CHAPTER 36: What kind of creature are you?

"This is all your fault!" I yell at Caleb.

"How is it my fault?!"

"If you didn't come running to the washroom and creating a scene then we wouldn't have been fucking stuck here."

"You went to the washroom first!"

"Did I tell you to fucking follow me, Caleb? Did I? Did I?!" By now, we were nose to nose, breathing heavily at the loudest argument we just had over all this time. I won't be surprised if the people outside hear us and break us out.

Although that is a fairly good idea.

"I didn't follow you, damn it. Now stop cursing and help me find a way to get out of this mess."

"What problem do you have with my cursing?" I mumble to myself as I see him strolling towards the counter and hopping to the other side. I resist the urge to wolf whistle at the sight of his muscles flexing as he jumps and dusts the imaginary dust off his t-shirt.

What a show-off.

"What did you say?" I widen my eyes as I realize that I again thought out loud and I mentally smack myself at how my brain forgets the word 'think' and 'common sense' as soon as it sees Caleb.

"Nothing!" I shoot back and take a few steps towards the counter.

"Stop talking to yourself and put your brains to some use so we can get out of here fast." His snappy voice infuriates me and I jump to the other side angrily, landing on my feet rather loudly. My ankles slightly hurt but I don't even flinch a little as Caleb's eyes notice my edgy behavior.

"Fine. If getting stuck with me is that annoying for you then let's get to work." I monotonously say without looking at him, my mind dragging me back to our washroom incident.

Forget about him and those stupid little feelings, Summer. He's no good for you.

"I didn't mean-

"Hello! Is anybody here?" I ignore Caleb's words and continue shouting for someone, a slight hope emerging as I see a light on the kitchen floor coming from the corner.

The kitchen has all kinds of machines – very big ice cream machines – and one gigantic shelf with endless toppings for ice creams. Two huge freezers stand majestically on my left side, reflecting the slight moonlight streaming through a small window at the upper front.

I walk towards the ray of light, hoping that maybe one of the workers might be cleaning up after closing down. To my disappointment, the door to another section of the kitchen is slightly ajar with the light left on. I sigh and turn back, walking past Caleb as if he's just not there. I jump back to the other side and lean on one of the booths, my face peeking through the window for any sign of a person. Surprisingly and unfortunately, there isn't a single soul in sight.

"My little sister's alone at home. She's expecting me to come early so I can spend some time with her and tell her all about the game." His low and concerned voice breaks my thoughts and I slightly shift towards him, eyeing his face to know whether he's telling the truth or not.

"You have a sister?"

"She's 6."

I turn away and softly smile at his thought of concern for his sister, at the same time also slapping myself for smiling at Caleb.

"Sorry. I overreacted." I mutter, hating that I have to apologize. One thing you probably know about me. Whatever the case may be, I always hate apologizing and that's why it is always hard to win an argument against me. I'm always hell-bent on winning it so I don't have to accept defeat and apologize.

But this? This, I have to. It was a concerned brother just adorably looking after his sister.

Did I just say adorable?

Ugh. Internal puke.

Caleb is making me all mushy and I hate that.

"It's no biggie. You tend to misunderstand a lot of things." He smirks at me and stands next to me on the booth, his eyes roaming outside the window and then swiftly returning to meet mine. The streetlight solely focuses on him as his dark hair shines and the left side of his face glows in the iridescent illumination of the bright yellow light. His black irises dance with amusement in them and I only now notice how a few brown specks surround them or it could just be the reflection of the streetlight.

Yeah, yeah, it's like I have a Ph.D. in the study of Caleb Anderson's eyes.

His mouth is set in a straight line except for the few twitches every now and then. His sharp jawline outlines his oval-shaped face, perfectly framing his intense expression currently.

"Hey, are you with me?" He snaps his fingers in front of my face and my cheeks turn red at his words. I nod and get out of the booth, my stomach grumbling embarrassingly. I just hope he didn't hear that...

"You hungry, Summer?" I glare at him as he smirks, obviously catching on to the loud monster rumbling in my tummy right now.

"Well, we are in an ice cream shop. Why not have everything to our fill?" I excitedly say as I hop over the counter and clap my hands like a kid. I don't care what Caleb has to say about that but ice cream just makes me throw caution to the wind. I cannot even begin to imagine the tons of ice cream that would be stored in the two freezers plus that little room that I haven't yet explored.

I walk towards it and push open the door, screaming after seeing all the delicacies hidden away here.

"Jackpot!"

I hear a faint chuckle and signal Caleb to enter the cool room as it is written on a board behind the door. Next to it are temperature setters which have a very low temperature set in order to keep all the ice cream here intact.

"Uh...Summer? Technically, this is stealing." Caleb mutters while looking around with a neutral expression on his face.

"Technically," I say while trailing my fingers along the huge white shelves with different containers of ice creams before turning around, "we are stuck here because of them and we are hungry." I smile, getting back to finding my favorite flavor.

"No. You are hungry."

"You don't like ice cream?" I gasp and look at him, wondering what he is made of.

