Take Me Home

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Cameron looks over at her, his eyes focusing on her blonde hair and big eyes and pink lips. Some obscure hip-hop song is playing loudly in the background, but all he can hear is her voice. She's talking with some girl...Charity, he thinks, is her name. Or maybe Charlotte. Something with a C. It doesn't really matter to him all that much, because all he can see is her and her smile, that smile that he can't get out of his mind. He wonders if maybe he should go over and talk to her, maybe tell her she looks beautiful. Because, God, does she look beautiful. Her cheeks are rosy, and she's tucking her hair behind her ear, and he thinks that she's the most gorgeous thing he's ever laid his eyes on. And yet, all of that beauty makes him angry, because he knows that he can never look upon it openly.

Someone grabs her by the shoulder and is spinning her around to face him. Cameron squints through the crowd and sees that it's Joey Donner, with his huge muscles and gelled curls. He clenches his fist as a reflex at the sight of him, and ponders over whether or not it would be appropriate to punch him. His hands are lingering on her waist, and Cameron feels his face turn red. She's leaning towards him, and Charity/Charlotte is giggling like an idiot at whatever he's saying. He can't see what Bianca's doing, for she had turned around, her back facing him.

He'd been an idiot, he'd realized earlier that night, to even think that a girl like Bianca could ever love him. She was destined for someone like Joey Donner, someone that was popular and rich and selfish. Cameron wondered if maybe Bianca was vapid and selfish, too, like Michael said she was. He watches Charity/Charlotte leave with Joey, his fingers resting along the waistband of her jeans. Bianca's once joyful face turns to one of sorrow, and he recognizes that expression as one similar to the one he had worn when he found out about Joey.

He walks by her. "Hey," he mumbles, brushing against her shoulder. "Have fun tonight?" He doesn't even turn around to hear her response.

"Tons," she mutters sarcastically. Bianca clutches her elbow, pressing her lips together. "Hey, Cameron?"

Cameron stops walking, and he sighs. Maybe it's how desperate she sounds, or that she's talking to him, but he can't help but turn around. He can't stay mad at her.

"Um," Bianca trips over her words, as if she's embarrassed to be asking him. Not embarrassed that it's him that she's about to ask for help, necessarily. Embarrassed by her actions earlier that night, embarrassed about the way she had treated such a nice guy. "Do you think that you can give me a ride home?"

Cameron knows that he should just laugh and keep moving, forget about Bianca forever. But he can't, and he feels like kicking himself when he agrees and leads her to his car.

---

The drive to her house is mostly silent, and Cameron can taste the awkwardness on his tongue. Bianca sits in the passenger seat, and he can see the sadness behind her eyes. He wonders what happened back at the party, but realizes it shouldn't matter to him. She humiliated him, and no matter how much he loves her, that's not going to change. He's nothing more to her than some geek that she can push around, get him to do whatever what she wants. As Cameron pulls in front of her house, the question that has been lingering behind his lips for the whole ride escapes:

"You never wanted to go sailing with me, did you?" His voice cracks, and Bianca presses her lips together.

"Yes, I did," she blatantly lies, and Cameron rolls his eyes.

He shakes his head, staring at her in disbelief. "No, you didn't."

Bianca knows that he realizes the truth, and doesn't lie anymore, but she sugar-coats the truth. "Well...no, not exactly..."

Cameron feels like hitting the steering wheel. "Then that's all you had to say!"

'It would've saved me all of this embarrassment,' he adds in his head. Bianca looks down at her designer shoes, and Cameron can't help but ask her one more question:

"Have you always been this selfish?"

Bianca stares straight ahead at the dashboard, and her face turns red. "Yes," she whispers, and Cameron can't help but say more.

"You know, just because you're beautiful," Cameron starts, "doesn't mean you can treat people like they don't matter. I mean, I really liked you."

Bianca looks over at him for the first time, but Cameron is only just starting his tangent, and doesn't realize what just slipped out of his mouth. "Okay? I defended you when people called you conceited. I helped you when you asked me to. I learned French for you. And then you just blow me off, so that you can..."

His eyes widen as he sees her coming closer, but it happens so fast that he doesn't even have time to think about it. Her lips are on his, and it feels so good, and he feels like he's going to burst. She draws back, and for a moment, Cameron has the fleeting thought that she realized she made a mistake. But he shakes away his insecurities, touches her soft hair, and pulls himself closer and kisses her again, and she's smiling against his mouth.

She unbuckles her seatbelt and wordlessly exits the car, a sweet, shy smile playing across her lips. He watches as she walks up to her house, and he feels so elated he can barely stand it.

"I'm back in the game!"

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I hope you guys liked it! It's something I wrote awhile ago.