by Claire Raye
“I’m glad I can help,” I reply, again not wanting to push him, I let the conversation die there. “Speaking of, do you have time for a run today?”
“I don’t start until six tonight, so if we can get moving right away, I’ll still be back in time to shower and head over to the bar.
“Done.”
Our run lasts about an hour and Caleb is off to work just in time. I hate how boring the house feels without him. Lately it feels like Sienna and Reid are gone more often since he’s now back playing football. She’s been traveling with him to away games if her schedule will allow it. They’re supposed to be leaving again this weekend.
“Speak of the devil,” I call out when I hear the front door open and Sienna strolls into the kitchen.
“Speak of the devil? Why would you say that? You’re sitting in here by yourself. You talking to yourself again?” she jokes, narrowing her eyes at me as she sits down across from me at the kitchen table.
“I was just thinking about you leaving this weekend again. I miss hanging out.”
“I know. Me too. I think I’m going to tell Reid I’m not going and you and I can spend the weekend together,” Sienna says, pulling out her phone. “I’m gonna text Reid right now and let him know.”
“You sure he won’t be mad?” I ask, knowing how much time they spend together.
“I don’t give a shit if he’s mad,” she scoffs. “He’ll get over it if he is, but he won’t be. He knows better than to try to tell me what to do.”
The two of us laugh out loud. Reid can be stupidly over protective, but he still knows better than to try to control Sienna.
Her phone chimes out only seconds later and she flashes me the screen, the message reading, “No problem. Be good. Have fun. I’ll see you tonight after practice.”
“He’s pretty chill now,” she adds, smirking at her ability to control the once uncontrollable Reid Bowen.
“That’s because he was filled with rage over not being able to have you,” I tease. I used to give her so much shit about how Reid had a crush on her and that’s why he was such a dick. Typical boy drama. It would be nice if they could just get their shit together and admit when they like us.
“I will admit that maybe all your analyzing of mine and Reid’s relationship was slightly accurate,” she confesses and I slam a hand down on the table.
“Holy shit! Did you just admit I was right?”
“Sorta, but don’t go getting a big head. Looking back now, it’s clear that unrequited love will really wear you down and stress you out.”
How can I not agree with her? I feel like what I have with Caleb is already wearing on me and it’s nothing in comparison to what her and Reid dealt with.
But I turn our focus back to the weekend and what we can do to spend more time together. Like always we don’t have a ton of money and the usual shit feels boring and lame. Keg parties and bar hops are great, but I would like to do something bigger and better. Something where we aren’t yelling to have a conversation and dodging the advances of boys smelling like weed and stale beer.
“Hey! You know what? I should call Mila and see if she wants to drive down and hang out with us this weekend!”
“Oh, yes!” Sienna shouts in agreement, clapping her hands.
My sister Mila is a year younger than me and we’ve always been close. I have to say I was super disappointed when she opted not to go to Hawthorn, instead choosing a school up near where we grew up. I knew it wouldn’t last long though. While being that close to our parents has its perks, it also has some huge drawbacks, like our parents just randomly popping in for visits.
Mila has always been the wilder of the two of us and has started to see the error of her ways. She’ll be transferring to Hawthorn in January because you can only have your parents show up at your dorm room so many times before it becomes intrusive. I also think they caught her with a few too many boys and began to question if she was really there to get an education.
“I’ll give her a call now and see if she can swing it,” I tell Sienna, pulling up Mila’s name and clicking over to speakerphone.
“Hello, Ruby,” she says, the annoyance in her voice evident and I’m sure I’ve interrupted something, but she wouldn’t dare not answer my call.
“You busy?” I ask.
“Well, that depends on your definition of busy. If by busy you mean I’m dry shaving my legs so I can hook up with a guy I met at the grocery store, then yes, I’m busy.”
“Okay, so you’re not really busy,” I reply, giving her shit. “Listen, Sie and I wanna know if you want to drive down and stay with us this weekend. Reid has an away game and we’re thinking of being stupid and having some fun.”
“For sure!” she yells out, making Sienna let out a whoop of excitement too. “I’ll ditch class on Friday and head there right after my last class on Thursday.”
“Oh my god! We’ll get to see you in two days!” I call out. The last time I was home was in August and that was the last time I saw Mila. We pretty much talk every day, but seeing each other has been hard with her about seven hours from Hawthorn.
“I can’t wait!” she responds with just as much enthusiasm. “You sure you have enough room for me there?” Her question isn’t necessarily something that has an honest answer. Our small house is already feeling the pressure of four people living here, but one more for the weekend won’t matter.
“Oh, yeah, there’s plenty,” I tell her, even though it has gotten substantially more crowded with Caleb living here and Reid basically moving in.
“Your sister has been sharing a bed with my brother,” Sienna announces making it sound far more seductive than it really is.
“What!?” Mila shouts, her words loud even through the phone. “You’re hooking up with your new roommate?”
“No! It’s nothing like that! He’s been sleeping on the couch and he kinda…” I trail off, not sure how to explain things. I haven’t told Mila about Caleb’s issues and why he’s here. I just left it at Sie and Caleb losing the bar and him having nowhere to live. “No one wants to sleep on the couch for an extended period of time.”
