My latest addiction has been Pretty Little Liars and while I know I have other stories I should be working on, this one wouldn't leave me alone. I am a huge Haleb fan and I wanted a little insight as to why Caleb is leaving and how far he can get before he realizes he messed up.
This is going to be a 2-shot. Was going to be a 1-shot but got kinda long. I am working on the 2nd part and hope to have it up tomorrow before the season finale airs.
Please review and lemme know what you think! It's unbeta'd and I own nothing!
Leaving
Part 1
It had been just over 46 hours when Caleb finally stepped off the 70s model greyhound bus. He stretched as his mind wandered back over his trip. The cramped seats with swirling neon colors had made him dizzy. He did not enjoy being around large droves of people, especially the robust lady in her late 50s that had asked if he was on his way to Cougartown. Candy, as she had introduced herself, wore a smirk on her face and had a twinkle in her eye that screamed she would eat him up at the first chance she got. The tight spandex dress she wore was hot pink and only came to mid thigh when standing. When she sat down, it road up even more and Caleb just knew she wasn't wearing anything underneath. That thought alone made him shiver.
He had done the best he could to turn towards the isle during his journey but the bald man on his right with drool dripping from his chin who kept murdering about the 'end of days' was not much better. He had been late getting on the bus and had reluctantly taken the only seat left. They had stopped a few times along the way but every time he got back on the bus, he somehow managed to be seated between Candy and the man he had dubbed 'Crazy-Drool-Guy'. He knew it was his penance for being so stupid and walking out on her.
Hanna. It hurt to even think her name. Hanna deserved better than him and he knew it. The look on her face as he had boarded that bus nearly two days ago tore his heart out. The entire trip to Arizona had been spent with this gut wrenching feeling that he had screwed up and left the only person that had ever meant anything to him. And for what? Memories of his mother that were probably only seen through Rose colored glasses anyway? She had walked out on him when he was a child and never looked back. Why couldn't he do the same?
He knew Arizona was a long shot. He had thought he was ready to take it but as the screeching wheels stopped at a dusty bus station for what felt like the 1000th time that day, a nagging feeling reminded him once again of the mistake he was making. Caleb had followed the other passengers off the bus in Nowhere, Nebraska and into the aged station. He tossed the homeless man sitting by the front entrance a few bills, remembering when he had been in the same position. He didn't have much but if someone like Hanna could do so much for him, he figured he should pay it forward in any way he could.
Hearing his stomach growl he headed towards the food venue. Taking a bag of chips and a cup of coffee towards the cashier at the make-shift cafeteria, Caleb figured he had an hour to kill before getting on the next train and starting the last leg of his voyage to Arizona. With determination to follow through with the choice he had made, he pushed the clawing feeling he was messing up down again and took in his surroundings.
A couple in front of him was buying food for themselves and the little girl that was fast asleep over her father's shoulder. A small doll's head stuck out beside the child's blonde hair. Caleb noticed that the doll had a crown upon its golden locks and a hint of a smile graced his lips as he looked at the Princess.
A thought crossed his mind of Hanna being a little blonde headed girl with dolls and an adorable grin on her face before he shook it from his head. He hadn't seen any pictures of Hanna's childhood around the Marin house while living there and he wasn't quite sure why. From what Hanna had told him, he knew she hadn't had the greatest childhood but he knew there was love, at least from her mother. That thought drove another stake into his heart as he thought of the love or lack thereof from his own mother.
"Are you ready?" The cashier called to him, bringing from his thoughts. It seemed that everything and anything brought the blonde woman into his mind. Maybe it was a good thing that he had left her before he could hurt her or her him. They had both had disappointments in their life and there was no reason why they should be each others.
Something told him that he had disappointed her though. He had somehow thought that if she just knew how he felt, if she just knew that he loved her then she would come back and they would work it out. But the look on her face as he had boarded the bus had reflected that it wasn't enough.
Maybe too many men had walked out of her life before him. Caleb knew her father wasn't around and Ashley Marin had told him the same thing. Had he just walked out on her without really trying? She had still looked so hurt and he could only think of two reasons for that. She either wasn't in love with him or she didn't really believe him.
Why didn't I tell her in person? Caleb thought as he paid for this meager meal and walked back towards the minute tables that were squished into a small corner of the over crowded bus station.
The answer to that was as clear as the answer to why he was seeing Hanna in every direction he looked. He wasn't just in love with her, he was meant for her. Maybe that was what had scared the shit out of him and why it was just a little too easy to walk away. He wasn't a stranger to a one night stand and had had his fair share of relationships in the past but Hanna wasn't just another notch in his bedpost. Somehow she had gotten so far past his defenses that she had attached his heart without him even knowing.
He had thought that he had tried at the time but looking back on his actions, he given up entirely too quickly because it was the easy thing to do. He wasn't looking for his soul mate and sure as hell didn't expect to find her at the age of seventeen while passing through Rosewood, Pennsylvania. It was crazy!
"Sugarbear." Candy's southern drawl brought his mind back to the present and the recognition that the bus station was clearing out. "Time to get back on that bus." Candy cooed as her ample cleavage was close to bursting out of the top of her dress while she leaned over the table towards Caleb.
"Thanks." Caleb got to his feet and walked towards the door as a station worker called that this was in fact the final call for bus number 32 headed through Colorado and then on to Tempe, Arizona. He wouldn't have to switch buses again for the rest of the ride.
Caleb looked sideways as Candy was talking a mile a minute about how she had been in New York trying her luck as an actress but decided that thirty-five was just too old to be hanging on to that dream and how she was going back home in Arizona where she was from. Caleb rolled his eyes at the idea that she was only thirty-five but she didn't seem to notice, as usual, that he wasn't paying per much attention.
Candy boarded the bus just ahead of him but Caleb hesitated for some reason. Just as he had decided he was doing the right think in boarding, he turned and saw the little princess doll that the girl from before had been holding laying on the grass a few feet away from him. He scanned the area but didn't see the little girl or her parents.
He walked over to the doll that was lying beside the next bus and looked around again. Just as he picked up the doll, the little girl who owned it ran off the bus towards him. "Mr. Mr! You found her!" The girl smiled and reached for the doll.
Caleb nodded and handed the little princess back to the girl. The girl's father reached the pair just as she crushed the doll to her chest. "Daddy! He found Emily!" She turned to her father who picked her and the doll up in his arms.
"Hanna, you know you shouldn't run off like that!" the father told the girl, causing Caleb's breath to catch in his throat.
"But Daddy, I had lost Emily. But he found her for me." She turned and pointed towards Caleb with a toothless grin on her face.
The father smiled at Caleb and thanked him. Caleb just nodded as he had yet to regain his voice. The father and daughter then turned and re-boarded the bus. Caleb could hear the farther going over the rules of staying close to him or her mother with the small child as they disappeared into the waiting vehicle.
Her name had been Hanna. If that wasn't a sign that he was messing everything up then Caleb didn't know what was. Just like that he made a last minute decision and headed back into the bus station.
"I need a ticket to Rosewood, Pennsylvania" he demanded from the clerk. He pulled out the small amount of cash he had left and hoped it was enough to cover the return trip. It had to be because he wasn't ready to give up on Hanna or what they could have without a fight.
What'd ya think? Is anyone else in love with the Caleb/Hanna pairing?