Page 29

CHAPTER 29

Charlie

Sophie

You two good for tonight?

Me

Yes.

Sophie

Wow. Super enthusiastic.

Me

?

Sophie

Nevermind. Be ready for the car at seven.

The doorbell rings and I stand abruptly from the couch and rush to let Cami in. She hasn’t been here before, and it feels like a big deal to invite her in now for some reason. I was living in a different building before this one, and moved here about a year ago. She had been to my old place a few times, but I never really want to spend time here, so any time we hang out we always do it at either her or Alana’s apartment.

The “glam squad,” as they call themselves, arrived about fifteen minutes ago and got everything set up. She is earlier than I was expecting, but I’m glad she’ll have a little extra time. I open the door and she smiles up at me. It’s the first time I’ve seen her since hobby day, which was earlier this week. It’s Friday now, and it feels like it’s been way too long. The more time I spend with her, the more it feels like something is missing when we aren’t together.

I pull her bag from her hand and set it on the floor, then tug her into me and wrap my arms around her. She freezes, perhaps taken aback by my sudden physical affection, but a moment later she melts into my chest and breathes me in. I kiss her head and pull back a little, not letting her go but meeting her eyes.

“Makeup and hair are here,” I say, nodding my head in the direction of where their station is in the living room. Her eyes dart their way, then she looks back at me with something that looks like disappointment, but it’s gone as fast as it arrived and I think I must have imagined it.

“Great.” She looks over her shoulder, then raises up on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear. “Will you give me a tour? I’ve never been here and I need to seem like I have.”

I grab her hand and pull her behind me shouting over my shoulder, “We’ll be right back.” They snicker and probably think we’re headed off to do something much more intimate than touring my home. Good, let them think that. Helps the illusion.

I pull her up the stairs behind me to the second floor. The hallway extends forward from the stairs and there are four rooms, two on either side.

“This is my office.” I open the door on the left and let her peek inside. “Doesn’t get a lot of action, but it’s here if I need it.”

I expect her to look in from the doorway, but instead she goes inside the room and walks behind my desk. Her hands roam the top of the leather office chair, to the candle on the desk, then the stack of papers sitting in the corner.

“No pictures in here?” she asks. I shrug. “Hmm…this could use a little decorating.”

She circles back around to the front and places her hands on the desk behind her, then hops up and sits on the top of it. I don’t even realize I’m moving, but I cross the room to her like a man possessed. She widens her legs on instinct and I step between them.

Lately, it’s been a lot easier to be physically affectionate with her. I’m getting dangerously close to crossing a line I know isn’t smart to cross, but I’m not sure I care all that much. The only thing stopping me is my sister. Something tells me she wouldn’t care much about Cami and I being together, fake or real, but the fact that she isn’t aware of what’s going on eats at me.

We share everything with one another, we always have, and it feels all kinds of wrong to stop now. She’s the only person I’ve ever even come close to telling about what happened in high school, and after everything we’ve been through with our parents we are each other’s rock. I hate keeping things from her.

I let my hands rest on the tops of Cami’s thighs. She’s wearing black trousers with a red flowy top tucked into the waistband. The color of her shirt brings out the warmth in her hair, and before I can stop myself I’ve placed a strand in between my fingers, stroking its softness.

“How was work today?” I ask as I place her hair behind her shoulders. My hand returns to her leg and I rub up towards her hip, and back down to her knee. Up, and down. Up, and down. I can tell she doesn’t mind the soothing motion, because she looks like she’s going to fall asleep any second now.

“Long,” she says on a sigh. She leans forward and presses her forehead to my shoulder. “That feels so good. I’m so tired.”

“Do you want to cancel tonight? We can have a night in. Watch a movie and order pizza?” I move my hands from her legs to her back and gently massage in circles. She groans and I shift on my feet at the sound.

“No, we need to go. It’s important.”

“You’re important.” I don’t stop my movements, but I feel her take in a sharp breath. I expect her to look up at me, but she doesn’t. “Why do you always put yourself last?”

“I don’t,” she says, still not looking up at me. I cup her face with my hands and bring her eyes up to meet mine.

“Yes you do. You have needs too. You’re just as important as anyone else. You’re more important than anyone else, to me.”

Her eyes shine with tears, and I catch one with my thumb as it spills over.

“I don’t think anyone has ever told me I was important. I think it’s just second nature for me to think about myself last. Other people have things they need done, so I do those first and worry about myself later.”

“If you don’t take care of you, who’s going to? You gotta look out for yourself. Plus, you can’t pour from an empty cup.” She chuckles at this and I finally get a smile out of her.

“You sound like a therapist.”

“Well, I’m tired of you saving the best for last.”

“Oh, shut up. I am not the best.” She puts gentle pressure on my chest, silently asking me to move away. I step back and she hops down, then turns to look at the space again.

“You most definitely are. And I never lie, so you have to believe me.”

“Whatever. You know what I believe, I believe you need something to make this space feel more homey. It’s like a model home in here.”

“Wait until you get to the bedroom.”

