Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Camilla groaned out loud, throwing her arm over her eyes as the pounding continued in her head. She could feel the remnants of last night taunting her with each moment she remained awake but she was so comfortable in the soft sheets that engulfed her body that she couldn't find it in herself to move nor fall asleep once again.
Unfortunately for Camilla, once she was awake, she couldn't fall asleep again.
Her eyes remained sealed as she measured the seconds between each thump. She wasn't sure how long she remained like that, but she knew soon enough that she couldn't stay there forever. With much effort, she opened her eyes and pushed herself up. At first she blinked as she adjusted to the light basking the room; one she did not recognise at first. If it wasn't for the bright yellow walls, something that only Tiana would willingly allow to coat them, she would have been at a loss.
"I cannot deal with this much light so early," she muttered to herself, swinging her legs over the edge and standing up. For a second she wavered, but managed to stand upright. It didn't help that the bright walls that covered the room seemed to accentuate the brightness that left her blinking every few seconds.
Although she hadn't been in Tiana's flat for a very long time, she felt right at home as soon as she left the bedroom. Rushing to the kitchen, she scoured the cupboards for some paracetamol which proved to be more difficult than expected when it was cramped with junk. Stored at the very back of the medicine cupboard were two packs of unopened condoms that Camilla stared at for a moment - why did she have condoms in her kitchen?
Realisation dawned, she glanced at the counter tops and cringed.
It took a good few minutes until she found the paracetamol. She popped two tablets out and swallowed them down with some water. Just as she was washing the glass she'd used, a scream rung out and she jumped, almost dropping the glass in her hand. Turning around, she glared at the culprit whilst her headache skyrocketed. Tiana looked almost sheepish as she seemed to recognise Camilla and drop the broom in her grasp.
"Are you crazy?" Camilla whispered.
Tiana laughed and simultaneously groaned at the exact time. "I thought you went home so when I heard something in the kitchen, my first instinct was to grab a weapon," She shrugged and pushed her weapon of choice away, reaching into the cupboard for the tablets that Camilla had put away. If she saw the condoms, she didn't mention them.
But Camilla's headache was pounding again now after that, "And the scream?"
Tiana shrugged and replied once the pills had been downed, ironically just like the vodka they'd drowned in last night. "For effect?"
* * *
After they'd both had a shower, they decided to head to a local café for a greasy breakfast. It was a ritual they had whenever they had a night out, they'd grab a large cup of coffee and moan into their sleeves as they consumed eggs, toast, beans, tomatoes and of course, bacon.
They were seated and just about to tuck in when Tiana spoke up, "You text Storm last night, didn't you?" Camilla groaned at the memory, but nodded. "Why him?"
She hadn't exactly told Tiana that she had slept with Storm, not because she was ashamed but because it felt private. What she had done with Storm wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it was sex, but he was a good guy – a really good guy so it felt like something else. What she meant by that was she knew it didn't feel like a sleazy one night stand, hell he'd cooked dinner for her and made sure she was certain on her choice.
However that didn't mean she'd suddenly developed intense feelings for him. She just felt as though sharing it with Tiana made it more real than it actually was and with the way she'd treated him, that wasn't a possibility any longer.
Instead she shrugged and stabbed her fork into a sausage, "I don't know, I was drunk." That was a lie, obviously, she just couldn't understand the attraction that she had towards this man.
Tiana hummed and sipped her coffee, "We've been drunk a lot together and you've never text a guy propositioning yourself. There's something you aren't telling me. Are you hot for Storm? I give you my blessing, go and rock that body,"
"I-"
"Rock your body against his was what I meant," Tiana amended with a grin.
Camilla couldn't help the laugh that escaped her lips, she shouldn't considering the topic, but she loved the context her friend could put on this. "He is attractive," she muttered and raised a finger when her friend pushed to intervene. "But that's the end of that topic, so shut it and eat your food before I do."
