Someone messaged me and said that its been too long since I put up a Haleb oneshot and they were right. There are a few things that I've been working on so I tried to get them finished for you! The title of this song was inspired by Paparazzi by Lady Gaga, although technically she said 'purple teardrops I cry'. I apologize for any mistakes made!
Dislcaimer: I do not own the characters, or story title.
Caleb Rivers had seen Hanna Marin almost every day that he had lived in Rosewood. Through the week it was at school, whether she was surrounded by her gaggle of friends or sitting in class. In the weekends he usually saw her around town or at a party. She was stunning and whenever he saw her it was the highlight of his day. He had spoken to her all of two times, and one of those times had only been via Facebook message, so that hardly counted.
But he was intrigued by her, and wanted to know more.
It was near the end of August that he decided to talk to her the next opportunity he had. This was usually in Physics because they sat near each other at the back of the class. Sometimes she would have to pass a work sheet to him and their fingers would touch, and she would do this cute little thing where she bit her lower lip and blushed a little. But his plan was shot to hell when tragedy struck the blondes life.
First her father left. Given her popularity, everyone was interested in her life and gossiped about it. There were a couple of different stories, but from what Caleb understood, Tom Marin had cheated on his wife for his young and very attractive secretary. Completely cliche. Hanna missed a couple of days off school but even when she returned, she looked tired and sad. Her friends all huddled around her, shielding her from the prying eyes of the other students. Aria Montgomery, the one Caleb got the impression who was closest to the blonde, would shoot death glares at anyone who tried to approach them.
In the second week of September, a guy that Hanna had been linked with at a couple of parties had one around and shown a bunch of topless photos that he had taken when she had been passed out. Hanna had handled it well, but there was a clear stiffness in the way she carried herself for the next few weeks.
Caleb had seen red, and it had only taken two minutes to crash the boys computer and hack his phone to implant a virus, wiping the system.
And then the last blow came, as if the things Hanna had already suffered weren't enough.
The girls had been at a mall out of town when their friend—the clear ring leader—Alison DiLaurentis had apparently gone off to meet up with an older guy and had never come back. At first there hadn't been much stress—Alison was a bit of a drama queen. Apparently she had been known to disappear for a couple days at a time and then come back with a big, glamorous story about an older guy or once with a new tattoo. But this time, a week after they had last seen Alison, her body had been found in a ditch on the side of the road.
This time, Hanna and her friends were away for almost three weeks. Most of the school went to the funeral, but Caleb didn't. He didn't know Alison, and the only times he had had any interaction with her, she had been a complete and utter bitch. That seemed like a pretty harsh thing to say now, given she was no longer around, but it was the truth.
When Hanna came back to school after that, Caleb knew that he was going to have to wait a while for it to be that right time to talk to her. She was always with her friends, or getting kicked out of class, or hungover, or still drunk. All of the girls were coping with things in their own way and Hanna's way was clearly self-destruction. One night after school broke up for the rest of the year Caleb saw her at a party. Hanna was wearing a tiny black and green dress that clung to her curves and toned legs. She was beyond drunk, leaning against the wall in the corner of the room, staring out at everyone blankly. It was one of Noel Kahn's infamous house parties, which mean there were plenty of over-confident, cocky teenage boys there who loved the idea of finding a girl by herself, drunk off her face. Caleb hated these sort of parties, but his friend, Toby Cavanaugh, had recently become more than little interested in Hanna's friend, Spencer Hastings, and when he had heard the girls would be at this party, he had dragged Caleb along. And then he had promptly ditched him when Spencer had shown up; which had left Caleb to entertain himself.
"Fuck off," he heard the slurred words of the object of his attention. His eyes narrowed as he saw Sean Ackard close to Hanna. She was attempting to edge away but she tripped over an empty coke bottle lying on the ground, and she reached out to steady herself, grasping Sean's arm. He responded by wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her close. She stumbled again, dropping her empty plastic cup on the ground, her hands going up and feebly trying to push Sean away. He was easily able to dodge her hands and his mouth came down on her perfect rosebud mouth.
Caleb was at her side in an instant.
