Caleb woke up around eleven with a slight headache. The first thing he did once he opened his eyes, was lowering them to see that Hanna was still there, hugging his body, asleep, in his bed, beautiful as a goddess. Smiling at himself, he watched her sleeping for several minutes, playing with her hair but careful not to wake her up.
He turned to the bedside table and reached forward to grab his mobile with his free hand, only then noticing what time it was. He had obviously missed that morning's classes, but he wasn't really complaining. There also were several texts by Luke, telling him to wake up and get his ass to college, but he just rolled his eyes before placing his mobile back on the bedside table.
At some point, Hanna groaned and stretched herself against Caleb's body, burying her face into his chest. He chuckled, then she groaned again.
"What time is it?" she growled then, barely comprehensibly.
"Ten past eleven."
She huffed.
"Can we just stay in bed all day?" she groaned then.
"I like where your head's at." he smiled.
"Didn't you have class this morning?"
"Well... I did. But looks like I didn't go."
She laughed at that.
"So, how did you sleep?" Caleb asked.
"Very good, even if now I would really enjoy a shower..." she mumbled against his neck.
"You can take it. You know where the bathroom is."
"Yeah, well... In five minutes, maybe."
This time it was him who laughed. Then, he rubbed her back and kissed her forehead.
"Good morning, by the way." he whispered then.
"Yeah, sorry... Good morning, Philly boy." she replied, lifting her head and smiling up at him.
He smiled back, stroking her hair.
"Last night was cool, wasn't it?" she asked as she settled back down on his chest.
"Yeah, it was fun. We should do it again."
"Yeah, we sure will. However, I'm glad I forgot the keys."
He laughed at that.
"You are?" he added.
"Yup." she smirked, even though he couldn't see her.
Before he could think about something to say, she suddenly slipped out of bed.
"Where are you going?" he asked, his eyes inhevitably dropping to her barely covered butt.
"Shower!" she called as she walked out of the room.
He bit his lip and shook his head, staying in bed a few minutes more. Then he finally got up, suddenly feeling in a very good mood. He walked to the kitchen and started making breakfast, but at some point the doorbell rang. Caleb's head whipped around to turn to the door. He went to open and rolled his eyes when he saw Luke, Remy and Miranda standing there.
"Dude." Luke greeted him, stepping into the apartment.
Remy and Miranda did the same, and Caleb sighed as he closed the door.
"Look, guys, I slept in because last night I got home very late. I don't need any dressing-down for not coming to class this morning." he added then.
"It's not about that, Caleb. We just stopped to give you some notes so you can catch up." Miranda said smiling, rummaging through her bag, probably looking for her notebook.
"Oh, that's good, thanks." Caleb said in advance.
"What are you doing half-naked by the way?" Luke laughed.
"Don't stress me out, dude. I just got up." Caleb snorted, stretching his neck.
"And you're cooking breakfast?" Remy asked.
"So what, I can't cook breakfast?" Caleb argued, letting out a short yawn.
Remy raised her hands in defence, then Miranda finally found her notebook and handed it to Caleb.
"You can give it back to me later, don't worry." she smiled at him.
"Thanks, Miranda." Caleb replied, taking it from her.
"Caleb, can I use the towel—" Hanna began, entering the room and stopping on her tracks once she saw he had company.
She blushed realizing she only had her underwear and Caleb's shirt on and three strangers were staring at her — one of them was even a guy. Luke raised his eyebrows and turned to look at Caleb, who looked a little taken aback by the whole situation.
"Hi, guys, I... Uhm, I'm sorry." Hanna stuttered, not quite sure about what to do.
"No, Han... Uhm, guys, this is Hanna, my colleague from the bar. Hanna, meet Luke, Remy and Miranda, my three bestfriends. We go to college together." Caleb quickly introduced.
"Oh... It's nice to meet you all." Hanna smiled shyly, pulling Caleb's shirt down in order to cover her legs as much as possible.
"Hi, I'm Luke." Luke smiled slightly, awkwardly holding his hand out to her.
Hanna seemed to appreciate, though, approaching him and giving him a small smile before shaking his hand and repeating her name. Remy did the same of her boyfriend, then only Miranda was left. She eventually shook Hanna's hand too, even though Hanna could tell she was kind of annoyed.
"So, uhm... I guess we can leave now. See you later, man. Hanna, it was a pleasure." Luke concluded, not wanting to disturb any longer.
