as he got off of me and grabbed my hands, pulling me up and off my bed.

I linked my fingers through his and pulled him out of my room and down the stairs into the kitchen where we talked with my parents until Cameron had to head home.

I stood on the porch with my hands in his, “Don’t forget to wash your shirt in cold water.” I smiled.

“I won‘t…Hermione.” he smiled and kissed my cheek, “I‘ll call you when I get home.” he said then walked off to his car.

I waited till his car left my driveway until I headed into my house. Seconds later I got a text from Cameron explaining that he saw my dad watching us through the window which is why he kissed me on the cheek. Such a gentleman. I smiled then headed up to my room.

I changed into an old oversized t-shirt and took my makeup off before crawling into bed under my covers. I laid on my back and looked up at the ceiling. I bit my lip in an attempt to stop myself from smiling too big as I thought about my day with Cameron.

I was in total bliss with Cameron Quiseng.