Confidential (22 page)

I watched Camdon as he shifted in his chair and visibly gulped. He openly stared at me as I pulled my hand from my skirt and moved it up to my chest, over my left breast, giving it a good squeeze.

There was a loud clang and Camdon snapped back to reality and I stretched out my arms, acting as if nothing happened. Jill looked at Camdon, "What happened?"

"Uh…um. Uh
.."
Camdom stuttered, the most flustered I had ever seen him.

"He hit his hand on his plate, I think it just hit his glass or something." I shrugged, my eyes never leaving Camdon's face.

He gulped again, and nodded, apparently not trusting himself with words.

"Oh. At least you didn't
break
anything." Jill said.

The rest of dinner was uneventful, but I grinned successfully the rest of the night, even when I was stuck drying dishes, I was blissfully happy at the fact that I definitely bested Camdon.

It was time to leave before we knew it, and I was saying good bye to Camdon, I gave him a hug, and as I stepped away I grinned evilly and said "I hopped you enjoyed yourself tonight."

His face went a little red as I spun around and walked back to the house with Anna.

"That was really fun." Anna said happily. "We should do that again sometime."

"Agreed."

*  *  *

It wasn't long after I was in my room that I heard a tap at my window. I smiled to myself and walked over to it, opening it slightly.

"Yeah?" I asked, looking at Camdon, half way up the side of the house.

"That was so unfair." He pulled himself up and over, landing on the floor next to me.

I kept a straight face, "What was unfair?"

"Do you know what it's like to watch you do that with my family around? I didn't even know what to do with myself." His face had
a
pink tint to it.

I openly laughed at his discomfort. "That is so cute."

"It's embarrassing." He muttered.

I went over to my dresser and grabbed sweatpants and slipped off my skirt and tights before slipping them on.

"You have got to stop doing that." Camdon said, now laying on my bed, watching me.

I was in the middle of taking off my sweater, "What?" I asked, my voice coming out muffled and agitated as it tried to pull the tight thing over my head. "Ugh." I threw it down in disgust and took out a shirt to slip on.

"First you touch yourself, and now your changing in front of me. I think I'm going to go crazy." He laughed to himself. "I like your belly button ring by the way." He put in as a little side note.

I smiled, remaining quiet, and pulled on my sweats before plopping on the bed next to him, I inched closer to him, happy to enjoy his kisses for the rest of the night.

Chapter 12

Fall slipped into winter faster than I could have ever imagined. I spent my time goofing off with Dylan and Marcus, having girl nights with Anna, and enjoying the hype the town felt the closer and closer it got to spring. Out of everything I did though, I spent my time with Camdon. Whether we were running in the morning, walking to class, going to dinner, babysitting Ella, hanging out, or him insisting that we 'explore' little Franklin, Iowa, we always seemed to be together.

It made me nervous, if I thought about the principle of it all. In all honesty, I tried to forget about everything that happened. I no longer felt like I was lying when I told people I lived with my aunt. I wanted Anna to be my family, she was caring and sweet and like a big sister to me. I no
longer
felt like I was lying when I told people my name was Heidi Risler instead of Heidi Van Dauson. The words even sounded foreign on my lips. Van Dauson? Phoenix? What was that? The truth was, I had built a new life here, I was comfortable, and I had never felt safer. I had slipped into such a dream state of happiness, where Camdon made me happier than I had ever been, that I almost forced myself to forget there was a trial going on somewhere, thousands of miles away that would dictate my future. Sometimes I missed my parents more than I could bare, especially my dad, but I would get a kiss from Camdon, and all the sudden, not being able to see them wasn't so bad.

I lived in this little world for months, my world of normalcy and falling in love with Camdon. I only assumed that was what it was, it wasn't everyday you could feel so strongly about a person.

Winter break was long over, and the snow began to melt, and I was finally able to stop wearing giant coats and sweatshirts. It was early March, and I merrily skipped to Camdon's truck, sitting on the hood waiting for him to get back from talking to someone about Prom. Being the president of the school as a Junior, he had never been, as only Juniors and Seniors were aloud to go. This served as a problem, because he had to take lots of advice as to how to help set up the event, or whatever he does, to make sure it didn't suck like it apparently did last year.

"Hey, Heidi!" Kelly, a girl I learned to like, called from across the school parking lot.

I waved back at her, and chatted to someone in my English class walking by, complaining about the horrendous amount of homework we had to do.

"Its obnoxious." I groaned, "I can't believe he would assign 50 pages of reading to do in three days. Or that we're going to have our test next week."

