by Sharlay
“Hi,” I replied with a smile on my face.
“Is this seat taken?” He asked, politely, something that Caleb should try doing every once in a while.
“No, it’s free,” I replied.
“So,” he said, causing me to look at him.
“So,” I replied since I didn’t know what else to say.
“Ok, so this is kind of awkward,” he stated.
“Yeah, kind of,” I said as we both burst out laughing.
“I’m Jason-”
“Wait, aren’t you Ted’s son?” I asked in confusion.
“That’s right,” he said with a huge smile on his face.
“Sorry but I did not recognize you at all,” I replied.
“Don’t worry it happens a lot. I’m not the weird kid that has snot pouring from his nose anymore,” he chuckled, causing me to join him.
“No, you’re not. So, this is a nice party that your dad has thrown,” I lied.
“Really, because I think that they’re all pretty boring,” he said.
“Honestly, so do I but my dad makes me come anyway.”
“How do you think that I feel, being the boss’ kid? I go to about three of these a month,” he said as I laughed again. “Apparently, I’m being trained to take over the family business,” he said as he rolled his eyes.
“Not what you want?” I asked in a sympathetic voice.
“I want to be a dentist.”
“Well, that explains the nice teeth,” I said, pointing at his mouth.
“Thanks,” he chuckled.
“No problem.”
“So, I actually came over here to apologize,” he said in a more serious tone.
“Huh?” I asked in confusion.
“For what happened at the last party with the whole chocolate prank-”
“That wasn’t your fault,” I said as I remembered the initial reason that I disliked Caleb.
“Actually, it was. I set up the prank-”
“Excuse me?” I asked in shock.
“It wasn’t for you. It was for my dad’s stupid assistant, he was always finding ways to embarrass me in front of my dad, and so I wanted revenge. He was supposed to walk through the door when you did,” he said as he ducked his head in shame.
“But Caleb said-”
“Yeah, I know. Look, I kind of had a crush on you back then, and I felt so bad for what I had done but before I had the chance to own up, Bill’s son said that he had done it. I didn’t want you to hate me, and so I just stayed quiet about it but it’s been bothering me for years. I felt so bad but I didn’t see you again until now, of course,” he said as I sat there in shock.
“So, Caleb didn’t do it?”
“Who?”
“Bill’s son,” I said, realizing that he didn’t know his name.
“Oh, no, he took the blame. I went to ask him why he did it, but he just poured the rest of the bucket of chocolate sauce on my head and walked off,” he said as he laughed at the memory.
“Yeah, that sounds like him,” I said as I chuckled to myself.
“Anyway, it looks like I’m being called,” he said as I noticed that his dad was waving him over. He gave me a friendly wave when he noticed that I was looking. I returned his wave before looking at Jason again.
“So, you’re not mad at me?” He asked, shyly.
“No actually,” I said as I glanced at Caleb and smiled. “Thanks for being honest,” I said.
“No problem, it feels good actually, like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” he said as he laughed to himself. “See you around, Addy.”
“Bye,” I said before my eyes began to search for Caleb again. I really did get him so wrong. I just don’t understand why he let me stay so mad at him, all of this time when he could have just cleared everything up from the first day that he moved in.
* * *
The second half of the party was just as boring as the first. All my time was spent being introduced to people as either ‘my daughter’ or ‘Alan’s daughter’. I had spent the whole night just trying to get a moment to talk to Caleb which was proving to be more difficult than ever. After my dad’s boss decided to give me a whole speech about how great my dad was, and how proud of him I should be, I was finally left alone to search for Caleb. A small smile slipped onto my face as I caught him escaping through a side door in the club.
“Going somewhere?” I said as I snuck up behind him. It was pretty cold outside tonight, and I could feel the goose pimples rising on my skin.
“Following me?” He asked with an amused expression his face.
“Maybe.”
“Here,” he said, handing me his jacket. I would usually be stubborn and say no, but it was way too cold to say no to anything that offered me even a fraction of warmth.
“Thanks,” I said as I took the jacket out of his hand and slipped it over my body.
“Having fun?” He asked as he sat on a wall outside of the club.
“Nope, you?” I replied before taking a seat on the wall, next to him.
“Not at all,” he said as we both began to laugh. “So, how come you’re not still in there talking to, blondie?” He asked with a bitter sound to his voice.
“You mean, Jason?” I asked.
“That was Jason, as in the boss’ kid?” He asked with a shocked expression on his face. I chuckled to myself before nodding at him. “Wow. He has got to be on steroids or something,” he said as I rolled my eyes at him.
“Speaking of Jason, I had a very interesting conversation with him earlier,” I said as I turned to look at him.
“Really,” he replied in an uninterested tone.
“Yup, he was telling me all about the chocolate sauce prank that he set up,” I said, putting extra emphasis on the word he.
“Oh.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, curiously.
“I felt for the kid,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders.
“Really? Is that why you threw chocolate sauce on his head?” I said in an amused tone.
“I thought that you’d appreciate that,” he said with a smirk on his face.
