Running Into You

by Taylor Love

  He sat back. Disbelief at her utter refusal clear on his face. With a loud snap, he closed the ring box. “I don’t understand what you mean by can’t…don’t you at least want to talk about this? I know I may have caught you off guard-”

  “I mean we can’t get married. I’m sorry, but we just can’t.” Andrea had never been prone to theatrics in her life. She was the level-headed friend, the cool and calm co-worker, the dutiful daughter. But right now, she didn’t know if she was coming or going.

  Cam stood up, trying to hang on to his temper. She’d said no. What he needed to do, was try and be rational and find out why. But all he wanted to do was smash something. “Andrea, you’re not making sense. Look I thought this would be the perfect time to ask, apparently I was wrong. But it’s okay. I get it. You need some time to think about it.”

  “Cam, it’s ridiculous that you even asked. I mean we barely know each other!”

  “Ridiculous? It’s been almost a year. Plus, I know all I need to know. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

  “Well, I don’t know enough! I mean this is too fast. You…we can’t make a decision that will affect the rest of our lives out the blue.”

  He stalked closer to her and she backed up, which really pissed him off. “This isn’t an out of the blue decision for me. I’ve thought long and hard about this for months. Months Andrea! Are you telling me you haven’t thought once, just once about us getting married? Even as we talked about kids and finances? Did you think I was just making conversation?”

  “Yes! That’s exactly what I thought!” Andrea turned from him and started to pace back and forth. “I didn’t think you were talking about us, just in general. Just in passing. I mean come on, Cam. We haven’t talked about where we would live or how we would truly combine our lives. We haven’t planned anything!”

  “Damn a plan, Andrea! Not everything needs a chart or timeframe. I assumed, wrongly, after you said yes to my proposal, we could talk about all those things. Plan after. But you won’t even consider it.”

  “There’s nothing to consider right now. We can’t get married or engaged. We don’t even really know each other!”

  “You looking me in the face and saying that? We’ve spent every moment possible together for almost the entire last ten months. We’ve talked, we’ve laughed, and we’ve shared our secrets. Talked about our dreams for the future. Now, you’re telling me you don’t think we know each other? You have to be fucking kidding me!”

  “You’re taking it the wrong way!”

  “How exactly should I take it? When the woman I thought loved me-”

  “I do love you!”

  “Do you really? Because it’s not sounding like it. You sitting up here, telling me that basically the last ten months of our lives haven’t meant anything. They didn’t matter. That what we have isn’t good enough to build a foundation on.”

  “I don’t feel that way. Please Cam, listen. I’m just saying…that I don’t think this is the right time to get engaged. I do love you, but I don’t think we’re ready yet. There is so much that needs to be worked out. Maybe in another six months or so, we can reconsider this. I just think we need to slow down.”

  “Fuck slowing down again! I’m done waiting around for you to figure out how you feel. I’ve made compromises, adjusted to give you what you wanted, what you needed. I have needs and wants of my own. I want a woman who loves me as much as I love her, that needs me and wants me in her life like I need her. I want a woman who isn’t waiting for the stars to align on some unknown date before she’s willing to commit to me!”

  Cam was squeezing the ring box in his fist as he invaded her personal space again. “We’re not kids, Andrea. I’m at a point in my life where I know what I want when I see it. I want you. I love you. I don’t need every small detail mapped out for me, before I can decide that you’re a good thing in my life. I don’t need to date for two point five years before getting engaged. I know in my heart I want to marry you. That if you had agreed to marry me, I would have spent the rest of my life trying to make you happy.”

  He paused to see if she had anything to say. When she just stood there looking at him dejectedly, Cam was through. He backed away, resisting the urge to shake some sense into her. “I’m done being the one to bend Andrea.”

  “Wait…what does that mean?”

  “Exactly what you think it does. I’m done. I love you. I want to be with you, but I’m done begging for you to meet me halfway. You need to figure out what you want. You need to figure out if you think we’re worth it. I think we are, but the choice is not mine alone.”