"Likewise." Hanna smiled nervously.
"Thanks, guys. I'll see you later." Caleb told them, smiling as he walked them to the door and then closed it behind their backs.
"Caleb, I'm so sorry, I didn't know your friends were here, I—" Hanna began ranting, but he turned around and smiled before interrupting her.
"Han, don't worry. It's fine, nothing happened. I should have warned you that they were here though, I mean, maybe you felt awkward wearing only that in front of people you didn't know. But everything's okay, relax."
"Are you sure? I mean, the shorter girl kind of glared at me, is she your ex?" Hanna asked, referring to Miranda.
Caleb laughed slightly, approaching her and putting his hands on her shoulders.
"No, she isn't. Now stop worrying and come have breakfast, your shower can wait." he added.
"You made breakfast?"
"Of course I did. What we had at five in the morning doesn't actually count." he grinned.
"Wow, you're treating me pretty well."
"Oh, you know, it doesn't happen often that a girl stays the night, so... I guess I'm just trying to make a good impression on her, at least the morning after." he joked.
Hanna laughed, sitting at the table as he brought their scrambled eggs.
"God, this looks delicious." she commented.
"Hopefully it also is." he replied, sitting down himself.
They ate in a comfortable silence, and Hanna complimented him because the eggs were actually really good. As he put the empty dishes in the sink, she spoke again.
"Do you think your friends thought that we... You know..."
Caleb chuckled, walking back to her before sitting on the table, facing her.
"Well, it was pretty deducible that you slept over. And, I mean, you appeared in the doorway wearing just that amazing shirt of mine." he shrugged then, smiling and sounding like it wasn't a big deal.
She just nodded, silent, and Caleb noticed something was bugging her.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah, sorry."
He wasn't convinced, so he went on.
"Look, I'm gonna tell them that it didn't happen...that between us, okay? But, seriously, why are you so worried about it? I mean, you shouldn't care that much, you're not one who cares about what people thinks, right?"
"Yeah, yeah... Just... You know, they're not just other people. I mean, they're your friends. I would've liked to be introduced to them under other circumstances. And... I don't know, I feel like they didn't like me."
He rolled his eyes slightly before replying.
"Han, if you're talking about Miranda, well, I'm pretty sure that she wouldn't like any girl at all around me."
"And why is that?"
"Well... It's been years that she has this huge crush on me. We were still in school, this story never really got to an end, not even when I started dating Samara, my ex, who is even her friend. So don't worry about that."
Hanna smiled slightly.
"Aw, that's cute. It's a very long time." she said then.
He rolled his eyes again.
"She should get over that, though." he muttered.
"You don't want to—"
"No. Luke and Remy are already pressing me enough. I just wanna stay friends with her, that's it." he cut her off.
"Okay, Philly boy, whatever." she laughed, standing up from her seat.
He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Can I take my shower now?" she asked.
Caleb bit his lower lip as he caressed her whole body with a quick glance, then tilted his head to the side.
"Of course you can. And yes, you can use whichever towel in the third drawer, they're all clean." he smirked then.
"Thank you." she smiled at him, pressing a quick kiss on his cheek before heading to the bathroom.
Once she left the room, he sighed at himself.
While she was taking a shower, Caleb decided it was probably better to get dressed. He walked to his room and smiled at himself once he saw the still unmade bed, thinking back to the few hours he had spent there holding Hanna into his arms. Then, he turned to his closet and pulled out a green hoodie and a pair of blue jeans, along with his green All Stars. He put the jeans on first, then he took off his undershirt to slip into his hoodie, but before he could do it, Hanna entered the room —fully dressed with her clothes from the previous night, much to his dismay—. He didn't miss the look of surprise —maybe appreciation too— on her face as soon as she realized that his upper half was naked. After all, he had worn an undershirt for the whole freaking night. Yes, Caleb wasn't one of those guys obsessed with gym, at all, but he actually had a nice body.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure you once said you weren't a guy obsessed with shape, diet and shit, but, hey... Look at you." she said after a second of absolute silence.
Caleb chuckled, scratching the top of his head.
"Never been one of those, I promise." he added then.
Then he noticed she was holding his shirt in her hand and, after a moment, she handed it to him.
"I think this is yours." she smiled then.
He laughed, shaking his head before replying.
"I don't want it back. I told you, it's become too small for me. Just keep it."
