by Sharlay
“I don’t know,” he said after a long pause. “I guess that it was just the right thing to do, and it’s only really fun when I embarrass you,” he continued.
“Funny,” I replied as I giggled to myself.
“I saved this for you,” he said as he grabbed something out of his dresser before walking towards me. I instantly burst out laughing as he handed it to me.
“You kept the test tube?” I asked as I continued to laugh.
“Souvenir,” he said as a smile slipped onto his face.
“Yeah, like I want a souvenir to remember today,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“So, does this make us friends now?” He asked as he continued to smirk at me.
“Nope,” I replied, causing him to burst out laughing.
“Seriously?” He asked in an amused tone.
“Yes, seriously, bye Caleb,” I said as I walked out of his room with a smile on my face.
“Bye, Addy,” I heard him reply before I walked down the stairs to join everybody else for dinner.
“You took your time,” Courtney said as I stepped into the dining room.
“Yeah, I had to talk to Caleb,” I replied.
“So?”
“So, what?”
“What’s going on with you two, you’re not fighting as much. What happened?” She asked, curiously.
Usually I would tell Courtney everything but it wasn’t my place to talk to her about the other night, when I found out about Caleb’s mom. I also didn’t want to have to talk about it because it made me think about my mom, so instead I prepared myself to lie to my best friend; something that I hated doing.
“Oh, we just called a truce. We were both tired of the pranks, so you know...” I said, trailing off.
“I know that you’re lying but I’m sure that you’ll tell me when you’re ready,” she replied as she smiled at me. Oh, I do love this girl, she knows me so well.
“Thanks.”
“That’s what I’m here for, now for lying to me you’re washing the dishes alone,” she said as she poked me in the side of my stomach, making me squirm.
“Deal,” I said as I started laughing.
“So, what is for dinner?” I asked in an excited tone.
“Wow, you’re starting to sound like me. Anyway, if my nose sensors are correct, then I smell...Spaghetti Bolognese,” she said with a proud smile on her face as she sniffed the air.
“You need to spend more time with humans and less time with food,” I said as I shook my head at her.
“Yeah, yeah.”
* * *
Dinner had gone surprisingly well, and we were already on dessert which was apple pie and ice cream. I don’t need to tell you that Courtney and I were very happy.
“Mom, this is so good,” Courtney said before filling her mouth with more apple pie.
“Well, Alan actually made it, I just told him what to do,” she said as my dad smiled, proudly.
“I’m impressed, Dad,” I said as I smiled at him.
“I’m not just a pretty face you know-”
“You’re not even that,” Bill said, causing us all to burst out laughing.
“Now, now boys, play nice,” Aunt Mel said as she began to clear up the table and walk into the kitchen.
“I’ll help Aunt Mel,” I said as I stood to my feet.
“Me too,” Courtney said as she followed behind me.
“Hey, girls, what are you doing?” She asked as we walked into the kitchen.
“We came to help you,” Courtney replied.
“No need, the boys are cleaning today. You girls always help; it’s time that Cale learnt some responsibility. Go and have fun,” she said, causing a smile to fall onto our faces before we walked out of the kitchen. As we made our way to the stairs, we saw Caleb and Cale walking towards the kitchen with their plates in their hands. We glanced at each other and then back at them before saying, “suckers,” and then we ran up the stairs laughing.
“Want to watch a movie?” I asked as we sat down on my bed.
“Yeah, something funny and romantic,” she replied.
“The break-up?” I asked as I held the DVD out for her to see.
“Perfect, I love that movie.”
“I know, you bought it me for Christmas just so that you could watch it when you were here,” I said as I raised my eyebrows at her.
“What? I bought you socks as well, didn’t I?”
“Oh, great,” I replied, sarcastically before I heard a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I said as I continued to put the film on.
“Hey, Pumpkin, I forget to tell you that my boss is having a party next Saturday-”
“Not another ‘party’, Dad.”
“Oh come on, it won’t be too bad, plus I’m giving you money to pick your own dress,” he said in a convincing voice.