"Its such a joke." The boy smirked. "I'm not doing it. He can't make me."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Good luck with that. If I don't do well on the next couple tests, my grade is going to tank."

I felt a kiss on my cheek and an arm around my waist, pulling me into Camdon's side.

"Hey, man." The kid smiled at him. "Alright, I'll see you around Heidi."

"Bye." I waved, and turned to Camdon, giving him a long kiss.

"Hey love." He whispered into my ear.

I closed me eyes for a moment before opening them to find his staring back at me. I could feel the smile slipping onto my lips.

"So…? How's Prom going to be this year?" I asked.

He let out a frustrated sigh, throwing his backpack into the back seat of his truck. I ran my hand through his hair because I knew it always made him feel better.

"Its undetermined." The aggravation clearly coming through his voice. "I don't understand how hard it is to pick a name to go with our theme. I mean, we need to start making posters soon, and ordering the tickets, we can't hold off from this for much longer."

I squeezed his hand reassuringly. "It will be fine. Tell them they need to have
a
list of five possible names by Monday the latest, and choose the best one. That way they feel like they have to do it, and you can just order the tickets Monday after school."

"That's a good idea. See," He grinned, "That's why I keep you around."

I laughed. "Oh, right. Well it's a good thing you do, I basically run the whole student body for you."

He teased me the whole way, home, about my 'sas' and 'attitude'. "Hey. Maybe you should drive the truck home, you basically do everything else for me." Or "Can you find a radio station? You basically control my music choice for me." He did that the whole ride home, and I was trying to keep a straight face, until I couldn't help it and started laughing.

"OKAY ALREADY! I get it." I huffed. He was looking pretty proud of himself when he turned down our street. I looked at my house and my smile instantly disappeared.

Camdon said something but I didn't hear him. I felt like I had started to fall, and was in that moment, where you haven't
hit
the ground yet, but there's no chance you'll ever recover your balance.

Dread.

It flooded my body, because as soon as I saw him standing in my driveway, I knew my time had ended. I was almost brought to tears, but I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at Camdon.

"Heidi?" His whole face was full of concern, his beautiful eyes searching my face with questions. "Heidi what's wrong?" He held my face in his hands, "You don't
look
so good." When I didn't answer, he tried again, "Come on, talk to me."

I blinked a couple times and regained what I could of my composure. I looked back at Detective O'Connor. Camdon followed my gaze. "Whose that?"

I didn't know what to tell him, because all I could even think about was how much I missed him already.

"Um…." I croaked out, my voice thick. "It's an old friend of Anna's."

"So what is he doing here?"

I shook my head and shrugged, "I don't know." It came out softly. I turned back to Camdon, who was still watching me. I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him right on the lips. Our mouths moved together perfectly, as they always have, and I concentrated on the feeling of the softness of his lips before I pulled away slowly.

"I have to go." I slid out of his car, and steadied myself as I walked towards my house, Detective O'Connor finally looking up and noticing my presence.

"Wait!" Camdon put his car in park and ran around the side to stand in front of me, blocking my view of the handsome detective. "What was that about?"

"Nothing." I closed my eyes; it hurt to much to look at him, because I knew what was coming.

"Look at me." He said softly, but I shook my head.

"I can't." My voice broke. "I'll call you." With that, I swiftly moved past him and practically ran to the detective, halting abruptly in front of him.

I held my breath, and his gaze. His eyes shifted behind me, trying to assess the situation between Camdon and I, but I had waited too long for this.

"Patrick." My voice came out strong, almost protective, I had grown accustomed to Anna's first name basis, and it worked, his eyes snapping back to my face.

"We should talk inside." He walked to the door, holding it open for me; I looked back one more time, at Camdon before he sped away. It suddenly became
harder
and harder to breathe, and I forced myself to think of anything but leaving him.

Stepping through the door, something seemed to change inside of me. Just for a couple moments, I needed to stay strong. In no way was I going to break, not yet. I pushed the feelings of wanting to cry back, choosing to focus on Anna instead.

She and the detective sat in front of me, watching me closely, assessing me. I was still wary about Patrick, I had always liked him, but I didn't like the way he had looked at Camdon, and I knew he was working something through in his mind, something that wasn't going to be in our favor. I saw Anna, who, I could tell was crossed between surprise and relief. She was beautiful, as always, and this did not go unnoticed by Patrick, who, when we first walked in, couldn't leave her side.

He did not look well. He was thinner, his face gaunt, the stress of the case and, I assumed, being so far away from Anna, had really taken its toll on him. He had hardened, but I know the caring detective was still under there.

I wonder how their reunion was, because they already seemed well acquainted when Patrick and I had first walked in.