I show her the rest of the penthouse and she continues making the same remarks about the state of the decor and the home. I agree with her wholeheartedly, but I’m not sure what to do to fix it and we don’t have the time now anyways. After seeing my bedroom and guest rooms upstairs, and the gym, kitchen, and dining room downstairs, we head back to the living room and Cami settles in to get her hair and makeup done. I make myself scarce, even though I just want to sit by her side, and head back up to the office.

I sit in my chair and think about how it felt to have my hands on her, to have her trust me enough with her feelings and thoughts. I think I could get used to that.

* * *

“Okay, you can come down,” Cami shouts from downstairs. They wouldn’t let me come back until she was fully ready, something about the surprise factor. I stayed up in my room and got ready by myself, then sat down on my bed and watched hockey tapes. I’m wearing a classic black wool Giorgio Armani suit that Sophie picked out for me. She said it was classy and would go well with anything, and I didn’t argue.

I head down the stairs to a vision in white, and immediately I picture walking towards her in another white dress, then scold myself internally. What the hell?

Cami is standing at the bottom of the stairs in a short white mini dress that has these gem-like embellishments at the neckline. Her hair is curled in soft looking waves down her back, and she has a thick white satin headband in her hair that matches the dress perfectly. She does a little spin, then looks up at me through her thick lashes.

“Do you like it?” she asks in a quiet voice.

“We were feeling a little Jackie Kennedy inspired,” one of the makeup artists says. “That dress is absolutely something she would’ve worn.”

“Thank you for your help.” I smile over at them. Then, I step forward and put all of my attention on my girl in front of me. “You look absolutely stunning.”

I place my hands on her hips, then slide them to her back. The urge to lean down and kiss her is strong, and I know I could play it off as performing for the people here, but I resist and place a kiss on her cheek instead.

“Thanks, superstar. You’re not so bad yourself.”

I wink at her and get a notification that the car has arrived, so we gather our things and head out. It’s a sleek black town car tonight, and we cuddle close in the backseat. I don’t even realize I have my hand placed casually on her leg until a few minutes into the drive, but decide not to pull away.

“I don’t even know what this charity is for. That is probably information I should be aware of,” she says as she looks down at her phone.

“It’s for childhood cancer. I started donating to them a few years ago, and they invite me to their ball every year. I’ve skipped a few years, but with everything going on Sophie felt like it was important.”

Somewhere in that sentence she put her phone down and gave me her undivided attention.

“Is there a reason why you chose childhood cancer?”

“A buddy in high school had a brother with leukemia. He battled it for a while and is cancer free now, but when I started making the big bucks I knew I wanted to donate a lot of it. I had Sophie pull some different charities and ended up settling on this one.”

“I love that. I’m glad you connected with it and aren’t just giving them your money. I mean not that donating is a bad thing, but having a reason is special.”

“Thanks,” I say, smiling softly at her.

A few moments later, we arrive at the venue and I help her out of the car. There are lots of photographers at this event and a red carpet I forgot to warn her about. It’s usually never too invasive. A few photos, a kind question or two, and then they send you on your way. I look down at her, afraid she might spook at all of the attention, but she just squares her shoulders and slips her dainty hand in the crook of my elbow.

I smile down at her and lead her towards the carpet, where we pose together for a few shots. When we move to the reporter at the end of the line, she holds a microphone out to us and I take it from her.

“Charlie, it’s great to see you again this year. Who do we have here? I don’t think you’ve ever brought a date with you to one of these events.”

“This is my girlfriend, Cami.”

She looks up at me with so much warm affection in her eyes, it almost feels real. I’m caught in her gaze and don’t notice when the reporter starts to ask her a question. She asks the usual about her dress, and Cami rattles off the name Versace like it’s no big thing. She mentions the magazine she works for, and then the reporter thanks us for our time before we turn and make our way into the building.

“Versace?”

“Don’t worry, superstar, I didn’t put it on your credit card. Work let me borrow it.”

“You could have. I wouldn’t have been upset, you can get whatever you need. What’s mine is yours.”

“Well, I’ll remember that the next time I get a craving for a new Chanel bag.”

I laugh at her teasing and lead her into the large ballroom. There are people all around us in conversation, grabbing drinks from the bar, or finding their seats. I get a glass of champagne for each of us, then lead her toward our table.

“Mia!” Cami passes me her champagne glass and I just barely have it in my grasp before she’s dropping it to pull Mia into a hug. “I didn’t know you were going to be here. I feel so much better now that I have a friend.”

“What am I, chopped liver?” I say under my breath.

“Charlie didn’t tell you we were coming?”

“He didn’t, but I’m glad you’re here.”

The girls sit next to one another and Soren and I sit on either side of them. There are two other couples at this table, and we make polite conversation with them both. After dinner is served, a speaker takes the stage and shares how the charity changed their life when they were suffering from a brain tumor at a young age. It’s a powerful story and makes me thankful to be involved with a charity doing this kind of work.

After the speech, the dance floor opens and I stand, holding my hand out towards Cami.

“Come on, babe. Let’s show Soren who the better dancers are,” I say, pulling her behind me.

She turns and gives Soren a cheeky wink, then takes my hand and lets me whisk her off to the dance floor.