  “Cam I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “Well, you did. I’m tired of pulling punches with you Andrea. You know where I stand in this relationship. You can decide once and for all if you’re in or out,” Cam said exhaustedly. He couldn’t take any more of this. He needed to leave. He sat the ring box on her coffee table.

  “You can’t…I can’t keep that…you said we’re done,” Andrea choked out.

  “Damn it Andrea, don’t you get it! I don’t care about a fucking ring, I care about you and me!”

  “I care about you too!” She took a few steps towards him. “Don’t go like this.”

  “Why not? Apparently, there’s no future for me here.” He turned and started walking toward the door.

  She followed quickly on his heels. The reality that he was walking out…potentially out of her life, was setting in. “Cam, wait a minute. I love you!”

  He turned back to face her as he stood with one foot out the door. “Not enough, Andrea…not enough.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Cam’s head was pounding as he slammed out of Andrea’s house and back to his car. What the hell had just happened? He revved out of the driveway and forced himself to calm down. Just because his world was crashing around him, didn’t mean he had to ruin someone else’s by causing an accident.

  For a split second, he thought about jumping on the highway and heading out to Roberts place, but scratched that idea almost as quickly as he had it. He didn’t trust himself to be around anyone right now. How could he have been so wrong in thinking she was ready to move forward? Tonight made him question if she even loved him at all? Had he been the one with the inflated expectations?

  He had done everything in his power to show her how much he cared, virtually from the moment he met her. What else did she want him to do to prove himself? He didn’t know, and right this moment he didn’t care. He’d meant what he said. He would not be the one going back, waiting for the relationship crumbs that she doled out to him, on some timetable known only to her. She had to figure out if she wanted him in her life or not. He loved her to distraction, but he wouldn’t let her make a fool out of him or his emotions.

  * * *

  Mika was at home, chilling in light summer sweats, while working on a campaign in her office. Usually, when she brought home work on the weekends, she did it during the day, so she could keep her nights free. However this Saturday, she found herself with no date, no function and no best friend to hang with. It was a rarity for her to have zero on her plate during a weekend night, but she was okay with it. Even she needed some downtime now and then. However, she was having a brain freeze with the current concept she was working on and figured she was due a break. She picked up her phone and texted Andrea, although she didn’t expect to get a response back.

  Mika: Did he get you a gift for your birthday? He better have gotten you a gift!

  Since she ended her last “hookup-ship” a few months ago, she figured she might as well live vicariously through someone who actually had a romantic life. Here it was barely nine o’clock, and she was doing work like a modern day old maid. She couldn’t believe how she and her best friend’s roles had changed in less than a year. So, it surprised the heck out of her when the phone pinged. She snatched it back up and took a look.

  Andrea: Yes

  Mika: Shouldn’t you be h
aving sex instead of texting me? But since you not what did he get you?

  Andrea: An engagement ring

  Mika blinked at her phone screen for a moment. Before texting back with shaking fingers, like she had just gotten engaged.

  Mika: OMG, OMG OMG!!!!!

  Andrea: I…said no

  Again, Mika did a double take at the screen. What the hell? She wasn’t on drugs, but she had to be hallucinating.

  Mika: I’m calling

  The phone was answered before the first ring could finish.

  “What happened? Are you okay?” Mika asked the pointless question, as she could hear Andrea crying.

  “He…I…I think it’s over.”

  “Wait, wait, wait! Do you want me to come over?”

  “No…yes…I don’t know! I don’t know anything right now.”

  “I’m coming over. Give me forty-five minutes tops.” Mika said before hanging up. Jumping out her office chair, snatching up her laptop as she went, she wasted no time. She went to her bedroom and quickly threw her computer and some overnight clothes in a bag. She was staying the night, no matter what Andrea said. Moving to the kitchen, she grabbed a couple bottles of wine, on the off chance Andrea was running low.

