by Shelly Crane
“Call me Jim, please, Caleb,” my dad said and extended his hand to Caleb. “Mr. Masters makes me feel old.”
Caleb laughed and took his hand.
“Jim. Thanks. And don’t worry about Maggie. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
My dad nodded and waved to me as we left. I slowly made my way to the curb and could hear some of what they were saying instead of just the noise of it.
“Well! What do you expect! She texted you with me in the car!” Beck yelled and tapped her pointy booted foot.
“Rebecca, come on. You called me just this morning to go out with you. We’ve been on like four dates. Am I supposed to delete every girl’s number I have even though I haven’t heard from you in weeks?”
“Maybe! Just turn your phone off at least. You didn’t have to text her back.”
“I was telling her I was out with you!”
“Oh sure,” she said sarcastically and rolled her eyes just as she saw us coming. “Hey guys.” She jumped and grabbed Ralph’s arm affectionately. “We were waiting for you. Ready to go?”
I looked up at Caleb and he looked torn between laughing out loud and smirking.
“Ok,” I started. “What are we driving?”
“I brought my uncle’s car,” Caleb volunteered and jingled the keys in his hand.
I looked behind Beck at the black Lexus.
“See,” Beck said smartly and smirked. “Told ya, Lexus.”
“Great. Let’s go,” Ralph said hotly and stalked to the car door.
Beck looked at me and nodded her head to the side. I followed her behind he car while Caleb waited by the front passenger side door.
“Can you believe him! He-” she started but I’d already heard enough.
“Beck, I know. We heard everything. You weren’t exactly being quiet. Look, please be nice and don’t fight the whole time. I want to have fun.”
“But he texted her, right in front of me!”
“He said it was about you. He told some other girl- a girl he might have been possibly about to go out with but instead chose you- that he was out with you. You should be happy that he’d do that. Ralph really likes you. What are you doing?” I asked softly.
“I don’t know. You’re right. But if he texts anyone else, so help me...”
I rolled my eyes and pulled her to her door. Caleb opened it for her since Ralph was already in.
“At least someone has manners,” she muttered.
“Be nice,” I commanded. He shut her door and I turned to look at him. “I have a feeling we aren’t going to have very much fun.”
“Yes we will.” He kissed my forehead fast and softly. “You’ll see.”
I climbed in after he opened my door and waited in the stiff silence of the car for him to get in himself. Once in, I introduced them all and Caleb asked where to go.
“Take us somewhere we’ve never been, Caleb,” Beck said sweetly. “Somewhere from your town maybe.”
Caleb looked at me and I nodded, knowing what he was thinking.
“Ok. Buckle up.”
“Where are we? I feel like we’re in Deliverance,” Beck said as she clutched the back of my seat.
We had just pulled into the lot at Mugly’s and though she was my best friend, I wanted to smack her. None of us had barely spoken a word on the drive over. She spent her time filing her nails and answering questions with Hmm’s and Uhuh’s.
Caleb eventually turned on a CD, Cold War Kids, and clasped my hand. We talked a little, some in our minds too, but mostly, we let them both just cool off before we got to the restaurant.
And now, we’re parked and I’m getting out before Caleb can come and open my door. Ralph tried to open Beck’s for her and she just scoffed and walked to catch up with me. She laced her arm through mine as we made our way through the lot to the door.
I looked back at the guys and they were walking a few feet behind us, talking about something. I looked back at Beck and she was seething but with a nasty little smile on her face. I was so confused why she even wanted to come out. I didn’t remember her being so petty before.
“Oh my goodness, look at this place! It’s right out of the boonies!” she exclaimed loudly when we entered. I turned and pinned her with a stare. “What?” she said just as loudly.
I pulled her arm to make her come closer.
“Jeez, Beck. What is wrong with you? Just because you’re mad at Ralph doesn’t mean you have to be rude to everyone else. Caleb knows the owner here, don’t insult them, please. I brought you here because I thought you’d like it.”