“I did, but you could have avoided all of my pranks, if you had just told me all of this before,” I said, seriously.
“And miss out on all of the opportunities to prank you back, I think not,” he replied as we both began laughing.
“So, are we friends now?” I asked, nervously.
“Hmm, I don’t know, it depends,” he said with a smirk on his face.
“On?”
“Whether or not you’re going to kiss my feet, and call me King Caleb,” he said as he burst out laughing.
“You make it so difficult to like you, Caleb,” I said as I hit him on the arm, playfully and started to laugh.
“But you do like me, right?” He asked with a genuine smile on his face. It went silent for a while as I tried to think about what I was going to say.
“As a friend, yeah, I suppose I do,” I mumbled after a long pause. I knew that he was staring at me, and so I tried not to look at him.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’re lying to me?” he whispered as he turned my head, gently towards him and stared into my eyes. We sat in silence for a few moments before I watched his gaze flicker from my eyes to my lips. I tried to reply but no sound came out or maybe I just didn’t want it too. This was the first time that we had, had a real conversation since that day at the mall, and I actually missed talking to him. I didn’t know if it was in my imagination or whether he was really moving closer to me but my heart was beating at an inhuman pace. I found myself staring at his lips as well, and I couldn’t deny that I wanted to know what it would feel like if he kissed me. Every time that I watch a film and it takes a long time for the leading actors to kiss, I always think that it is ridiculous but I just realized how real that really is. It was like everything was moving in slow motion. I could hear the sound of our breathing in the silent, cold breeze and it was like a volt of electricity f
lew through me as Caleb’s hand gently made contact with my face. His thumb made a small circle on my cheek before he whispered, “Please be lying to me.”I knew, for the first time, since I had met Caleb that I felt something for him that I had never felt before. I didn’t know what it was and neither did I care; I just wanted him. I looked at him before closing my eyes, in anticipation of his lips-
“Addy, Caleb, are you guys out here?” I heard Bill say, causing us to jump apart very quickly. “Oh, there you are,” he continued as he walked up to where we were sat. “What are you doing out here in the cold?”
“We were just getting some fresh air,” I replied as I tried not to look at the smirk on Caleb’s face.
“Oh, well your dad is looking for you,” he said as he looked at the two of us suspiciously.
“Ok,” I said as we both jumped off the wall and followed Bill. As we walked behind him, I watched as Caleb was quietly chuckling to himself. I slapped him on the arm before he grabbed my hand and entwined it with his. He held it tighter as I tried to free my grasp, knowing that I didn’t want Bill to see. I kicked him in the ankle, causing him to cry out in pain. I handed his jacket back to him with a smirk on my face.
“Erm, is everything alright?” Bill asked as he turned to face us, with a knowing smile on his face.
“Just fine,” I replied as I felt my face begin to heat up.
When Bill turned back around, I scowled at Caleb, causing him to burst out laughing. I tried to fight the smile that was creeping onto my face but it was impossible. Something about being around Caleb made me smile and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I knew that I could get used to it.
When we finally walked through the door of the club, and went our separate ways all that I could think about was what kissing Caleb would have been like, had Bill not have interrupted us...
CHAPTER 18
The Date
I didn’t wake up this morning because I never actually went to sleep. I had spent the whole night thinking about mine and Caleb’s ‘almost’ kiss. As soon as I got in, I called Courtney, who decided that it would be ok to steal the hearing in my right ear by screaming down the phone in excitement. After I got over nearly losing my hearing, and hearing the words ‘I told you so’ fifteen times, we actually had a normal conversation. I still wasn’t sure what I felt about Caleb but I knew that I felt something for him. It was Courtney who reminded me about my date with Blake which I had completely forgotten about. I knew that I couldn’t continue seeing Blake while I was so confused about Caleb. In the end, we came to the conclusion that I would go on the date tonight, so that I could let him down gently. Then I would try and sort out this mess that I had gotten myself into with Caleb. I chuckled to myself as I realized that I was actually referring to him as Caleb, instead of one of the many insults that I had come up with. I had no idea when I started calling him Caleb but I kind of liked the sound of his name, when it came from my mouth. Oh dear, I definitely had a big problem.
The drive home last night was pretty strange since neither of us had addressed the ‘almost’ kiss. We made a little small talk about the weather, what was playing on the radio and the party but that was it. We spent the rest of the journey in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence but I knew that we both didn’t know how to approach the subject.
I was now stood in front of my mirror, looking at the light blue, denim skirt and white tank top that I was wearing.
“Is someone checking themselves out?” A familiar voice asked, causing a smile to slip onto my face.
“I don’t know, was somebody else checking me out, while I was checking me out?” I asked as I raised my eyebrows.
“Does that even make sense?” He asked as he began laughing.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“So, where are you going?” He asked as he smiled at me. Now, I had made a choice not to let Caleb know about my date today. It wasn’t exactly a date since I was planning to tell Blake that I didn’t want to see him anymore. I still felt that telling Caleb would only complicate things.