  She also went in her hall closet and added a couple boxes of Kleenex. She had a feeling those would be needed more than the wine. Andrea and Cam made an almost sickening couple. What in the world could have caused this mishap on what should have been a night of celebration? Finished, Mika locked up her house and started the thirty minute drive to comfort her friend.

  Andrea spent the time waiting on Mika trying to calm herself down. She’d texted Cam that she was sorry and asked if they could talk about this later once they were both calmer. She tried calling him, and it went right to voicemail. That was almost thirty-five minutes ago and she’d gotten no response. True he might not be home yet…but he had in-dash texting and calling. Maybe he really was done, just like he’d said.

  She wiped her eyes and then flopped onto the couch, only to jump back up a short time later as she heard the doorbell ring. She almost tripped over her bare feet rushing to the door. Maybe it was Cam, maybe he’d come back! When she opened the door and saw Mika, she deflated.

  “Oh…hey.”

  “I’m sorry.” Mika stepped in and gave Andrea a long, tight hug. “Just me. Let’s go sit so you can tell me what happened.”

  Mika settled her on the couch and went into the kitchen. She put the wine she had brought in the fridge and then poured two big red party cups full of Andrea’s already chilled stock. This was not a wine glass kind of occasion.

  “I don’t want anything to drink,” Andrea said, when Mika tried to hand her a cup.

  “Drink a bit, it will calm your nerves. I could see you shaking from the kitchen.”

  Andrea started to argue, then just did as she was told. Maybe a drink would help. So far, nothing else had. She took a couple of big gulps and Mika nodded her head in approval.

  “Good…now, tell me what in the world happened?”

  “I don’t know! I ruined everything!”

  “Give me the cliff notes, from the top.”

  “We were back from dinner. He said he wanted to talk, then he proposed. Pulled out a ring!”

  “Then…you said…no?” Mika drew out the sentence, because that was the part she was having trouble understanding. Cam proposing was something she’d seen coming. Apparently, Andrea was the only one caught by surprise.

  “Yes.” Sighing dejectedly, Andrea closed her eyes and tilted her head down.

  “Why?” Mika was honestly confused. She had never seen Andrea so taken with a man before. When she had found out Andrea had been the first to say, “I love you”, Mika had almost fallen out of her chair. Now her friend was saying “no” to a marriage proposal, that should have had them making wedding plans.

  “I freaked out. I just kept repeating like an idiot that I couldn’t marry him.”

  “I assume he didn’t take that well.”

  Andrea’s face crumpled and a fresh wave of sobs ensued.

  “I’m so stupid. I shouldn’t have said that.” Mika gathered her friend up, patting her on the back. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”

  It took a few minutes for Andrea to calm down enough to speak. “He wasn’t upset…not at first. Like always, he was his usual understanding self. He tried to reason with me. He said he understood if I needed time to think about it. I screamed at him there was nothing to think about and kept denying even the possibility of us getting married.”

  “I don’t…I mean, why don’t you want to marry him? I thought you loved each other and things were going really well?”

  “I do love him…so much.” Andrea looked up at Mika, imploring her to believe it. Since she hadn’t had any luck convincing Cam of the fact. “I just don’t know if marriage is a right now thing for us.”

  “Well…where did you envision your relationship going? You guys have been together close to a year. If you continued to date, didn’t you consider a future with him?”

  “I…wasn’t trying to think ahead, or make assumptions like I did before. I was enjoying our relationship one day at a time.”

  “Do you want to marry him…someday?”

  “I don’t know! I just know I want him in my life. I didn’t want him to walk out that door and never come back!”

  “He’ll come back, don’t think like that.”

