Chapter Seventeen
Cammie
I was still cleaning up when I heard a knock at the door.
The shades were drawn, so I couldn't see who it was.
It was well past close, though, and I wasn't expecting anyone.
There's a small chance Dorrie figured out something was wrong and was coming over to check on me.
If that were the case, I didn't really want to answer the door, but I knew I didn't have a choice.
I took a moment to glance in the mirror quickly to make sure it wasn't incredibly obvious I'd been crying.
My face was still red, and my eyes were a bit puffy, but this was probably the best I was going to get.
With a sigh, I unlocked and pulled open the door, and was shocked to see Mel standing there.
"I-" she started and then stopped.
"Hi," I said, for lack of anything else intelligent to say.
"I brought mead," she said, holding up a bottle that must have been from Dorrie's latest batch, and asked, "Can I come in?"
I had a lot more work to do and considered for a moment turning her away and telling her we could talk tomorrow, but I didn't want things to be weird between us. I'd crossed a line, and I knew that, but that wasn't her fault.
She was Mattie's best friend and Dorrie's niece, though, so I didn't have the option to hide from my feelings. Neither of them would let me, and apparently Mel was willing to talk things out, so she couldn't hate me that much.
"Yeah, of course, come on in," I said, stepping out of her way and heading back to the counter.
"Thank you."
I heard her shut the door behind herself as I ducked behind the counter and called out, "Would you mind relocking it?"
A moment later, she met me in the back, watching me from the other side of the counter, before asking, "Can we take a seat?" She gestured over to the couch. "I want to talk."
I wanted to tell her we could talk perfectly well from this safe distance, but she looked worried and sincere, and I didn't have the heart to say no.
For whatever reason, she'd come back and wanted to clear the air.
Even if it was just for Mattie and Dorrie's benefit, it was still kind of her to come back.
The people I drove away normally didn't.
"Yeah, that's fine," I said, taking deep breaths as I slowly ducked from out behind the counter and went over to the couch with her.
She sat on one side facing the coffee table and put the bottle down.
I sat on the other side of the couch, pulling my legs up under me, sitting cross-legged, facing her.
She looked over at me, blinked, and chuckled, asking, "Do you always sit like that?" Embarrassment crept in, but she added quickly, "Sorry, no, it's cute. I'm bad at this clearly."
Cute? That was about the last thing I expected her to say. Maybe she meant it in a 'oh look, Mattie's sister is so much of a weirdo she can't even sit normal, how cute' sort of way.
"Bad at what?"
She took a deep breath and said, “Talking about my feelings. I came back to apologize."
"Apologize? Why?" This wasn't even remotely where I expected this conversation to go. Maybe she'd told Dorrie she'd left me to do the work for myself, and that's what she was here apologizing for?
"What do you mean, why? I crossed a line earlier, and then I ran away like a coward instead of talking to you about it and helping clean up the literal mess I'd made."
What?? How could she possibly think she'd crossed a line when I was the one who had crossed the line?
"You don't have to apologize. I started it."
I expected some realization to sink into her, but she immediately continued, "Well, yeah, you kissed me, but only because I was being a ridiculous creep who couldn't stop staring at and flirting with you.
Then I took the kiss you started and pushed you further.
I never meant to make you uncomfortable. I'm so sorry."
"Wait wait wait - what? You think you made me uncomfortable?"
She paused, hesitated, and said, "Well, yeah, didn't I? You told me to stop. Clearly, I'd crossed a line."
I couldn't even comprehend what she was saying. "What do you mean, I told you to stop?"
"What? You did… you asked me what I was doing. Clearly, that meant I crossed a line and needed to stop."
It was going to be embarrassing to correct her, but I didn't want her to think she'd done anything I didn't want.
"And then I left because-"
I cut her off. "But that's not what I said."
She stopped mid-sentence, and the cafe was quiet for a full thirty seconds before she asked, "Wait, what? What do you mean?"
"I mean, that's not what I said."
She hesitated a moment before admitting, "Well, yeah, I probably didn't get the wording exactly right, but I got the gist of it."
"You didn't, though, because that's not what I meant."
"What do you mean? How else was I supposed to take that?"
I didn't know what else to say except to spell out the truth for her. "How were you supposed to take it? I have no idea, but I know what I meant. I meant that I couldn't believe the girl that I've had a bit of a crush on for most of my life-"
"The girl that you what?" she interrupted.
"You heard me," I continued, "and the girl who's my brother's best friend that I really shouldn't be thinking about that way was kissing me, and it was like every fantasy I've even had about you but a million times better and I couldn't believe it was happening but was also freaking out a little cause what the hell were we going to tell Mattie and Dorrie, but then none of it mattered cause you left, and I don't blame you for that, of course, but I don't want you blaming yourself either. "
"You- wait, what? Are you being serious?"
I sighed. If we were going to be adults about this and actually talk things out, maybe it was time to open the mead.
I unfolded my legs and got up from the couch.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"To get some teacups so we can drink mead and talk about our feelings, whatever they are."
She laughed out loud at that. "You're a genius. I'm embarrassed I didn't think to recommend that."
I needed time to gather the rest of my thoughts anyway, because maybe I hadn't driven her away immediately like I'd thought, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to drive her away eventually, and I was sick of people leaving.
Since she was going to leave eventually, it might be better to rip off the Band-Aid now.