No Kissing Allowed (No Kissing Allowed #1)(4)

Oh well, it didn’t matter. I’d never see him again.





Chapter Three


When Grace called after lunch, suggesting we buy new outfits for our first day, I agreed less because I wanted new clothes and more because I wanted to do something, anything, to get my mind off UT Guy. Hours had passed since he slipped out of my apartment, and yet I still couldn’t get him out of my mind. The way his glasses contrasted so sharply with the perfect lines of his face, detracting from his looks yet somehow adding to them all at the same time. And how he didn’t seem to care in the least.

“How about this?”

I tiptoed out of my fitting room to find Lauren in front of the three-way mirror, wearing a classy black pencil skirt that hit at her calves and a white blouse tucked into it.

Grace stepped out of her fitting room, just as I was preparing to say nice but maybe not you to Lauren, and instead blurted, “You look like a restaurant hostess. No. No, no, no.”

Other ladies in the fitting room all peered over then, curious if she was right, and sadly, Grace was almost always right. Whether or not it was appropriate for her to state her rightness? Entirely different topic.

“What do you think, Cammie?” Lauren’s gaze hit mine, a hint of pleading in her eyes. “I’m a buyer. Well, junior buyer. I need to look the part.”

Releasing a breath, I walked over to her and scanned the outfit. Now that Grace had said the word “hostess” that was all I could see. “You look amazing in anything, including this. It’s just not really you. Let me think.” I cocked my head, searching for some trendy addition that would make the outfit work, but who was I kidding? Fashion wasn’t my thing.

“Um, a belt, maybe?” I asked, causing Grace to toss her hands and sigh loudly.

“Stay there. I’m going to save you both from yourselves.”

She disappeared out of the fitting room and Lauren turned to me. “So, are we going to talk about this morning?”

Lauren had a morning hair appointment, so she didn’t have a chance to grill me on UT Guy, though she knew he’d come back to our place. And while I wanted to talk to my friends about him, I didn’t know what to say. I wondered how I would have felt if I’d given him my number. Would I hope for a call right now? I would. And though I knew I’d made the right decision, I couldn’t help wishing I’d chosen the other path. Exchanged numbers, left the door open for more.

The morning was riddled with all the embarrassment of a classic morning after—messy hair, makeup-streaked face, and awkward conversation. The sun had a way of revealing all the things night hid so beautifully. Yet still…when he turned around and put on his glasses, for a moment I thought it could all work out. My brain did that little fantasy where it worked through the perfect scenario—maybe he was supersmart and had some cool, technical job. Maybe he never hooked up either and somehow we’d fallen into each other’s paths. But that was the romantic Cameron talking, the one who found herself watching her mother and stepdad laugh and wishing she could laugh with someone like that.

Sensible Cameron knew better.

“What’s there to talk about? I made a mistake.”

“He didn’t look like a mistake. He looked hot.”

“I know. It’s just I’ve never done this before, and I don’t want to be one of those girls, ya know?”

Lauren jerked back, her hands on her hips. “Hey. I’m one of those girls.”

“I don’t mean it like that. I just like structure. I like to know the person I’m in bed with. I like—”

“Commitment.”

The word hit me square in the chest, bringing me back to how close I’d been to having it all. Serious boyfriend, degree from NYU, and career well on its way, and then he destroyed me with one blow. And what made it all that much worse, Blaine wasn’t a jerk about it. He didn’t cheat on me or dump me via text. He just didn’t love me.

And somehow that pill was harder to swallow than any of the other scenarios. If he’d cheated, I could lean on my hate, rally with my girls, and have an excuse to hook up with random guys. But he didn’t. He kissed my cheek and said goodbye, leaving me with all those feelings of inadequacy. I never realized how badly I wanted a life partner until I no longer had one.

“It doesn’t have to be one or the other, Cammie.” Lauren reached for my hand. “You’re a good person. Having fun doesn’t make you less of a good person.”

“You’re right. Besides, you hook up all the time and you’re still a good person.”

“Ha. Ha. But seriously, was it fun? What was his name, anyway?”

I smiled up at her, knowing what she would say to my next statement even before I said the words. “I have no idea.”

Lauren laughed, clapping her hands together. This was just the kind of thing Lauren wanted for me and had begged of me for years now. Go wild, forget everything else. “Sorry,” she said, after far too much joy at my misery.

“No, you’re not.”

“Okay, I’m not. But you needed this. Whether you can see it or not, you needed it.”

“No, what you need is this.” Grace pushed two dresses into my arms. “Trust me. Don’t look at the tags or you’ll never try them on.”

I started immediately for one of the tags, and Grace swatted my hand. “Try them on.”