The Cam Girl

'Thanks.'

'Your boobs are so good, they're annoying me.'

'Oh, don't give me that! That six-pack seems like a very nice compensation.'

'I had to work for this six-pack, you just happened to naturally grow those melons. In fact, coming to think of it, that's another example of how lazy you are.'

Mackenzie started to protest and raised a hand as if to reinforce her point. It was a mistake, since that meant Hailey now had a free arm. She pinched one of the purple haired girl's nipples with just a little too much strength. When Mackenzie gasped and lifted herself slightly to get away, Hailey used both arms and legs to push her over the back of the couch.

Flat on her back, Mackenzie saw Hailey's head appear from the top of the couch with an innocent smile.

'No mercy.' She said. 'Also, you stink. Go shower.'

Grunting and getting herself back up, Mackenzie heard the sound of her roommate turning on the TV on her way to the bathroom. She took off her sweaty clothes, feeling the muscles of her legs ache with each movement. The shower was warm and cosy and she spent way too much time under it before finally drying herself.

Going into her room, she opened her drawers. She still wanted to go out before going to sleep and so she put on jeans, leather boots and a long-sleeved shirt. Mackenzie had just picked up a beany when she heard Hailey.

'Mac! Mac!'

Mackenzie ran back into the living room, thinking something important was happening.

'What is it?' She asked, looking around.

Merely grinning, Hailey pointed to the television screen.

An image of Nascar cars racing around an oval track appeared. A newsman was narrating it.

'... it was a very close finish in the end, with victory for Tony Stewart. The big talking point after the race was the incident between Greene and F1 driver Jarno Merlo, who was announced as a last minute participant.'

Two cars were shown in a reply close together. Jarno was in front of the Greene guy, who made an overtaking move that looked straight out of a bumper car track. It ended with Jarno hitting the wall, and Greene continuing without any problem.

'Although unhurt, Merlo was furious with his opponent and launched a complaint with the race director, who took no action. And that didn't leave Merlo any happier, as you could tell by his post-race interview.'

Jarno appeared on the screen, looking very menacing indeed, no trace of the natural friendliness Mackenzie had known him to have.

'Basically I've gone to the stewards and they see nothing wrong with shoving someone at two hundred miles an hour into the wall, so there you go...' He muttered with anger.

One of the men with microphones asked a question. 'John Riley, Greene's team boss said that his driver did nothing wrong, and that you were and I quote "witnessing real racing for the first time and being out of your depth". What's your response?'

'John Riley isn't fit to clean any Formula 1 team bosses' shoes, let alone lead an F1 team, so I couldn't give two shits what he thinks.' Jarno replied, with a look of disgust.

There was stunned silence, before the next question. 'It was always going to be difficult coming into something as different as NASCAR for someone used to circuit racing, wasn't it, Jarno?'

He turned his eyes towards the man questioning him and stared for a few seconds.

'There are some differences. For example, attempted murder here is called healthy racing. I guess they're so used to using 100% of their brain to turn left, that they neglected to leave some function for common sense.' His tone was humourless. 'Excuse me.' He left, leaving the journalists begging for more questions behind.

The images continued with an interview with Greene, who was smugly suggesting that the sport was too much for an F1 driver.

Hailey whistled.

'Holy shit, lover boy has a dark side... Yummy. Does he, like, growl when you fuck him?'

'Not in my experience.' Mackenzie replied, going to back into her room.

'And, uh, when did you last experience it?'

Even inside her room, Mackenzie could hear the mischief in Hailey's voice.

'I don't kiss and tell.'

'Yes, you do. We always do. Why aren't you coughing it up?'

Having picked up her beany in her room, Mackenzie went back into the living room again. Her friend was somewhere between amused and annoyed.

'Not for a while.' She told her.

'Why not?'

'It was just a fun casual thing and now it's over.'

'Oh come on...' Hailey scoffed.

'What?'

'The two of you have got it so bad for each other.'

'Had. And now it's over.' Mackenzie completed with finality.

'Bullshit.'

'No, it isn't.'

Hailey looked at her with her head tilted slightly to the left.

'Okay, then tell me this. How many guys have you been with since the last time with him?'

'That... That doesn't mean anything.'

'How many?'

Mackenzie sighed. 'None.'

Hailey smiled triumphantly.