"I don't see why you're so uptight about it," Tiana continued as if she hadn't just heard Camilla's command. "It appears he is more than willing and it's quite unfair really, with Craig being your brother, you have access to every guy on that calendar."
"I'll just make my way through all twelve men then, shall I?"
Seemingly satisfied, her best friend shrugged and stuffed an entire sausage in her mouth.
An hour later they were both still at the café. They'd ended up ordering another cup of coffee after they'd finished their large breakfast and couldn't find it in themselves to move from their seats since. Thankfully Camilla's headache had subsided and she could now just go over what had happened last night with a clear mind.
Storm wasn't the first person that came to mind – but Patrick.
"What's up with your sour face?" Tiana asked curiously.
Since they'd both been starving, they hadn't bothered to dress up or put on any makeup. Instead, they both wore hoodies and leggings, which were admittedly the comfiest things either of them probably owned. Somewhere along the lines she'd shook off her hood and her hair was out for everyone to admire. Tiana's hair was thick and curly, meaning you could see it from a mile away, but it was gorgeous.
Camilla took a sip of her coffee and replied, "I was just thinking about Patrick,"
"Fuck him," Tiana said and shrugged. "What? So you didn't want to kiss him and he thought he'd start victimising himself? That isn't how it works and for god sake, you'd been working there one day. He can go dip it into someone else if he's really that desperate to get some action,"
Camilla laughed loudly, earning a few noticeable glances from those around her, but she didn't care for it. "You really have a way with words, T."
Her best friend grinned, and nodded in agreement. She opened her mouth to say something else when her gaze drew to the café entrance, which Camilla had her back to and grew pale. She appeared visibly shaken at what she'd seen.
Turning around, Camilla noticed a man had entered the café. He was tall, quite built with beautiful dark skin. Though his gaze was focused on the person beside him, his dark green eyes could be seen a mile away and yet he had somehow shaken her friend up without even a look.
Before he could turn and notice her scrutinising him, she turned back to Tiana who was gathering her purse. "We need to leave," she stated with an urgency that quite frankly concerned Camilla. Had this man hurt her best friend? She'd never mentioned it, but then again, even Camilla had secrets that her best friend wasn't aware of. It didn't make any sense.
"Tiana, slow down for a second. What's wrong?"
Tiana shook her head, "I can tell you the entire story at my place okay? But we need to leave. I can't stay here so are you coming with me or not?"
Of course she was.
She nodded and reached in front of her to get her bag, she began stuffing her phone and purse into it as Tiana's inpatient steps tapped against the ground.
She was just in the process of standing up again when she heard a male voice. Tiana's sharp intake of breath could be heard a mile away and Camilla suddenly suspected the man behind the voice was the same one that had resulted in the urgency to suddenly leave. She straightened up abruptly, not that either of them appeared to notice, for their gazes were locked on each other. It was clear that Tiana knew this man, intimately from the look of defeat that crossed her features.
"It is you," he stated, in what Camilla could only decipher as shock. Until he spoke again, "Your phone isn't broken then." He was taller up close and his eyes somehow wilder.
But it made sense now. Over the course of their friendship, Tiana had her fair share of guys. Some lasted a few weeks, others a few months but a lot of them only lasted a night. Her best friend was an absolute catch, but she didn't seem to want to commit to somebody that she met. However, she had never reacted like this with a past conquest which led Camilla to believe that maybe he was much more than that.
Tiana broke her gaze with the man to stare blankly at her phone for a minute, before she looked at him again. "I'm sorry Andre," she said. That was all. She didn't clarify any further or even defend herself like she'd done in the past.
Andre's jaw clenched, but his eyes portrayed something entirely different. It was the look Camilla's father had given her mother in an argument, despite how angry he would be with her, he still felt something other than that.
Folding his arms across his chest he nodded, "You break up with me over text and that's your apology? I'm sorry, no explanation or anything of the sort? I called you countless times and you didn't bother to pick up a-"
"Andre, leave it. Let's go." His companion gripped his shoulder, halting Andre's speech. Camilla had completely forgotten that he had arrived with a companion, but the shock of how her best friend had ended it ran deep.
