C H A P T E R 3 8
A T L A N T A
"Just me you and the moon"
Song- Moonlight; Grace vanderwal
MARLEE
"What do you want?" I answer the phone groggily, early on Thursday morning.
"Good morning to you too" Cameron chuckles from the other end. "I have a question."
"Ask someone else" I go to hang up but tells me to wait.
"Just let me ask it."
"Fine"
"Wanna skip town with me?" I can practically hear his grin through the phone.
"Sure, where we going?" I yawn mid-sentence "I've always wanted to go to LA or New York."
"Atlanta."
"Wait, you're actually being serious?" I sit up in bed, holding the phone to my ear.
"When am I not?" He chuckles.
"Literally always."
"Rude." He fakes a hurt voice "anyways, Ma wants me to pick something up for her and doesn't want me going alone so she suggested you and Theo come with me but luckily Theo can't come so it's just going to be me and you."
"Really?" I feel my smile grow and the excitement build up inside me.
"Really. Already have the hotel room and everything." He informs me "so what do you say?"
"I'll have to check my schedule." I tease. "I'm kidding, of course I'll come. When are we leaving?"
"Tomorrow right after school." He tells me and my eyes widen. Atlanta is about a 5 hour drive from here so it makes sense.
"And you're just telling me now?"
"It's not my fault, Ma just told me yesterday!" He defends himself.
"Sure" I draw on, standing up.
"Ugh, you're annoying. I'll see you in a bit." He tells me with laughter in his voice.
"Bye." I say softly before hanging up and getting ready. I have no doubt that Sara's already talked to Mom about it.
I know they wouldn't let us go by ourselves if the knew we were together. Before we would've went up there, exploded the city while arguing about dumb things the entire time and then go back to the hotel room, watch a movie and go to bed.
Actually we'll probably do all of those things but this time it's different.
We can finally be together without having to hide it. We can hold hands and kiss in public without the fear of our friends catching us. We can be us but more than that at the same time.
Of course I want to tell someone about Cam and I. Brianna asked me a few weeks ago if anything happened after the kiss I told her and Grams about. I lied and said no but truthfully much more has happened.
Thursday night I pack my bags and talk to Cam on FaceTime before going to sleep. That morning Theo makes a dramatic show about how much he's going to miss me.
"I'm going to be gone one night and you won't be here." I deadpan as he fake cry's into my shoulder.
"I know but I'm going to miss you so much." He places his hand on his forehead.
Mom says goodbye to us, telling me to be extra safe in the city. When Cam gets there, Theo takes the front seat so I sit in the back with my school backpack and my duffel bag for the night.
Before we leave school, in gym class, Miles tells us ways not to get mugged. We laugh him off so he tells us the statistics of muggings in big city's then gives up when we tease him. After school, we drop everyone off at their houses.
I sit in the front seat while Cam closes the cover on his truck bed that our bags are in. He leans against my open window, his face close to mine.
"You ready?" He asks, his face beaming with excitement.
"I was born ready!" I whoops, throwing my feet onto the dashboard. He walks to the drivers side and slides in. He starts down the road with the small hum of music in the background and a comfortable silence around us.
When we reach the sign that reads "leaving redwood" Cameron stops his truck. I look over to him, confused "what are you doing?"
His lips press against mine sending a swarm of butterflies coursing through me. When he pulls apart he looks at me with excitement in his eyes "that."
"What was that for?" Not that I'm complaining.
"It's just us now. For 24 hours it's just us." He pulls onto the road with a hand on my knee and we drive out of Redwood, leaving all of our problems behind us.
{~}
We drive halfway there before stopping for some food. We sit in the parking lot, on the hood of his truck, eating tacos and listening to music playing from his radio.
"What time do we need to be back tomorrow?" I ask him, when he turns to me I spot salsa on his chin.
"Whenever we want." He shrugs. I laugh while grabbing a napkin and wiping it off of his chin. "Actually I was thinking we might have some car problems tomorrow"
"Oh really?" I raise an eyebrow and take a sip of my soda.
"Yeah, nothing too serious just enough to where we have to stay another night."
"You know, I was thinking the same thing." I nod my head, finishing my food.
When we're done eating we climb off of the hood of the truck and get back in the truck. For the rest of the drive we keep our hands interlocked and argue about who's more stubborn.
"You're way more stubborn the me." I look over at him, he's smiling but watching the highway in front of us.
"The fact that you're still arguing over this proves your more stubborn" he comments. I go to say something but stop and lean back silently. The sun had set and it was dark outside. I watch the trees move fast around us when I spot Atlanta.
"Look!" I point to the skyline of tall buildings glowing through the dark of night. Cameron pulls off onto an exit that isn't the one we were supposed to stop at. He pulls onto a dirt road until we're at the top of a hill that overlooks the whole city.
My jaw drops as I look from it to him. He beams over at me "you like it?"
"I love it. Where did you find this place?"
"Let's just say I did some research before we came here." He winks, turning on some music and getting out of the car. I follow him out of the car and to the ledge. The music plays loud enough to hear a few feet from the truck, all the windows were down making it like our personal speaker.
