Chap. 7

Busted!

I ran to Caleb's bedroom and didn't even bother knocking. I opened it quickly and shut it. My breath was ragged from the adrenaline pumping in my veins. My face wet from the tears that must have fallen from pure fear. It was dark in his room, except for the light of his cell, that shown off a nightstand. My eyes adjusted and I was able to make out his figure. He was asleep on his back, covers up to his waist.

I took a minuet to admire him, like I always did at the meets and practice. His muscular chest, tan skin that shown pale in the night. My heart beat got worse, pounding against my rib cage almost painfully. Slowly, I creeped to the edge of his bed. I felt almost bad about waking him up. He was so relaxed and peaceful in his sleep. Gently, I extended my hand and poked his shoulder. "Caleb." I said in a hushed voice. Nothing. I poked him again, "Caleb." Again, nothing. Damn it! I cursed, debating on leaving and heading back to my room. I tried once more, I instead flattened my palm against the middle of his chest and nudged. "Caleb..." I whispered and he jerked up, as if he'd been scared. "Matilda?" He asked groggily. "Hey, I'm sorry." He rubbed his face and I noticed a little stuble on his face. Like a five o'clock shadow. It made him look even older. My stomach flipped.

"You okay? Are you crying?" I wiped my face and stuttered. "Another bad dream. Then the lightening scared the bejezzus out of me." He rubbed his eyes and scooted over. "Come on." He drew back the covers and I noticed he was in his boxers. I sat down and slid my legs into the warm bed. I laid a good foot away from him and turned my back to him. He grunted and wrapped his arm around me pulling me close to him. "Want to talk about it?" I leaned my head closer to his voice. "I was at the Putnam barn, it was a pretty day. Flowers everywhere, pretty tall grass. Then it got stormy, I ran into the barn. The lightning lit the barn up. But between it was total darkness. I felt something crawling up my legs. So when the lightening struck I saw it was thousands of spiders. They...they went everywhere." I shuddered and he held me tighter. "I'm sorry." His voice was hoarse. "Well, I'm here." I smiled. "You always are."

He kissed my shoulder the way Reid had, but he let his lips linger longer. My body shivered. His lips were hot against my skin. He branded me. After he withdrew his lips, he laid his head back on his pillow, sighing. "Matilda, please tell me you know whats going on with me already. That your not deaf to this." He blurted it out, raising himself up on his elbow to look down on me. I turned halfway towards him and my mouth went slack. "What?!" I half yelped and half whispered. He was dead serious, searching my eyes. He nudged me. "You and me. Us." These words spilled out of his mouth, in almost panic. I was still trying to process his sudden outburst. My brain was lagging. "Damn it Mati! Say something!" He pleaded. I closed, then opened, then closed my mouth. I was only left with nodding, and I did just that. Caleb sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything."

His defeated groan shook me out of my rut and I sat up and turned to him. "Caleb..." He looked at me, from between his hands. I grabbed them and held them in mine, rubbing them. "I do know now, I didn't before. I wasn't sure about you, your not easy person to read." His dark, almost black eyes looked at me, piercing me. They were soft, his lips parted slightly. My stomach was doing jumping jacks and letting off fireworks. He didn't grin, but happiness was apparent in his eyes. "But, how do you feel?" Caleb's quiet and smooth words hit me like a title wave. "Relieved. Frustrated. Scared." His dark brows furrowed. "Why?" I laid back down and he went back to leaning on his elbow to talk to me. "I'm relieved cause I have had a crush on you from the moment we met, frustrated that it took this long to get to know how you feel, and scared cause I also value us. I don't want to tarnish that." He nodded, looking slightly defeated again.