“Ok, ok. Fine. Whatever.”
Caleb came forward and greeted the hostess, a new girl I hadn’t met before and she said to follow her. He reached back to grab my hand and tugged me along to a back booth. I sat beside him and Beck and Ralph sat on the other side.
Our peppy little waitress came and explained the different barbeque sauces to us, to which my rude best friend laughed at like it was a joke, and then took our drink order. We all ordered sweet tea except Beck, who ordered bottled water.
I’m so sorry about her. I have no idea what’s wrong with her tonight.
It’s ok.
He smiled reassuringly and put an arm around me to pull me closer. He kissed my temple and Beck rolled her eyes.
“So, Ralph. Where are you going to school?” I asked because his date wouldn’t.
“Columbia.”
“Really?” Caleb said interested. “That’s a really good school.”
“Yeah. Is that where Bish went?” Ralph asked me.
“NYU. But he’s actually interning now,” I said and he nodded.
“I wanted to go here, to Tennessee, but my mom is so set for me to go to New York and since they’re paying, it’s not like I have much say.”
“I hear you there, man.”
I heard something in Caleb’s voice then, longing. I peeked into his mind without looking at him, though he could tell, you always can by the little fuzziness. I knew he wanted to go to Arizona but I didn’t know if it was just a flashing fancy or if he really truly wanted to go. Maybe he didn’t even want to be an architect. His mind told me I was right. He had looked extensively into Arizona. He was good at it but had no real desire to do architecture except to please his family. He had no idea of what he wanted to be except maybe be a geometry teacher. It wasn’t that Arizona was a particular fantastic school, it was away from here, on his own and no one to stop him if he wanted to take an art or astronomy class or something else useless, but it was his time right? He just wanted to do what he wanted to do.
I smiled up at him and he shook his head at me, the corner of his lips turning up in his profile.
“Uh, hello. Can you come out of La-La land and answer me?” Beck said irritated.
“What?”
“I asked what we’re doing after we eat.”
“I don’t know but let’s look at the menu. We haven’t even ordered our food yet.”
“Fine.” She snatched the menu up and grimaced when she opened it. “Ugh. Meat, meat and more meat.”
“You’re not a vegetarian,” I countered.
She didn’t say anything else and I told Caleb to get me what he was having again.
“So, we have a theater in town if you want to catch a movie,” Caleb suggested.
“Ugh. No,” Beck groaned. “Do you have any clubs in town?”
“Not anything underage, but a friend sent me a text earlier. He’s throwing a party tonight at the beach.”
“Yay! Sounds good. Let’s do that.”
“Beck,” Ralph said and looked at her funny. “Maybe they don’t want to go to the party. You didn’t even ask.”
“He wouldn’t have brought it up if he didn’t want to go!”
The waitress brought our drinks and we all ordered our food. Then Beck went to the bathroom so I decided to find out what the heck was going on.
“What is wrong with her? She can’t be this upset over a text message,” I as
ked Ralph and he rubbed his neck, looking uncomfortable and guilty.
“The girl who texted me was my ex-girlfriend. Beck was really weird about it when we went out before and when she wouldn’t return my phone calls, me and Christina went out again a few times. She freaked in the car on the way over. What am I supposed to do? She doesn’t act like she wants to be with me but calls me out of the blue. Am I supposed to not ever go out with any other girls and wait for Beck to realize that I’m freaking in love with her?”
We heard a gasp behind us and turned to see Beck with a struck expression. She heard him. I bit my lip as I watched him stand and move towards her. She smiled and threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He laughed after a few seconds and pulled away.
“We’ll be right back,” he said quickly and pulled her away, giggling.
I felt extremely giddy and leaned on Caleb’s shoulder. I was glad when the waitress brought our food right as they came back, about eight minutes later. Beck’s lips were red and her hair was a bit disheveled. She beamed at me and when Ralph was getting a refill she looked at me mouthed ‘Holy Cow!’