“Just out with friends,” I lied as I tried to avoid eye contact.
“Sounds fun,” he said as he leaned against my door frame and checked me out, causing my cheeks to heat up a little.
“Eyes are up here, dear,” I said, sarcastically.
“Whoopsy,” he replied in a girly voice.
“I do not sound like that,” I replied as I threw my pillow at him.
“You really-”
“Addy, I think that your date has just pulled up,” my dad interrupted, causing me to freeze on the spot.
“Friends? Is that what they call dates these days?” Caleb said, angrily before storming out of my room.
“Caleb wai-”
I was suddenly interrupted as he slammed his door in my face.
“Well that was rude,” I said as I let myself into his room and crossed my arms over my chest.
“You’re going to be late for your date,” he mumbled as he sat on his bed and started to lift one of the weights that were sat on his floor.
“It’s not what you think.”
“I don’t really care what it is, now can you get out.”
“Not until you talk to me,” I said, angrily.
“About what? The fact that you’re a liar? Too late, I already know,” He replied as he picked up another weight and started pumping faster.
“Ok, I shouldn’t have lied but I have my reasons.”
“I couldn’t care less what you do. You can date as many guys as you want. It’s no concern of mine-”
“Now who’s the liar?”
“I’m not lying, Princess. I don’t care, I was just playing with you to see how far I could get but to be honest, I’m getting kind of bored, waiting,” he said as he put the weights down and walked past me, towards the bathroom.
“Playing with me?” I asked in frustration.
“Yup, playing with you,” he said as he smirked at me. “Do you honestly think that I’d kiss your best friend, right in front of you, if I really liked you?” He asked as I felt my heart beat begin racing faster.
“You’re a jerk,” I mumbled as I tried to hold back the tears as I stared him in the eyes.
“So you keep telling me. Oh, be a good girl and pass my number on to Courtney. Have fun on your date,” he said before slamming the bathroom door in my face, leaving me stood there in shock.
I should have known what Caleb was like. I was so mad at myself for getting drawn into his stupid game. I’ve always known better than to get involved with guys like him but instead I went against my better judgement. Well, that’s the last time that Caleb will ever fool me again; I’m done.
“Addy, I said that your dat-”
“I heard you,” I snapped as I stormed past my dad.
“Hey, hey, hey, what’s wrong?” My dad asked as he gently grabbed hold on my arm.
“Nothing, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I said in a sad voice.
“You and Caleb, fall out?” He asked, gently.
“Sort of, but it doesn’t even matter anymore, I’m fine,” I said as I put a fake smile on my face.
“Ok, Pumpkin. Be safe, and I want you back home by eleven, ok?”
“Ok,” I said before walking out the front door.
“Hey, you ok?” Blake said as I silently got into his car.
“Yeah, just drive please.”
“Ok then,” he said before he drove off.
“I don’t have my seatbelt on,” I said as I turned to look at him.
“You don’t have to wear it, if you don’t want,” he chuckled as he glanced over at me.
“You know what, you’re right,” I said before smiling at Blake. Caleb’s not here now, I can do what I want...
* * *
“What’s her name,” I heard a panicked voice screaming as my eyes slowly flickered open.
“Addy, it’s Addy,” I heard Blake say. He sounded really stressed out and scared.
It took me a second to remember what had happened. I remember that Blake and I had been talking about where we were going to go, and him telling me that it was a surprise. We were laughing for a second when my mind went to Caleb again. I felt angry that he didn’t let me talk. I was so mad that he said the things that he did before I left. Blake turned to ask me if I was ok when I noticed another car driving on the wrong side of the road, towards us. I couldn’t get the words out fast enough, to warn Blake and then everything just blacked out.
“Addy, can you hear me?” A voice that I didn’t recognize asked. It took a moment for me to focus on my surrounds and to be quite honest, I wish that I hadn’t. As I looked through the window of Blake’s car I realized that I could see the ground and that I was also on the driver’s side with my back against the window. I looked up and could see smoke coming from the car. As I took it all in, I began to panic, and I felt the tears start to trickle down my face.
“It’s going to be ok. I’m going to help you. Do you think that you can stand up?” The dark haired man asked as he looked down at me through the broken window. That was the first time that I actually looked at my body. I noticed that I was covered in cuts that I guess was caused by the shards of glass that were covering me. I felt a slight pain in my ankle but I knew that if I really tried then I could stand.
“Yeah, I think I can,” I managed to gasp as I attempted to pull myself up so that he could reach me. My voice was hoarse, as though I hadn’t had a drink in weeks, and I felt slightly dizzy.
“Ok, Addy I’m going to need you to move as fast as you can, ok?” The man said as I watched him keep looking at something in front of him, and then back at me.
“Ok,” I said as I tried to stand on the foot that wasn’t hurting me. I managed to push myself up by holding on to the car seat but I began to panic when I felt the car rock a little.
“It’s ok, it’s ok just keep your eyes on me, ok?”
“Yes,” I replied before continuing to stand up right, on my one foot.