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‘Sorry. I just noticed the artwork in your room. I thought I had it bad.’
Jules looks over her shoulder. ‘Oh. The Luna Park face? Creepy, isn’t it.’ She shudders and turns back to him. ‘I don’t remember it being so scary when I was a kid, but I was probably too caught up in the excitement of visiting a theme park.’
Cameron tries to ignore the lifeless artwork, focusing on Jules. ‘Did you live here when you were younger?’
‘No. I’m a bit boring. I’ve always lived in Canberra, didn’t even leave for uni. But Grandma lived here, so we came up and visited a bit.’
‘Do you want to fit in a visit?’ He gestures to the tacky artwork. ‘They’re open late some nights, I think.’
Jules pulls a face. ‘No thanks. Last time I went, I ate too much fairy floss and then went on that spinning one that sticks you to the walls.’ Her face pales and she presses a hand to her throat. ‘It was not fun. I’m emotionally scarred.’
‘We’ve all been there.’
Jules makes a little choking noise in her throat. Cameron lifts his eyebrows at her, then she bursts into laughter. Loud laughter, like he hasn’t heard from her before. They can probably hear her in the room below.
‘What? What’d I say?’ he asks over her gasping.
‘You—You said—’ Jules can barely get the words out. It’s an infectious laugh, and his lips twitch to join in, but Cameron’s also worried she’s not breathing. Her face is turning red and her eyes are leaking.
‘Jules? You’re scaring me a little, here.’
‘Sorry, sorry.’ She wipes below her eyes, blinking up at the ceiling. ‘I didn’t mean to laugh so hard. It wasn’t even funny. It was just, the way you said it, like, with such empathy. “We’ve all been there”.’ She shakes her head, wiping at her eyes as another burst of laughter breaks from her chest. ‘You were so serious!’
He snorts. ‘Yeah. I was empathising.’
‘About vomiting at a theme park.’
Trying to mimic his tone from earlier, he nods sagely, holding her gaze. ‘Mine was a giant slushie followed by the Tango Train.’
That sets her off again, and this time, Cameron joins her. The laughter feels like unspooling tension and by the time Jules has laughed herself out, his limbs feel jelly-like in the best way.
‘Oh gosh. Well.’ Jules takes a deep breath in through her nose, flapping her hands at her eyes. ‘A Luna Park trip is off the cards.’
‘What if we just went on the Ferris Wheel over and over?’ he asks, half teasing, half serious. ‘Nice views.’
‘Tempting. But I’m sure there are other nice views that don’t involve me getting close to the location of childhood trauma.’
‘Plenty.’
‘I’m not sure that really counts as the adult side of Sydney, anyway,’ Jules says, starting on her half of the banana bread.
‘Ah. That’s right. In that case,’ Cameron leans across the table and wiggles his eyebrows. ‘I know a good sex store in Newtown that we could check out.’
She rolls her eyes but he doesn’t care about the dismissal. He was after the blush, and he got it. Pink spreads over her cheeks and down her neck. It makes him want to get up from the table and have his way with her.
He’s obviously broadcasting his thoughts, because the flare of heat in her eyes is unmissable. She glances across at the bed and his gaze drops down her chest to see her nipples hard again through her shirt, begging to be played with.
The moment is ruined by his phone buzzing on the table. Several times.
He checks the messages. All from his sisters, like they planned a simultaneous interrogation.
Carrie: Update needed. What’s going on with Jules? Did you kiss last night, Y/N?
Chloe: Good morning! How’s the conference? How’s Jules?
Chloe: I’m so glad we could meet her the other day. Carrie told me about the hand holding! Yay.
Chloe: Can we see her again before you leave? I can come pick the dress up today, maybe? Say hello?
