Temporary Bliss

It had been two weeks since Cameron asked me to prom with him, I still haven’t told him about Michael and I. Speaking of Michael, I haven’t hung out with him for about four weeks, not including work. I missed hanging out with him, witnessing his cocky behavior, staying out till two in the morning talking about anything and everything. I missed how he made me laugh. I just missed him in his entirety.

I had just got off the phone with John; he called to see if I had done anything yet, which I haven’t. I knew I had to break it off with Cameron --if I was going to-- before prom, but that would leave him dateless on his senior year. I was now pacing back and forth in my room trying to sort my thoughts. I was startled by my phone going off. I glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Michael, I smiled a little. I wasn’t avoiding him…I just wasn’t hanging out with him.

“Hi.” I said quietly.

“What are you nervous about?”

“What?” I questioned, confused.

“You‘ve been pacing back and forth for the past like…ten minutes.”

“Oh, yeah. Well…” I drifted off. “How did you know?” I asked as I looked out my window. I saw him standing down in my backyard waving up at me. I heard him chuckling through the phone.

“You know, you ought to shut those blinds, I can see right in, especially with your bedroom light on.”

“Well I wasn’t aware I had a stalker.”

“No one knows they have a stalker you goof.”

“So what did you want?”

“I want to hang out.”

“I can‘t.”

“Why not?” he asked. That was weird, if I said I couldn’t he’d leave it at that and not ask any more questions.

“I‘m busy.”

“Busy with what? Wearing a hole in your carpet from pacing back and forth?” he joked. I stayed silent. “C‘mon Charlotte, I wanna hang out with you.” he whined. “…I miss you.” he said quietly.

I felt my heart warm, he really missed me?

“…Y-You do?” I asked.

“Yeah. You‘ve been blowing me off. Cameron is hogging you.”

“Well he is my boyfriend…”

“Just get down here.” he pleaded.

“Give me a minute, okay?”

“Yes! Alright hurry up!” he said before I hung up.

I grabbed a sweatshirt, though I probably wouldn’t need it. Then did my usual routine I did when I snuck out.

I walked out into my backyard and there was no sign of Michael, I swear if he left…just then I was picked up from behind and spun around. When my feet were set back down on the ground I found myself pinned up against my house. Michael’s hands were on my waist, our noses almost touching.

He smiled and whispered, “Kiss me.”

I wasn’t going to, but then I took a look into those brown eyes and felt myself being drawn to him, like a whirlpool was sucking me in.

I smiled, “So demanding, and what if I don’t?” I flirted back.

“C‘mon Charlotte, kiss me.” he edged on, whining a little.

He opened his mouth to speak up but I quickly planted my lips on his, catching him by surprise. He smiled and laughed a little into the kiss. One of his hands slid around to the small of my back, pressing me into him a little. He pulled back and I rested my head on the side of the house behind me. His forehead rested on mine and he gave me a quick peck on the lips. We both stared into each other’s eyes, not saying anything.

“Wanna take a walk?” He asked, stepping back from me.

I nodded and crossed my arms in front of my chest as I walked to my front yard. Once we started walking on the sidewalk Michael reached up and uncrossed my arms, he then linked his fingers through mine, swinging our hands back and forth a little. I think that was the nicest gesture he’s done for me. We spent the whole walk talking about ourselves to each other, which is how we usually spent our time at work. We made it back to my house and he gave me a sweet goodnight kiss and then started walking off.

I caught his hand before he got too far and gave him a small smile, “did you want to come in?”

He thought about it for a while, I tugged on his hand as my smile got bigger, slowly taking steps back into my house. “Please?”

“If you really want me to I will.” he winked, tapping my butt as I turned around and quietly walked into my house. I turned around and swatted his hand. “Ow!” he whisper yelled.

I put my hand over his mouth and told him to be quiet; he reacted by licking my hand. Mature. I snapped my hand back and wiped it off on my sweatshirt as he smirked at me. Both of us then snuck up to my room.

“You shut the door behind you, right?” I asked, taking off my sweatshirt.

“…no.” he laughed a little. “Oops.”