"It's beautiful" I look at the skyline lit up from lights all over the city. A ferris wheel with rainbow lights spun beside the lake that the moon reflected off of.
"Yeah, it is." Cam says softly but when I look over at him he wasn't looking at the city, he was looking at me. My heart skipped a beat and I turned back to look at the view.
There was a slight breeze that blew my hair and caused a little chill to prickle on my arms. No cars were around and we were far enough from Atlanta to block out the sounds of the city.
The song switches over to a song that I was obsessed with when I was 13. Cameron turns to me, his face glowing from the moon and the lights of the city. He extends his hand and asks "may I have this dance?"
"Why yes sir you may." I reply in a posh accent, giggling and grabbing his hand. He pulls me into him and places his arms on my waist.
We get lost in the music and each other, dancing around the ledge. As the song ends he spins me around and catches me in his arms, connecting our lips. My arms loop around his neck, deepening the kiss.
We stay like that for a couple more songs until the wind picks up and we go back to the truck. Both of our lips were swollen and our faces were red from the cold. Cameron rolls up the windows and turns on the heat of the truck.
My face hurts from my smile and for the first time in a while I feel like me again
{~}
After we go to our hotel the lady asks if we want two beds or one. Cameron tells her one and then pays with the money his mom gave him. We drop off our bags and change out of our driving clothes that were dirty and wrinkled.
I put on some jeans and a mint green cropped sweater. I braid my hair into two French braids since it was a mess from the car ride. When I come out of the bathroom Cam is laying across the bed, scrolling through his phone.
"You ready?" He peers up at me from his phone.
"Yep" I nod, grabbing the purse that has my money, phone and a couple other important items, and slinging it over my shoulder. He grabs his keys and wallet and we leave the room.
We decided to walk so we can see more of the city, that and traffic was bad on Friday nights so walking would be faster than driving. We pass random vendors selling random stuff, people singing on the side of the road and people walking around like we're doing.
Once Cam spots a restaurant he thinks looks good, we go inside. It was an Italian restaurant with so many plants it looked like a greenhouse. A waiter in a black and white suit greeted us and took us to our seats.
When I sit across from Cam I look around the room. It was plenty full with many different groups of people. We sat in the corner, slightly away from everyone but still close enough to hear them.
He opens the menu and I watch as his eyes scan the menu. The dim lighting highlights his features making me want to jump across the table and kiss him right then. I can't seem to tear my eyes away from him no matter how hard I try.
"You know if you want me that bad we could've stayed in the room." Cameron looks up from the menu, smirking at me.
"You're delusional." I mutter, opening my own menu to hide my embarrassment.
"And you're adorable." He pokes my nose earning my middle finger.
"When did you become so..." I think of the right words "Disney channel romance movie?"
"Wow, is that an insult or a compliment?" Laughter laces his voice.
"I haven't decided yet."
Our waitress approaches us, a young girl in low cut shirt and shorts so short they should classify as underwear. She stops and her eyes scan over Cam before she pushes her chest out and grins at him.
"What can I get you to drink tonight handsome?" Her lashes flutter and she places a hand on his shoulder.
I have the feeling this would make other girls jealous but not me. I mean sure I wanted to punch her but I trust Cam and I know him. I know he wouldn't do anything to hurt me ever.
"Um-" he brushes her off and looks to me with pleading eyes. "I want a Diet Coke and my girlfriend wants a sweet tea." He gives the waitress and polite smile. She looks to me with a disgusted look and then back to him.
"Well my shift ends in an hour so if you wanna ditch ms. Goodwill over here, we can meet up." I see Cams eyes shift to anger so I grab his hand from across the table.
"I'm perfectly fine with my girl so if you could go get our drinks that would be great." He says bluntly. The waitress turns red and storms away, a few minutes later a different waiter comes out and takes our orders.
Two steaming plates are set in front of us. Chicken Alfredo for me and some shrimp dish for Cameron with a bowl of breadsticks between us that we fight over. I pull out my diabetic bag and zip it open.
Cam notices me while he's in the middle of scooping food into his mouth. He slowly sets his spoon down and patiently waits for me to get done. I give myself insulin on my thigh and place it back in my bag.
Cameron eats the second my fork touches my pasta. He scarfs down the food and we fight over the last breadstick when the waiter comes up and tells us he can get us more.
Once we pay and leave the restaurant with my purse full of breadsticks, we walk around the city. It's getting pretty late and is mostly groups of young adults hanging out or drunk people. The atmosphere of the city mixed with Cameron's hand in mine made it feel like we were in control of the world.
We could be ourselves and be a couple without fear. We could walk down the street without worrying that someone dangerous will show up. We can laugh and talk like our problems are miles away because they are.
We left them in Redwood for the weekend and for now it's just him and I against the world.
My 16th birthday was this weekend and I had my permit test this morning.... I PASSED. I'm so excited.
Make sure to vote and comment beautiful humans ❤️