5. Jordan #2
Though if I were hallucinating, surely I would have imagined myself wearing something less ridiculous. And possibly more naked. Come to think of it, if this was the last, desperate dream of my dying brain, why wasn’t Cam naked too?
“Why am I not naked?”
Cam cocked his head to the side like he hadn’t heard me quite right, which meant that I probably wasn’t dead after all. A shame, since I now very much wanted to die of embarrassment.
“Are you okay?” he asked when I didn’t reply.
I could just see myself from his point of view, all red-faced and rubbery, babbling like a crazy person.
“I—yeah—” I shook my head. “Sorry, I—I didn’t mean—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, which was a relief, because I had no idea how I was going to finish that sentence.
He stuck a hand down to help me to my feet. I took it, and I swear to God, a jolt of electricity ran through me. I actually shuddered a little. Like the mere touch of his skin was enough to render me boneless, when in fact, it made one very particular part of my body bone-full.
Luckily, Cam had the kind of build that could weather tsunamis and tornadoes, so he just kept on pulling until I was on my feet. Even more luckily, the waders covered up the hard-on I was now sporting. Unfortunately, they also drew his attention.
“Are you going fishing?” he asked, looking at me like I was a math problem.
“No. No, there was just a—a plumbing disaster at home.”
“And they had one at the bar too?” he said, which is when I realized my explanation hadn’t cleared anything up at all. “Did they call for your help or something?”
I had no idea what to say. No other explanation for why I was charging into a bar dressed in fishing waders. And I’d already wasted enough time. Gorgeous and kind and electrifying as Cam was, I really needed to go find Quincy.
“Yeah, they, uh—sorry, I need to go,” I said, then dashed inside. I deserved a Presidential Fitness award at this point.
The front room was crowded, and a sign said the restrooms were to the left, behind the bar. I shouldered through the swirling mass of people, making my way towards the back. I got a few strange looks, but I ignored them, hurrying down the hall and pushing into the men’s room.
It was empty.
I walked down to the last two stalls just to be sure, but they were unoccupied, the hole between them mocking me. The stall walls went all the way down to the floor. Quincy wouldn’t even have seen my waders. But I was too late.
I’d known, deep down, that I would be. It was ridiculous to think he would hang around this long. It didn’t smell that great in here, and I was half an hour late.
I’d missed my chance.
I sighed and trudged back out into the hall, only to run into Cam again. I didn’t fall this time, but I did yelp, a totally dignified, masculine sound. At least he hadn’t come into the bathroom. The last thing I needed was for him to see me staring at a glory hole.
“Sorry, I didn’t—didn’t mean to scare you,” he stammered, like he was the one who’d been caught doing something embarrassing. “I just thought I’d come and see if I could help.”
Help me search for the anonymous dick I’m supposed to be sucking right now?
“With the plumbing?” he added when I didn’t respond.
“Ohhh.” I’d already forgotten about my lie, but of course that was why he thought I’d gone back to the bathrooms. Who knew waders would be such a good cover story? “Yeah, um, thank you. But it’s actually all under control.”
“Really?” Cam’s eyebrows rose. “That was fast.”
“Guess they didn’t need me after all,” I said, really hoping he wouldn’t ask any follow-up questions about pipes or tubes or giant, gushing spurts of liquid. When he opened his mouth again, I jumped in to change the subject. “What are you doing here?”
From what I remembered about Cam, he wasn’t really the crowded bar scene type of guy. But as soon as I asked, I regretted it, because his expression was painful.
“I was…supposed to meet someone,” he said. “They didn’t show up.”
His voice was quiet, and tinged with sorrow. That, plus the look in his eyes, twisted me up. Then I remembered his conversation with Levi earlier.
“Right.” Something leaden settled in my stomach. “The girl you were going to ask to the dance tomorrow.”
Cam’s eyebrows rose again, and I winced. Probably shouldn’t have told him I remembered that. Might as well invite him to look inside the mental filing cabinet where I’d obsessively hoarded facts about him since I was a kid.
“Yeah,” he said, his voice still soft. “Yeah…her.” His lips twisted. “Guess I’ll need your brother’s help after all.”
He smiled ruefully, but I could still see sadness lurking underneath. And I knew it was stupid. Cam was broken up over a woman. As in not me. As in I should very much go home now, because this crush was dumb when I was fourteen and it’s even dumber now.
But this was also the first time I’d had to talk to Cam, just him and me, in years. And even though I was dressed like someone hawking frozen fish sticks, he was talking to me as an equal. Even if the subject he was opening up about was a woman, I hungered for more.
So, yeah, maybe I’d spend all night consoling him about the girl who’d stood him up, and maybe that was pathetic as hell, but maybe, just maybe, it was time for me to embrace my patheticness. Accept that this was who I was. Take my wins where I could find them.
I looked up at Cam and smiled. “Do you want to get a drink?”