'And there you go. In fact, I think you haven't had sex with anyone but me since you and lover boy stopped doing it.' When Mackenzie blushed guiltily, the blonde girl continued. 'You know, I like you Mac, but I'm not sure I want to fill the sexy Italian's shoes...'

The other girl just stared.

'Fuck you.' She said, walking out of the apartment and smashing the door behind her.

A couple of hours later, she was heading back home from a walk that had led her to aimlessly travel through the city looking at the windows of a thousand different shops. Mackenzie had also considered eating at an Italian place, but since she was irrationally annoyed at the country for the moment, she went into a Korean place instead.

The walk had done her good, but it also made her curse herself. The look of surprise on Hailey's face when she'd told her to fuck off, for example. They were always teasing each other with comments like the one her friend had thrown at her; why did she react like that this time?

Maybe because it struck her a little too close to home. Ever since her argument with Jarno, she'd started to crave some relief, and had satisfied it with Hailey, both on and off camera. She'd done so many times before after breakups, but never for this long. And that was the problem. First and foremost, Hailey was her friend, not her lover. They had fun together, but they weren't a couple.

In the previous weeks, Mackenzie had begun to wonder if she hadn't been imposing herself a little too much on her friend. Although she was most likely joking, Hailey's words had concerned her. She needed to abstain from fucking the blonde girl. Ideally, she could find someone else to fuck, but until then her horniness would have to be kept in check.

As she collected her thoughts, Mackenzie realized she was almost home again. She looked at her watch. 11:30 PM. Midnight snack at Mike's diner? Absolutely. Or maybe you're a wuss who's delaying having to talk to Hailey again... The thought came from her usually quiet conscience. She shut her down like she did most times.

Just five minutes later, she was looking at the place. It still felt like the nice refuge from confusion that it felt when she first entered it years before. From what she could tell it was mostly empty which suited her just fine, since her first priority was some peace and quiet. Entering the diner, those hopes were very quickly extinguished, as she saw Jarno in a corner booth, looking out the window with an empty gaze.

Mackenzie felt her feet completely frozen in place. Jarno was oblivious, appearing lost in thought. She could just leave. Leave and avoid a conversation she didn't want to have. Leave and never know what they had to say to each other (if anything). With slow, slightly unsure steps she walked towards him.

Something about her movements attracted his attention, and he turned his head towards her. His expression changed to one of surprise, before going back to something she couldn't identify.

'Hey.' She greeted.

'Hey.'

That's it?

'Wasn't expecting to see you here.'

'Yeah, well... It's been a long day and I felt like cheating my usual eating habits. This seemed like the best place to do it.' He said, taking a bite out of the burger in front of him. He was laying down, with his feet on the seat across.

So," I'm not here for you", is that the subtext, Jarno?

'You couldn't find another place to eat junk food in the city of New York?' Mackenzie asked him, raising an eye brow.

'Maybe I just enjoy Mike's company.'

'Really? Does he enjoy yours?'

'I don't know, it's difficult to tell which of his grunts are happy grunts...'

Mike hurriedly passed past the both of them that exact moment with his hands full of dishes. 'I heard that, pretty boy.' He said without looking. 'And they ain't happy grunts.'

'No, Mike, don't go.' Jarno said in a calm tone, also not looking at the other man. 'I think we have something too special to break up this way.'

Lowering the dishes behind the counter, Mike grabbed with one hand a dessert and as he headed to the table that ordered it, flipped off Jarno with his free hand on the way.

'Oh, well. Guess I'll have to find somewhere else to eat food that'll give me heart burn.' He told Mackenzie, as he chewed.

'It appears so. Would you mind if I sat down with you on your last visit?'

A momentary look of surprise crossed his features. Mackenzie didn't know why she'd asked it either. He removed his feet from the seat in front of him. 'Please do.' He gave her a shy sideways smile.

Sitting down, Mackenzie saw him up close for the first time in months. On TV his beard had seemed less bushy than it was in person. His smile seemed less at the ready than before and his bigger facial hair seemed to give him a "troubled-hot-guy" look. She preferred him in the carefree, clean-shaven version. But, damn, he's still such nice eye candy!

They were staring at each other. What was he thinking?

'I'm sorry but I gotta ask... NASCAR? You?'

'I know.' He grimaced. 'It's a long story.'

'I have time.'

'Okay, then it's an embarrassing story that I'd really rather not tell.'