"Not that I don't like it. I don't prefer it that much."

"What kind of creature are you?" I say dryly, a blank expression on my face. Who the fuck stays away from ice freaking cream?

"A normal human being and not a glutton like you."

"I love food. Bite me."

"If you insist." His smirk widens as he steps closer to me as if a predator is ready to pounce on its prey.

"Double jackpot!" I scream and Caleb winces while I flail my arms and throw my container up and down in the air.

"Mint chocolate chip, bitch!" I yell and run out of the cool room like a small child, Caleb's laugh and footsteps closely behind me. I open the small sections on the counter and fish out a scoop and a cone. Don't ask how I got that. My instincts seem to be screaming ice cream currently.

I munch in immediately and let out a sigh of the greatest relief. The coolness of the ice cream with the slightly spicy taste mint brought along to my taste buds is absolutely delectable, with the tiny chocolate chips being a huge bonus to the entire taste exploding in my mouth right now.

"You might wanna control your animal sex sounds."

I choke on my ice cream and almost drop it, glaring at Caleb for spewing such nonsense.

"What?! You're the one who's moaning." He crosses his arms over his chest, his eyes trailing from my eyes to my lips. I gulp at the sudden realization and slowly eat my ice cream, my traitorous cheeks blushing to the highest extent.

"Do you want me to make you one?" I gesture to my cone and ask him but he simply shakes his head and hands.

"Uh...I don't do ice cream."

"What?!"

He nods in confusion and scratches the back of his head.

"You're telling me you've never...had such kind of ice cream?" My curiosity peaks at his silence and I eagerly wait for his reply.

"Delectable and weird but tasty desserts are served in restaurants I go to. Those are the only places you could say that I've had various ice cream desserts at. I've never really had normal ice cream otherwise." By the time, he's finished with his speech, my jaw is wide open shamelessly but all I can think about is that...Caleb freaking Anderson has never had ice cream.

The right way or wrong way. None of the ways.

Damn.

"You have a sad life, my friend." The words tumble out of my mouth before I could stop them and I realize the depth they could have on him as flashbacks from the lakeside return to my mind.

He doesn't like his Rome.

His family, his home.... He doesn't like talking about it and my stupid statement might just have triggered something and I decide to distract him from it.

"Without ice cream. That is. Everyone has to and has to eat ice cream. You're missing out on heavenly delights, Caleb." His previously averted eyes meet mine again and his lips twitch in amusement.

"What exactly am I missing on?"

"This." I hand him my cone and tell him to wait. I quickly make another cone and hand it over to him. His eyes skeptically look at the ice cream cone as if he's internally investigating it. I shake my head and push his hand towards his face. I laugh as some of the ice cream lands in between his nose and lips. His mouth widens and he glares at me.

"Stop treating it like it's poisoned. Just have it. Besides, you have the best flavor in the universe to try as your very first.

"I want to put that damn ice cream on your face but knowing you, you probably won't mind it and instead lick it off." He sighs, shaking his head at me.

"You got that right. Now, eat it!"

He slowly moves the ice cream towards his mouth and takes a bite out of it. His blank face shows nothing as he continues savoring the taste in his mouth. All of a sudden, his eyes widen and he digs into his ice cream even more.

"Mm...this is so ducking food."

I laugh at his incoherent words and he clears his throat after wiping out some of the excess ice cream with a tissue.

"I meant to say, this is so fucking good." He says and continues praising his ice cream.

"Got to be. My choice after all."

We continue eating our ice creams, a comfortable silence settling in between us. I pout after my ice cream finishes and look at Caleb, only to find him staring at me. My breath gets stuck in my throat as he continues to analyze my face. His eyes dart from my lips to my eyes, back and forth.

"W...what?"

He doesn't answer me and takes two huge strides towards me, his cologne plus the fresh mint scent invading my senses and knocking my brain off its chair, with my heart taking over. His fingers touch my jawline and I take in a sharp breath, anticipating for what he would do next. It trails up until my lower lip and rests there all the while staring deeply into my eyes. I couldn't, at any cost, take my eyes off him. He swipes his finger along my cheek and then takes a step back.

"You had ice cream there." He wipes his hand with a tissue and smirks, completely aware of the fact that my knees are wobbly with the hot effect on my face. I look down to my feet, trying to think of anything to say but my mouth is dry and empty.

"So, what other flavors are there, tiger toes?"

"Tiger toes?" I furrow my eyebrows at the strange name and he simply shrugs.

"You're always fierce towards anyone. Your anger is always here." He pokes my nose and saunters in the kitchen as if it's no big deal. I gasp, my fingers rubbing my nose and at the same time missing the warm touch he has despite just eating ice cream.

"Choose whichever flavor you want." He says and points towards the different pints of ice creams in the cool room.

"You are opening the flood gates, Caleb. There is no turning back!" I say excitedly as the thought of the various flavors already makes my mouth water.

"Well, then let's both pick a flavor and then vote on the best." I laugh and jump towards the shelves, the sugar rush already kicking in.

And the night has just begun.