“Whatever you gotta tell yourself,” Mila jokes.
“I’m not telling myself anything. That’s the truth. I just felt bad about him having to sleep on the couch knowing he’s going to be here for a while. It felt shitty.”
“Mmm hmm. I never pegged you as the type of girl to hook up with her roommate. That sorta feels like more my thing,” she shoots back.
“Everything is your thing, Mila,” I say, annoyed with her teasing.
“My brother claims nothing is happening too, but I’m finding it hard to believe. The two of them together would be so fucking hot,” Sienna adds as they both join together to gang up on me.
“I’m not hooking up with anyone and besides, he isn’t really ready for that.”
“Oh, so you have been thinking about it then!” Mila shouts, as if she’s caught me in some sort of lie.
“I’m hanging up now. I’ll see you Thursday.”
I end the call, but I know that isn’t the end of the prying as I catch Sienna watching me, her eyes glittering with all the possibilities. She longs so badly for Caleb to have someone, a girlfriend who will help him through his dark days, but what she doesn’t understand is bringing someone new in can complicate things. And right now, Caleb doesn’t need complicated.
“So you have been thinking about him then, huh?” she asks.
“Of course I have. How could I not? He’s gorgeous, but Sie, it’s not the right time. He needs a friend and I’m happy to be that for him.”
“How have things been going?” she asks and for a second I don’t know if I should share anything with her. It feels like an invasion of Caleb’s privacy and also like I’m talking behind his back. The last thing I want is for him not to trust me.
“I think he’s doing pretty well. He said running helps and he’s liking his job so that’s good,” I say, not giving away too
much. I can only hope it’s enough information for Sienna.
“Well, that’s good,” she responds, and I breathe a sigh of relief as she changes the subject. “So what are we going to do this weekend with Mila here?”
Chapter Ten
Caleb
Work is slow tonight, Adam and I spending more time standing behind the bar talking to each other than actually serving customers. It’s good though, getting the chance to just hang out and talk, get to know each other a little better.
It feels almost normal, as though my life is slowly getting back on track again, even if that’s not exactly true.
Plus, as much as Reid and I will always be tight, with him dating my sister and now back playing football, I don’t see him as much as I maybe expected when I first moved out here. Which is fine, I get it, he travels for games and he has school that takes up his time. And we do hang out together still, but it’s nice to know he’s not the only friend I have out here.
“So you thinking about hanging around Hawthorn for a while longer?” I ask as Adam walks back from the storeroom, slinging a towel over his shoulder.
He shrugs. “Yeah maybe a couple more months,” he says. “Depends on how quiet it gets when the semester finishes,” he adds. “The options dry up real quick when school ends and everyone heads home.”
I chuckle, shaking my head at him.
He grins, crossing his arms over his chest as he leans against the bar. “Speaking of ladies,” he starts. “What’s the story with you and that friend of your sister’s? What’s her name…Ruby?”
I reach for a towel as I wipe down the bar top, avoiding looking at him. “There is no story,” I say. “We’re just friends.”
“Right,” he says sarcastically. “But you’d obviously like to be more?”
I swallow hard, knowing that what I’d like to happen and what can happen are two very different things, no matter how much I wish they weren’t.
Adam’s grin widens. “So you won’t mind if I have a crack then?” My head snaps up, my gaze landing on his as Adam bursts out laughing. “Yeah okay, you’d definitely mind,” he says, brow raised in question, that stupid grin on his face still.
I exhale, running a hand through my hair as I debate whether or not to admit what I think of the whole Ruby and me situation to this guy, a virtual stranger to me. I’ve barely even admitted my feelings to Reid, and we’ve known each other our whole lives.
“She’s my sister’s best friend,” I tell him. “My roommate, so yeah, maybe for those reasons, I would mind,” I tell him instead, knowing that’s only part of the reason.
Adam chuckles shaking his head a little as he pushes off the bar. “No problem, Caleb. She is officially off-limits for me,” he says, hands up as though in surrender.
“Thanks,” I say, wondering if what I just did was a dick thing. Maybe Ruby would like Adam and I’ve just nixed any chance of her and him finding out by pretending that she’s off-limits to him because of our living arrangement.
“No worries, mate,” he says, nudging my shoulder as he walks past. “Although, do you know if she has a sister?”
I roll my eyes as he walks past, not even bothering with a response.
By the time I get home, it’s almost midnight. The bar stayed quiet enough that we ended up closing early, but by the time the clean-up and stuff was done, it was still late.
I walk in the back door of the house and through the kitchen to the living room. Ruby is sitting on the couch, her laptop on a cushion in her lap and the TV on mute.
“Hey,” I say, stopping in the doorway, my hands resting on the top of the door jam.
She turns to me, her mouth falling open a little, before she swallows hard and says, “Hi, you’re home early?”
I drop my arms as I walk into the living room. “Bar was dead tonight,” I tell her. “Have I ruined your plans by coming home early?” I ask, gesturing to her laptop.
