November

Chapter Twenty

-Oliver-

I set the last box down on Cameron's living room floor and then sat down on the couch to rest. It was times like these when I was grateful I didn't have a lot of stuff. Living with roommates who already had furniture had kept me from accumulating any of my own.

"Thanks for letting me take over your living room," I said to Cameron. "I'll try to find a new place as soon as I can."

"No rush," Cameron replied. "Mallory and I don't mind having you here."

"You're lucky you found her. I hope I'll end up in a relationship like yours someday."

Cameron sat down on the couch next to me. "I'm sure you'll find your guy eventually. I'm sorry things didn't work out with Brad."

"I'm not," Mallory said as she came into the living room. "I never liked him."

"You didn't?"

"Nope," she said while putting on her jacket. "He was a jerk to you all the time." She fluffed her curly hair out from under the neck of her jacket. "I'm meeting Naomi for dinner. Do you want me to bring something back for you two?"

"Sure," Cameron replied. "Surprise us."

After Mallory left, I turned to Cameron. "What do you want to do?" I asked.

"I want you to tell me about the guy in your pictures."

"Okay, fine," I said, playfully pushing his shoulder. "I met him on the plane, and it turned out he lives on the Olympic Peninsula. He saved my trip after Brad broke up with me." 

I filled him in on the entire two weeks, leaving out most of the sex details. Cameron was one of my best friends and completely supportive, but there was only so much he wanted to hear about other men.

Cameron leaned back against the couch cushions and crossed his arms. "So you had this amazing time with Cooper, but you left it open-ended as to what's going to happen with you two?"

"I didn't have any other option. We live in different states and we've only known each other for two weeks."

"You won't consider a long distance relationship?"

"I'm not saying that. It's just a lot of unknowns. I know Cooper likes me, but I don't know if he likes me enough to be in another long distance relationship. Besides, what am I even doing? I mean, talk about rebound. I kissed Cooper three days after Brad broke up with me. That's not fair to Cooper, because can I really have moved on right away like that?"

"You weren't happy with Brad, even if you didn't realize it for the last few months. I know the break-up was a shock and you were upset, but once you get past that, are you really still sad about him? Or pining over the relationship?"

I shook my head. "No, not at all. I see how awful he was to me and how much better things can be with someone else."

"With Cooper."

"Yeah, with Cooper," I said, not able to keep myself from smiling. "He's great."

"Then why not go for it? Maybe he's a rebound, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing."

"But what if it doesn't stay great?" I asked, doubt already starting to set in. "Things were great with Brad in the beginning."

"It's not going to turn out the same way," Cameron said. "You can't think like that. I haven't met him, but Cooper sounds completely different from Brad."

"He is. He's one of the most genuine people I've ever met."

"He sounds like he'd be good for you."

Sighing, I slumped down even further on the couch. "I know. But how do we make it work when we live this far apart? I can't afford to fly to see him every other weekend."