Shake it like a bad girl up in Harlem.

Shake it like a bad girl up in Harlem. by pinklipstiiick featuring ballet shoes

“Finish another one?” I asked as a loud sigh escaped Chloe, smirking at her as she set the book down. It was another one of those trashy romance novels, the ones complete with a long haired hunk on the cover and a busty vixen in his arms.

She shrugged, “I'm a fast reader.”

“You’re a hopeless romantic who masquerades as a player," I pointed out seriously, glancing at my friend.

“It’s not my fault if no one wants to have an epic romance with me," She said in an overly dramatic voice, winking at me. “You know now I had enough drama in the one romance I had.”

I winced but pushed past it. Ben had told me about her ex and the trouble she'd gotten into back in New York. Of course I'd been hurt that it took her more than five years to tell me, hurt that I couldn't have helped her since she was always there for me. But I understood her. The thing about love was that it was hard to see the other persons flaws, even if they were hurting you. We'd spent most of the day hugging and crying, now we were at the point where we were trying not to dwell on it. Chloe was a strong person and if she couldn't get through this? No one could. “You choose guys who don’t want any romance instead," I replied, fanning my toenails with a magazine.

She tilted her head to the side, “You know you’re using my face to dry your nailpolish?”

I looked down at a Benetton ad she'd done earlier this year, remembering doing her makeup for it. “You’re so useful to me," I teased. “But don’t change the subject.”

She shrugged, “I can’t help it if I'm drawn to bad guys, how do you change that? Look at me now I'm obsessing over the one man who actually hates me. If only he wasn’t so fucking hot!”

"I'm sure he never actually said that he hates you," I rolled my eyes, tossing the magazine onto the table.

"Hate, dislike," She sighed again dramatically, "He's not in my bed at the end of the night and that's all that matters."

I cracked a grin, "You've been reading too many of those naughty books, drama queen."

"How'd you like that one I gave you by the way?" She asked and I bit my lip, feeling my cheeks burn into fifty shades of pink. That book? I finished it a week ago and my dreams had been intense to say the least. "That good, huh?"

"It was cheesy and the main character was awful," I replied seriously.

"You don't read those books for the plot," She laughed, shaking her head as she reached for the bottle of polish. "I have one I want you to read... it's about lesbians."

I raised an eyebrow, "Are you trying to tell me that I'm so awful with guys, I should just give up?"

"Hey, I've spent a night with a girl... you're missing out because it was that hot," She grinned and shook the bottle, rolling onto her stomach and kicking her legs up into the air.

"You never told me how your date went."

She sighed with her hand held out, eyes taking in her cuticles, "Boring. I hope yours went better."

"It did actually," I said nonchalantly, trying not to show the excitement in my tone. I'd become so bad at the whole dating scene that I tried to never get my hopes up. I wasn't exactly pessimistic... but I felt hopeless. "The blind date? Ended up being Dante."

Her eyes flicked up to me, "Your ex?" I nodded my head, reaching for the book she'd set down and pretending to read the back. "Dante, the Italian Stallion?"

I laughed, "Yes... that's the one."

"And?!"

"And it was nice," I smiled, peeking back at her. "We kind of picked up where we left off."

"I hope that means you ended the night riding the stallion..."

"Chloe!" I widened my eyes but laughed.

“Is that a yes? Give me specifics," She said, scooting closer to me as I turned a little red.

“Specifics?!”

“Yes!!! Do you know how rare it is for you to have a sex story that doesn’t make me want to tear my ears off?!”

I started laughing again, “I’d take serious offense to that if I hadn’t been talking about your brother with all those stories.”

She nodded, “Exactly. So spill!”

“I went back to his place.”

Chloe squealed, “On the first date!?!? Who are you and what have you done with my Cami?”

I gave her a look, the grin on her face infectious. If I wasn't so embarrassed? My expression would probably match hers. “It wasn’t technically our first date," I pointed out and she rolled her eyes.