“Oh, mall trip,” Courtney said, excitedly.
“I can’t, I’m grounded remember-”
“I think that I can make some allowances,” my dad mumbled.
“Really? So, I’m not grounded anymore?”
“No, as long as you stay out of trouble, and find a dress before next Saturday-”
“She will, we’ll go and look tomorrow, after school,” Courtney interrupted in an excited voice.
“Ok, girls enjoy the film,” he said before walking out the door.
“Tomorrow is going to be so much fun. We’ll find your dress, and then we’ll go and get something to eat, oh I’m thinking chicken, I haven’t had chi-”
She was suddenly cut off as I threw my pillow in her head.
“Hey!” She moaned as she rubbed her head, causing me to laugh.
“Stop talking about food, woman.”
“Ok, ok, let’s watch the film,” she said as she chuckled to herself.
“Great idea,” I said, although my mind was still focused on what Caleb did today. Maybe, just maybe he wasn’t as bad as I thought...
CHAPTER 16
The Kiss
Today wasn’t as bad as I thought, and rather than hiding in the library, I actually ate in the cafeteria. I left Caleb to answer all the stupid questions instead.
“So, you excited for our mall trip?” Courtney said as she dragged me towards my car.
“Yeah, ecstatic,” I mumbled, sarcastically.
“Err, sarcasm, and when did you start saying ecstatic?” She asked as she rolled her eyes at me. Good question, when did I start saying that? The only person that I’ve heard say that, is-
“Caleb, there’s Caleb,” Courtney said, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Hey, ladies,” he said as he sported his famous smirk.
“What you doing?” Courtney asked as I stayed silent and just stared at him. It was kind of weird but I didn’t feel the same around him since yesterday. I spent the whole night wondering why he did what he did. It was actually the perfect time to embarrass me but instead, he got himself in trouble just so that nobody would know what happened.
“Hello?” Courtney said as she waved her hand in front of my face.
“Huh?” I said in a confused tone.
“Caleb said that he’s going to the party as well, so I was just saying that he should come with us, so that he can pick his outfit too,” she said as I realized that they were both staring at me.
“Erm, yeah sure, the more the merrier,” I muttered, quietly.
“Good, so you’ll come?” She asked Caleb, who for some reason was staring at me.
“Yeah, I’ve just got some things to do and then I’ll meet you there,” he said as he smiled at me.
“Ok,” Courtney answered as Caleb and I kept our eyes on each other.
“So, I’ll text you when I get there, to see where you are, ok?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said before watching him walk away.
“What was all that about?” Courtney asked as we got into my car.
“What was all what about?” I asked.
“The whole staring contes
t between you and the bad boy,” she chuckled.
“I wasn’t staring,” I said, defensively.
“Yes you were; you both were. What’s going on with you two?” She asked, excitedly.
“Nothing’s going on. I don’t know what you’re talking about. Can you just turn on the radio and drop it,” I said as I started to drive towards the mall.
“Ok, grumpy,” she said as she chuckled to herself.
The truth was that I wasn’t sure what was going on but it was something; something that made me feel very strange indeed.
* * *
The trip to the mall was pretty quiet, and I was so happy when we finally got there.
“Hey, isn’t that, that Blake guy?” Courtney asked as she pointed towards a guy, standing by the mall’s entrance.
“Yes, and put your finger down,” I said as I slapped her hand.
“Ouch, so are you going to talk to him-”
“No.”
“Why not?” She asked as she raised her eyebrows at me.
“Because I don’t want to,” I replied in frustration.
“Oh, this is about Caleb, isn’t it?” She said with a smile on her face.
“Excuse me?” I asked, angrily.
“It’s ok, most girls fall for the player, it was bound to happen sooner or later,” she said as she chuckled to herself.
“I have not fallen for Caleb-”
“Prove it,” she said as she gestured towards Blake with her head.
“Fine, I will,” I said before marching over to Blake, and leaving her stood still with a shocked expression on her face.
