Cleo and I spend so much time joking around in the car, stuck in our own little world that we’re both startled when our phones go off simultaneously.
Our breaths hitch in unison as we notice the time, 2:13 a.m.
Cleo answers her phone first, flinching as loud voices ring out. She stifles a small laugh as she puts the phone on speaker.
“Where the hell are you?! You said you were on the way home, CJ. I’ve been at the bar worried sick about you! Sienna said you never made—”
“I’m in a parking lot,” Cleo cuts the shrieking girl off only for her to scream louder.
“A parking lot!? Oh, my fuck—”
“No no… not like that. Blake is with me,” she tries, cringing at her tone. I wince as Georgia screams again, sounding like a dying cow.
“You’re fucking my best friend in a parking lot?!” Jace is the next voice to break through the speaker, Cleo’s eyes widen at his words and she stammers to come up with something.
I chuckle at her “fish out of water” look and lean across the armrest. “Cupid, if that were happening, we’d be in the house and she wouldn’t be able to answer the phone. Please be serious,” I joke, eyeing the blushing girl.
The line goes silent for a second before chaos ensues.
“I’m going to kill that motherfucker.” Ryan curses.
“Did he say—” Jace tries only for Denver to bark out in laughter.
“Please wear protection…” Georgia sighs as Cleo gasps.
“DON’T WEAR ANYTHING!? GO HOM—”
“Toodeloo everyone!” I smile deviously hanging up in the middle of Ryan’s shouting.
Cleo rolls her eyes at the action and gets comfortable in her seat.
“You’re an ass.” She chuckles, turning off the camera on the dashboard as I put the car in drive.
“You’re too kind,” I shoot back, smiling at her. And for a brief moment our eyes lock, and previous hope of staying away from her vanishes.
I realize how screwed I am when she looks at me, I can see everything from the deep swirls of the milky way dancing in her iris’s to the warmth of a summer night at the beach within the depths of her pupils.
Cleo is a woman who I’ve only known for two weeks and yet, I find myself shy and awkward around her. I feel contrasted from my usual self in more ways than I can count.
We hold each other’s gaze for so long, I’m afraid if either of us moves, then whatever trance we’re in will break.
My body is compelled to hers like a moth drawn to a flame, it doesn’t resonate that the closer I inch to her, the faster I’ll burn.
Cleo’s lips part slightly, a gleam trickling in those beautifully brown eyes that hadn’t been there before. She can say that she doesn’t want to do anything with me. That she doesn’t want to flirt or be distracted, but her body would never lie.
We’re so close our noses touch, the sweet smell of donuts escape from both our mouths as we breathe each other in. She’s so close, I can practically taste her–
“THROW THAT ASS FOR A DOLLAR!!”
We jump from each other, breaths ragged as Cleo’s phone blares obnoxiously.
What the fuck was that?!
Cleo fishes around for her phone, sheepishly tugging it out of her pocket.
And just like that, I know that the moment is over.
fifteen