“Didn’t you break up like 3 years ago? I think that qualifies as a second chance first date….Admittedly not AS slutty as it could have been but it’s progress nonetheless.”

I raised an eyebrow, “You want me to be slutty?”

She nodded, “Hell yeah! You deserve to be! You spent your prime-slutty years changing diapers and now you don’t have to do that anymore so you get to let loose.”

“We didn’t have sex.”

She let her arms fall out from under her so her head hit the ground, “So you went home and what….cuddled?”

I glared at her and shook my head, “I said we didn’t have sex I didn’t say we didn’t do anything.”

“And?”

I shrugged, biting my lip. “And.....maybe dating isn’t that bad of an idea," I admitted, smiling.

“Is he good?” She smirked. “Some guys are only good at sex and not anything else..then again some are only good at everything else…..it’s finding one good at everything that’s hard.”

I knew what she meant because I'd only found that once. However, we made it a rule years ago that I wouldn't tell her Ben stories... plus I couldn't milk those four year old stories anymore. It felt like an entire life time ago. "Well we've only had sex..." I trailed off and she quirked an eyebrow.

"So you did cuddle him. Don't lie to me Camille Schon," She made a serious face that had me laughing again. Gorgeous and hilarious, I had no idea how any man could resist Chloe.

"He's a great kisser... and he's good with his fingers, I'll tell you that much," I grinned and I swear, I felt like I might blush myself to death, especially when she started squealing.

"You let him finger you!" She said loudly, much too loud. I hid my face in my palms, wishing I could disappear. I wasn't a prude, but dear god, she made me feel like we were teenagers again. "How many fingers?!"

"Oh my god," I dropped my hands and looked at her, both of us still grinning like idiots.

"Fine. Don't answer that one, but did he at least make you cum?" She asked with a serious face again, grinning slowly when I nodded my head. "Finally!!"

"Finally?" I raised an eyebrow, "I never had any problems in that department."

"Yeah but making yourself cum is totally different," She shook her head. "When are you seeing him again?"

I bit my lip, letting my legs dangle over the side of the chair, "Well I'm seeing Perry this weekend..."

"Two guys?! Has an alien abducted your body?!"

I resisted the urge to groan, "I'm not sleeping with either of them. And before you say that I should? I'm going to change the subject. How are you?"

“Me? I'm fine. I'm happy to have Cami time.”

I grinned, “I'm happy for that too.”

“You’ve had enough Cami time, it’s man time now," Chloe teased while I glared at her. “I’m sorry! I had to.”

I shook my head and tilted it to the side, “Do you want to talk about it?”

She shrugged in response, knowing we were back on that subject again... the one we'd been tiptoeing around all day. “What should I say?”

“Anything that you were too scared to tell Ben?”

She swallowed and looked back at me, “I knew I was wrong. I knew it was wrong all along but I didn’t leave until it got so bad I couldn’t not.”

I sighed, hating to see her so vulnerable and sad. That wasn't typical Chloe behavior at all. “I wish I could have been there for you,” I said seriously.

She nodded, “I know. But you were too busy getting knocked up.”

I grinned, “Oh right I think I remember that.”

“He was gorgeous though. A singer, awful but there was something about him just being everything my family would hate.” She laughed, “I guess I was just rebelling and didn’t want to admit I was wrong.”

I grabbed her hands and shook my head, “It wasn’t your fault Chloe. You make really poor decisions with men, that’s for sure. But what he did to you? That’s all on him.”

She shrugged again, “Maybe. Can we go back to you again? It’s funnier.”

“I'm so glad you think my love life is funny," I shook my head as she smirked and gave me a semi guilty face.

“Thanks,” She said quietly, leaning her head to a side.

“For what?”

“Being my best friend.”

I grinned and leaned over to kiss her cheek, "Always baby."

