by Shelly Crane
“Want something to eat? We got shrimp, oysters, ribs, chips-”
“Nah, I’m ok. We just ate but thanks.”
Vic looked me over in a very objective manner with his chin between his thumb and forefinger.
“Caleb. I have to say you did good, brother. She’s sweet, she’s polite, she’s southern, cute. I approve. You two can continue to date.”
“Thanks, man,” Caleb said with fake sincerity.
“So where did ya’ll eat?”
“Mugly’s.”
“Oh!” he shouted and laughed. “Caleb pulling out the big guns!”
We all laughed and went to sit around the fire. There wasn’t much room because that’s where most of the people were. I kept looking for Beck but hadn’t seen her or Ralph since we got there. I imagined her pulling him behind a tree and doing who knows what, that thought made me want to gag and giggle at the same time.
So we sat down and Caleb put me in between them on the log. He kept looking around protectively which made me wonder what he was looking for.
“So, where’s Molly?” Caleb asked.
“She’s here somewhere. Probably with Ashley which means she probably won’t come over here.”
“we’ve already run into Ashley actually,” Caleb explained and his voice got harder. “She’s in rare form tonight.”
“You know how she is, man. She ain’t gonna change, unless maybe you asked her to. Then, I bet she’d wear purple hats with green shorts and call herself, Sally.”
“Dude,” Caleb laughed. “You need help.”
“Yeah. So, Maggie. What’s the plan for school? Caleb talk you into Tennessee yet?” Vic asked me while he loaded up a marshmallow on a palmetto stick to roast.
“He has,” I said. “I’m really looking forward to it.”
“He must have some serious skills to get you to come to our school after only a week,” he mused and stuffed the mallow in his mouth. His next words were muffled making it even funnier. “Must be the hair. Girls go nuts over that hair.”
“It is good hair,” I agreed and Caleb covered his face beside me making Vic laugh.
“Great. Now you’ve joined his side,” Caleb groaned. “He’ll talk you into anything.”
“Have you met his parents yet? I haven’t even met his parents,” Vic grumbled. “Even though the guy has been to my swimming pool in my back yard a million times, I’ve never set foot in this guy’s house. His parents are like super secretive or something.”
“I have actually met them...and been to his house.”
“Oh, sure!” He yelled and threw his hands up. “Of course she gets to. I hear the guy is loaded. Is it true? He’s always so modest but I know his parents have to be loaded.”
“Don’t answer that, Maggie,” Caleb said and leaned towards me to whisper loudly and conspiratorially. “He’s trying to get you to feel sorry for him. His parents live in a three story complex with an inside pool and a real butler.”
I gasp in mock surprise.
“You tried to trick me!” I pawned good naturedly.
“No! Don’t listen to him!” Vic yelled playfully and waved his hands back at Caleb.
I laughed as they went back and forth.
“Alright, guys,” Vic said. “I better go see my girl or I’ll be in the doghouse. I’ll catch up with you later. Text me, brother.”
“It was nice to meet you,” I said and Vic turned and smiled gorgeously at me.
“It was good to meet you. Please don’t go anywhere. You’ve done that kid good.”
I laughed as Caleb continued to groan and moan beside me.
“He’s really nice.”
“Yeah. He’s a good guy.” He stood and held his hand out to me. “Come on.”
I took his hand as he helped me up.
“Where we going?”
“Well. It is a party,” he said and smiled.
He took me to the spot on the sand designated as the dance floor. The music was so loud there was no point in trying to speak. Luckily, we didn’t need to use our mouths.
Caleb, I can’t dance.
Sure you can. Everyone can dance. Plus I’m an excellent teacher. They don’t call my kind Charmed for nothing.
He took my hands and laid them on his shoulders. His hands gripped my hips just as the music changed to something slower. I was swept over with relief and he laughed and shook his head.
You got lucky on that one, but you’re still dancing with me. That’s all I care about.
I wrapped my arms tighter around his neck and he pulled me closer. Our bodies touching all the way down as he used his hands to sway my hips. His slightly stubbly cheek rubbed against mine as he moved us with our heads together and I was consumed with calm and warmth.
It felt so right to be there, in his arms. Wherever he was is where I needed and wanted to be.
I had never danced before, ever. Not even Prom. Chad had been very focused on goofing off with our group of friends that went together and we never made it to the dance floor. I was relieved back then because I couldn’t dance and still can’t. Beck tried several times to get me to shake it with her on the dance floor, pulling me ungracefully in her sinfully low cut purple gown, but I refused. She even tried to get me to sneak out to clubs with her sometimes when I stayed at her house but once again, I refused.
Now, I didn’t know if I’d go to a club or not, it sounded appealing with Caleb there with me, but right now, all I could think about was him, pressing me to him with his big warm hands through the thin fabric of my shirt. I liked his hands there.
I like my hands here too.
