Here Comes the Light (Cambrooke #1) (4 page)

“I can’t believe we just did
that.” I gasp.

He holds his hands out. “What?
You told me you wanted to.” He says as he picks his white undershirt up off the floor.

“I wanted to remember my first time.” I say as I pull my knees up. I am still under the covers.

Once he slides into his tee shirt he holds his hand out again. “Why did you get drunk then? You knew we were going to tonight.”

“I don’t know.” I w
hine as I flop my forehead onto my knees.

“I mean…” he says in a softer tone and I feel his hand on my bare back. “We can do it again if you want to remember and all.” I look up at him and he is giving me that smile I love, the smile that normally makes my knees weak and my heart melt. Right now it does nothing.

“No.” I shake my head and even though I am a little self-conscience about him seeing me naked now that I am sober I stand up and slip my dress back on as fast as I can. “I’m sorry, Hudson.” I say through tears fighting to spill out of my eyes. “This is too confusing for me.” I rush out of the room and down the hall.

“Miley, don’t do this tonight.” His voice sound
s exasperated as he calls after me.

I run down the hall, the stairs and out the front doors of the hotel. I don’t know where I am going but I just run until my body can’t anymore. Barefoot, the cold concrete stings the soles of my feet. I finally collapse right under a street light. I pull my knees up and bury my face in them. Jess told me this would make things better. I try to wipe away the tears as they fall but they are too fast. This only made things worse for me; everything just became much more complicated. I shiver in the cold night air, wishing I would have grabbed my bag on the way out.  It is obvious Hudson isn’t coming after me. He would have found me by now. Did I just make a big mistake? Not that I want him to come after me, I need time to process what happened.

As I am rehashing the night
’s events in my mind I see headlights coming towards me. Not now. I plead silently and cringe when the vehicle stops just a few feet from me. I am not in the mood to deal with anyone. I hear the door shut and through the hole between my arm and leg I see his blue Chucks coming towards me. Not him, anyone but him. He stops when he gets to me and sits down on the curb. I don’t speak or lift my head up to acknowledge him. What, is he some kind of stalker?

“You know being out here by yourself a
t this time of night is a bad idea.” He says after a short period of silence.

I
lift my head and scowl at him. “What are you doing here?”

This makes him smile
. “Do you need a ride?”

I don’t want to get into a car with this guy, but I look back at the hotel and I am definitely not going back to that party. I still can’t believe Hudson has not come after me. “I guess.” I whisper.

“You going home?” he asks as he stands and offers me a hand. I allow myself to look up into his eye. Whoa, bad idea, my heart does a little pitter patter.

“I don’t really want to go home right now.” I say softly as I quickly look away from him.

“Rough night?” He asks.

I glare at him
. “You could say that.” I almost lose my balance when I stand up too fast.

“Have a little too much to drink?” he asks as he wraps his arm around me to steady me. What is it with this guy constantly touching me anyway?

“A little…” I reply as he grabs me by the waist and lifts me into his truck. “I’m not a drinker.” I quickly say as he climbs into the driver side. I don’t want him thinking I’m some kind of lush.

“So…
prom called for a drink?” he says sarcastically tilting his head to one side as he pulls onto the road.

“Something
like that.” I mumble and look out the window. We ride for a little bit, neither of us saying anything. “Hey,” I finally break the silence, realizing he is a good looking guy in my class why wasn’t he at prom. “Why didn’t you go to prom?”

“It’s not my thing.
” He smiles as he keeps his eyes on the road.

“Bet you would look good in a tux.” I mumble as I stare out the window.

“What was that?” He asks.

Crap did I just
say that out loud? I’m never drinking again. “Nothing.” I quickly say. “You know you don’t have to be my taxi cab if there is somewhere you need to be.”

He glances over my way. “T
here is nowhere I need to be,” he smirks. “Besides, what kind of guy would I be if I left a barefoot cheerleader stranded by the side of the road?” I look down at my bare feet slightly embarrassed and suddenly very cold I pull my arms around my middle trying to warm myself up. He must notice this because he reaches up and turns the heat on high.

“When I ran out of the party I didn’
t even stop to grab my things.” I’m not even wearing underwear right now, but I’m not telling him that.

“Was it that bad?” he asks as he pulls into the
empty parking lot beside the lake. I look out. My heart begins to race I barely know this guy.

“What are you doing?” I say trying to hide the fear in my voice.

“You said you didn’t want to go home.” He says holding up his hands in surrender. “I don’t know where else to go.” Declan reaches his hand behind the seat and pulls a black bag around. My heart thuds as I watch him unzip it. He pulls out his black hoodie I had just returned to him earlier this week and a pair of very large tennis shoes. “I know the shoes probably are a bit big and may stink a little, they are my gym shoes after all, but it’ll better than going bare foot.” He shrugs.

“Geez what size do you wear anyway?”
I laugh as I slip the gigantic shoes onto my petite feet.

“Thirteen.”
He mumbles while rubbing the back of his neck. I slip his hoodie on over my dress as giggles escape my mouth. “Good thing you returned it, huh?” he climbs out of the truck and as soon as I jump out I lose the shoes. He and I burst out in laughter when I hit the ground barefoot.

“They don’t stay on very
well.” I say through more giggles.

