Camille: I fought the urge to pinch myself. I had walked right into that one. I blinked twice and shut my mouth closed, realizing it had been hanging open. “Oh please,” I said and rolled my eyes, hoping he believed my indifference. “Don’t flatter yourself.” Daniel tossed his spoon into the air and caught it. He leaned further into the counter and watched me with that glint in his eyes, letting me know he wasn’t falling for my bored expression at all. “Okay, if you say so,” he said and I heaved a sigh of relief, grateful he had decided to drop it. On the other hand, I was a little surprised and almost curious to know why he had allowed an opportunity to taunt me slip. “However, if I’m not seducing you and this is how you act around every single guy, then I think you must have sent so many wrong signals,” he said and I rolled my eyes for real, chastising myself for letting myself believe he would drop it that easily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, cro
Camille: Mia’s smug look completely disappeared as she whipped her head at Daniel. His response was not what she had been expecting. “You didn’t mean that, right?” she asked in a low and almost desperate voice. “I did,” he answered without remorse. “It’s already almost twelve noon and you were only supposed to stay the night, so you really should get going.” Mia frowned as she gave me a sideways glance. I was enjoying this. It was nice to see her get humbled by the same person she made so much noise about. “You’re really gonna do this now? In front of her?” “Should I have told you in secret?” He asked as if he was really clueless. “You always do this and it’s getting annoying at this point. I don’t want to have to deal with you all day. Just go home dude. You know you will still come back tonight.” Despite how happy I was that she was finally getting humbled, I low-key felt bad for her. Daniel was really a jerk to embarrass her like that. However, he told her she
Camille: I woke up roughly two hours later, feeling good as new even though I hadn’t really taken any medication for the fever. I yawned and sat up, realizing all I had needed was a trouble-free nap. Fortunately, I had woken up just in time to prepare for my job at the bookstore. I wouldn’t have to come up with an excuse this time. Miss Winston was incredibly nice, but there had to be a limit to her laxity. The house still felt empty when I left. Lucia was probably still tired after her night shift, while Daniel was definitely just brooding in his room like the big troubled baby he was. I knocked on his door and yelled ‘I’m leaving’, so that he would lock the door after I was gone. “You’re quite early,” Miss Winston said when she saw me. “I had a rough night and was a bit sick in the morning, so I didn’t go to school today,” I explained. “You shouldn’t have come at all,” she said with an alarmed expression. “Your health should always come first. I’ve told you that cou
Camille: I didn’t know what to do or say. This couldn’t be happening all over again. It wasn’t fair. It was apparent this man had no respect whatsoever for both his sister and me. “You know him?” Reginald asked me when he heard what Daniel said to me. “Of course she does. She’s my sister’s unbearable roommate,” Daniel answered before I could say anything. How was I the unbearable one when he had thrown a party, not one but two nights right after he got here, even though he knew how I felt about it. “Let’s go in then,” Reginald said, placing his hand carefully on the small of my back. The movement came unexpectedly and I jumped, making his hand drop. “I don’t even want to know how you two met, but just drop her, Reggie. She’s deadweight and she’ll just end up making anyone near her irritable for the rest of the night. I can’t have that happen to you. You’re my best man,” Daniel said, opening the door wider and urging Reginald in. Reginald looked at me with a dif
Camille: “Wake up sleepy head,” I heard Carla say and opened my eyes. “How did you get in here?” I asked, rubbing my eyes to get accustomed to the bright light she had turned on in the room. “Your shack doesn’t have a lock, remember?” She chuckled. I yawned and sat up. Every joint in my body ached. I was extremely cold and I felt horrible. Sleeping here had been a bad idea. “How are you this morning?” Carla asked me, sitting next to me on the flat mattress. “Did you sleep well? Ah! Your body is so warm.” “I did,” I said, moving away so she wouldn’t notice I was ill and start fawning over me. It was my fault anyway. I didn’t treat myself yesterday when I first developed symptoms. I frowned when I remembered the one person responsible for all of this-my sickness and the fact that I had to have two terrible nights in a row. “I’ve missed you this past week,” Carla said, rubbing my shoulders. “You should visit more often.” I recoiled when she suggested I visit mor
Camille: “You’ll have to wait. I just got started having a shower,” I said back, still covering myself as if he could see me from outside. “What part of I really need to pee don’t you understand?” He asked in a strained voice. “Do you want me to pee out here?” It wasn’t my fault he had to use the bathroom at the same time as me and that the other bathroom was not in use. “Well, I’m naked so you can’t come in,” I said, squirting some liquid soap into my loofah and lathering up my body. There was silence for a while. “Camille?” He called and I froze because no one ever called my full name. “Yes?” “When did you return?” He asked. “I’ll soon be done then you can use the bathroom,” I said. I wasn’t in the mood to have small talk with the person I was most mad at. Another silence. “I’m sorry,” he said, surprising me. So he could actually apologize. I smiled. Okay, maybe I was being too hard on him. He had just been in a bad position those two nights. He so
Camille: I tossed and turned angrily on my bed for a few minutes after entering my room. I groaned, realizing this was exactly what he wanted. I would never let him succeed in making me feel this way. I was in charge of my own destiny, not some plaything in Daniel’s game. I decided to relax, in the best way I knew how, by resting my back on the headrest of my bed and reading an erotica, while chewing chips out of a bag I had purchased at the store that morning. However, I soon lost appetite and found myself rereading the same sentences over and over again without being able to understand them. Sighing, I dropped the book and lay down completely on the bed. I hated being sick. It made me feel so useless, like I felt now. What angered me the most was the fact that I couldn’t stop thinking about the person who was indirectly responsible for my sickness. I hated him so much. I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my door and I yawned, stretching and wondering when I h
Camille: By Sunday evening, I was already feeling ten times better. Only then did Lucia truly believe that my illness had been indirectly caused by her brother’s actions. One of the perks of feeling better was the fact that I could finally read my erotica in peace. However, after hours of doing nothing but read, my stomach began to rumble out of hunger. I was tired of eating cereal at this point, and since the pasta I had prepared the day before was long gone at this point, I knew I had to prepare something else. Sighing, I got up from my cozy bed and walked down to the door. Holding the door handle, I didn’t move another inch for a few seconds. Lucia had gone out to see her new boyfriend, a nursing student she had met at the hospital, so that meant I was stuck with Daniel all alone until she returned. Being locked up in my room gave me temporary rest from him, and I was reluctant to give that up. I put headphones on my ears like I had learned, to ignore him even if