Page 53 of Made to Be

“Me too.”

His voice was low and those words, just those two damn words, made my heart stutter and skip. An ache instantly burned in my chest and my mouth popped open as I stared dumbly up at him.

“Really?” I asked, almost disbelieving.

His chin dipped once and I blinked rapidly. My eyes had suddenly begun burning, so I quickly looked away, not quite ready to face this new feeling of... hope?

Ron had promised me everything I’d wanted: a loving relationship, a family, happiness, comfort, trust... But it had all been a lie.

Cam wasn’t Ron. There was no comparison. Not by a longshot. But that kind of pain, the one that upends your life and leaves you packing only what you cancarry on your back, fleeing your home, quitting your job, and starting over somewhere new and utterly alone... Well, those kinds of scars ran deep.

“Victor?” Cam’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and his chilled fingers on my neck grounded me.

“Hm? Sorry, did you say something.”

His dark brow creased with concern, but I shook off the memories that plagued me. Today was a good day, damnit. There was no room for the past and its many hurts.

“Anyway, did you see their face paint?” I asked him. “Let’s go do that first!”

Once more grabbing his hand, I led him over to where I spotted the small table with people – mainly children – getting their faces painted.

And thus began the activities of our pumpkin-themed date. Where I got a spider on my left cheek, Cam got a little ghost on his right. The whole event was basically a mini festival set up in a field next to an age-worn barn. We grabbed classic carnival foods, all delightfully Halloween themed. There were caramel apples that looked like the poison apple fromSnow White, pumpkin-shaped chorizo hand pies, and even pumpkin milkshakes. We sipped on these as we casually wandered around.

We played silly little games like bottle ring toss and balloon darts where I won Cam a plastic spider ring, which he was now wearing proudly on his pinky,the only finger it would fit on. He’d won me a little keychain plushie of a bat. I had already attached it to my car keys and was my new favorite accessory. We did everything from the hayride that made my butt itchy to picking our own pumpkins to carve for when we went home. We’d deposited these into my car for safekeeping as the sun sank low, bathing us in the chilly night air.

Orange fairy lights were strung between the vendor tents and games, shining and illuminating the small area. Off to the right was a towering wall of corn stalks and a trail of separate lights that veered off with signs pointing to the entrance of a corn maze. Two lit Jack-O-Lanterns sat on either side of the darkened path, grinning widely.

I took a step toward it, Cam’s hand still in mine, but hesitated when I recalled the spooky maze at the mall when he had gotten scared and ran off.

Cam, sensing my hesitation, tightened his grip in mine and tugged me down the path and into the corn.

“But... Aren’t you...” I began, stumbling after him.

“I’m not afraid,” Cam assured me with a squeeze to my hand. He then smirked over his shoulder at me and teased, “I know you’ll protect me.”

So, hand in hand, Cam and I entered the corn maze.

And, thirty minutes later, I was beginning to regret my decision to let him drag us in here.

If I had believed the maze to be “family friendly,” I was under the wrong assumptions. Because it didn’t take long at all for us to get completely, entirely lost. And with it being so late, we had stopped seeing fellow maze-goers long ago.

“Isn’t this meant for like... children?” I muttered as we reached yet another dead end. “Why is this so hard? Shouldn’t we have found the end by now?”

We had been wandering down the countless paths for far too long by this point, and my nose, fingers, and toes were feeling the effects of the chill. I brought my icy fingers up to my lips and puffed warm breath over them. As observant as ever, Cam reached over and gripped both of my hands in his. I watched still as ever as he bent over slightly and brought them to his mouth to huff his own share of warmth over them. A shiver immediately wracked my body, but I knew it wasn’t from the cold.

“How about we try that one?” Cam asked as he gestured to another path to my left. One we hadn’t taken yet. “Might be a shortcut.”

At least, I thought it was a path. My eyes narrowed at the small, slightly hidden walkway that veered off at an angle from the wider, well-worn main path. A few stalks were bent over and broken, creating the opening, but it wasn’t as cleaned up as the one we were currently on. Honestly, it looked more like a deer trail than one meant for the maze. But Cam wanted to give it a try, and who was I to deny him anything?Especially when he was braving the dark and frankly creepy corn maze for me.

He was still holding both of my hands, watching me intently. The illumination of the moon above seemed to set his eyes aglow like sapphires. And even though it was probably the cheesiest thing I had ever thought, his eyes were shining like the stars glittering through the blackened sky.

They were dreamy, and for several long moments I found myself lost within them.

I had no idea how long we stood there simply staring at each other before we moved. I don’t even know if it was him or me that pulled the other into the thicket of corn. Because it wasn’t as kept as the one behind us, blades from the stalks grazed us as we maneuvered between them. A few brushed my cheeks, but as Cam led the way, I noticed him holding back many of the offending leaves and stalks away from my face.

God, he was such a considerate fucking sweetheart. Made me want to tackle him into the corn and kiss his beautiful face all over.

I was debating on doing just that for the hell of it when my foot snagged on some roots. I was too focused on the back of Cam’s neck that was peeking out above his collar and how I wanted to nibble on it. And, because it was so dark, I easily lost my footing.