"But it's one of your favorites..." she raised her eyebrows.
"That's why I want you to keep it."
Hanna stared at him for a moment, smiling.
"Caleb, I... Thank you. Thank you for everything. For making me stay the night, for the way you welcomed me, for breakfast, for this shirt, and... Well, everything else."
He smiled back.
"It's fine. I'm actually happy you stayed." he said then.
"Yeah, it was nice sleeping with you. I mean, just sleeping and...cuddling a little, you know." she quickly replied, blushing slightly and nervously running a hand through her hair.
He laughed, finally putting his hoodie on.
"I agree with you. It was really nice. You can stay whenever you want. You know... I'm glad you forgot the keys too." he smiled then, smoothing the piece of clothing just put on.
She smiled back and they both stared at each other for a long moment. The intimate moment was abruptly broken by Hanna's phone ringing, though, which was still on Caleb's nightstand.
"Oh, sorry." Hanna mumbled as she walked to the nightstand. "Hello?" she picked up.
Caleb shoved his hands into the pocket of his jeans, not sure if he had to give her privacy or just stay there not to appear rude leaving her like that.
"Hey... No, uhm, I'm with a friend right now, actually..." she murmured through the speaker.
A friend, yeah...of course.
"Sure, I'll just see you later... Bye." she concluded her phone call, placing her mobile back on the nightstand.
"Is everything okay?" he asked casually.
"Uh... Yeah, yeah."
He tilted his head to the side.
"Anyone special?" he asked, feeling worried about her upcoming answer.
She shook her head quickly.
"Oh, no. Quite frankly, I'm not up for any relationship, at the moment." she said then.
Caleb didn't know whether to be happy or not about that.
"And why is that?" he asked again, intrigued.
"You know I'm a free spirit." she grinned.
"So... Not to be nosey, but... That Jordan guy Jason mentioned last night—"
"We're just friends. Jason happens to see things which don't exist." she cut him off.
He chuckled, nodding, realizing he was actually relieved to hear that.
"Alright, so... What do you want to do now? I mean, we could go for a walk, or... I don't know, if you don't have any plans." he said then.
"Oh, sure. A walk sounds great. But no more food, please." she replied, smiling at the end.
"Alright." he grinned.
"Oh, actually no, wait. Can you play something for me before we go?"
Caleb turned around and saw that she was smiling widely and pointing to his guitar, which was leaning against the side of his closet. He grinned at her.
"Your wish is my command." he added.
After Caleb played a few songs with the guitar singing with Hanna, they were both walking down the streets of Los Angeles, around Caleb's neighborhood. Though it was pretty cold, so he had let her borrow one of his jackets to put it on her minidress. He had pulled the hood over his head, hands in his pockets as he made small talk with her.
"Why you never went to college, again?" he asked.
"Never actually had that desire, to be honest. I never liked studying. But, you know, I didn't want to keep living with my mom and dad, not because I don't love them, but just because I think I'd be a weight on them. I mean, I'm a big girl and they're starting to get old, so... I found a job and a new place to stay, that's it. And I'm pretty happy now, The Brew made me make a lot of new friends and everything, so... Here I am, young and independent."
"Makes sense."
"What about you? Computer Engineering, seriously?"
He smiled shyly, shrugging slightly.
"It's always intrigued me and now that I'm studying it, I have to admit it that it's pretty cool, indeed." he replied then.
"What about your family?"
"Oh, they're in Philly. But my mom and dad are no longer together. My mom got married again, though. So now I also have two little stepbrothers, James and Clay. James's twelve and Clay's nine."
She smiled at the thought of two mini versions of Caleb.
"You must have a lot of fun with them." she said then.
"You can totally say it. What about your family, instead? They're here in LA, right?"
"Yeah, they're here. I went to visit them quite often, they live not so far from our bar. But I don't have any siblings."
"Got it."
"Hey, can we sit down for a little? My legs need some rest." she asked, spotting a bench.
"Sure."
They proceeded to sit down, and when they leaned back against the backrest, Caleb casually rested his arm behind Hanna. The wind blew a little harder and her hair was suddenly messed up.
"Oh, fuck." she grunted, quickly fixing it with her hand.
He couldn't help but laugh slightly, so she turned to him and glared at him, even though she was half-smiling.
"What?" she laughed then.