Tiana wasn't a coward. Not in the slightest, but hearing how she'd broken up with someone who clearly liked her was cowardly.
Andre's eyes never left Tiana's whose expression was one of utter grief. She had never mentioned this man to Camilla, but it was obvious that she was sorry for what she'd done, at least it appeared that way. "Delete my number." Was all he said, before they left the café.
For a moment, they both remained silent until Tiana pulled up her hood and muttered, "Let's go."
It was only when they neared her house that Camilla decided to break the silence, "How long were you both together for?"
"Six months."
That came as a complete shock, with six months probably being the longest relationship that her best friend had ever had. No wonder she'd reacted like that and it also explained his impending reaction too.
"We met after you left," Tiana said quietly as they entered her building. "It was hard without you at first because we do everything together, but time zones were different and you were busy. I actually met him at Asda," she laughed at the thought and Camilla smiled. Of all places to find someone, she wasn't surprised that her best friend would find someone worth it there.
She continued, "You know I like hot cross buns,"
"Love," Camilla corrected with a grin. Even love was an understatement because Tiana engulfed them like they were air during Easter. Though she couldn't blame her, they were somewhat addicting.
"Yes, love. Anyways there were only two packs left and I'd already taken one when we both reached for the second. I thought he was hot, of course, but nobody gets in the way of me and my food," She pressed for the lift and they both stepped in, almost ignoring the couple that pushed past them to get out. "We both argued, him saying I'd already got a pack and then I noticed that he'd already got a pack in his basket too."
Camilla laughed at the thought, two hot cross bun lovers arguing over a packet.
They stepped out once they got to the fourth floor and entered the flat. Tiana was smiling wistfully as she recounted their first meeting. "Andre compromised, he said we could both have half of the last packet if we ate it together on our first date. He somehow managed to get me to agree to going out with him and the rest is history,"
Camilla thought that was extremely endearing and voiced that out to her best friend who nodded. Yet, one thought was nagging her as she pondered over the story Tiana had shared with her. "What went wrong?"
At this point they were sitting on her sofa, too absorbed in the story to take off their shoes or hoodies and their hangovers had long gone.
"You know what I do, Camilla. I fuck it all up when I'm happy."
The raw pain that interlocked with her friend's words hurt her, if anybody deserved happiness it was certainly Tiana. She was always there for those around her, insisting they find themselves in a place where they were happy, but she never allowed the same to apply to her.
"You don't fuck it up," she said softly and grabbed Tiana's hand. "It's okay to be scared in a relationship, but if he wasn't the one, then that's okay. There are other guys out there tha-"
Tina shook her head, her wild curls falling apart around her. "He was the one," she admitted and glanced at the ceiling. Camilla knew she was blinking away tears at this point, so she squeezed her hand harder. "He was, is, everything I want in a guy. He's hot, he loves hot cross buns, he's half Greek and he cares about me. But I got scared and built it up in my head that he was going to hurt me so I broke it off before he could."
She abruptly stood up, peeling away from Camilla in the process.
"I was so worried about him hurting me that I didn't even consider his feelings at all. I didn't want to break it off so I text him, I thought it would be easier," Camilla didn't have to be a psychologist to understand that this was one of Tiana's defence mechanisms; she hurt before she got hurt.
"And now I've lost the best thing that ever happened to me," Her voice broke.
Standing up, Camilla gripped Tiana's upper arm and forced her to glance at her. "Do you love him?"
Tiana paused for a moment, almost as though she was considering how she felt. Then, she nodded.
This came as no surprise to Camilla who had come to the conclusion beforehand when she witnessed her best friend's reaction to seeing Andre. "Then you need to go after him," she stated simply. "You need to show him what he means to you, especially with the way you broke up with him – which by the way if you ever do again, I will personally hit you. But most importantly, you have to go all out for him, T. He deserves it if he's as special as you've said."
