The Barriers Between Us

Hooked on a feeling

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 Once the engine of Mom's car starts rumbling, I glance out the window. I can't forget about what Dylan said. I know Cameron isn't a overall bad kid, but maybe he's changed. Once I get home I notice I have an unread text message. "Hey Em! It's Cameron. Lindsey gave me your number right before lunch. <3" I add him as a contact, then set my phone on my dresser. I flop onto my bed, Dylan's words still taking over my brain. I can hear my mom's footsteps, pattering outside my door, in the hallway. "Mom!" I yell. She immediately opens the door wide, and comes in, closing the door behind her. "Yes, honey?" She says. "Dylan was telling me that you told him something about Cameron, something bad," I start to say. "What did he do?" Mom looks at me for a second, then sighs. "Well, last April, his brother went to jail." I look at her for a moment then ask, "What did he go to jail for?" Finally Mom replies, "He went to jail for being drunk, then hitting his girlfriend." I look at her with astonishment. "His brother abused her?" I say with disbelieve. His brother is currently 26, so he was in college for most of the time I spent with Cameron. "Mom he was drunk maybe he didn't know what he was doing." Mom just shakes her head. "I don't want that happening to you. Don't you see?" She says. "They're two different people! Just because they're brothers doesn't mean they make the same decisions!" I exclaim.   "I don't want you around that Cameron! Better yet, I don't want you dating him! I see the way he looks at you! Do you understand?" She almost yells with a stern voice. I slowly nod, and she leaves the room. I pull my phone from the dresser, and text Cameron, "We should talk, how about tomorrow before school at 7:30, by the back dumpster?" He replies after a few minutes, "No. Let's do it right now." I stare at my phone with confusement. Now? My mom will flip out if she sees him. I sit on my bed, with the anticipation swarming over me. What will Mom think when he comes through the front door? Then, out of no where, I hear someone opening the window. I try and find some kind of weapon lying around my bed, picking up a wet toothbrush. The figure emerges from my window, and I feel my heart thumping loud in my chest. It's Cameron. He looks up from the floor and grins at me. I stare at him with my mouth wide open. "W-What are you doing, climbing from my window?!" I exclaim. "H-How did you get up to the second floor?" Cameron just looks at me. "I climbed." He answers. I figured he would have taken longer, so I would have time to change my clothes. I'm only wearing a long baggy shirt covering my underwear; my normal pajamas. "You wanted to talk?" Cameron says as I realize I've been staring at him for quite a while now. "Oh, um, yeah." I say. He leans against the wall, and I walk up closer to him. "My mom told me what happened to your brother," I start to say in a whisper, "she says she doesn't want me to be around you." He looks at the floor, ashamed. "I should have told you." He mumbles. "Yeah, I guess, but my mom thinks that you would do the same. I mean, you're not even at the age to drink. And you and your brother are two totally different people-"  I don't finish my sentence, he cuts me off. I gasp as his mouth collides with mine. I feel myself falling in a deep, dark, abyss. I wrap my hand around the side of his neck, as I pull myself closer to him. I feel like nothing matters in this world, except this. Right here. Right now. "Emma!" I hear Dylan call my name as I start to pull away, and he opens the door. "Did you take the last Gatorade because-" he stops in his tracks when he sees us. My hand is still on Cameron's shoulder and his around my waist. We both stare at Dylan, with wide eyes. I probably should have locked the door. Dylan just stands there staring at us with his lips parted in shock. "Um..." I start to say. Dylan shuts the door behind him, and continues to stare at us. Then he notices what I'm wearing. "What were you doing to my sister?" He asks intently. Cameron starts to speak, "uh..um..I was just-" I glance up at Cameron, then at Dylan. "If mom hears about this-" I cut him off, I take my hands off of Cameron then run up to Dylan at the other side of the room. "NO! You can't tell her! Or dad! Please Dylan! Please!" I beg. "Okay I won't, but I will if this happens again," now he looks at Cameron, "I want you to stay away from my sister. Got it?" Cameron nods his head, and Dylan leans against the closed door, and crosses his arms. I speak up, "Could you let's us... talk, for a moment?" I ask Dylan. "No." He says with no hesitation. Cameron climbs out the window in one swift motion, and closes it behind him. I turn around from the closed window and find that Dylan is still looking at me. "What?" I ask. "I don't want you around him, even as a friend. But are you his girlfriend now?" I try to speak, but nothing comes out. "No, well, I don't think so." I somehow get the words out of my mouth. Dylan looks at me with disbelief. "So you're telling me he just crawls through your window and kisses you? Oh! And let me guess, you just so happened to have your pants off already." I start to say, "yes. Well, no," how do I explain this? "I wanted to talk to him tomorrow about his brother but he said he would come tonight. I was going to change out of my pajamas before he got here, but he got here right after he texted me." Dylan looks unamused. "And the kiss?" He asks. "Well," I start to explain, "that just kind of happened." 