“Well, well, well, I never thought that I’d see you so soon,” he said as he smirked at me.
“Believe me, neither did I,” I grunted as I rolled my eyes at him.
“Still as sweet as ever, I see,” he said, sarcastically as he began laughing.
“So, what are you doing here?” I asked, ignoring his last statement.
“I’m waiting for a friend-”
“Or date, you mean,” I said as I smirked at him.
“No, I only date women that provide me with a challenge, and unfortunately, I don’t come across girls like you every day,” he said, causing my cheeks to start to heat up.
“Nice line, how long did it take you to come up with that?” I replied with a smirk on my face.
“About the time that you’ve been stood here,” he said, causing us both to start laughing.
“You’re pretty when you smile,” he said.
“Oh, you’re just full of the cheesy lines today, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, are they working?”
I was about to say no but then I saw Courtney from the corner of my eye. I suddenly remembered why I came here in the first place; to prove a point.
“Maybe,” I said in a flirty voice that clearly took him by surprise.
“So, what does a guy like me have to do in order to get your number?”
“I don’t know, maybe ask,” I said with a smile on my face.
“Then I’m asking,” he said as he placed his phone in my hand, making me laugh. I quickly put my number and name in before handing him back his phone.
“Addy, that’s a nice name, suits you way better than ‘Gone’,” he said with a smile on his face.
“Yeah, see you around,” I said as I walked back towards Courtney.
“I can’t believe that you actually went up to him, what happened? Although, it kind of feels like you’re cheating on Caleb,” She said with a smile on her face.
“Shut up and nothing exciting happened. I just gave him my number-”
“Is that it, what about the details?”
“There aren’t any, now can we start looking for this dress before I get bored?” I asked.
“Yeah, yeah ok,” she said before leading the way to the first store.
As we began walking, I felt my phone vibrate and pulled it out to see a message from a number that I didn’t recognize.
Thanks for the challenge :)
I smiled to myself before saving the number as ‘Blake’ and then continuing with the ‘shopping trip’.
* * *
“I am so glad that, that is over,” I said after our two hour shopping trip.
“I could have gone longer, if I didn’t get hungry,” Courtney said, causing me to roll my eyes. “The dress is gorgeous though, right?”
“Which one? Mine, or the one that you ended up buying for yourself?” I replied, sarcastically.
“Oh come on, I couldn’t leave that poor thing alone, on the shelf with no owner, it needed me. Oh, and I was talking about yours,” she said as she smirked at me.
“I really liked it, thanks for helping,” I said before taking a seat in the food court.
The dress that we picked was one that I really liked. It was a light grey, stretchy dress that had sleeves that came all the way down to my wrists. It was beautifully fitted and hugged my shape in every way possible. My favorite part of the dress had to be the front because the top had small flaps - kind of like a jacket - and then there were ruffles, all the way down the front of the dress that stopped at my knees, which was where the dress ended. We picked a pair of grey shoes with a small, diamante covered heel. Court said that she had some silver jewelry that would apparently make my outfit ‘pop’.
“Ok, I think that I’m going to have the steak with fries and salad, what about you?” She asked as she sat staring at the menu.
“What happened to the chicken?” I said as I raised my eyebrows at her.
“A girl can change her mind, now hurry up and order before I get so hungry that I have to start eating you,” she chuckled to herself.
“You’re so strange, anyway, what you’re having sounds good, So, I’ll have the same,” I replied.
“Ok, I’ll go and-”
Suddenly she cut herself off and then turned back to me with a panicked look on her face.
“What’s the matter?”
“Please tell me that, that isn’t Cory and Melissa over there?” She asked as she slid lower into her chair.
“Erm, it isn’t Cory and Melissa over there,” I lied.
“Great, it is them. What am I supposed to do?” She asked in a sad voice.
“Look, I’ll just go and order-”
“No, he knows that we’re always together, so if he sees you then he’ll know that I’m here anyway,” she replied.