"That the only way you can get laid, Sean?" He growled, pulling him away from Hanna and holding him against the wall, his forearm pressed firmly to his throat. "You find girls too drunk to defend themselves?" Sean's eyes were wide as he tried to dislodge Caleb's arms. He let out choked noise as Caleb pressed his arm harder against his throat, the dark haired boys eyes flashing angrily. Caleb looked over his shoulder to where Hanna had been, but she was gone. Caleb released his hold on Sean, who stumbled away, holding his throat. Caleb scanned the crowd, trying to get a glimpse of Hanna, but she was gone.
After that, Caleb didn't see Hanna for over a month. It was the longest he had gone without seeing the blonde. He saw Spencer a couple of times, Toby had asked her out, but it just seemed weird to ask after Hanna. It was two days after Christmas the next time he saw her.
She was drunk.
Again.
And there was something else...Her eyes were glazed and her expression was hazy.
Hanna was by herself in the middle of the club, her hands above her head and her hair a tangled mess around her face. She looked absolutely gorgeous, but in a disheveled mess kind of way rather than the immaculate appearance she had once prided herself in.
Caleb finished his tumbler of bourbon, making himself comfortable at the bar, his eyes never leaving Hanna. A few guys danced with her and she would be okay for a song or two, but then she would get bored and go off by herself. Then she got a phone call, pushing her way through the crowd to the back door, her spare hand over the ear that wasn't pressed to her phone. Caleb watched the door for a few minutes before deciding it was time for a cigarette. He made his way over to the back door, telling himself that he really was craving a nicotine fix and he didn't just want to make sure Hanna was okay. He pulled out a cigarette and a lighter as he kicked open the back door, and then froze as he stepped into the cold night air.
Hanna was curled up on the cold concrete, her head cradled in her arms and her cellphone lying on the ground next to her. She didn't even bother to look up as he came outside.
"Hanna," he said softly, trying not to startle her. Hanna looked up, and Caleb had to carefully compose his face not to react. Her eyes were red and her eyelashes were all clumped together from a mixture of make-up and tears. Her cheeks were pink and streaks of purple eyeliner were smudged into her porcelain skin. She seemed to recognize him but didn't make any movement, either toward or away from him. "Hanna, are you okay?" Even through whatever drama she was going through, she still managed to raise an eyebrow and snort sarcastically. "Yeah, okay, stupid question. Do you want a ride? Home or to a friends?" Hanna regarded him for a moment before nodding. He reached out a hand to help her up, which she promptly ignored as she slowly got to her feet. They walked slowly out of the alley, Hanna swaying slightly. Now that he was closer to her, he could pick up on that something extra that she was on. The smell of weed was very clear and he wondered if he should mention it. He decided against it, propping a cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he unlocked his car. They drove in silence for several minutes as he steered his car across town.
"I don't want to go home," Hanna suddenly piped up from the passenger seat. Caleb took his foot slowly off the accelerator as he looked over at her.
"Where did you want to go?" He asked quietly. "Uh, Aria's? Spencer's—?"
"You have your own apartment, don't you?" She asked, turning to him. Caleb's eyebrows quirked upward and Hanna rolled her eyes at him for the second time that night. "You don't think I would get into a car drunk and stoned with someone I don't know anything about, do? How stupid do you think I am?" It was a rhetorical question, so Caleb didn't answer but he grinned slightly, as he realized that despite Hanna's apparent disinterest in him, she was obviously interested on some level. He turned his car around, taking them in the direction of his apartment building, thankful for the umpteenth time that his mum had found him and had been happy for him to be taken out of foster care and live on his own. Hanna was silent again, following him inside with her head bowed and shoulders slumped.
"Are you cold? Do you want a shower or, uh, coffee?" Caleb felt clueless as Hanna stood in the doorway of his apartment, looking around.
"Can I just have a hoodie or some shit?" She muttered, rubbing her hands over her arms.
"Yeah, sure." Caleb disappeared into the back room and re-appeared, holding a black sweatshirt. Hanna took it from him and walked toward the lounge area. Caleb turned to busy himself in the kitchen, not wanting to look like he was hovering. But when he caught a glimpse of her pulling her dress over her head in the glass of the window pane, he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder. Hanna had her back to him, but his imagination could run wild enough just seeing her tanned back completely bare and a pair of lime green underwear hugging the curves of her ass. She pulled his sweatshirt over her head and sat down on the couch. She curled her legs under her and pulled down the blanket that was folded over the back of the couch.