I smiled and thought back to the very beginning, when we first saw each other. We’d both had a reaction to the other before the imprint even took place. I remembered that I’d never told him how I’d felt before that. That I had been feeling similar feelings for him that he had felt for me from just our short little walk to Kyle’s house. I’d never shown him how I loved his curly hair and how affected I’d been by his eyes when he had leaned close to check my head. How endearing it was for him to be so worried about me. How I dreaded leaving him when Kyle was trying to pull me away. How I had no idea why I was so enraptured with him but seemed to be drawn to him somehow as I offered him my hand and told him my name, hoping he’d remember it.
You’re showing me now.
I kept forgetting that he was so in tune to me.
Well, it’s all true. You were very cute, all concerned for me.
He pulled back to smile crookedly at me.
I can’t wait for you to come up here with me for school. I’ve been meaning to ask you...
His hands flexed on my hips. His nervousness for the question he was about to ask was apparent as it pulsed through me. He was worried that I’d think it was too soon or inappropriate. Or I’d just flat say no.
Just tell me, Caleb. It can’t be that bad.
I was just wondering if you were planning to...live with me, at the apartment. I’m asking you to, I guess.
Oh.
I hadn’t seriously thought about it. Kyle had mentioned to me the fact that he was supposed to room with Caleb and I’d said he still could. I doubt that was still ok but I hadn’t really thought beyond that. So I answered truthfully.
I hadn’t really thought about it.
Ok. No pressure.
He so, so wanted me to live with him. Wanted for us to not have an obstacle in the mornings when we needed each other most anymore, to not have to worry about me at night with the echoling or sneaking in and out.
But I wasn’t so sure. I mean I did want to live with him but I didn’t want to lie to my dad anymore. I didn’t want to continue to have to come up with stories for him and other people about where and who I lived with.
Would I tell everyone else that I live with my boyfriend off campus if they asked? Would I tell my dad that I lived in the dorms? What if he tried to visit me, which I’m sure he would? Would I- Could I- tell him that I was eighteen and living with my b
oyfriend and he couldn’t stop me? He would be furious. Plus, I had always had a subconscious plan. To get married first before I moved in with my guy but things weren’t even in the same ballpark as normal anymore so exceptions had to be made.
Caleb was reading me.
It’s ok. You don’t have to worry about it right now. We’ll figure it out later.
It’s not that I don’t want to. I do. I’m just worried about my dad. It would be so much easier and safer if I stay with you. And more fun.
I sent him a little smile but he was still hung up on the worry; the worry for me if I wasn’t with him and how this was going to work out. It was not only his desire to protect; it was ingrained in his veins.
I decided to distract him because his feelings of worry and upset and need to protect were choking me.
I pulled his face to mine with my arm around his neck. He sighed in relief against my lips at the contact and release of coiled emotions. His arms tightened and his gratefulness was all around me. He knew I was saving him with this kiss as I tried to forget the things that would have to be dealt with very soon...but not tonight.
We continued to sway with the slow music as we kissed slowly and sweetly. The song was something I wasn’t familiar with but it didn’t matter.
Someone bumped us, breaking our kiss.
“Oopsy. Shouldn’t you be heading home, preschool,” Ashley said as she swayed with a guy who was somehow even drunker than her. They both stumbled and grasped each other to keep from falling. She laughed. “Ahh! Did I interrupt something?”
Caleb quickly pulled us further away from them when someone else bumped against us. We both looked up to Beck and Ralph, writhing in rhythm to the music beside us on the sand, practically dry humping and I felt like I needed to avert my eyes but then I saw hers and realized she’d been drinking. They both had. I sighed at her stupidity at taking alcoholic drinks from a bunch of college kids she didn’t know.
“Hey, girl. Having fun?” she yelled over the music.
“Where have you been?” I asked feeling very motherly at the moment.
“Oh...somewhere,” she yelled and they both laughed maniacally, falling into each other, giggling and groping.
I rolled my eyes and wanted to go away. It’s not like we could talk anyway. There was entirely too many people around and so loud and Beck, although I was happy for her and Ralph, had been driving me crazy all night. We were growing apart, in different directions. I still wanted to be her friend but it felt like we were just in different places. Right now, I wanted to spend my time with Caleb more than anything else.
Say no more.
He took my hand and tugged me away from everyone to a little trail in the wooded area off the beach. The music died down as we kept going, hand in hand, and I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“What’s your biggest pet peeve?” I asked him finally after some minutes of comfortable silence.
“Hmmm.” He scratched his chin in that familiar way I was beginning to adore. “Probably lying, but since I’m forcing you do it because of our imprint I guess that’s pretty hypocritical, huh?”
“Caleb,” I protested but he kept going.
“But if you want an easier, less in depth answer, I’d say...a whiner. Someone who complains about everything get on my nerves. I know there’s nothing wrong with letting loose sometimes but there are some kids, especially since I got to college, who just whine and cry about every little thing. They are so spoiled, it kills me.” He looked over at me to see my smirk. “And you? What’s yours?”
“I’d have to say, in depth would be cheating on someone. I can’t stand it, hate it. That’s one reason I’m so mad at my mom. But the easier, less in depth answer, would be meanness. What about...what you like to do when you go home from school?”
“The same thing I like to do at school. Play music, write music, listen to music, attend concerts and friends’ gigs at clubs. I should really change my major, I think. I giggled and shook my head. “You? Favorite thing to do?”