“Try these, Beck.” I pointed to the corn nuggets. “They’re really good.”
Ralph stabbed one with a toothpick and nodded in appreciation.
“So. Caleb,” Beck started and laced her fingers into a fist under her chin. “What’s your major?”
She gave me a concerned looked and then turned her gaze to Caleb with a little frown. I realized this was the grilling she’d been waiting for.
“Architecture.”
“Really? And what exactly are your intentions with my best friend?”
He choked on his sweet tea, laughing, and I looked at her in disbelief.
“Beck. What the heck?” I asked.
“What? It’s my job as best friend to make sure he’s not a serial killer. Or an English major, not sure which one’s worse,” she spouted indignantly and Caleb and Ralph both laughed.
“Well, uh, I adore Maggie.” He looked at me and smirked at my stunned expression. “And I am most definitely not a serial killer. But I do know a little English,” Caleb said grinning.
“Well, that’s a relief. So are you parents loaded?”
“Beck, oh my gosh! Are you serious!” I yelled but she ignored me and looked at him imploringly.
“Well, I’d say we’re well off enough,” Caleb answered carefully.
“Oh, yeah. Loaded,” Beck said and tossed her hair. “So what about siblings?”
“One sister.”
“Parents still together?”
“Yep.”
“When’s the last time you talked to your best friend?”
“Yesterday. Text.”
“And your mother?”
“This morning.”
She raised her eyebrows at that.
“Really. When was the last time you went to the dentist?”
“Um. Three months ago,” he said grinning.
“Have you ever been engaged?”
“Nope,” he said laughing.
“What do you think about the current economical state of Iran?” Ralph and Caleb were laughing so hard, they looked about to cry. I just shook my head at her while she bantered. “Hey! That’s a legitimate selling point!”
“Don’t answer that, Caleb,” I cut in. “Ok, Beck, enough. Are you done?”
“Yes. You have my stamp of approval.”
He raised his glass in toast to her in gratitude and smirked.
“So, are we going to the party or a movie or what?” Caleb asked after everyone settled down.
“I vote party,” Beck said and then recanted. “If that’s what everyone else wants to do.”
“I don’t care what we do,” Ralph said sweetly, looking at Beck.
“What about you?” Caleb asked me.
“Whatever you want.”
“Well. We can go to the party. He’s a pretty nice guy so I wouldn’t think it’d be too crazy.”
“Ok. Party.”
We finished up just as Mrs. Amy came by and said hello.
Caleb drove us to a dark parking lot in the woods. I took my sweater off in the car and we piled out. As you came over the dunes you could see the red and orange bonfire lighting the sand and trees behind it. There were probably fifty people out there on the beach.
Beck jumped out of the car quickly, towing Ralph behind her. Caleb and I walked slowly hand in hand. I took my shoes off and put them in the pile along with a lot of other girls who hadn’t worn appropriate sand shoes.
Quite a few people called out to Caleb and he waved or said hello, bumped fists. A guy came and offered us drinks.
“I don’t drink,” I said as he forced the sloshing warm beverage into my hand.
“It’s just soda, cutie,” he said and winked before stumbling away.
I didn’t know if he was joking or not but Caleb took the drink from me and threw it in a passing trash can.
“I’ll get us something we can drink in a minute,” he whispered as we walked over to the fire.
I wondered for just a second what his telling tone meant but forgot all about once I saw the crowd. They all turned to look at us when a guy yelled loudly to Caleb.
I felt my cheeks burn and was glad the red glow of the fire would hide it. And I swear there were a couple girls glaring at me, openly giving me dirty looks. I looked at them curiously as Caleb hugged a guy and bumped backs with their fists.
“Hey, man. Glad you could make it.”
“Yeah. Thanks for the invite. Tristan, this is Maggie.”
“Hi,” I said softly.
“Hey, there.” He smiled widely. “Caleb, dude, you been holding out. It’s nice to meet you, Maggie. Any friend of Caleb is a friend of mine.” I smiled and he looked back to Caleb. “Where you been, man? I haven’t seen you in a while.”