"So, you do feel this way?" He motioned from himself to me. I nodded and smiled up at him. "Yes, Caleb I do." He didn't smile. "What do you want to do?" I shrugged. "Your the leader Caleb, I'll follow." He slowly pulled me to him and laid beside me. "I want to take it slow. I want to cherish you." I blushed madly. "I agree." He smiled and looked over at the clock. 2 am. "We need to sleep." I nodded and snuggled to his chest. "So, are we...?" He looked oblivious, mocking my sudden shyness. "What?" I was beet red. "Oh Caleb!" He chuckled. "What?" I rubbed my face and suddenly missed my glasses. I pushed them down. "You know..." He was enjoying this too much. "Wow, I am impressed with myself. I have reduced you from a smart and blunt young woman to a stuttering and awkward girl." I rolled my eyes at his teasing. "Okay, okay. Are we dating?"

Finally he got serious and buried his face in my hair. "I'd hope so." I sighed, letting out that breath I'd been holding. "Goodnight Mati." He whispered and I grinned. I was beside myself. "Night." within minuets we were asleep. It felt like we'd only slept a few moments before the obnoxious sound of that infernal alarm clock went off and the rising sun sent a orange glow into my eyes. I shut my eyes and groaned. "Damn it." For a moment I forgot where I was, before I felt warm breath between my shoulder blades. "Your took the words right our of my mouth." I turned crimson, as I realized whom I was in bed with. Then the previous hours discussion. I smiled widely and turned over, to have my breath taken away. He looked like a god. His usually strait dark brown, almost black hair sticking up this way and that. The pillow marks on the left side of his face. His half open eyes and his lips. Totally tantalizing.

I'm sure I was a sight to beheld, I could tell my hair was all wild and crazy. Makeup probably caked under my eyes. My breath. Uhhhggg! But regardless, we took a moment to stare and smile at each other. The dimmed orange made his skin glow. The five o'clock shadow made my heart melt. He looked so good like this. Raw and slightly unkempt. His deep chocolate eyes still held that sleepy look, making him boyish when he grinned lopsided. "Morning." He whispered and I blushed, "Morning to you too." He reached for me and pulled my torso on top of his. He playfully pushed my hair back. "Your so beautiful." He whispered. I giggled, "You know I was just thinking the same about you Caleb." He smiled. "Oh, how beautiful I am? I think my long eyelashes, when I bat the like this, I look stunning." He did this little feminine impression and batted his eyelashes and I laughed. "Wow, where did this humor come from Mr. Serious?" He winked. "It's all you. I can just relax with you." I nodded. "Aww. But I have to agree with you, you do look quite dashing when you bat your..."

I was cute off by a ringing cellphone. I could tell he didn't want to answer it, so I quickly snatched it and saw it was Pouge. I flipped it open and Caleb tried to take it. I laughed then put on a serious voice, trying to smack Calebs hand away that was trying to tickle my sides. "Hello, Caleb Danver's cellphone." I giggled some more. "Hello? Sweets?" I giggled again, as I started trying to get Caleb back. I ran my fingers over his sides, nothing. "Yes, whats ups Pouge?" I sent Caleb a playfully nasty look as I straddled his thighs to get a better angle at tickling him. "Are you with Caleb?" I heard Reid shout in the background. "What!" I giggled and found a ticklish spot on his stomach. "Yes...AH HA!" I cried out in victory. Pouge listened to me and Caleb carry on. "What are you two doing?" I giggled. "Nothing, I just have him at my mercy, Mwa hahaha!" I did a mockery of an evil voice and really dug my finger into his stomach as he hollered out. "Okay I give!! UNCLE!!" I giggled and rolled off of him. Pouge was laughing.