“Not at all,” she says. “It’s good actually, ‘cause I’ve got the perfect movie for us to watch tonight.”
I smile. “Oh yeah, what’s that?”
She grins at me. “It’s a surprise,” she says, clicking something on her laptop and closing it.
“A surprise, huh?” I ask. “Okay. I can roll with that. I’m just gonna take a quick shower,” I add, jerking my thumb over my shoulder. “Grab us some beers and I’ll be out in a sec?”
Ruby smiles, jumping off the couch. “I’m on it.”
I’m quick in the shower, washing the smell of beer and bar off me, before getting out. I pull on some sweats and a t-shirt that I grabbed from my bag, which Ruby has now moved to her bedroom, as though I’m officially sleeping there.
It still feels weird, like I’m intruding in her personal space, but at the same time, I don’t want to not do it either. Sleeping in her bed, knowing she’s there beside me, is peaceful and calms me. It’s the only way I know how to sleep without having nightmares and I’m not sure what I’m going to do when I have to finally move out.
Fuck, move out.
I really should start thinking about finding somewhere else to live. Stop crashing with my sister and her friend, when they clearly don’t have the space for me. But then I remember they don’t really have the space for Reid either, but he stays and neither of them seem to care.
Maybe the four of us could find somewhere else to live, somewhere bigger, where I have my own room and I don’t have to impose on Ruby like I am.
But fuck, I don’t want that either.
“Jesus, Caleb,” I groan, shoving a hand through my wet hair as I make my way back out to the living room, having no fucking clue what I want.
Ruby is back on the couch, her laptop closed and on the coffee table, along with two beers and a bag of pretzels.
“Okay, movie maestro, hit me with it.” She giggles as I flop onto the couch beside her, reaching for the beers and handing one to her. “Cheers,” I say, clinking my bottle against hers.
“Cheers,” she replies, hitting play on the remote.
The movie starts, the intro some montage of kids graduating from college with an old school soundtrack playing in the background. “What’s this?” I ask, taking a sip of beer.
“Reality Bites,” she says, glancing at me. “Such a good movie.”
I smile as we both settle back to watch it. We don’t talk much as it plays, only stopping once to grab a couple more beers. It’s actually a pretty good film, even if it is over twenty years old.
It’s about a group of friends who hang out together, including a guy and girl who claim to only be friends, but who also both harbor secret crushes on each other. One night they eventually hook up, although it quickly goes to shit the next day. And even though the movie ends with them getting back together, I can’t help but wonder if this is a sign of what would happen if Ruby and I were to hook up one night.
Would it all go to shit the next day or could we somehow find a way to make it work?
“What’d you think?” she asks, as the credits start to roll.
I turn my head along the back of the couch. “I liked it,” I tell her.
She smiles, staring at me for a few seconds. I look back at her, our eyes locked as though she’s somehow trying to tell me something without actually saying it out loud. Is there a reason she picked this movie, is there something she’s trying to tell me with it or am I just imagining things because I wish everything could be different from how it currently is?
“You ready for bed?” she eventually asks, breaking my train of thought and the dangerous direction my brain was going in just now.
I can’t be thinking about Ruby like that, like we could ever be anything more than just friends. “Yeah,” I say, smiling. “You sure you’re okay if I sleep in your room again?” I ask, knowing I’m probably going to be asking her this every night, even if the only answer I want to hear is yes.
“Yes!” she half shouts, as though reading my mind. “I promise, it’s all good, Caleb. You didn’t dist
urb me at all and it really doesn’t bother me.”
“Okay then,” I say, reaching for her empty beer bottle as I push off the couch.
We head back toward her room, both of us veering off to the bathroom to brush our teeth. It feels both weird and strangely normal to stand side by side at the sink together, brushing our teeth as though we are a couple who’s done this together a hundred times before.
When I look in the mirror, I see Ruby watching me, her mouth tipped in a small smile as she brushes her teeth. I raise a brow at her in question and her smile only widens as she leans over the sink to spit and rinse.
“I’ll see you in bed,” she whispers as she turns to walk past me, her body brushing against mine and sending a jolt of electricity straight down my spine.
Fuck me.
I finish brushing my own teeth, leaving my toothbrush in the cup next to hers before turning and walking into her bedroom. Ruby is already in bed, her phone in her hands. I close the door behind me, before walking around to what is now my side of the bed.
As I slide under the duvet, Ruby turns to me, a smile on her face. “So, my sister is coming down this weekend,” she says. “Reid’s got an away game, but Sienna is gonna stay so we can all hang out.”
I chuckle. “She’s gonna stay?” I say with mock sarcasm. “God, how will the two of them cope being apart for a night?”
Ruby giggles. “Right? I was surprised too,” she says. “But Reid’s much more chill these days, now they are together.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “I can’t even imagine what he must have been like when they weren’t.”
Ruby’s eyes widen in mock horror. “Oh my god, you’ve seen the Hulk movies, right?” she asks. “Think big green, angry monster,” she continues. “All. The. Time.”