Chasing Red: Chapter 26

“You’re such a big baby when you’re hungover,” I teased Caleb. He was in his bed, wrapped in a heavy white duvet with a fat gray pillow on top of his face, groaning and moaning in pain.

I’d woken up this morning in his bed, wrapped in his arms. That was the second time I’d slept beside him, and I realized that it felt…good. Really good.

The feel of his warm, hard body behind mine was getting familiar.

Caleb loved to spoon, I thought with a smile as I sat beside him gently. He groaned as my weight disturbed the bed.

“You stink, Caleb.”

He made a noncommittal sound.

“Please sit up so you can take this aspirin.”

“Why are you screaming at me, Red?” he moaned, his voice muffled by the pillow. He didn’t move.

“I’m not screaming.” I couldn’t help smiling. After the awkwardness of yesterday, it felt really good to be back to normal. “Do you know the cure for a hangover?”

He grunted.

“Stay drunk,” I answered.

This time, he moved the pillow so that one green eye looked at me with amusement. “Did you just make a joke?” He sounded like he was laughing at me.

I felt myself blushing. The only time I’d made a joke, and he had to make me self-conscious about it. He could have faked a laugh. I never told jokes, and this was why. This was so embarrassing!

He started laughing silently. Not at my joke, but at me.

“Ah! You’re being a jerk.” I pushed the pillow into his face and stood, making sure that the bed shook a lot.

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Why you so mean to me, Red?”

I smirked. He deserved that! When his moans subsided, he just lay there like the dead. Not moving, not talking.

Oh no. I shouldn’t have done that. But he was teasing me…and I had just reacted. I felt bad.

“I got you orange juice,” I said. Nothing. “I’m going to work. Make sure you take the aspirin.” He didn’t respond. “Caleb?”

Still nothing. He must have fallen back asleep. His arm was covering his eyes, the pillow having fallen away from his face. The light must have been bothering him, so I closed the drapes silently. I didn’t want to wake him up.

I hadn’t really been in his room before. It had pretty much the same layout as my room, only bigger. And messier—not dirty, just messy. An oversize chair he’d been using as a catchall for his clothes and little knickknacks sat nearby. Textbooks were thrown haphazardly on the floor, as if he’d opened them and decided they weren’t worth his attention. He had a bad habit of leaving a trail of clothes on the floor, but I noticed that his DVDs and CDs were stacked neatly on his computer table.

We hadn’t watched a movie together yet. That was on his list, I thought, smiling like a lunatic. Our list.

He was already snoring, so I mustered the courage to lean down and place a kiss on his cheek.

What is he doing to me?

“Feel better, Caleb. I’ll see you later,” I whispered.

I was about to leave when my eye caught something on his desk. It was a small black box with the lid slightly open and a neon-green Post-it Note hanging off it. I probably shouldn’t have snooped, but I wondered if it was…

I turned around to check if he was awake. He was still snoring softly. I opened the box silently, and my heart jumped when I saw a stack of the Post-it Notes I had stuck to the fridge for him.

Warmth traveled from my heart to my toes.

He’d kept them all, even the ones from the first day.

Oh, Caleb.

I put everything back in its place, gave him one last glance, and left for work.

As I boarded the bus, I wondered whether I should tell Caleb about his friend from last night. The creep said he’d see me at school. I’d rather eat scorpions and tarantulas than see him again. The hair on my arms had actually stood on end while I was talking to him, as he was eyeing me like I was a piece of meat.

The college was huge. He wouldn’t find me. Plus, I had a knack for hiding from people.

He might have driven Caleb home, and he might’ve had the face of an angel—with his dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and boyish looks—but I didn’t trust him. Looks could be deceiving, and his definitely were.

I wondered what assumptions he’d made when he saw me at Caleb’s last night. I didn’t want everyone on campus to find out that I was living with Caleb.

Poor people might not have money, but they have their reputation to take pride in. A good, clean reputation. And morals. You can’t buy that with money. Remember that, Veronica.

That was what my mom had said. What would she say, I wondered, if she were still alive and found out I was living with a guy? She’d skin me alive.

But I was desperate when I met Caleb. Living at his place had seemed like the best choice at the time. And now everything had fallen into place. Somehow it just felt right to be with him.