"Good job. So is he available to talk? Or does he have to get dressed first?" I snorted. "Oh please! Though, he is in his boxers..." "Okay enough! TMI. Can I please speak with him?" I giggled. "I guess. See you at school." I looked over at Caleb who had his arm draped over his face. "Here you go." I handed it to him and stood up to stretch. "Hey man." Caleb said and then grinned. "Yeah yeah, tell him I said he's just jealous." I turned to look at Caleb. He was so...sexy laying there. I giggled to myself. After a few incoherent mumbles and what not, he hung up. He looked up at me and playfully scowled. "I think your in trouble." I put my hands on the waist band of my pj pants. "And how so?" He grinned. "Reid is pissed." I giggled and collapsed back on the bed. "He'll survive, I don't think hes that crazy about me." Caleb snorted. "If you say so. God I don't want to go to school." I perked up, my conniving brain wheels turning. "Well...we could take the day off."

He looked at me for a moment, he was going to argue, but then he smiled. "Yeah. We could." I smiled and he ruffled my hair. But then he sat up. "But we're good students." I groaned and slowly stood. "Fine, have it your way." He laughed and pulled me into a hug. "Go get ready, and we can be late. Better than nothing?" I smiled and nodded. "Agreed." He leaned down and kissed my forehead. My playful manner gone, replaced my the self aware shy me. Caleb held his lips there, then slowly kissed the tip of my nose. I was going to self implode. Then he moved down two more inches, his lips hovering above mine. His hands were on my shoulders. He was half way there, so I met him in the middle. The moment my lips touched his, everything faded away, His lips were soft, and full. It was beautifully chaste. We held still, savoring this feeling. He pulled away, eyes locked on mine, then swooped in for another one. Just like the first, It was perfect, and tender.

His hands brought me into a hug and he kissed the top of my head. "Go get ready." He turned me around and swatted after me. I smiled and skipped off. Today was going to awesome, nothing would change that. I was in transit to my room, so was Evelyn. I froze, busted. She looked up, a little bit shocked, but smiled. I didn't want to lie to her, not a good idea I reckon to lie to your boyfriend's...boyfriend's...mother. I smiled and couldn't help but nervously play with my shirt. "Good morning Matilda." I nodded. "You too Evelyn. Petty morning." She nodded and eyes me suspiciously. Head to toe. I gulped. "I see you rose early." I nodded. "Yeah..." She then broke out into a giggle fit. "Poor thing you look as if your about to explode your so red!" I sighed and grinned too.

"Well...I..." She beckoned me to follow her. "Come on dear." I followed her to this master bedroom. She had a very large four poster bed with gorgeous silks draped all over it. Her vanity was lavished with beauty supplies and miscellaneous trinkets. Pictures of Caleb decorated her room. "Here sit down dear." I sat down on a cushioned stool. She sat on the edge of her bed, with a cup of coffee I just noticed her holding, in her morning robe. "So, I'm not that old of a woman to notice you were coming from the direction of my son's bedroom." I gulped. "Yes ma'am." She smiled, and sipped her coffee. "Well, all I want to say is that if you are..." She struggled with her politeness. "If you two are...laying together so to speak, that you be smart about this." I knew what she was suggesting and held my hands up. "Oh! It's not like that Evelyn. I promise. You see I have had horrible nightmares these past two days and the guys are worried about me. Caleb told me to get him last night before he escorted me to my room, if I had any nightmare."

She took another sip, listening. "I had a horrible dream about spiders and lightening. When I woke up, I tried to calm myself down, but then a crack of lightening scared the bejeezus out of me and I ran to Caleb. Nothing like that happened at all." Her blue eyes scanned me over. Then she placed her hand over her heart. "Thank god! I was so worried for you! I know my son is smart, but I don't want him being irresponsible! And endangering your future with the consequences. Dear, I'm so sorry." I laughed awkwardly and shook my head. "Your his mother. You love him, I would do the same if I were in your shoes." She smiled at me and looked to the wall. "You guys are going to be late." I shrugged. "We make strait A's." She nodded and touched her face. "Thats right. You guys deserve a little leeway huh?" I nodded. "Id like to think so."