He kneels down and helps me slip back into them. My heart races and I really hope he does not look up
my dress. I let out the breath I am holding in when he doesn’t even attempt to

Everything stops for a second as I look out over the lake the silver moon reflects off its surface kind of reminding me of the prom decorations.
I slowly lower myself down on the bench after clomping to it in the enormous shoes. “I find it a little strange I keep running into you.” I say quietly as I stare out at the lake with his hoodie wrapped tightly around me.

“Why? We live in the same small town; attend the same small high school.” He shrugs and give
s me an adorable smile. “It is bound to happen once in a while.”

“I don’t know.” I huff. “It is just I have never like talked to you.
Ever. And all of a sudden you keep showing up everywhere I am.”

“I wasn’t at prom.” He says with laughter in his voice.

“No, but oddly enough, I run into you on prom night.” I lean my back against the bench and look up at the twinkling stars.

“I know this isn’t any of my business so if you don’t want to tell me, that’s okay. Why did you run away tonight?” I t
urn my head toward him. He turns towards me and props his elbow up on the back of the bench. I don’t know why I feel so safe with him right now, like he is an old friend or something.

“Well,” I laugh and cannot believe I am actually going to tell him this. “I lost my virginity tonight and I don’t remember it.” I shove my hands in his
hoodie pockets and stare back up at the sky as I stretch my feet out in front of me. I still don’t know why I am telling him this, but I continue on.  “I didn’t want to. I just got drunk and did what everyone else wanted me to.” I sit back up and look on at the lake again. “I can never really be me, you know.” He sees me struggling trying to get my foot back into his shoes he kneels down beside me and moves the shoe within my reach my foot slips back into the warmth. “I am just what everyone else wants me to be.”  He sits back up on the bench beside me this time a little closer than he was just a minute ago. “I don’t feel like I matter. As long as everyone else is happy.” Why am I telling him this? I look over at him; he is chewing his bottom lip and focused intently on me. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I am saying all of this. I’m normally a private person.”

“I am a good listener.” He says as he rubs his hand across the top of his head messing his hair up even more than it was.  I think the messy hair on him is adorable. I wish Hudson would wear his all messy.  “Why do you have to be what others want you to be?” He asks flatly.

“I don’t know.” I have to look away from those piercing blue eyes. “I just never feel like I am good enough.”

“But,” he shakes his head. “Having sex? That made you ‘good’ enough?” he makes it sound so stupid.  “I don’t understand how it made you good enough.”

I take in a deep breath, “Well you’re a guy, right?” I look at him blankly.

He chuckles and looks down at himself. I d
on’t know why? To make sure it’s still there or something. “Last time I checked.”

“That’s what you guys expe
ct from your girlfriends, right; I mean Hudson has been patient with me for two year…”

“Whoa.” interrupting me, He holds his hands up. “Wait a minute here, n
ot all guys are like that.” He shakes his head.  “Any guy that expects that from you, especially if you don’t want to doesn’t care that much about you.”

I take in a
nother deep breath and close my eyes did he just tell me my boyfriend of two years doesn’t care about me?

“I’
m sorry Miley,” he quickly says, “I didn’t mean it to sound like that…”

“Okay.” I hold a hand up. “Let me get this straight, you are telling me you don’t care if your girlfriend has sex with you?”

He chuckles and does the cute hand over the hair thing again. “First of all, I do not have a girlfriend. Second, if I did I would not want her to want to have sex with me. I am a virgin and plan on staying that way until I am married.”

I laugh
at his joke. “Funny one.”

He shakes his head and looks at me with his mouth in a straight line. “I am serious.”

Slightly embarrassed, I whisper “Really?” He nods.  “Don’t people at school give you a hard time about it?”

He nods again, “yeah, some people at school, girls that have wanted to date me, they call me gay. The truth is I am just waiting for my wife.” Wow that is an odd thing to come out of a seventeen year old boy’s mouth. “I am not even going to date until I am eighteen and even then I am waiting for the one God told me to marry.” He just stares at me like he knows something about me I don’t know. It is kind of creeping me out I have to look away. “See Miley.
” He continues, and now I wish this weirdo would shut up. “I don’t care what others think of me. It is very liberating, you should try it sometime.” I feel him slide a little closer to me his leg lightly touches mine. “You need to know that people will like you for who you are. You may have a certain friend and boyfriend who don’t treat you like it, but you are worth it Miley.” My heart pounds in my chest at the sound of his smooth voice. “You are better than that.”

“Now, okay.” I flip my face around to look
at him again. “What do you mean by that?” I lean back so my face isn’t as close to his. He doesn’t know me, or how my boyfriend and best friend treat me. I try to bounce my foot but the heavy giant shoes keep me from being able to. “I am better than what?” I chide as I narrow my eyes.

“It was a compliment,” h
e quickly retorts.

“You don’t know me.” I say as I cross my arms around my middle and glare o
ut at the silver lake. The thin material of the dress barely keeps the cold air from smacking against my skin.

“I see greatness in you.” He speaks softly.

“Okay, now is that some sort of cheesy line?” I laugh nervously. “Like I said you don’t know me.”

He leans in closer and take a hold of my chin as he turns my face towards his. My heart speeds up at his touch. His blue eyes lo
ok into mine.  “I see greatness,” he says again matter -of -factly. I want to look away I really want to look anywhere but those eyes. I feel like he can see my bare soul with those eyes, but I can’t.  All I can do is sit here and let him look into my eyes, into my soul. This is probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me. “I don’t see the shallowness of drinking parties, cheerleading and revealing clothes. I see much more than that.”

“Take me home now
” I manage to say when I finally find my voice. This guy is way too weird for me.