Five minutes later, she was fast asleep.
Caleb wasn't certain how it happened, but somehow he and Hanna formed some kind of bond. At least twice a week she would end up sleeping over at his apartment. Sometimes she was drunk, occasionally stoned, and she would be too inebriated to make any sense. He would give her coffee, and listen as she talked nonsense until she passed out. But then there were other times when she would show up unannounced at eleven at night with a pizza and a six pack of Mountain Dew. They never really talked about much, just ate and watched TV, and fell asleep on the couch together.
Caleb had no idea what they were or what they were doing, but he wasn't going to question it.
It was near the end of January, almost a month after their strange meetings had started, before he actually found out any details about what was going on in her life. It was just after two in the morning when he heard a knock on his front door. He had thought she wouldn't be coming over given how late it was and he was half-asleep in front of his PlayStation 4.
Hanna was leaning against the door-frame, her face downward her hair tumbling around her shoulders. She looked up when he opened the door and Caleb had flash back to the first night he had brought her home. Except now he knew she felt more comfortable around him, so he reached out and cupped her tear-stained cheek and his thumb gently brushed away the purple tinged tears that were falling, the make-up around her eyes clumped at the corners.
"What happened, babe?" He asked, his voice soft. Hanna blinked her big blue eyes up at him and promptly started crying again.
It took him half an hour to get the story out. Her father had decided to get engaged to the young secretary he had been cheating on Ashley Marin with. To make it worse, the woman was pregnant. And then Hanna started rambling on about Alison, how she felt that it was her and her friends fault that she had been killed. That they shouldn't have let her go off to meet with this older guy. He still hadn't been found and Mrs DiLaurentis seemed to call the girls on a weekly basis, asking if they remembered anything—starting the call sounding optimistic and hanging up sounding clinically depressed.
It was just everything—all of the lows that had hit her in such a short period of time.
He let her talk, and cry, and then finally fall asleep, sprawled over his chest, her hand clutching his shirt. He was probably in the most uncomfortable position imaginable, half lying, half sitting with his neck compressed downward against the back of the couch. He knew he was going to have a crick in the morning. But he didn't move, keeping his arms wrapped tight around the fitfully sleeping blonde.
Caleb still didn't know what they were or what they were doing, but he was happy.
It wasn't just nights anymore. Hanna came over some mornings just to spend the day with him, or go out for frozen yogurt or the movies. Twice, she came by and told him they were going to the beach. What she didn't tell him was that they were going with her friends and their significant other. The girls had all welcomed him with hugs and smiles. Toby was grinning proudly from where he sat next to a bikini-wearing Spencer. Emily Fields had apparently come out as a lesbian over the holidays and was there with a pretty blonde girl, Samara Cook. The last partner was a bit of a surprise, sitting in the drivers seat of a red corvette with Aria as a passenger was Jason DiLaurentis. He was the only one not looking excited to spend the day in the sun.
They all accepted Caleb, not asking any questions or making any insinuating comments. When Hanna reached out and held his hand, they all took it in their stride.
A few days before school started back, Hanna crawled in to bed with Caleb—nothing particularly unusual—but then she kissed him. She nipped at his lower lip then soothed the sting with her tongue. She pulled at his shirt and raked her fingers over his toned back, their tongues tangling together. They sighed together, his hands closing around her breasts and squeezing lightly, her hand slipping between his thighs and stroking his arousal. She climbed on top of him, riding him slowly, his hands resting on her hips, encouraging her pace. They fell asleep together, Caleb curled around Hanna and the girls hand clutching his.
In the morning when Caleb woke up, he pushed himself up on one elbow and Hanna rolled over onto her back and stared up at him. She smiled slowly up at him as he pressed a kiss to her forehead, her nose, and finally her mouth. The purple make-up around her eyes was smudged but unlike many times when she woke up in the morning, it wasn't spread in tear trails down her cheeks.
"You good?" He whispered to her.
"I'm perfect," Hanna replied softly.
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