She smiled and opened the bottle, painting her pinkie finger without another word. Biting her lip, her expression changed and she moved on to her next nail. "Sometimes I wonder if it was real love..." She trailed off as I looked at her and nodded my head, understanding how it felt to doubt your feelings or question what was real or not. "I mean, true love, it shouldn't be so easy to give up, right?"

"Was it?" I asked her, "Leaving Sam and coming back home?"

She pursed her lips and sighed, "I'm not sure... but I meant, did you ever completely get over Ben? Can you look at him and feel nothing? No physical attraction, no regrets? Is it just gone now?"

I swallowed and kept staring at my friend, breaking the gaze I had on her and looking at my toes again. I felt such a vulnerability when we spoke about her brother, like we were 15 years old again and innocent. "No, of course not," I answered honestly, wishing it were that easy. If love had an on and off switch, the world would be an easier place. 

"I thought so," She said quietly and smiled. "So when can I meet Dante?"

"You want to meet him?" I raised an eyebrow.

She shrugged her shoulders, "The guy you're wasting your time with until you and Ben realize you're still in love with each other? Why not?"

I sighed and shook my head, "It's not like that."

“Yeah we’ll see. Plus I didn’t get to meet the stallion before so I should definitely get to now.”

“You will not call him that in front of him!!” I called out as Chloe stood up, heading towards the kitchen. I watched her grab a bottle of vodka and then cranberry juice out of the fridge, mixing herself a drink.

“Want one?”

I shook my head, knowing how useless I'd be if I drank. “Vodka hits me pretty hard.”

She lifted an eyebrow, “Yeah, that’s the point.”

I smirked, “I thought you were being miss good girl so that Tristan will like you.”

She took a sip of her drink and nodded, “Do good girls never drink vodka?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know.”

She narrowed her eyes as she started grinning, “You do instead you’re a super good girl.”

I sighed, tired of always being considered the good girl. It wasn't that I was necessarily good... it's that I was boring. Thankfully, people were nice enough not to call me boring. I guess I really had nothing to complain about. “I am not," I shook my head and then ran my fingers through my long hair. “I’m just….a mom.”

She looked at me for a second, probably wondering what it'd be like living in my shoes for once. I had to grow up fast sure, the stress of it caused me to lose the love of my life... but Gabe? He made it all worth it. “You can’t use that cutie, both our parents drink," She pointed out trying not to knock her newly painted nails against anything.

“Not like you," I smirked and she rolled her eyes, waving a hand since she knew I had a point.

“Whatever, I'm not in public so what Tristan doesn’t know wont hurt him," She winked and sank into the couch next to me. “Plus I'm over him anyways.”

I snorted, “Yeah sure.”

She turned towards me, “Oh? Shall we get into a conversation about who’s not over who?" I sighed again, not wanting to get into that. “I want to meet Dante! Or at least show me pictures," She added and smirked, cuddling up next to my body.

"You might need to get me drunk first," I joked, her glass already being shoved under my nose. I wrinkled it instantly, it smelt like straight vodka with maybe a splash of juice. "I was joking."

"And I'm not," She grinned while I took a long slow sip, clapping her hands in feat. "Finish it off, I can make another."

I finished the glass, drinking it a lot quicker than my first sip otherwise I knew it'd be impossible to finish. By the time I set the glass down, Chloe had another in her hands and a smirk on her pretty face, "Thirsty I see."

"Sometimes I need liquid courage to hang with you," I stuck my tongue out at her as she tossed her head back and laughed.

"I love you Camille Schon."

"I know. I love you too," I grinned slowly. "I keep telling myself if I would have just fallen for you, things would have been so much easier."

"But then mister Gabriel wouldn't be here," She pointed out, her glass already half gone as she kept sipping it.

I reached for the bottle of vodka, pouring it into my glass and then adding the juice, more than Chloe added of course. I didn't want to be crawling home later or spending the night cuddling her toilet. "Or how big your brothers penis is," I said with a straight face, looking up at her as she made a disgusted face.