Caleb nodded his head towards me.
“Maggie doesn’t live here so I’ve been traveling back and forth.”
“I didn’t think you were dating anyone. I told Ashley to come because you might be here.”
I silently groaned.
“Man, come on. I’ve told you before; I am not interested in Ashley, at all. Never was.”
“Caleb!” The Ashley in question crooned sweetly from behind us. She even came up to him and grabbed his arm. “I’m so glad you’re finally here. I’ve been waiting. It’s so boring without you,” she whined.
She glanced at me and smiled unkindly. Caleb pulled from her grasp making her pout more pronounced.
“We’re gonna go get something to drink,” Caleb announced and pulled me by my hand.
Ashley called out behind us.
“I’ll take a martini, dirty.”
He cast a rolling eyed look over his shoulder at her.
“Give in a rest.”
“Come see me once you take preschool home to meet curfew.”
He turned back to glare at her.
“Enough, Ashley. You really have to wonder why I never wanted to date you?”
She looked genuinely hurt and I wanted to feel sorry for her. Her look of hurt turned to snideness as she flipped us off before turning and almost tripping over a log. I laughed into Caleb’s shoulder.
“Oh, no. Did she really just flip us off?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t laugh though. “I’m so sorry. I wish we hadn’t come here, now. This isn’t my scene, even though I come to them a lot because there’s nothing else to do, but I thought Beck might have fun.”
“It’s ok. I’m not worried about Ashley. I’m not worried about anything.” I hugged him around his middle, pressing my face to his chest. “I’m gonna be with these people in a few weeks anyway, right? I better get used to it.”
“I guess. It’s really making me look bad with my choice of friends.”
“I’ve only met two of them. Let’s get a drink and then you can introduce me to anyone you want.”
“Really?” he asked curiously and looked down at me. “I thought you�
��d hate this.”
“I kinda do,” I admitted laughing. “But I want to like it.”
“I know I’ve probably said this twenty times already but...you are amazing.”
He cupped my face and kissed me with gentle pressure. I stuck my hands into his open jacket, grasping around his back for warmth and closeness. My lips tingled and it spread to my cheeks, then my neck. I pulled back before we got too carried away and licked my lips. I felt him sigh, his breath blowing across my face.
“Drink?”
“Yeah,” I answered in a squeak and looked up to see his smug smirk.
“Caleb!” I turned to see a very nice looking and very tall black guy strolling towards us with a wide easy grin. “My brother from another mother! Man, where you been?”
They hugged and verbally jabbed back and forth; laughing, then Caleb took my hand.
“Maggie, this is Vic. Vic, this is Maggie. The girl I was telling you about.”
My gaze shot to him in surprise. I didn’t know he’d told anyone about us, especially someone from school.
“Maggie, Maggie, Maggie,” Vic crooned and hugged me. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to meet you, girl. You know, my boy hasn’t stopped talking about you.”
Twenty Two
“Vic, come on. We only talked like three times,” Caleb said and I could feel his embarrassment and also his glee about this guy liking me.
This was his best friend, the friend he mentioned that day. He had an over pronounced southern accent that was very cute. His hair was short and he had an earring in one ear. His sunglasses were hanging from his polo shirt collar and he wasn’t wearing shoes.
“Yeah and it was all about this girl, right here,” he shook his head, pointing at my above my head and laughed. “I’ve been Caleb’s friend for ten years and I’ve never seen him with a girl, not once. Not even prom, he just skipped it. The guy’s a monk.”
I laughed as Caleb rolled his eyes and rubbed his chin.
“I know. He kinda told me all about it.”
“Well, come on, Maggie. Let’s get you a very non-alcoholic beverage.”
He put an arm around my shoulder and pulled me with him, Caleb trailing behind us. We came to a big flat rock where it seemed all the food and drinks were set up. He handed me an unopened can of soda.