It wasn’t like we were having sex.

I closed my eyes and suddenly felt hot as a memory shot into my head. When he was licking my skin, kissing, tasting.

Oh God. Stop. I must not think about it. Must not think about it.

Kara had taken today off to help Beth shop for a dress for her graduation, so I opened shop by myself when I arrived. It was busier than normal since it was Saturday and I was alone, which was perfect. Didn’t give me time to think much about Caleb.

When the office phone rang and the caller ID showed Beth’s name, I grinned as I answered it.

“When are you going to get a phone, homie?” she greeted me.

“I have one. It’s just for emergencies. How’s shopping?”

“I’d rather have a root canal.”

“That bad?”

“Kar’s dragged me to every freaking consignment shop in the city. Listen, Ver, you know I was born smart. Very, very smart. School made me dumb. Ya feel me?”

I laughed. “What happened?”

“There’s a sale going on. Anyway, it says seventy percent off, right?”

“Uh-huh.” I glanced at the clock. Half an hour more until closing time. I’d better start cleaning up, I thought as I shuffled papers and started filing.

“You know when stores add another red sticker on top that says take an additional percentage off?”

“Uh-huh.”

“This one says take an additional thirty percent off. Am I dumb, or doesn’t that make it free? Seventy percent plus thirty percent is one hundred percent! Free!”

I laughed, reaching for the stapler. “No. Let’s say the original price is one hundred dollars. Take seventy percent off, and you’ll end up paying thirty dollars. Then if there’s another additional thirty percent off on top of the seventy percent off…” I bit my lip, crunching numbers in my head. “Thirty percent of thirty dollars is nine dollars. You subtract nine dollars from thirty dollars. Total price is twenty-one dollars. Got it?”

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Beth?”

She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Ver. I think my brain just exploded.”

I rolled my eyes, laughing while I stapled receipts. I was sure she was joking. “Check with Kar. She knows this. Or an employee there. They’ll tell you.”

“There’s only one here, and she hates me. I was only trying to be friendly and asked how many months pregnant she was.”

“Okay?”

“Well, she wasn’t. How the hell would I know? Her stomach was pretty round. Like pregnant round.”

I shouldn’t have laughed.

“Try this one on! Is that Ver on the phone?” I heard Kara say. “Gimme.”

I heard clothes rustling and a door slamming shut and assumed that Kara had locked Beth in the dressing room.

“Hey, Ver. Hold on. I’m going to try on a dress.” She was trying on a dress? I thought this was a shopping day for Beth. I chuckled, knowing that Kara couldn’t help herself. She loved shopping. “I’ll take a picture and send it to you—”

“You can’t. My phone isn’t high tech enough to view your pictures. Besides, that probably costs a dollar.”

“Seriously, get a damn smart phone! You can definitely afford it now.” A clicking noise indicated she was taking a photo. “Why do I look beautiful in the mirror but ugly in pictures today? Seriously! Dammit!” I heard her sipping loudly from a straw.

“You’re drinking a milk shake, aren’t you?”

“You know me so well. Damn, I look fab.”

“Yes, you do,” I said.

“I love you, even though you have no idea what I look like right now.” She sucked on her milk shake. “Anyway, how’d your holiday go yesterday?”

When I didn’t respond, she gasped dramatically. “Did you let him pop the cherry?”

Silence.

“Ver, did you offer him the nectar of the gods?”

I choked. “No.”

Silence.

“Huh,” she grunted. “BJ?”

I face-palmed. “No!”

“Oh-kay.” I heard her clucking her tongue. “Ate you ou—?”

I groaned. “Stop!”

“Blue balls then.”

Silence. How the hell did she know these things?

“Yes,” I admitted sheepishly.

She chuckled. “Aw, Ver, you cock blocker. Aww…poor Caleb.”

“What kind of best friend are you? I just saw a customer come in. I have to go. Talk to you later?”

“All right. I have fat-ass emergency foods at home for occasions like these. Come on over tonight or tomorrow. We can fat-ass with Beth all night, k? Talk about that wonderful, wonderful man you seem to enjoy torturing.” We said our goodbyes and hung up.

