In Love With My Best Friend (3 page)

T

he entire night wasn’t so bad between Trevor and me. Instead
of me ogling him at every chance I got, we decided to do some
things we used to do, including playing video games and Monopoly. I
could have sworn Trevor was checking me out a couple of times, especially when I first walked in wearing his favorite plaid shirt. I couldn’t
believe he still had that shirt, but I loved it since it looked damn good
on him.

That was the whole point in wearing it,
I thought as I lay in his bed.
Morning arrived and I was laid out in Trevor’s bed, watching the sun
peek in through the curtains Trevor had installed yesterday.

As I raised myself up, I looked around the room and saw we still had
some unpacking to do but should get done if we started now. A knock
on the door disrupted me from my thoughts.

“Come in.”
Trevor strolled in with two cups of coffee and a large paper bag. He
stepped over to the bed and sat down beside me.
“I decided to go out and get some breakfast. I hope you still like these.
I know you did when we used to go there.”

“Chocolate éclairs from Parker’s Bakery? If so, give me the bag,” I said
as I tried to grab the bag from Trevor. He was too quick as he put the
bag further away from me.

“What’s the magic word?”
“Now,” I said, laughing.
“All right, you won’t be getting these anytime soon.”
“Fine. Pretty please?”
“Here you go,” he said as he swung his legs onto the bed and pulled
out the éclairs and some scones for himself from the bag.

“I could get used to this,” I said as I gripped one of the éclairs in my
hand and took a huge bite. I closed my eyes in total satisfaction over
the delicious pastry treat.

“Well, it’s just my way of saying thank-you for helping me unpack.”
“I should be saying thank-you for a great night. I haven’t had that
much fun in a long time. It’s great to have you back.”
“It’s great to be back.”

I suddenly became sad as I put my éclair onto a paper napkin and set it
on the nightstand. Trevor noticed the sudden mood change as he put
his coffee cup on the nightstand on his side of the bed.

“What’s wrong?”
“It’s just that you’ll be married soon. You just moved back, and I feel
like I’m losing you all over again.”
“Why are you saying that? You will never lose me.”
“You’re saying that now, but once you’re married, you won’t have time
to hang out with me.”
“I still was able to when Chelsea and I were dating. Nothing is going
to change.”
“Things will change, Tre.”
Trevor put his arm around me as I set my head on his chest. Just the
smell of his cologne made me turn into mush.

“Cam, no matter where we are, whether I’m married and you’re in a
relationship, we will still be best friends. Nothing will ever change that.
I won’t let that happen.”

A smile escaped my lips as I looked up at him. “Really?”
“Really.”

He gave me a tight hug as he kissed my forehead. I knew then that
even if I couldn’t have him romantically, I knew he would be my friend
forever.

After helping Trevor unpack several more boxes, I decided to go home
to change. I promised Tia I would go to lunch with her to plan a
retreat for her employer, a manufacturing company downtown. Tia
was the office manager and sometimes event planner for the company.
She recommended my company to help organize the event, which was
great for me since I could spend time with my friend.

As I pulled up to The Grove Restaurant, I immediately saw Tia standing
outside wearing a bright-blue blouse and a pair of pink skinny jeans. I
look at her outfit knowing I could never pull off that attire, but on Tia
it looked gorgeous.

I got out of my Lincoln MKS and closed the door. Tia was walking
over with a huge smile on her beautiful face.
“Hey, girl. I’m glad you showed up for lunch. I went by your place and
noticed you weren’t home.”
“Why did you go there? I already said I was going to meet you here.”
“I wanted to get an early start on the planning.”
“We do have all weekend to brainstorm a proposal.”
“You think I want to work on the weekend? Anyway, where were you
this morning?”
“At Trevor’s. I spent the night there.”
Tia gave me a smirk as she waited for the hostess to seat us.

“Before you say anything, it’s not what you think. I was helping him
unpack, it got late, and he asked me to spend the night. All we did was
play video games and ate Chinese food.”

“I bet you wish something happened. In fact, I find it hard to believe
that you and Trevor never hooked up. Even I have to admit Trevor is
fine as hell.”

“I guess being friends means more to us than the occasional booty
call,” I said as I took a seat at the table near the window. The hostess
handed Tia and me a menu and informed us our waiter will arrive
shortly.

“I understand that, but you are the one who wants the relationship
with Trevor. I think you would have taken the booty call if it was given
to you.”

“Are you being serious right now? That would not be enough for me.
I care too much for Trevor to just have a ‘friend with benefits’-type
relationship.”

“OK, I get it. I was just joking on the last part.”

I sighed as I peeked around the restaurant. My phone started to vibrate
in my purse, which I was glad for so I wouldn’t have to talk to Tia
about Trevor. The call was from my video chat app, which indicated I
had an invitation waiting. I pressed “accept” to see who the person on
the other end was.

“Hey, Camille! How is everything going?” Chelsea said in a happy tone.
Since I was on video chat, I couldn’t hide my expression as I tried to
give her a cheery smile.
“Hey, Chelsea. Everything is going great. How are things in Dallas?
Have you finished tying up all your obligations?”
“Almost. I’m almost done with my two-week notice. Did Trevor mention that I had to tell you something really important?”
“Yeah, he mentioned it. So what’s up?”

“I wanted to tell you at the engagement party, but so much was going
on that I didn’t even get a chance to talk to you. Anyway, we’ve been
friends for so long, and if it wasn’t for you, Trevor and I would have
never met. So I would like for you to be my maid of honor,” Chelsea
said. Her reddish brown hair was swaying from side to side as her hazel eyes twinkled with excitement.