Caleb was about to reply when he suddenly lost his words. He just stared at her, completely caught by her beauty. She looked so beautiful that he suddenly felt the strong desire of kissing her, just like a few hours earlier. But then he thought back to what she had said before leaving his apartment, that she wasn't up for any relationship, so he just sent the instinct to the back of his head. However, she was staring back at him, with this cute smile on her lips which he absolutely loved. Then she erupted into a loud laugh, resting her head on his shoulder.
"You're so cute, Rivers." she murmured then.
He mentally cursed himself for acting so idiot around her, then he sneaked his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing the top of her head.
"You too, Marin." he whispered then.
They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, silent, Caleb occasionally stroking her hair, softly. At some point, though, a thought popped into his mind and he suddenly brought it up.
"Do you remember when we were in Ezra's back office at The Brew and you played the guitar?"
"Yeah."
"Well... Back then, you kind of told me that there was a time when you would've needed support but that no one really gave you. Then, this morning you said that you don't want any relationship, so... Is it for a guy? I mean... A guy from your past hurt you so bad?"
Hanna lifted her head from his shoulder and turned her position on the bench, stretching her legs on his lap and resting her elbow on the backrest of the bench, so that her hand could support her head as she looked up at Caleb.
"Not exactly." she replied then.
"Okay, look, if you don't wanna talk about it—"
"It was my dad, actually." she cut him off.
Caleb raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to continue, and she did.
"He cheated on my mom. It happened four years ago. My mom found out and... Well, it wasn't easy. Neither for her, nor for me. I would've never thought my dad capable of that, I had always thought he was utterly in love with my mom. Anyway, my mom kicked him out and... It was a very dark time. I closed myself in this huge invisible shield and I just..."
At that, Hanna stopped herself and rolled her eyes back, trying to hold back her tears. Caleb reached out and stroked her cheek softly, catching the few tears she eventually gave in.
"But it's over now. My mom and dad even got back together. But... I can't forget how bad those days were, and I also can't help but think that things will never be the way they were before in our family. It's like something is broken in the inside, you know? Like, you can't see it from the outside, but you can feel it." she continued.
He nodded briefly, his hand still rubbing her cheek.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry." he whispered then, attempting a small smile.
"No, it's okay. I'm sorry for being so dramatic."
"You're not dramatic, Han. You're human. Anyway, sometimes crying is a good thing. It helps."
She made a small smile and nodded at him, wiping a tear away from her own cheek.
"Come here." he whispered then, spreading his arms.
She buried her face into his chest as he closed his arms around her slightly shaking body. She cried softly against his hoodie, as he rubbed her back soothingly and kissed the top of her head. He couldn't help but think that her desire of independence and the free nature of her spirit were partly due to what had happened between her mom and dad, that it was part of the reason why she left her childhood home and her family and went to live on her own. However, he decided not to ask any further since it clearly was a delicate topic, he wad just glad to give her some kind of comfort like that.
"Thanks for opening up to me, by the way." he whispered when he felt she had calmed down.
She lifted her head and gave him a small smile.
"I know I can trust you." she replied simply.
He nodded and moved a strand of her hair off her face before wiping some mascara from her cheeks with tha pads of his thumbs.
"Oh my God, my make up is a mess, isn't it?" she immediately asked.
He chuckled before replying.
"Shut up. You look beautiful."
She flashed him a smile before burying her face into the crook of his neck, probably a little embarassed by his compliment. He chuckled again, restarting to stroke her hair.
"But I still don't get why you wouldn't want a relationship. Are you afraid to get hurt after seeing the way your dad acted with your mom?" he asked after a minute.
"No, it's not about that. I just... Commitment kind of scares me. I'm a girl who likes partying, drinking, dancing, having a lot of fun with a bunch of friends, girls and guys, and if I'd have a jealous boyfriend, well, we obviously would never work. You know, being free is just better." she mumbled.
"Oh, okay."
"Why all of this interest for my personal life, though?" she asked, and by the sound of her voice, she was stiffling a laugh.
"Just wanted to get to know you better. I mean, you were in my bed just this morning..." he grinned through her hair.
She laughed loudly and slapped his chest.
"C'mon, Philly boy, I need to stop by The Brew so Em can give me her keys and then I'll finally be able to get my ass home." she said then, suddenly escaping from his grasp.
He missed the contact with her body as soon as she got up, but he followed her immediately.
"You want to get rid of me, huh?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, don't be too sad. Guess what? Tonight we work together." she poked her tongue out at him.
