The soldiers are marching again, with the heavy sound of drums quick to follow.
Everyone in the town who knows what is coming stays silent and tries to hide, praying that they won't stop here, in Woodson.
And it's every week now that they pick a new...
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Like the gentleman he surprisingly is, Camillo asks me if I'd like to sit down as we begin to talk to one another.
Ridiculously nervous in all ways imaginable, I accept, playing with the blades of grass between my fingers on the lawn. I wait for him to start the conversation after we sit down next to each other, seated on a fallen log laying on the ground, not sure how to confront him.
"So..." he trails, scratching the back of his head.
"So." I say, biting my lip.
"How are you feeling today? Better?"
Realizing he is referring to my back, I shrug. "I guess."
Camillo opens his mouth as if to say something, but closes it in a matter of seconds. I stay quiet - which is very unlikely for me, I guess - while he shakes his head full of curls. They practically glow in the daylight, along with his tanned southern skin, that it's beauty is almost unfair.
I have worked and walked hours in broad sunlight - why aren't I tanned like that, instead of freckled and burned?
"You're staring," he says pointedly without actually looking at me.
I am staring.
"Of course I'm not." I refute, rather unconvincingly.
Of course I am.
"Yes, you are."
Scooting closer to me, Camillo surprises me again by tilting my chin up from its view of the mossy ground to face him, his fingers staying there long after the movement has stopped. My heart starts pounding, and I have to take deep breaths to control my breathing as he rubs a thumb against my cheek.
"About yesterday..."
I can't breath as I register his words, never mind make sense of them, when he is touching me like that. Blinking hard, I break eye and skin contact so that I can focus on the matter at hand.
"Yes, about yesterday. We- I-"
Before I can make a fool out of myself, Camillo interrupts me by grabbing my hands that were previously crossed in my lap.
Again, the contact tingles strangely and I can't think.
His hands are so much larger than mine, but warm them up quickly. I didn't realize I was cold until he touched me.
"Adeline. I-I want you to know that I didn't mean to disrespect your boundaries by kissing you. It's taken me a while to realize that I care about you, and I finally did something about it. I don't know why I've been thinking about you all the time, but it's driving me crazy. I know we just met, but -"
I don't know why I do it, but his words get to my head faster than I can control it. I cut Camillo's sentence off by kissing him on the mouth, hard - just like how he caught me off guard earlier with the hand holding.