'Oh.' Well, that was unexpected.

'What are you having?' Jarno asked, effectively changing the subject.

'I dunno. Just thought I'd come in here for a midnight snack.'

'Want to share a dose of bacon, eggs and fries?'

'Wow, you're really going all out on cheating your diet.' Mackenzie grinned.

'I try my best. Or worst, in this case.'

He called Mike over with a hand gesture and ordered. As he was ordering, Mackenzie's stomach decided to grumble in protest. She blushed. When Mike went back behind the counter, Jarno pushed his half-eaten burger to her side of the table.

'Go ahead, eat the rest of mine while we wait.'

'That's okay, I can wait.'

'You're hungry and I'm just full with a sweet tooth. Go for it. If I had cooties you would have caught them by now!' He added in an annoyed tone, looking out the window.

Without looking away from him, Mackenzie took a bite out of the food she'd been offered.

'That was a strangely inoffensive way of saying "you've had your tongue in my mouth"...' She muttered dryly.

Jarno gave a small laugh, looking back at her.

'I guess so. So, what have you been up to?'

'Hmm, not that much. I'm sure you've been living a more exciting life than me...'

His look didn't change.

'I'd still like to know.'

She regarded him for a few moments.

'Not much is different. Except, uh, that I've been kind of practicing my drawing again.'

'Again?'

'I used to draw all the time, growing up, and I kind of stopped doing it for a while. I missed it.'

'Cool.'

'I think so too. I've been saving up for a while now to get enough to start in college next year. I mean, there's also a couple of pre-admission tests I'll have to go through, but I'm confident.'

'That's great, Mac!' Jarno beamed at her.

She felt herself blush under his attention.

'Anyway, what about you? How's the first season of being an F1 superstar going for you?'

Mike arrived with their food just as Mackenzie ended the rest of Jarno's meal. Once he was gone, Jarno responded.

'It's going okay.' He said with a shrug.

'Okay?' Mackenzie asked, lifting an eyebrow. 'You gave an interview half a year ago when you were drooling about joining that team, and now you say it's "okay"?'

'It's been better than thank okay.' Jarno smiled, lifting his open hands in surrender. He sighed as if he was too embarrassed to say it. 'I won three of the first five races and I'm leading the championship.'

'Holy shit! Congrats!'

He bowed his head slightly as they continued to devour their recently arrived food.

'You're so shit at taking compliments.'

'Thank you.'

'Well, at least you took this one well...' His eyes narrowed playfully. 'There's something else that's happened. My dear parents got in touch.'

He furrowed his brow, which Mackenzie assumed to mean he'd understood what potential talk they'd had.

'What happened?'

'They said they wanted me to cease my life of common prostitute and go back home where they will find someone selfless enough to want to marry a girl as worn out as myself.'

'Holy fuck...' Jarno whispered, looking horrified.

'Oh, don't worry. They do this phone call once a year. It's almost a tradition by now.'

She could tell he wanted to comfort her but thought better of touching her. Well, she had told him not to touch her the last time they saw each other, and he seemed to take the advice to heart. That thought made her go back to the fight and that this was the first time they were together since. It was a rather unpleasant memory.

Jarno seemed to settle for a half-smile. 'Some people aren't worth it.'

'Don't worry. I've known my parents are worthless for a long time. I'm not upset about it.' She replied.

They finished the rest of the meal in silence. It should have felt awkward, but for some reason Mackenzie felt completely at ease during their wordless moment at the table.

They called Mike over to pay.

'I got it.' Jarno said, pulling out his wallet.

'No, we're splitting.' Mackenzie protested.

'Don't worry, I got-'

'We. Are. Splitting.'

They looked at each other for a few seconds. Mike kept quiet.

'Mike.' Jarno called.

'Yeah?'

'We'll split what we got since Mac arrived. But what you got me before she came I'm paying for alone. Including, that burger she ate, since it had my cooties.'

He looked at her innocently, and Mackenzie felt the corners of her lips quirking up.

'Do I want to know what that means?' Mike asked, as he took Jarno's credit card.

'No.' Jarno and Mackenzie replied in unison.

'Alright, then.' The diner owner said, going away.

The two of them left the diner together and walked side by side. Mackenzie figured he was walking her home, and felt a little annoyed but didn't say anything.

'Hey, how's Hailey, by the way?' Jarno asked her.