He smirked at her, feeling a sudden wave of happiness at the thought of being with her again just a few hours later. She wasn't even gone yet and he already missed her, he was already looking forward to their work shift together.
What was that girl doing to him?
Caleb pursed his lips as he knocked on the door of Miranda's apartment.
He had dropped Hanna off at The Brew so that Emily could give her the keys of her apartment, then he had come back to his place and copied the notes Miranda had given to him that morning, so now he was going to give her notebook back to her.
Miranda came to open the door, dressed in a singlet and some sweatpants. Caleb smiled, knowing she was doing yoga as she always did.
"Hey." he greeted her.
"Hi." Miranda replied, not sounding very excited.
He knew it probably was because she had seen him with a barely clothed Hanna that same morning in his apartment.
"Am I disturbing you?" he asked.
"No."
"Uh... Alright. I just came to give you this back." he said then, handing her the notebook.
"Yeah, right." she mumbled, taking it from his hands.
"Thank you for giving me your notes, by the way."
"You already thanked me at your place. It's fine, Caleb."
"Yeah, whatever. So, are you exercising?"
She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Caleb, what do you want?" she asked then.
He bit his bottom lip and scratched the back of his neck.
"Can I come in and talk to you for a sec?" he asked then.
She sighed but let him in, closing the door once he was inside. Then, she turned the TV off —which was obviously on the yoga channel— and gestured for him to sit on the couch. When he did so, she sat next to him, placing her notebook on the coffee table.
"So?" she asked then.
He took a deep breath before beginning to speak.
"Well... I wanted to say a couple of words about this morning... Yeah, about what you, Luke and Remy saw. Look, Hanna and I have nothing going on. She just stayed the night because we and the other guys from work spent the night together, but she forgot the keys of her apartment, so... She slept at mine. But it's not like we did something, you know. We're not together, but of course I care about her, that's why I gave her a place where to sleep. That's it."
Miranda looked down for a moment before lifting her gaze back to him.
"Why are you giving me explanations?" she asked then.
Caleb raised his eyebrows as though it was obvious.
"Well, you know, I... I don't want you to feel bad about it. I mean, there's actually no reason to feel like that in the first place, given that Hanna and I—" he replied, but she cut her off.
"Caleb, I know how you feel about the two of us. Look, it's okay, you don't have to explain me anything if I see you with some girl like it happened this morning. You're not taken, you have your life and you can do whatever you want. And I'm not your girlfriend, right?"
He sighed.
"Right, but I'm sorry if you still... You know, think about me and you in that sense. Even if I'm not up for that, well, I'm sorry if some kind of things make you feel bad... If I make you feel bad. I care a lot about you, I've known you for ages, and I just don't want you to feel like shit. So just so you know, I'm not with Hanna or anyone right now. And maybe it's the best thing at the moment, you know. After all, Samara and I broke up just a month ago and, with college and the new job, what I need right now is probably just... This." he said then.
"Okay." she murmured.
"Okay." he echoed, motioning a smile.
They stared at each other for a second before Caleb stood up and decided it was time to leave.
"So... I'll see you later at class. And thanks again for the notes." he smiled at her.
Miranda stood up as well, smiling as she walked him to the door.
"You're welcome. See you later." she said then.
"Bye."
"Bye."
A/N: Hi! So, first of all, thank you so much for all the reviews you left to last chapter :) I'm glad you liked it that much, especially the bed scene! And I knew y'all would recognize the Led Zeppelin shirt haha ;) But congratulations to Zoey because she was the only one who guessed both of the references... The second one was them dancing like Tyler and Ashley did in San Diego last summer when they went there for the MTV Fandom Awards...there was a video of them, you could see this guy a little too happy with a glass in his hand close to Ash, so Tyler pulled her closer to him and she hugged him laughing :) So, about this chapter... So much Haleb, so I guess it's a good one! I also hope you enjoyed the awkward meeting Hanna had with Caleb's friends :D I don't think there's any Tyshley reference in this one, btw. Another thing, anyone who has any suggestion for this story can obviously tell me :) I already wrote several chapters after this, but I could still use some of your ideas ;) I also understand that some of you could see Tyshley suit better in this story, but it's still a Haleb story. However, you're free to picture them however you want ;) I think that's all for now :) Let me know what you guys think about this chapter! Next one's gonna be quite interesting :P Love! xx -Atramea.