"I wonder how big Tristan's is..."

I quirked an eyebrow, "Oh, we're back on him already? Maybe we should ask Ben since the two seem especially close."

She choked on her drink and set it on the table, holding a hand up to her mouth, "Take it back."

"Are you kidding me? I take long baths while imagining that," I said, only half joking. Since reading that damn book? My baths definitely got a lot longer.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and studied my face, grinning as my cheeks turned pink, "When you have Cami time, who do you think of?"

I rolled my eyes and took another long drink, realizing there was not enough vodka in the world for this conversation. "Jared Leto,"I said the first name I could think of.

"Yeah because he's literally the complete opposite of what you go for," She rolled her eyes, not believing me. "Just admit it's my brother and I'll drop the subject."

"Only because I was with him for so many years!" I admitted, wishing I hadn't. Everything I told Chloe managed to make it bad to Ben. Honestly, it was her way of trying to help, trying to push us back together and fix what couldn't be fixed. She had to realize that we were in such different places now... that we'd missed our deadline and were over. I grabbed my phone from off the table and Googled Dante, surprisingly enough pictures came up to give her a good idea. "There's the stallion."

“Oh my god. How do you not think of him during Cami time?!” She asked, zooming in on his face.

I bit my lip and shook my head, “Chloe.”

She fanned herself, “Maybe I’ll use him for Chloe time instead.”

I started giggling, buzzed already. I swear I was the biggest lightweight ever. “That’s super weird Chlo," I smirked as I looked at his picture. “He is hot though huh?”

"Hell yeah!” She nodded before grabbing my phone. “Let’s sext him.”

I grabbed my phone right back, “I can’t sext WITH you! That would be a sexting threesome!”

We both burst out laughing at that one and she shook her head, “Then do it yourself! At least you have someone to sext.”

I raised an eyebrow, “I thought you’ve been texting Tristan all week.”

She groaned, “Yeah and you should see that conversation. I swear he’s just mean!”

“So then just jump him," I smirked, definitely buzzed.

“Maybe.”

“Besides you’ll get bored after one night anyway it’ll be good for both of you. Do you have any ice cream?” I asked, pushing myself up and running to the kitchen.

“Get me some too! Chocolate!!!”

I grabbed the carton and two spoons, bounding back to the couch and sitting down. Chloe grinned up at me and shook her head, smiling. "What?!" I asked with an eyebrow raised, the top off and my spoon already scooping.

"You are the cutest person alive," She said with a grin.

"The second you mean," I corrected her, thinking of my baby. "Gabe will always be first."

She grabbed a spoon and dug into the ice cream, "Fine, second. Such an adorable family you have. Speaking of which, has Dante met Gabriel?"

I shook my head, "No, of course not."

"Ben is going to flip when that happens."

I looked up at her, having never though about Ben's feelings when I finally met someone and got to the point where I felt like the new man in my life would be ready to meet my son. I always thought about Gabe first and so far, no one had gotten to that point. Me and Dante were pretty serious or getting there once upon a time, but then I cheated on him and it ended. "He's never introduced one of his girlfriends to Gabe?" I asked, telling myself that I was drunk because I'd never been able to openly ask about Ben's love life. I knew that he dated. Of course I knew, the man looked like a Greek God, he could have literally any girl he wanted.

Chloe laughed, "He hasn't even introduced ME to one of them!"

I smiled at that, not sure why but it made me feel a little better. "So I think he knows about your crush on Tristan..." I trailed off, sucking on the spoon as I grinned again. 

“Oh he knows," She agreed. “And does not approve.”

“Is that why you want him?”

She looked back at me after taking a huge bite, “Because he’s off limits or because my brother has a crush on him?”

“The first one.”

“Could be.”

I shook my head, “You’re so silly Chlo. You could have any guy you wanted and you choose the ONE that doesn’t want you back?”