“Um...read, I guess. I’m a nerd.”
“I like to read too, that doesn’t make you a nerd. Unless you’re calling me one.” He cocked a comical brow at me and I smiled then bit my lip, thinking.
“Favorite person?” I asked.
“You, that’s an easy one.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I laughed.
“I know, but we’re here.” He pulled back one last tree branch, like a curtain, it opened up to a postcard pretty picture in front of me. The moon was casting a mirror reflection on the water. The sand was white and clear. The waves were small and there was probably fifty yards of beach, right in between two rocks that seemed to be deserted and un-messed with. It was gorgeous.
“Wow.”
“Yeah. I found this place at another one of these parties. It gets to be a little much for me too, so I took a walk and here it was.”
“And did Ashley follow you here,” I joked and fluttered my eyelashes.
“She would have if she’d seen me.”
He took my hand again to pull me to the waters edge. He took off his jacket and laid it on the white dry sand. He laid his head down on the jacket and beckoned me down to him. I smiled as I snuggled up against him, using his arm and shoulder as a pillow.
You liked the stars last time...
I turned my face to look up and saw that it was possible to be even more beautiful than before. There were a million of them up there and, as cheesy at it sounds, it took my breath away.
We just lay for about twenty minutes, just like that, watching, listening, being together. It wasn’t hot or cold, it wasn’t loud or quiet, the sand wasn’t hard or soft. Everything was perfect and add his calming touch to that, his hand coasting up and down my arm, and it couldn’t have gotten better.
He started to think about things. What he was gonna do when I was in class without him. What if our schedules conflicted so much that we never got to see each other during the day at school, he’d never get any work done worrying about me.
You’re in my head, remember? You’ll always know if I need you. Everything should be fine.
I know you think that and I’d like to but what if the echoling never stops? What if Marcus never stops? I don’t know what I’d do.
Caleb. I pulled his face close to mine with a hand on his cheek. I like it that you worry about me and I’d never tell you to go against that but, why worry about something that hasn’t even come near to time yet? Who knows what’ll happen by then. This whole thing may be sorted out.
He chuckled and tucked my head under his chin.
You’re so cute when you’re all optimistic and take-charge.
Ha ha.
You’re right. No point in worrying about it yet. But eventually, all this will have to be discussed. Especially...the living arrangements once you start school.
Your parents are fine with my living with you? Because I know my dad would be livid.
No, they’re not ok with it, not really. I told you, they don’t really see another choice. It’s not like I can sneak into the campus dorms every morning to see you.
I know. I just don’t know what to do. Why does everything about this have to be so complicated?
Well, it’s usually not. Usually...we’re older when we imprint. No one else has ever had to worry about all this stuff before. We’re all knew and no one really knows what to make of it. See, before when they imprinted, they just got married and that was it.
I realized what he was saying. We were the first Ace couple to imprint and not get married.
How long did people wait to get married?
They didn’t wait. It was more like, how soon can they get married. My parents only waited three weeks.
I balked. My heart slammed. My head spun. What!! Three weeks!
Maggie. Breathe. It’s ok.
I’m sorry. I just... Three weeks? That just seems...
Crazy, I know but they’re meant for each other. It’s not li
ke they were going to decide to date someone else, you know? They were it for each other, forever. Why not get married and get started on your life?
You’ve thought about this already, haven’t you?
Of course I have. He leaned to hover over me on his elbows and looked seriously at me. “I’ve thought about it every since you first touched me and I knew you were mine.”
Why did you say to something like that, I didn’t know whether to run or cry in joy. I wanted to marry him, right this second, I knew he was it for me and there was no point in waiting but I was only seventeen. My dad wouldn’t forgive me nor understand and I’d have to tell everyone I met that I was a teenager and married. That shouldn’t matter, what other people thought, but for some reason, it kinda did a little.
I also wondered why we were chosen so young when everyone else imprinted in their early twenties. Appropriate marriage age. There had to be a reason. But right now, I was just scared.
We heard a ruckus behind us. We both looked up to see a couple drunk guys barreling through the brush at the edge of the woods in a clumsy and uncoordinated fight. Caleb groaned and got up. They were yelling loudly and taking swings at each other.
“Stay here for a second. Let me pull these idiots off each other.”
He left and I sat up to look at the water. I continued to think as I heard Caleb trying to settle them behind me. I felt the stick in my arm before it registered that something was wrong. I felt one second of panic before my heart slowed to a sleepy rhythm. The last thing I saw was the beautiful scene of where Caleb had taken me before my eyes closed and I fell back into the sand.
Twenty Three
I woke up in the dark. I smelled Caleb all around me and moved my arms to feel that his jacket had been draped over my head. I pulled the jacket down to my shoulders and felt the chill hit my face. I was somewhere cold, musty and dark. I felt groggy and unhinged.
There was someone there, that’s why I’d woken up. They were laying my arms and legs out and strapping them down, my arms over my head. In my mind my heart spiked in panic but my body didn’t respond. My heart stayed at its slow lazy rhythm and I didn’t understand why. I didn’t even fight whoever it was.