Tiana seemed to acknowledge everything at once, with a frown on her lips when she finally smiled. "Guess I need to win my man back."
* * *
They spent an hour planning what to do after that, once Tiana was convinced that she had to fight for Andre, she'd somehow come up with an elaborate way to do so. And Camilla hoped for the sake of her friend that Andre would forgive her.
Of course Camilla had asked Tiana why she had never confided in her about Andre and the answer wasn't the one she'd hoped to receive. "No offence Cammie, but you were abroad – you wouldn't talk to anyone for two months, what was I supposed to do?" Tiana had been right and she hadn't ever felt like such a terrible friend. She was more than happy to make u for it now though.
When Camilla finally arrived home, her heart lurched. Just outside of her apartment complex stood Storm; he was leant against the wall with his phone clasped in his hand and one leg propped against said wall. Her footsteps stalled as he pressed the phone to his ear, tapping his leg against the wall as he appeared to wait for the person on the other line to answer.
Just as her mouth opened to call him, he looked up. A warm smile blossomed on his lips and she couldn't help but reciprocate. He was more than pleasing to look at, that was for certain. "Hey," he said when she approached him. He tucked his phone into his pocket immediately, which she found to be endearing. She couldn't stand it when you had a conversation with somebody who was on the phone the entire time, whether that was texting or something else. Jake used to do that.
"Hi," Storm managed to fill the distance between them. His cologne, a strong musky scent, engulfed her immediately and it was definitely a scent that she could get used to.
He appeared almost bashful as silence took over. Camilla couldn't blame him, especially after their last conversation. But now she'd gone and sent him a provocative text when she was drunk and as appealing as the thought of acting it out was, she was thoroughly embarrassed by it.
"I ju-"
"My tex-"
They both laughed.
"I wanted to make sur you were okay," he admitted, gazing intently at her. "I figured you might have been drunk and I brought something to save the impending crapfest you're going to feel later on,"
She watched as he reached beside him to retrieve the carrier bag she hadn't seen initially and her heart fluttered once again. She wasn't sure why Storm bothered with her, not when he could do so much better but almost everything he did was endearing. If not that, he was just purely a good guy.
She laughed as he reached into the bag and brought out a jar of Turkish olives. Camilla didn't give him an opportunity to talk as she dropped her bag on the floor and opened the container right there. "I've been craving these all week," she noticed his grin at her antics and held it out to him. "Go on, try one."
He appeared reluctant as he looked at the threatening container of salted black olives but she pressed on. "Our hands are practically ridden with bacteria here, do you want bacteria infested olives?"
Camilla eyed him with in distaste. "You've taken something sexy and completely ruined it."
Storm laughed loudly, surprising both Camilla and those in hearing distance. "Olives are sexy?" she nodded. "I'll be sure to remember that then,"
Realising that he was in fact right, she closed the container and noticed the bag had coffee in it, with chocolate bars and water. "Thank you," she murmured suddenly, realising that she hadn't thanked him at all during the course of their conversation. "I don't deserve this, but thank you,"
He didn't deny her statement, but smiled at her, which seemed to convey a thousand words. She noticed the tattoo around his arm again, the thickly wound band that clung to his muscles and helped him stand out from the crowd. She loved tattoos, not that she had any herself and Storm's didn't disappoint.
There was something about this man that got to her. Whether it was his outer appearance, or his genuine sincerity she really couldn't be certain. But the fact that he had come to her flat just to make sure she was okay, with a hangover kit of some sort helped in destroying at least one of the walls she'd built around this man.
Finally, her resolve broke. "Do you want to come up?"
A/N: Thank you for anybody who is still reading this book, I really appreciate it because it is my main priority once again and I have so many things planned. Don't forget to vote and comment.
Question: What do you think Camilla's intentions are right now? And Tiana? If you were Andre, would you take her back?
Dedicated to republicans for leaving the best comments and just being a wonderful person in general!
(I would never let go any man that bought me olives)