Wonderful, wonderful man. Caleb was that, I thought, smiling as I served the customer.

I knew that sex came easy for him before he met me, and he was being very considerate and understanding about us.

Yes, but until when?

There go my doubts again, I thought darkly. As the customer left, I sat back down on my chair.

Would he cheat on me eventually if I didn’t have sex with him? Was there a rule for this? Like a three-month rule or something stupid like that? Because I wasn’t all for it. Not at all.

What was I waiting for? What more did I want from him for me to believe and trust him?

I was filing with my back to the entrance when the bell above the door jingled.

“Hey, Red.”

Surprised and delighted, I turned around with a huge smile on my face.

“Caleb.” I hated the breathlessness I heard in my voice. “What are you doing here?”

“Picking up my girl, of course.” He winked at me. He looked pale and had dark circles under his eyes, but he was still gorgeous—and he’d still come to pick me up.

He always made me smile, made me feel special.

It was the little things he did that chipped the walls around my heart bit by bit until he had all of it in the palm of his hand.

He grinned at me boyishly. “Any new jokes for me?”

“Dammit. Stop teasing me!”

He laughed. I glared.

“Come on, Red. Don’t be mad. I really liked your joke.”

He grinned. I still glared.

“Okay, your joke wasn’t funny, but I love that you said it anyway. Come on, give me another one,” he cajoled.

“No way—”

Suddenly, the door from the garage opened. “Hey, Caleb. How’s it going?”

“Dylan! I’m great, bro. How’re you doing?”

Kara’s brother looked so different from her that no one would guess they were siblings. I watched as Caleb slapped Dylan’s back and they gave each other the man version of a hug. I let them chat while I closed up shop. By the time I was done, Dylan was saying goodbye.

Caleb turned to me. “So, where to, Red?”

I studied his face. He still looked hungover but definitely better than this morning.

“Let’s just go back to your apartment and have a quiet night tonight.”

“Aw.” He batted his eyelashes and placed his hand on his chest. “Red, are you thinking about me? I feel fine already. Just a slight headache, but it’s barely there.” He grinned, offering me his arm.

I smiled back and wrapped my hand around his strong forearm.

“We can go on a date, if you like,” he continued as we walked out. “Tell me where you would like to go. Your wish is my command.”

I couldn’t stop smiling. “Just home.”

He stopped all of a sudden, and I would’ve tripped if he hadn’t caught me. He smiled from ear to ear. “Home.”

* * *

We had just arrived inside Caleb’s apartment when his phone started ringing. He just stared at the screen, looking reluctant.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s Beatrice-Rose.”

Beatrice-Rose. Last time she phoned, I blew up like a cheetah on crack, as Caleb had put it. Truthfully, I felt guilty. They were just friends. Childhood friends, he told me. And I had overreacted.

“Please answer it,” I urged.

He raised his eyebrows.

I bit my lip, trying to hold my laugh in. “I promise I won’t overreact this time. I feel so bad. Please.”

He nodded.

“Hello? I’m good, you? Right now?” His eyes turned to me. “Hold on.” With a quick tap, he muted his phone. “She said she’s on her way over. Is that okay with you?”

I worried my lip.

“If it’s not, I can always tell her no. It’s up to you, Red. It’s not a big deal,” he assured me, his thumb rubbing my elbow.

For some reason, I didn’t want her to come. I didn’t want… Whatever. I was overreacting again.

“No, let her come. I can just leave and give both of you some privacy. I’ve imposed on you too much already.”

“What?” He frowned. “Where’d this come from?”

I shook my head. “Caleb. Tell her to come.”

“No,” he replied, his voice emphatic. “If you feel this way, it’s better if she doesn’t.”

“Feel what way? She’s waiting.” I gestured to his phone.

He shrugged.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. “I’ll stay.”

He tilted his head, a knowing smile on his face as he unmuted the phone and placed it against his ear again. “Okay, come on over.”

When he hung up, he curled his hands around my shoulders and turned me to face him. “There’s nothing to worry about, Red. You’re my girl.”

I held my breath as his thumb played with my bottom lip, rubbing it softly. “There’s only you,” he whispered before he dipped his head to kiss me, and all my doubts were forgotten.