I rolled my eyes, “Be right back.” I sighed then snuck back downstairs to shut the back door. I got back up in my room and saw Michael laying on his back on my bed with his eyes closed, I smiled and shut my bedroom light off, then climbed on my bed and snuggled up next to him, laying my head on his shoulder. I saw him smile a little as he wrapped one of his arms around me, and that’s how we fell asleep that night.

I woke up the next morning to Michael getting out of my bed. I hadn’t noticed we drifted off to sleep. I grabbed his wrist and tugged at it.

“Hey. Where are you going?” I asked.

“I‘ve gotta get home.”

“You always leave, can‘t you just stay this once?” I pouted.

He shook his head, putting his shoes on. “I can‘t. Another time, okay?” I nodded but didn’t let go of his wrist. He chuckled, “What do you want?”

A kiss. But I didn’t say that. “I don‘t know. Sorry. I‘ll let you go now.” I sighed, giving a small smile as I freed his wrist from my grasp.

“I‘ll call you later today, alright?” he asked, stopping at my door.

I nodded and mumbled an okay. He slipped out the door and I drifted back to sleep. I woke up an hour later and hopped in the shower. When I got out I got a text from Caroline asking if I wanted to go dress shopping. I groaned out loud, throwing my head back. I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t say no, then I would have to come up with an excuse, and I was terrible at lying to Caroline, and then I’d have to tell her the truth, which is that I probably wasn’t going to go to Prom with Cameron because I was going to break up with him…and oh yeah I was cheating on him with Michael.

She was the one who set me up with Cameron, she’d definitely be upset. I unwillingly replied with a yes and she texted back almost instantly letting me know she’d be at my house in thirty minutes. I plopped back down on my bed and smiled a little, realizing the right side of my bed smelt like Michael. I grabbed the pillow he used and hugged it, closing my eyes as I breathed in his scent.

I got up and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast before going to the mall. I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a pear, apple, grapes and some strawberries. I pulled the cutting board out from the cabinet and started cutting up the pear and apple. I combined it all in a bowl and scooped some out and sat down at the table to eat it after putting the rest in the refrigerator. My phone went off a few minutes later causing me to jump up and grab it off of the counter, thinking it was Michael.

But it wasn’t, it was Caroline; I should have known.

“Hey there, Care-bear.” I said into the phone.

She laughed, “What? What kind of nickname is that?”

“I don’t know, it popped into my mind…don‘t worry I won’t use it again.”

She chuckled, “good. Anyway, I‘m out here.”

“You don’t mind if I eat in your car, right?”

“nope.” she said, popping the ‘p’

“Alright, be out in a sec.” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear before I finished talking, and then hit end. I slung my shoulder bag over my head onto my shoulder and grabbed my bowl. I stopped at the front door and bent down, careful not to spill any of my fruit, and grabbed my red pair of Toms. I opened the door, gave a smile and wave to Caroline in her car then spun around and set my bowl and shoes down on the ground, needing both hands to lock the door. I picked them back up and jogged to her car in my driveway.

I climbed in and smiled, “sorry, thirty minutes wasn‘t enough. Want some fruit?”

She nodded, grabbing a few grapes, “yeah, well, I just wanna get my dress already!” she squealed.

I chuckled as I put my seatbelt on, once it was on Caroline shifted the car into reverse and backed out of my driveway, heading towards the mall.

“So I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever…like outside of school.” she complained.

“I feel the same way! Today is much needed!”

“So how‘ve you been?”

“Fantastic! I‘m already getting senioritis.”

“ugh, me too! Mr. Bender, my AP physics teacher, assigned us to read the chapter and take notes, I didn’t do it.” she grinned. It didn’t seem that big, but to her it was, she was a straight A student who ALWAYS did her homework.

“you bad ass.” I laughed.

She laughed along with me, “I know right?! It felt so good to not do it! I just want to stand on a cliff and yell it from the top of my lungs! Just let it out! What about you? What bad ass things have you done?”

Oh, nothing too bad, just slept with some other guy behind my boyfriends back, and I’m continuing to see this guy. But that’s not what I said. “Nothing really, just not doing homework.” I smiled.