“I don’t like him. That’s the thing. He’s mean. He’s cold. He can’t hold a damn conversation and I have literally no reason to like him other than the fact that he’s gorgeous.”

“Maybe you just need to get laid," I smirked, giggling because I sounded like her.

“Did we switch places and no one told me?”

“I'm the one getting some," I replied, biting down on my lip as her jaw dropped.

“Oh my god you’re right.” She shook her head, “Well at least you needed it more than me.” I grinned down at the ice cream, knowing that I was blushing but I couldn't help it. “Seriously Cami, any guy who’s making you grin like that? Is worth a second chance. Why did you guy’s break up anyways?”

My blush deepened and my smile faltered, I tried hiding my face by stuffing my mouth full of ice cream. I told Mil only days ago, did I need to tell Chloe also?

“You’re going to get a serious brain freeze," She warned as I swallowed and shrugged.

“We stopped talking."

“You’re shit at lying Cami…..what really happened?”

I looked away and sighed, knowing I'd have to tell her sooner or later... I suppose the alcohol came in handy.

"You cheated on him!" She said and I widened my eyes, wondering if she could read my mind. It sure did seem like it sometimes. "You really did, didn't you? How? And why?!"

"It's another sex story involving your brother... do you really want to know?" I asked and smirked, the alcohol clearly clouding my judgement. I wasn't the cheating type nor did I condone it, but Ben was my weakness. Not now, but back then.

Chloe shot me one of her looks and shook her head slowly, crossing her arms over her chest, "When?"

"Three years ago."

"You slept with my brother three years ago and didn't tell me?!" She asked with wide eyes, the shock showing on her face as well as in her words. "I knew you guys weren't over each other! Will you please remind me why you broke up in the first place because I can't remember."

I groaned and rolled my eyes, "I didn't tell you because you'd do your little 'I told you so' dance."

"I do not have an 'I told you so' dance," She said but grinned. "So then what happened after?"

"With Ben or Dante?"

"Both."

"I ended things with Dante... and Ben?" I shrugged, feeling sober all over again. "I don't know Chlo, we just don't belong together. We've had our chances and it just didn't work."

She just stared at me for a second and shook her head.

“What?”

“You fall into bed together even though you’re with another guy. You. Cami. You’re not a cheater. And then what, you say “Oops that was a fluke!””

I shrugged nonchalantly even though it was anything but, “It was.”

“But let me guess. It was awesome?” She asked, cringing as I smirked, thinking about that night, my last time with Ben.

“It was…..” I bit my lip as Chloe kept staring at me, probably still reading my thoughts. 

“Do you see why I'm confused?!” She asked. “And not just me Cami, me, my parents, your parents, your family, Ames, everyone who knows the story in general?!”

“Drop it Chlo…..It’s not going to happen," I said softly, positive that I had given up on that idea a long time ago. You can mess things up once, maybe try to fix it by giving it another go, but a third time? That was just too much.

“Not until you’re my sister," She replied seriously while I raised an eyebrow.  “When you marry Ben we’ll be sisters and then I’ll drop it.”

I shook my head as my friend grinned at me, “Crazy girl. Why don’t you focus on finding love for yourself instead of forcing it on me.”

She laughed, “Yes I'm an awful friend, always putting you first.” She giggled more and I watched her with an amused expression on my face, wondering how she'd passed me on her drunk train.

“You’re getting drunk.”

She nodded pushing the bottle closer to me, “And you’re too far behind me. Drink up and maybe I won’t talk about Ben more.”

I sighed and shrugged, “Might as well.”

"No sighing!" She shook her head, "Leave the dramatics to me."

I laughed and refilled my glass, drinking it quickly and wrinkling my nose in the process, "Meh!"

"Was that meh for me or the alcohol, you lightweight?" She grinned while I shivered a little. "I hope you're not thinking of Ben still since your nips are hard."

"My nips are always hard and you said no more Ben!" I said with wide eyes, grinning like an idiot.