“Well, you just need to be confident and show him that you’ve moved on-”
“How am I supposed to do that when he’s over there with his new girlfriend, and I’m just here with...you,” she said, sarcastically.
“Oh, yeah thanks,” I said as I rolled my eyes at her.
“You know what I mean-”
“Good day, fair maidens,” A voice said as we both turned our head to look in the direction that it came from.
“Caleb?” I asked as he slid down in the seat next to me. “I thought that you were going to text me?” I asked as I looked at the shopping bag in his hand.
“I did but you didn’t reply,” he said as he raised his eyebrows at me.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see two messages from ‘Sexy’.
“Whoopsy.”
“Yes, Whoopsy,” he said as he chuckled to himself.
“How did you know we were here?” I asked, suspiciously.
“You’re with her, I knew that you’d have to stop to eat at some point,” he said as he pointed towards Courtney, making me burst out laughing. Courtney, of course didn’t laugh and just sat there, like she was having a conversation with herself.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s panicking because her ex,” I said as I pointed at Cory, “is over there with his new girlfriend, and she doesn’t want to look like a loser-”
“I didn’t mention anything about being a loser but thanks,” she scoffed as a sad look filled her face.
“Oh come on, Court. Don’t let him get to you like this.”
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“Yeah, seriously, guys don’t like chicks when they behave like this. If you want him back then he has to see what he’s missing,” Caleb said, grabbing both of our attention.
“How exactly am I supposed to do that?” Courtney asked, curiously.
“Well, firstly, get that ‘crazy, depressed ex’ look off your face. Do a little something with that hair, and put some of that gooey thing on your lips-”
“Lip gloss,” I interrupted with a smirk on my face.
“Yeah, that.”
“How exactly is all that going to help?” She asked as she began to follow his instructions.
“It will, trust me. All you’ve got to do is go over there, and act really confident. Leave the rest to me,” he said as we both looked at him with a confused expression on our face. “You want him to think that he’s not getting to you, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then do as I say-”
“What if he talks to me?”
“Then be polite and talk back. Now go,” he said before she slowly got out of her seat and started to walk, confidently towards the line that Cory and Melissa were stood in.
“Ok, so how exactly is all that going to help?” I asked as I stared at Caleb.
“Just watch,” he said as we both watched Cory’s face as he spotted Courtney, who was pretending that she didn’t see him. It was clear that he was checking her out as she stood there.
“And three, two, one,” Caleb said before pointing at Cory and Courtney. As I looked at them again, he had just tapped her arm as she pretended to be shocked, acting as though she hadn’t even seen him. She was actually a good actress. I better keep my eye on her. I chuckled to myself as I watched the angry expression on Melissa’s face as she watched her boyfriend, pay more attention to his ex, than her. Caleb was right, this was working.
“Showtime,” I heard Caleb whisper before standing up, and walking over to where the other three were standing.
“Huh?” I asked, but it was too late, he was already gone. I just sat there and watched the four of them interacting. As soon as Caleb got there, he gently placed his hand on the small of Courtney’s back. I could make out that he said something like ‘hey baby’, as he got there, causing Cory’s face to go a deep shade of red. I watched the jealous expression on Cory’s face and laughed to myself. I was happy, since he had messed with my best friend’s heart. Then, just as I was starting to enjoy the show, I gasped as Caleb’s lips suddenly met Courtney’s. It wasn’t just a peck either, it was a full blown, ‘goo’ taking kiss, and they both looked like they were enjoying it. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. I watched as Courtney’s hands slowly slipped around Caleb’s neck; he tightened his grip on her waist before they finally parted. The look on Courtney’s face was pretty hard to describe, she just stood there, staring at Caleb in complete awe as he stood there, smirking at her. They stayed like that for a few seconds before Cory snapped them both out of their trance by saying something. That was the point when I stopped watching. I don’t know why but I felt...mad. I didn’t like seeing him kiss her one bit. They weren’t supposed to kiss, that wasn’t what was supposed to happen. Why would he do that, Cory was already jealous, there was no need to kiss he-