'Oh, she's her usual shy, subdued self. Been over the moon lately because her channel's been having some really good views.'

'That's nice for her.'

'She's still annoyed that she didn't get to fuck your brains out, by the way.'

He let out a small laugh. They both stopped. They were at her building. Unlike the first date, Jarno hadn't been caught out by the sudden stop, having seen it coming. Though, just like before, they both sat there smiling softly without knowing exactly what to do.

'It was really nice to see you, Mac.'

'It was nice to see you too.'

His lips pressed against her forehead and Mackenzie felt herself close her eyes, feeling his warmth.

'I'll see you around.' Jarno whispered, and started to walk away.

Mackenzie gasped inaudibly, struggling to catch her breath. She opened her eyes slowly and saw his retreating form. Call him back. Call him back. The urge was strong but she steeled herself and took a deep breath to regain control. No. You know what he did to you. Shakily, Mackenzie started to climb her stairs.

Just as she was searching for her keys, her phone started ringing.

'God fucking damnit!' She muttered to herself. She picked it up and looked at the caller ID. She kept looking at it for quite some time, before looking to her left.

Yep. That's definitely it. Jarno was a few feet away, looking at her with his phone pressed to his ear.

'Hello.' Mackenzie picked up, feeling rather silly.

'I was an asshole.' His voice reached her ears through her phone's speaker. 'When you told me you were camming, you said it had been an issue with other people, and I did the exact same thing because I was a complete asshole. I'm sorry, Mackenzie.'

He spoke quickly, his emotion clear. She took a deep breath and leaned against the railing of the stairs, feeling suddenly exhausted. Something finally made sense to her.

'That's why you entered that race you hate, isn't it? To have an excuse to be here?' No reply came from him, as he remained still with his phone in hand. 'I mean, what is it? Do you feel guilty?'

'Guilt didn't make me join a stupid race across the world, Mackenzie. I missed you. That's why I came.'

A very long silence established itself between the two of them, as a massive array of internal struggles went through Mackenzie's head. Jarno was waiting patiently for her. He saw, after quite a bit, some sort of resolution passing through her mind.

'Thanks for calling.' Mackenzie told him, not looking at him, but looking instead to the bottom of the stairs of her building. 'I don't suppose you're anywhere nearby...'

Since she wasn't looking, she had no idea what his face looked like when he said: 'You'd be surprised.'

'Would you mind stopping by my place, then?'

'Okay. I could drop by in a couple of minutes.'

'See you in a bit, then.' She told him, hanging up.

Patiently, Mackenzie waited until his footsteps reached her ears. Jarno came into view, as he climbed the steps, and she went to the top one. When he was just two steps below, looking up at her with a look of amused curiosity, she grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him hungrily. Her tongue slithered through his mouth for the first time in months and she felt herself moan.

Jarno recovered from the surprise quickly and kissed her back with fervour, though he was letting her lead. After what seemed like forever the kiss just naturally ended, the both of them regaining their breath with their foreheads and noses pressed together.

'I think I kind of missed you too...' Mackenzie muttered dryly.

'You are incredible, Mackenzie.' He whispered to her, holding her sides tenderly, his thumbs softly caressing her through her clothes.

She smiled, feeling the heat of his body against hers, as well as his distinctive scent filling her senses. Then, she remembered she couldn't have all the fun she wanted.

'I'd love to ask you to come upstairs and have some fun but unfortunately I can't...'

'Oh?'

'I'm on my period.'

'That's okay, Mac. I'm sure we'll find some time to-'

'But I can offer you a night's sleep in my bed.' Mackenzie offered, feeling instantly childish and tracking back. 'If you want to. I figured it would be better than a cold hotel bed...'

'Do you want me to? Sleep next to you?'

She opened her eyes and noticed Jarno was watching her. You know what, I do. She realized. I want to sleep next to this hunk of a man tonight, damnit! Annoyed at herself for blushing, Mackenzie nodded shyly.

'I'd really like that too.' He replied, flashing her with the sweet smile she'd gotten used to from him.

'Come on.' She grabbed hold of his hand and opened her building door with the other.

They made their way through her apartment door, tiptoeing, as Mackenzie explained to him, to avoid waking Hailey up in case she was in her bedroom. She was, and so they silently got into Mackenzie's room where they got ready for bed. It was in a casual comfortable silence that they stripped in front of each other to their underwear.