"Okay... so Dante..." She quirked an eyebrow and this time I groaned. "You're not being much fun anymore."

"I've been giving you far too much information... now it's your turn," I said seriously, refilling both of our glasses.

She sighed loudly and set her chin against her palm, "What do you want to know?"

"Surprise me."

“Is this our drinking game?” She giggled while I nodded excitedly.

“Yes. Our drinking game is you get to spill embarrassing stuff and I get to listen," I sat indian style in front of her and she shrugged.

“I haven’t even kissed a guy in over a month.”

“What about that guy you were dancing with when we went out?!”

“You mean your brother?” She asked with an eyebrow raised before bursting into giggles. “That would be silly.”

I laughed, thinking about how my brother had been crushing on her since his balls dropped. The Schon family had a thing for Lindsell's, damn them and their good genes. “Hey he’d do it if you really need it that badly,” I grinned, biting my lip as she looked at me.

“If I need it that badly? I’d make out with you," She said poking my nose. “Honestly if you weren’t in love with my brother I’d make out with you now anyways.”

I narrowed my eyes as she tilted her head, her long blonde hair cascading over her shoulders. “A part of me wants to kiss you to shut you up about your brother," I replied and she smirked slowly before giving me a kissy face that had me blushing. “Chloe!”

"Tease," She said, lying on her back and staring up at her ceilings.

“Skank," I replied, laying down beside her and staring up. “We should paint your ceilings," I said randomly, causing her to break into another fit of giggles. “What?”

“Nothing. Just glad we’re friends," She replied softly, squeezing my hand in hers.

I smiled in response to her words, feeling lucky to have her in my life. Wild girl aside, Chloe Lindsell was an amazing friend. A little much sometimes, but I preferred her that way. "Tell me more about your lesbian encounter," I said with a grin, tilting my head in her direction and winking.

"Interested in giving girls a try?"

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, "Maybe if this thing with Dante doesn't work out."

"You always have the photographer too," She bit her lip while I sighed. My life really wasn't so eventful, but she had a way of making me sound not so lame. "I told Ben about them by the way."

"Them?" I asked and raised an eyebrow, feeling my chest tighten. Four years of not being with him and I still hid that part of my life from him. Was it weird that I knew he dated, but I didn't want him to know that I did the same? I felt guilty. I was stupid instead.

"Dante and this hot shot photographer," She shimmied her shoulders. "He was jealous....."

I rolled my eyes again, "He wasn't."

"Do you want to know what he said?"

I did.

"No," I said instead, biting down on my lip to conceal the grin on my face.

"You do, but I'm not going to tell you now!"

"I'm going to warn Tristan about you," I let my grin take over, watching her eyes widen. "I'm going to tell him you're hunting him like a panther on the prowl."

"What?!"

I broke into a laugh, "It sounded better in my head. See, this is exactly why I never drink."

“I love it instead," She grinned. “Besides even if I was panther prowling him? He’d turn me down.”

I just shook my head, then grinned wide again, “Oh tell HIM about your lesbian encounter!”

“Oh so he can think I'm even more of a slut?” She sighed, “Maybe I should give Lana a call though…”

“That was her name? What’s she look like?”

She raised an eyebrow, “You seem more than interested.” I scrunched my nose up as she went on, "She’s gorgeous, long dark hair, tall, pretty eyes.”

I leaned closer as she pulled out her phone and slid to a picture of the two of them at a club from a year ago, “Damn. Maybe you should call her.”

She smirked and shook her head, “I don’t know I think the fact that I’d never done something like that is what made it so hot.”

“You said it was the best oral sex of your life. If I had that I wouldn’t just give it up!” I said, regretting it a second after it left my mouth since I was walking right into that one.

She tilted her head to the side and looked at me, a knowing look on her pretty face, “Oh?.....and who was the best sex of your life huh?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it, “Shut up.” I threw a pillow in her direction, but she ducked it right in time.

“Just saying!”