Cameron

He left and I was left speechless. What had just happened? I was talking to Grey one moment and the next he was calling me beautiful and kissing me like I was going to be the last woman he saw for a long time. My lips still trembled and tingled from his touch and so help me I wanted more of what he had on offer.

I finished up one of the sandwiches that he was nice enough to bring me and then straightened up the room, making the bed and all of that so I wouldn’t be leaving a mess. I hated the idea of someone having to clean up after me and I had a feeling that was Marie’s job. I called Leo and he said he would be here in ten minutes.

So with the time I had left, I tracked down Marie and thanked her again before I went outside to wait for Leo. It wasn’t too cold, but I still shivered a little bit when I got out there. It may not have been that cold, but compared to the warm interior, it was hard not to see and feel the weather difference.

I didn’t have to wait long though. Leo was pulling up pretty quickly after that and I was ready for him. He grabbed my bag and then I gave him the address.

“I hope you enjoyed your stay.”

He was acting like I had just stayed at some hotel and to be honest, it felt like it. It felt like I had taken a short vacation from my real life, but reality was back and New York looked a little more intimidating now.

“It was great. Grey is a very nice man.”

Leo agreed, but he had a wisp of a look on his face that I just didn’t like. He looked like he knew more or rather assumed more than what was really going on and I didn’t like that part of it. I had assumed the same thing not too long ago and I was wrong as well. Grey had made me feel bad about saying anything at all, but I was going to ignore those ill feelings. What I was really worried about was not how I was seen, but treated. Leo was still nice as ever and I had all but forgotten the look when I got out of the car.

“Thanks again Leo.”

“No problem Cameron. I hope to see around again.”

I took the bag out of the backseat and smiled in response with a wave. I would most likely never see him again and I was okay with that. I would miss this moment into the mad world of the affluent, but now it was time to come back down to reality.

Getting to the door wasn’t that hard and I quickly found the floor of the dentist that I was going to be working with. Dr. Flemings seemed nice enough, even if his eyes were a bit too lecherous for my liking. He was very accommodating, much like Grey had been and I told myself then that I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Sometimes men are just nice because they really are.

Grey’s words played in my ear and it gave me some confidence as I made my way through the rest of the day. How could I feel bad about anything when a man like that says I am pretty?

The day went faster than I could have imagined and by the end of it I had a smile on my face. Everything was working out as it was supposed to and the more I thought about it, the more I knew what needed to be done. When I left the dentist’s office, I was ready to tackle the world.  I had to check on some arrangements that I had made for an apartment with a roommate. I didn’t have the same anxiety in me as before because I knew if nothing else, I could call Grey. But it was unnecessary.

I met Anne after I called her. She was the one that I had spoken to through email correspondence when I was first planning to come here and it didn’t take long to see that while we didn’t have much in common, we clicked well enough. When I saw the apartment it was smaller than Grey’s by any stretch of the imagination, but it was bigger than I thought it was going to be.

“I think this will be great Cameron. I remember when I first came to the city. Finding a place you can afford is the first hurdle. You are lucky to find this place at the price they are asking. We are going to get along famously.”

Anne was tall and thin, with jet black hair that she wore tied up in a ponytail. She was girly and dramatic, her speech and hand motions claimed it, but she was also kind and smiled a lot. She looked like she was happy and I would take that over a moody girl any day of the week.

Now I had to find the rest of my stuff and the parking garage where I had left my car when I went to Grey’s house. I wasn’t sure where in the city it was, but Anne knew and she drove me over there. It was nice to have someone else in the city that I knew and I was starting to think that everything was going to work itself out.

“So I thought you got in last night?”

“I did, but I came in late because my car broke down and I had to wait till someone came and helped me. Then when I got to the hotel, my room was rented out and I had to ask the same guy that helped me to let me stay with him. He had offered and he was real nice and left me. But he sent a car to pick me up and I had to leave my own here.”

We had stopped in front of the parking garage that was vaguely familiar.

“Who did you stay with? Did you know them?”

I told her that I really didn’t know him. I had just met him and when I told her that, Anne looked at me like I was lucky that I hadn’t been raped and killed.

“This is New York. You have to be more careful.”

“Yeah, that is what Grey said too.”

“I am serious Cameron. I came here from a small town in Ohio. I thought that things were like it was back at home, but unfortunately I found out the hard way that it wasn’t true. I don’t want you to have to go through what I went through.”

I almost asked her what happened, but whatever it as, it was obvious that it bothered her and I didn’t want to make her eve more upset. I was going to have to be more careful, I just hadn’t seen it as that big of a deal.  Maybe it was and I really was that lucky it was Grey that I met and not someone else.

“I am glad Grey as the one that helped me. He was really nice and a complete gentlemen. He did try to kiss me, but when I told him I wasn’t going to have sex with him for his kindness, I think I offended him.”

“Well I would have thought the same thing. No one in the city is going to help you without expecting something in return. Sad, but true fact.”

“So what do you do for a living?”

“I am a dancer.”

That answer struck me a little off. She didn’t look like a dancer or what I thought of a dancer anyway. She was far more stylish for it and she didn’t seem to be the type. What was the type though?

“Well that is exciting I bet.”

“Not really. I work with guys all the time that are horrible and all I can do is grin and bear it. That is why I stopped dating men a long time ago. I guess I just seen too many of the bad ones and I don’t want to have anything to do with them. I just want to be happy and women do that for me.”

She was dropping bombs left and right and I had to notice that she did it after I paid my part of the rent. Her sexuality didn’t bother me one way or the other, but I worried that she would think I was the same way.

“Well to each their own really. I don’t worry about all of that. I think people should do what makes them happy.”

“What makes you happy Cameron?”

I grinned at her and shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I am sure I will figure it out. I came here for an adventure. I can’t think of a better place to go than here.”

Anne agreed. “I found myself here too and I will never go back. The city grows on you and I literally can’t think of anywhere else I would rather be.”

I was starting to feel the same way. This city was something new and exciting and I couldn’t wait to see what happened next. It had already been an adventure and I hadn’t even been here that long. I just knew that there was going to be lots more surprises that were in store for me. There was no other way to feel but optimistic about the future. It was looking rather bright.