"Well, go on and get showered, then come back here if you don't mind, I'd love to fix your beautiful hair up for you." I beamed, "I would love that." I jumped up and rushed to my room. I grabbed my clothes bag and glasses. I showered quickly and shaved. I wrapped myself in a robe that was hung up for me prior. When I got to Evelyn's room, she was dressed in a pretty blouse and dress slacks. Her hair was in a simple bun and her make up done. She seated me in front of her vanity and began brushing my hair. About twenty minuets later, she had French braided my hair and tied it with a ribbon. "When I was your age, I met Caleb's father. Caleb is a spitting image of him. It makes my heart swell, and hurt to see him." I understood her. "I understand. My biological Aunt always tells me how much a resemble my mother."

Thankfully Evelyn didn't ask questions just nodded as she applied makeup to my face. When she was finished, she beamed. "You look wonderful! If Caleb doesn't see it now, I don't know if he ever will!" I giggled and blushed. "Whats so funny?" I gave her a shy smile and she covered her mouth. "Oh! He asked you to go steady?" I shyly nodded. "When? How?" she reminded me of an excited girl. And in her eyes, thats what I saw. "Last night, after I told him abut my dream. He's such a gentleman. He's never made a snide or our of color comment." She nodded. "He better not! He was raised better." I nodded and went on. "Caleb held me tightly and the words spilled out. He was so unsure of himself. It was out of character for him. But, it made me feel better knowing I wasn't the only self conscience one. He said, " please tell me you know whats up with me, that your not deaf to this!' Or something close to that. I think I scared him cause I couldn't respond, I was so shocked about his sudden outburst." Evelyn laughed warmly.

"Thats so Caleb." I giggled and touched my hair. "I still can't believe it. He was the first student to speak to me. I immediately liked him. I never thought he'd like me. I mean, I'm not ugly...but theres lots of prettier girls he could have." She nodded and grabbed my hand. "My Caleb sees you. I can tell. He doesn't see the physical, though I do believe your a beautiful girl, and by the gazes I caught him giving you, I know he does. But what I'm saying is that he cares more about you than your looks. He's very loyal." I nodded. "Yes, and I am loyal to him. I cant be touched by him without wanting to explode." She smiled. "Ah, young love. I forget how wonderful it is. And I apologize for living a moment vicariously through yours." I shrugged. "I don't mind." She smiled and we stood. "I bet Caleb is wondering where his girlfriend is." I giggled. "I'm going to get dressed. Meet you downstairs?" I asked and she nodded. I left and put my uniform on.

When I made it downstairs, Caleb was waiting for me. His eyes sparkled as he met me on the last step and took my hand in his. "I spoke to my mom. She said you guys had a girl talk?" I nodded. "She caught me on the way to the guest room this morning." His face fell, then he smiled. "Wow." I giggled. "Yeah, I was thinking, I'm so busted. But she took me to her bedroom and was okay with it. I explained to her it wasn't what she thought and she trusts me. Then she did my hair!" I smiled and he kissed the top of my head. "She did a wonderful job too. You look pretty." I blushed and bowed. "Thank you kind sir." He rolled his eyes. "She's already rubbing off on you." I shrugged. "Thats not a bad thing." He nodded slightly and kissed my head again. "You ready. We are officially an hour late." I sighed. "Wow, aren't we rebellious!" I poked him in his side playfully and he chuckled.

"Mom, we are leaving. See you tonight." She rushed into the front room and hugged each of us. Then she looked at me. "Lunch and soon Matilda!" I gave her an extra squeeze. "You know it." She beamed and waved us out the door. "Go get your education you two!" Even Caleb was smiling. We got into the car and he backed up, then drove out. "Wow, Mom was actually in a good mood." I held his hand and he rubbed mine with his thumb. "I really like you mom, I think I love her already." He nodded. "Well, I'm really happy. I know she's smitten to you. She hasn't been that perky in years." Hearing him say that made me happy, but sad. "Well, I'm really glad." He looked over at me and winked. "Me too." He kissed my hand and we pulled into Spencer.