Feel My Love (Second Chances Forever)

“So,” Celes said. “What’s really going on? I know Mark can be a pain in the ass sometimes. I got the feeling he was digging his heels in because he didn’t want to admit the truth, only I don’t really know what the truth is.”

I took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain it. “Basically,” I said, “when I was a senior in high school, Cam and I hooked up. And I guess Mark thought he took advantage of me.”

“Yeah,” Celes said, nodding. She folded her hands in her lap. “Mark told me that part.”

“What Mark didn’t understand was that no one took advantage of me.” I spread my hands to either side. “I know it could look like that, when he found out his best friend got drunk and ended up in bed with his sister. But it wasn’t like that. And it’s not like that now. Cam and I are in love.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, wow. Mark didn’t say that.”

“Because he won’t listen,” I said. “I think that he thinks I’m just shacking up with Cam because I needed someplace to live. But that isn’t it at all. We really care about each other. I think...I think I always loved him, even back in high school. It just took us so long to find each other again, after Mark drove us apart.”

I buried my face in my hands, fighting off tears. I didn’t want to break down again, but it was hard to keep my composure, while I was dragging all of this out again.

“And you tried explaining all this to him?” Celes asked.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “He wouldn’t listen. I think he still sees me as his little teenage sister who needs him to take care of me. He doesn’t understand that I’ve grown up now. I know how to take care of myself.”

Celes touched my arm, giving me a sympathetic smile. “I can try to talk to him for you. At least get him to sit down and listen. But I feel like maybe this isn’t so much about him and you.”

I ran a hand through my hair, staring at the wall. Celes was right. “It’s about him and Cam.”

Celes nodded. “I have three brothers. They’ve always been overprotective. Every one of them has grilled every boyfriend I’ve ever had. I think it’s because they all have guy friends who can be jerks sometimes, so they assume all guys are the same. And, yeah, a lot of them are. But sometimes you find a guy who’s really great and really special. It took a lot of work for me to convince my brothers that Mark is one of the good guys.”

“So what you’re saying,” I said, nodding along with her, “is that it’s not enough to convince Mark that I’m mature enough to make good decisions for myself.”

“Right. You need to help him see that Cam is a good guy. That he’s someone who really cares about you, instead of someone who is just using you for sex.”

I leaned back against the wall. One of my posters crinkled as I leaned my head against it. “How do I do that?”

Celes shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really know enough about Cam to say. But I feel like this is a guy thing. Sometimes guys need to settle things on their own.”

I smirked. “How did you learn so much about how guys think? From your brothers?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “No, from the kids at my school. You’d be surprised how many of the kids who come into the nurse’s office are there for getting into fist fights. And at how often those fights are started because of girls.”

Maybe she was right, I thought. Cam had tried talking to Mark on his own, and it hadn’t worked out. I’d tried talking to Mark by myself, and it had ended just as badly. But maybe if Celes and I could get the boys to sit down and talk things out in a more civilized way, then they could finally clear the air.

Or maybe they’d just wind up in a fist fight. But if they did, then at least we had a nurse on hand to take care of them.

Chapter 13

Cameron

I sat in the kitchen with Ami’s parents, trying to focus on making small talk with her dad. It was a bit difficult to focus, however, knowing that Ami was upstairs trying to settle things with her brother.

“So, do you still play hockey?” Ami’s dad asked me. We were sitting at the table, eating chicken fried rice out of little cardboard containers. The smell of much more appetizing food was coming from the other end of the kitchen, but Ami’s mom was guarding her Thanksgiving meal like a viper. She’d already smacked Ami’s dad on the hand with a wooden spoon when he tried to snag a bite of something from the stove.