“Fine, but only lunch,” she murmured. Was she actually ready to try again?
Adrien beamed at her as if she’d given him the best present.
“I promise you won’t regret it,” he said, reaching for her hand, then tugging her behind him, and Camila followed.
Am I really doing this?she asked herself. But it was just lunch. And this was the absolute last chance she was giving him. If he screws it up I’m done. I know I’ve thought this before, but doesn’t everyone deserve another chance? Or maybe three in his case? Camila sighed. She probably should have just ignored him. It was too late now though since she’d agreed to lunch.
To her great surprise, though, he was charming at lunch. More than charming, he was attentive. For once, he didn’t monopolize the conversation. He asked about her work and he listened.
He took her hand over the table and rubbed gentle circles with his thumb and it made her feel warm all the way through. She began to think that maybe she was right to give him this chance.
“I’ve missed you, Camila. Please, will you give me a second chance?”
She breathed out hard, but looking into his earnest blue eyes, stomach flipping, she couldn’t do anything else but nod. He might be wrong about the number of chances he was on, but there was something here, wasn’t there? She could see that he was really making an effort to change and wasn’t that all she could ask for?
So like that, their dates resumed, and she was seeing him regularly again. And, Adrien did change a bit. They no longer went to dance clubs, they didn’t even go to restaurants outside anymore. He invited her to his home for lunch and dinner, and even when she knew she had work to do, as long as he called her, she would go. They wouldn’t always have both on the same day, or sometimes he would let her have some days to herself. But between lunch or dinner, she got to see him more days of the week than before, even.
He made her laugh and it was nice having someone in her life again.
“I’m so glad you decided to give me another chance,” Adrien said, reaching for her hand across the table two weeks later. He did that a lot now and it always made her happy.
They were at his house, at a small table that was set out just for them in a parlor, because the dining room only had that huge ass table. Camila, feeling happy with her decision to be with him again, squeezed his hand back in affection.
“I’m glad I made the decision, too,” she said, smiling over at him. “But if you wouldn’t mind, I need to use the bathroom for a bit.”
“Oh,” he said, standing up while still holding her hand. “I’ll take you.”
Camila just giggled and squeezed his hand again as she stood herself. “There’s no need! I’ve been here enough times to at least know where the bathroom is. Just wait for me and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Okay,” he agreed, sitting back down and reluctantly letting go of her hand.
They had yet to have sex again, and Camila was sort of wishing for it and dreading it at the same time. She did, however, hope they didn’t do anything today.
What terrible timing to get my period,she thought self-consciously. None of the guys she’d ever dated had liked period sex, and she didn’t think Adrien would either, so she’d just have to wait until after it was over before she started hoping for sex again.
Camila froze, realizing she’d forgotten to get something. Her bag was still in the room.
“Shit,” she muttered. “Tampon.”
She rushed back to the parlor. She was wearing medium high heels, but since the floor of the hallway was covered by a rug, her movements were noiseless.
Camila moved to the door of the parlor, only to freeze a second time, watching Adrien’s actions.
“What was that?” she asked, or rather blurted out, because she was so startled.
She had just seen Adrien pouring something into her drink. They’d been sipping on wine as they waited for the food to come, and she’d left her half empty glass right there.
He wasn’t even startled. Adrien made the move look totally casual as she stopped whatever he was doing and slowly straightened up, then looked at her with a smile.
“What do you mean?”
She gaped at him. “Adrien… I just saw you messing with my drink. What the fuck did you put in it?”
He shrugged his shoulders, a familiar innocent expression on his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said with a chuckle. “I didn’t put anything dangerous in your drink.”
Yeah, right,she thought with heavy sarcasm. People didn’t spike other people’s drinks with harmless things.
“Adrien,” she said, her voice dropping low in warning. “You better be straight with me right now and tell me what is going on, or I will walk out of this house, this instant, and you’ll never see me again.”