I didn’t know what to say. I glanced over at Tia who tried to suppress
a giggle over the news.
I attempted to mask my emotions as I gave Chelsea a plastered smile.
“Will you be my maid of honor, Camille?”
Although a part of me didn’t want to accept the title, I knew I had to,
not just for Chelsea but for Trevor.
“I would love to, Chelsea.”
“Great!” Chelsea squealed as she began clapping her hands.

“Now I will be back in Houston in about a week and a half, so it will
give us enough time to get the bridesmaid dresses together as well
as yours. Also, I was hoping you can plan Tre’s and my combined
bachelor/beachelorette party. I would include Charles in it, but he
would just have strippers there, and that is a no-go for me.”

“I’ll do whatever you need me to do, Chels.”
“Wonderful. Thank you so much, Camille. I better go, but I’ll keep in
touch regarding the details.”

“Can’t wait,” I said in an almost whisper.
As Chelsea waved into the screen, I signaled off, wondering what I had
gotten myself into.

Tia glanced at me as she started to laugh.
“What’s so funny?”

“You! You’re basically helping your enemy marry your dream man.
This could be the elements of a great soap opera,” she said as she
started laughing again.

I gave Tia an evil stare as I let out a frustrated sigh.

“Are you serious? Why would you do that?” Charles asked.

Charles and I were at Buffalo Wild Wings eating Buffalo wings while
watching a basketball game on the projection-sized TV. I had just
explained the dinner party to Charles, who had the same reaction as
Camille.

“I don’t see the big deal in this. Her coworker was being horrible to
Camille, and I know how Camille is when she’s around people like
that.”

“I understand you wanted to help Camille, but I think you’re treading
in dangerous waters. Did you talk to Chelsea about this?”

I suddenly became nervous about even telling Chelsea about Thursday.
Although I assured Camille that Chelsea would be fine with it, I personally thought she would be pretty upset about it.

“I haven’t told her yet.”
“I think you need to call her, now.”
“Actually, I wasn’t planning on telling her. It’s just an innocent charade
that we’re going to keep up for a couple of hours; that’s it.”
Charles held up his hands and sighed.
“OK, but I think you’re making a big mistake.”
“This is coming from the guy who dated two women at the same time?
You weren’t worried about anyone’s feelings then.”
“Yeah, but I’m not married.”
“I’m not either.”
“Not yet.”

I sighed as I took a swig of my beer. I didn’t know what Charles was
upset about. Camille and I had done this charade plenty of times in
high school and a little during college before I started dating Chelsea. I
didn’t see a problem with it, so why should anyone else?

“It’s not the charade that’s an issue for me; it’s the fact that you’re already lying to your fiancée. That’s not a way to start a marriage, bro.”
Damn, he’s right,
I thought as I finished the last of my beer.
“Fine, I’ll call Chelsea.”
“Cool. So getting back to Camille; have your feelings for her changed?”

“I didn’t say my feelings changed for her, it’s just that I’ve been having
some weird vibes, that’s all. But when she spent the night on Friday, I
was kind of staring at her a lot.”

“Hold up, you didn’t tell me Camille spent the night.”

“She was helping me unpack. We just hung out, played games, and
watched a movie; that was all.”
“As I said before, you are treading in dangerous waters. Before long,
you will start having feelings for your best friend, if you’re not already.”

“I didn’t say I was.”

“Tre, you’ve known Camille since you two were kids; it’s OK to look
at her a little differently now that she’s a grown woman. I’m pretty sure
she thought about you a time or two.”

“I don’t think so; she would have told me.”
“You really think so?” Charles asked as he bit into a wing.
When Charles said that, I thought back to the comment Camille made
on the Ferris wheel.
Could it be possible?

After watching the game for a couple more minutes, I told Charles I
was heading home. As I walked into my condo, I had to take in how
magnificent the place looked after finally arranging everything.

Thanks to Camille,
I thought as I put my keys on the entryway table.

I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. I told Charles
I would call Chelsea to tell her about the dinner party on Thursday, but
I couldn’t force myself to call her. I actually wanted to go along with
this, and I knew if I told Chelsea about it, she would be against it and
I would have to back out.

Besides, Camille doesn’t think of me as anything else but her best friend, just like
me with her.
Or, maybe there was another reason I wanted to go through with this,
maybe to test my feelings out with Camille.
Can’t be. Camille is like a sister to me.

I laid the back of my head against the soft cushion, thinking what I
should do about telling Chelsea. My phone started to ring, causing me
to interrupt any thoughts I had at the moment. When I looked at my
phone, I took a deep breath at the person’s name appearing on and off
the screen.

“I guess it’s now or never,” I said as I answered the phone. “Hey,
sweetie.”

“Hey, baby. I miss seeing your handsome face. You look worried
though; what’s wrong?” Chelsea asked, while looking concerned on
the screen.

Sometimes I hated when she used the video chat app on her phone.
Now I couldn’t get anything past her in terms of my emotions.
“Nothing wrong, sweetie, just had a long day.”
“I see the condo is looking pretty nice.”
“Yeah, Camille helped me unpack.”
“That’s great. Well, I was just calling to say hi and that I really miss you.”
“I miss you too.”
Chelsea stared at the phone for a minute, trying to figure out if something was wrong.
“You sure nothing’s wrong? You can tell me.”
I stared back at the screen and smiled.
“Nothing’s wrong, baby, just wish you were here.”