Page 21 of Certified Heartthrob

She was filled to the brim with frustration and anger as she looked up at me, averting her eyes every so often towards the people passing us on the street.

“Fine,” she huffed. “That bar on the corner...I’ll be in there. If you’re not there in a half hour, I’m leaving and our little talk won’t happen.”

“I’ll be there in twenty,” I promised, before bolting back to the community center to wrap up practice.

Exactly twenty minutes later, I walked into the dim-lit corner bar and ordered a whiskey neat. Camille was waiting for me in a private corner booth with a glass of clear liquid in her hands.

“You’re drinking water?” I asked, puzzled as I slid in across from her.

“Vodka,” she replied, taking a sip.

I winced. “That bad, huh?”

“Did you honestly think I wouldn’t find out?”

“Find out what?”

“That you went out on another date last night. You’re in bed with me one night, then continuing your ridiculous crusade against my company the next, all while still insisting we should go to dinner again.”

I dropped my head, realizing just how bad it sounded coming from her lips. “I’m sorry.”

She looked far from moved by the sentiment. I wanted to go into damage control mode and try to apologize, but I was thrown by how stunning she looked in the low light, with the glow of the evening coming in through the window, lighting up the edges of her beautiful face. Those plump, kissable lips of hers were irresistible, even when they were pursed in anger.

This was dangerous territory. Sure, I could sweet talk my way out of this mess, but then where did that leave us?

“You shouldn’t have expectations for me,” I said finally. “I know things spiraled out of control between us the other night...but I never made any promises.”

“Maybe not explicitly, but certain things were assumed,” she argued.

“That’s the problem with these kinds of things. Assumptions get hearts broken.”

Her face sank into a new depth of disappointment in me. “You’re unbelievable. I should have never agreed to have this drink with you.”

She grabbed her purse and threw back what was left of her vodka, preparing to abandon me there in the bar.

“Camille, please. You have every right to be mad. I’m just...I’m all mixed up right now. I don’t know what to do with any of this.”

“That much is obvious,” she scoffed.

She slid out of the booth and threw her bag over her shoulder. Just as she started to walk away, I reached out and grabbed her hand. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“Neither did I. But when something unexpected happens, you can still take a moment to get your shit together and behave better.”

I nodded. “You’re right. I should have. But you know I’m not good at these kinds of things. No one is. That’s why we’re all lonely or in miserable relationships.”

She jerked her hand away from mine. “So, that’s what this is all about? Just another one of your schemes to prove your jaded point on love?”

“That’s not what I was trying to do. But then again...I don’t really have to try. This just happens naturally to everyone. It’s the way it all works out sooner or later. I’ve been trying to tell you…”

“You know, Mark.” She sighed. “While you’re hell-bent on not getting hurt again, you’re hurting a lot of other people in the process. Did you ever think that maybe...deep down, you’re less afraid of what happens if you get burned again...and more afraid of what will happen if it actually works out with someone?”

Before I could say anything else, she pulled away and started for the door. Everything inside me wanted to take off after her, but her words hit me with a force that I needed a moment to recover from. I was used to women storming off from me just like that, but why was it so much harder to letherwalk away, even if I knew it was the right thing to do?

I sat there and finished my drink, mulling over her words. How did this happen to me? The more I thought about it, I really was becoming pathetic. Spending all my spare time trying to rain on everyone else’s parade. Maybe Camille was right. Why couldn’t I just leave everyone alone? Even if I didn’t believe love was real.

I decided that for all the trouble I’d caused, the least I could do was agree to put this charade to an end. I could leave Heartstring and the Meadows family alone. It’d been a year since my ex left me; it was time to stop trying to prove my point.Iknew the truth about modern love and romance.Iknew it was hopeless. What Camille and I went through was just further proof, even if she didn’t want to admit it. She may not have done anything to me yet, but she would. That is, if she could ever stand my own mistakes and faults long enough to have the opportunity.

But maybe it had planted a seed of something in her to help her understand my side of things. Or maybe I just needed to mind my own business. Either way, I could give her the thing she’d wanted from the beginning. She deserved at least that much for all the time she wasted trying to change my mind.

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