  “He won’t. He told me he won’t. For the first time ever, I saw him angry. Worst of all, he was hurt. Sad and hurt because of me. He said he was done waiting on me to figure out what I wanted. When I saw that ring…” Andrea gestured to the box still on the table. “I just kinda blanked out. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t articulate what I was feeling. I’ve texted and called him a few times since talking to you. He hasn’t answered or responded. I think he’s done with me.”

  “Hold up, he left the ring with you? That’s a good sign! If he was really done, he would have taken it. No man pissed about being turned down, is going to leave the ring.” Mika snatched up the box, snapping it open only for her mouth to drop. “He bought you this?”

  “It’s beautiful,” Andrea said mournfully.

  “It’s fucking expensive! Do you know how rare purple diamonds are?”

  Andrea knew that Mika had real experience with precious jewels. Besides, knowing Cam he had probably spared no expense. He insisted on spoiling her.

  “The darker the purple, the more expensive. Purple is so rare! He had to spend at least twenty to thirty thousand on this. At least!”

  “No!” Andrea snatched the box from her. “Maybe the purple diamonds are fake?”

  “I’m not an expert, but I don’t think so. It’s a beautiful and expensive ring.”

  “Why would he spend so much on a ring?” Andrea asked, openly confused.

  Mika smiled wistfully. “Because he loves you, he thinks you’re worth it. Give him some time to calm down. He’ll be back.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Robert threw his suit jacket on the back of the car seat before making his way to Cam’s house. It was the middle of July, and hot as hell. He hadn’t seen Camden in two weeks. The guy had been brushing him off ever since he’d broken up with his girl. Every time he texted him, he only got short messages back, while his calls were sent straight to voicemail. After he hadn’t shown up two Fridays in a row, that had been the last straw. Robert figured he needed to check on his friend.

  Pulling up to the house, he parked and got out. He rang the bell and got no answer. After trying a second time with no response, Robert decided to go the old-fashioned route and started banging on the door. That earned a response, as he soon heard footsteps pounding closer.

  “Who the hell is pounding on my door like the police!” Cam yelled as he jerked open the front door. When he saw that it was Robert, he just stared for a few seconds before asking, “What are you doing here?”

  “Checking up on you apparently.” When Cam jus
t continued to stand there, Robert shook his head in irritation. “You gone let me in or continue blocking the door?”

  Cam moved out the way, but didn’t offer any words of welcome as they made their way inside. He didn’t offer Robert a seat either, but that didn’t stop his friend from taking one. Cam watched as his friend took a slow look around the place and then at him. He didn’t care what conclusions Robert came up with. He’d been holed up in his house, being alternatively pissed and depressed. His last big project had ended right before his disaster of a proposal. He had some small ones he was working on now, but those took less mental energy and had more flexible deadlines. Which left him with plenty of time to sulk.

  Robert had taken stock of Cam and his place. The house was noticeably messy, compared to how it was normally kept. While Robert was a true neat freak, Camden had always kept his house in order, after all neither of them were young bachelors. How would it look for a grown ass man to have a nasty ass house? Luckily, Cam wasn’t near that point…yet. What concerned him more than the house was the man himself. He had a beard growing in, and it didn’t look like he’d showered, at least not today. Camden was dressed in a baggy tee-shirt and sweats, as if he had no intention of leaving the house anytime soon. At least it didn’t seem like he was drinking…much.

  “You didn’t show up today.”

  “I texted you I’d try to make it. Didn’t say I would,” Cam said nonchalantly.

  “Hey man, I know you really liked her, but this is getting ridiculous.” Robert didn’t have a lot of patience for bullshit so figured he’d cut to the chase. “I mean, ya’ll will probably make up or something. You can’t go locking yourself away like it’s the end of the world over a simple breakup.”

  “I proposed,” Cam said flatly, flopping down on the couch. “She said no. Does that sound simple to you?”

  In one of the rare times in his adult life, Robert was left speechless. It was by will power alone that he kept his mouth shut, so something unwise wouldn’t come out. He needed to focus on the crisis at hand instead of asking the numerous questions he had.