Temporary Bliss

I quickly stepped back from him, placing my hair back where it was, then covering my neck with my hand. Shit.

“Cam, I-” I started. You whore, that’s what I kept telling myself.

He stepped closer to me and pushed my hair back; his hand softly grabbed my wrist and gently pulled my hand down away from my neck. My face was red, no doubt about that. I felt a lump rise in my throat as I fought back tears. His soft, warm fingers traced around the red marks on my neck, a puzzled expression on his face.

“Shit Charlotte.” he mumbled, “I know I got a little carried away yesterday afternoon, but I didn‘t mean to…I mean…I didn‘t know-” he cut himself of and sighed, “I‘m sorry.” he said looking down.

Wait what? He wasn’t yelling at me, telling me how much of a whore I was for cheating on him. He thought he did this to me. He seriously felt bad. I hated seeing him so upset with himself, but I didn’t want to hurt him by telling him the truth…that he didn’t give those to me, that Michael did.

I cupped his face in my hands, “hey, Cam.” I whispered, “It‘s okay, I‘m not mad, don‘t feel bad, okay? These things happen…” I smiled a little, looking up into his green eyes.

His forehead came down and rested on mine, his hands wrapping around my waist, “Next time tell me to stop, okay?” he chuckled.

I nodded, “Okay, I‘ll try.” I smiled and gave him a quick kiss as guilt washed over me.

I didn’t hear from Michael for the next week, nothing, no text, no phone call, no voicemail, nothing. I was at work, washing out a few dishes before I headed home, I heard the front door open up and I rolled my eyes realizing I forgot to lock the front door.

“We‘re closed, sorry.” I said as I turned around to look at the person, but no one was there. Confused, I turned back to the sink and continued washing out the dishes. I felt a tug on the back belt loop of my pants; I put the dishes down, figuring it was Cameron. The person tugged at my belt loop again, this time harder, causing me to stumble backwards a little. I smiled and turned around to face Cameron. Instead I met a pair of brown eyes, not green like Cameron’s. The smile fell off my face and I backed away. Michael.

“Uhm, hi.” I said nervously, fidgeting with my fingers. He didn’t say anything, we both just looked at each other. I cleared my throat in an attempt to get rid of my shaky voice. “Why-um, why didn‘t you call, or at least text me…or something?”

“Whoa, you‘re not mad at me are you? You had to know I wasn’t going to call…I‘m Michael…you know I‘m not like Cameron.” I looked down and nodded, fidgeting with my fingers. “Did you tell him?”

I looked up at him and shook my head, “No.” I sighed.

“Well, do you regret it?” he asked, stepping a little closer.

“I don’t know…no, I guess not.” I smiled a little.

He chuckled and his hand brushed my cheek. He leaned in and gave me a quick kiss then pulled back. I kept my eyes closed and took notice of all the sudden energy surging through my body, especially my lips. “Did you want to hang out tonight?” I asked.

“Can‘t.” he replied shortly, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why not?” I laughed a little.

“I‘ve already got plans with a girl.”

“Oh, what‘s her name?” I questioned, taking my apron off. Little pangs of hurt pinched at my heart at the mention of another girl

“Megan.”

“Do you like her?” I teased, ignoring the small amount of jealousy.

“She‘s cute.” he winked. “We could hang out Wednesday…so tomorrow night, I guess.” he shrugged.

“Alright.”

“Meet me at the diner at midnight. I‘ve gotta run. See you later, sexy.” he winked the walked out the door.

I giggled a little then finished closing up and headed home.

*** *** *** ***

Wednesday night rolled around and at 11:30 I climbed out of bed. I slipped on a sweatshirt and grabbed my phone off of my nightstand, placing it in the back pocket of my jean shorts. I opened my bedroom door a little; making sure no one was in the hall, then crept out of my room, down the hall, down the stairs and slipped out the back door.

I walked down to the diner and slid into our usual booth ten minutes before midnight. I waited, and waited, and waited. Midnight came and went, and it was now 12:30. I drummed my fingers on the linoleum tabletop as I gazed out the window. I told myself I was going to wait ten more minutes. That ten minutes came and went and he still hadn’t showed. I sighed as I slid out of the booth, pulling my shirt down a little. I grabbed my jacket and put it on as I walked out the red double doors.

I shouldn’t be upset, I should have expected this. But I was…

I made it back to my house, and climbed back into bed. I tried to ignore the hurt that was looming in my chest, it was pathetic I was feeling this way. I didn’t want to feel this way.

*** *** *** ***

On Friday at work, Michael walked in and put on an apron, he smiled at me. Jerk. I was going to ask him about not showing up but a customer walked in. Once the customer was gone I turned to Michael.

“So you didn‘t show up Wednesday…” I drifted off.

“Oh…yeah. About that. I got caught up, sorry.”

I nodded, “It‘s fine, a phone call or text would have been nice though…”

“I‘m free tonight…”

“Sorry, can‘t.” I lied.

He shrugged, “alright.”