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   I kissed her. I actually kissed her. I've dreamed of that kiss for so many years, how it would be, where we were. Dylan has always been suspicious of me, and now, he probably won't take his eyes off me. Of course he had to walk in right then, asking about his stupid Gatorade. I could feel myself blushing underneath my skin, when I first saw her. She was only wearing a shirt, and underwear. I don't think she was expecting me so soon. After I left, I sent her a text message, saying, "can we still meet at the back dumpster at 7:30?" She replied right away, "sure." I don't want things to be awkward now, but she did kiss me back. That might have been a bad move, I should have asked her out first. But when she looked up at me with those electric blue eyes, I couldn't resist. Just the shape of her mouth, felt like it was calling my name.

I look at my watch, it's 7:28 AM. I'm standing by the dumpster, at the back of the school. I look up from my watch and I see Emma walking towards me. I stand up straight, from slouching, and show off a smile when she walks up. "Hey." She says. "Hey." I say back. "Emma," I start to say, then I decide to grab her hands. She looks up at me with her big round blue eyes. I continue, "Since the day I first saw you, I knew there was something special about you. I've just never told you that. I know we're standing by a dumpster, and it smells like crap, but...will you be my girlfriend?" I ask her with every single ounce of courage within me. A smile grows wide on her face. "Yes!" She says right away, without any hesitation. I smile down at her, my back against the cold, brick wall, when she wraps both arms around my neck, and presses her lips against mine. I grasp her waist, pulling her body closer to mine. Emma's a lot shorter than me, so she's balancing on the tip of her toes. "OMG!" I hear someone squeal. We briskly pull away, and Emma turns around."L-Lindsey?" Emma sputters out. Both me and Emma's face grows red from embarrassment. I awkwardly scratch the back of my neck and say, "um..." Lindsey's holding her phone in one hand, and claps her hands together adding a little bounce. "Lindsey...you didn't-" Emma starts to say. "I did! I got a Snapchat of you!" Lindsey says with an added sqeal at the end. Emma scampers over to Lindsey grabbing her phone. "Did you already post it?!" Emma asks. "Yep!" Lindsey replies. "You wanna see?" She shows us a picture of us kissing, with a heart emoji  covering the place where are lips connected, and some parts of our noses. Emma gets a worried look on her face. "No,no,no,no! Delete it!" She shoves the phone in Lindsey's face. "Delete it! If someone shows it to my mom, she will KILL ME!" Emma exclaims. Lindsey's face goes pale, "well, Jack, Abby, Ashley, Jayden, Cole, Kayla, Rachael, Esther, someone named kittylover12, Landon, and Kate saw it already." Lindey reads from her phone as her phone buzzes. "Oh! And Dylan just saw it." Emma looks like she's  about to faint. "D-Dylan?!" Emma asks, "as in my brother Dylan? Or as in the 8th grader Dylan?" Lindsey examines her phone closely. "Dylan Flores. As in your brother." I, myself feel like fainting. "DELETE IT LINDESY!" Emma yells. "Okay! Okay! There it's gone. See?" She shows her the phone. Emma's phone starts to ring. She pulls it out of her pocket and reads the caller ID. "Dylan Flores" "Great." Emma says as she pulls the phone to her ear. I can see her hand  shaking. "Hey Dylan!" She says to the phone. "Huh? Lindsey's Snapchat? I haven't checked it yet. Why?" She continues to lie to her brother. "Mmhm, huh, that wasn't me, I'm in the cafeteria. Yeah he's in here too." There's a moment of silence. "Oh, you're in the cafeteria. You don't see me? I'm waving. Whatever I gtg. Bye!" Emma hangs up the call, and looks like she's about to cry. "He didn't believe me." She mumbles. Ashley walks by and Lindsay joins her. I pull Emma into a hug, hoping embracing her will help. We then walk to class together, parting ways when we reach our own classes. 1st period went by extremely slow, until a voice came over the loud speaker. "Teachers and students, sorry for disrupting, but can we have Emma Flores and Cameron Ashford to the front office?" Everyone's eyes are glued to me, and I slowly stand up, this is when I just about loose it.