Chapter 10
Spring weather was finally trying to make itself known as March broke into April. Life had been fairly routine for everyone and the slightly nicer weather kept everyone in good moods, though it provided more of a challenge when it came to the kids attending class. While they still manage to make it to the school before sunrise on the sunnier mornings, there were times that running just a few minutes late ended up in them missing the entire day. It wasn't anything that hadn't happened in the past decades. Forks just happened to be an exceptional place for their attendance records.
A group of doctors at the local hospital were given the option to attend a two-day medical convention in Montana while getting the trip paid for, even getting overtime hours for their participation. He had decided to take the offer and felt it was always good to stayed updated on the latest medical knowledge.
Carlisle grabbed the bag he packed and walked outside with Esme toward the garage. "I'll be back in a couple days," he told her.
"Give me a call when you get there," Esme told him with a smile. She clicked open the garage door and handed Carlisle his keys.
He nodded and leaned in to give her a kiss. She smiled and left her hand on his face, giving him a few more before he opened the back door of his car and tossed the bag in.
"Be careful," she told him.
"I will," he said, then reminded her, "Just a couple days." A smile crossed his face again and the two of them shared a hug and another kiss before he started up the car and made his way down the driveway.
Esme sighed as he left, but knew his trip wouldn't be overly long. While she would miss his company for a few days, she was also happy because she knew he would enjoy getting to do something a little different in the field he was so passionate about.
She wandered toward the house and her phone went off as she opened the front door. It was a text message from Carlisle, and she smiled knowing they hadn't been apart for nearly two minutes.
I miss you already, he wrote.
Esme had an ear to ear grin and began to type back.
Rosalie met her by the door, immediately smiling when she saw the happy expression on Esme's face.
"Hey, Emmett, Edward and Jasper just took off for the weekend too," she said, "They're going to explore the area up through Canada."
Esme hit the send button and looked at Rosalie, "So, what's everyone thinking?"
"Girls weekend?" Rosalie laughed, "Maybe we can all do something together, or just relax here."
She nodded, knowing they had probably purposely made the arrangements for her sake and she smiled, "That sounds great."
"Great," Rosalie said back with a smile. "The kids have a little get-together going on at the school tonight; some dance slash fundraiser. It's casual."
"Caleb didn't say anything about that," Esme said.
"Neither did William or Mac. I found a flyer that one of them left out on the couch. And Alice overheard the girls making arrangements to go."
She smiled, glad she wasn't left out of the equation by her son. "What time does it start?"
"I think seven," Rosalie told her, "If I remember correctly. Maybe the four of us can just lounge in the pool again and have some wine and watch funny romantic comedies like we did a few weeks ago; well, like you guys did. I was busy losing money to Jasper."
Esme thought her plan sounded like the perfect evening, acknowledging that the last time they did that it turned out to be a lot of fun. "My schedule's open."
...
Delilah met at the house dressed semi-formally with a skirt and a nice top to match. Caleb wore a pair of khakis with a dressy button-down shirt and a tie. Everyone else was dressed similarly as they prepared to head back to the school for the evening's event.
Esme pulled Caleb's tie tight and brushed her hands over his shoulders, then kissed him on the cheek. "Have fun guys."
"Thanks Mom." He smiled and looked at Delilah, then linked his hand up with hers.
"Thanks," Delilah said after him.
"You're welcome. Be safe."
"We will," Caleb assured her. "Alex is already outside?"
"She just went to the car with Michael," Esme told him, "I think Rosalie is done taking pictures of William and Maddy."
"Don't they already have a wedding album?" he asked, rolling his eyes with a chuckle.
"I heard that!" Rosalie called from outside.
"You can never have too many pictures," Alice piggybacked onto the thought.
Esme shook her head and smiled, then kissed him on the cheek again. "Have a good time."
"We will," he said again.
She followed him out to where the rest of the kids were meeting by the car and then saw them off with Alice, Rosalie and Bella.
When they pulled in through the main gate of the school, everyone could already hear the popular music of the day playing in the gymnasium.
"Not this one again," Nicole said, shaking her head, making Alex smile and look over her shoulder at her from the passenger seat.
Delilah looked over at Caleb as they climbed out of the car and headed toward the gym ahead of everyone else. He put his arm over her shoulders and she kept hers around his waist. Once they got to the door, Caleb handed a pair of tickets to the teacher who was at the door collecting them. Nicole and Mackenzie were the next to pile in followed closely by Alex and Michael.
Heads turned as they walked in. A few of the kids Caleb had become friendly with seemed to be surprised by his entrance with Delilah. While the two of them hadn't at all been hiding their relationship, they weren't overly clingy in school. There were quiet whispers, all that he could hear, and it made them both smile.
Many of the boys checked out all four girls on their trip across the gym. Nicole smiled and waved to a few people, and Mackenzie did so too only with a slightly less enthusiastic approach. Alex and Michael only seemed to be interested in each other, though he kept her tucked tightly tucked next to him. He wasn't at all a jealous person, but Alex couldn't help but smile when he pulled her just a little closer in the presence of whispering young men.
"I love you," she whispered to him, looking up as Michael. He stopped looking around the crowd and stopped to give her a delicate kiss on the lips before they kept walking.
Nicole led the way to the dance floor, dragging Mackenzie with her without much of a choice. The two of them laughed and danced, drawing a few boys from class they were friendly with in their direction.
Michael and Caleb were both more reserved when it came to dancing and stood talking while Alex decided to warm up to Delilah by pulling her into their group of girls to have a good time.
"Thanks for accepting Delilah," Caleb said to his brother-in-law, "You were always understanding about her... and about us."
He smiled and nodded, "I understand her position. It wasn't much different than my own. She was just in it a little deeper than I was."
"Thanks for getting Alex to accept her too."
Michael smiled, "I think she just wanted to make sure you weren't going to get hurt."
"I know," Caleb said with a nod.
Michael looked at him and patted him once on the back. The two of them talked and more or less watched for most of the faster songs, though they were unwillingly dragged in a few times by Nicole. When the occasional slow song came on, they joined their significant others, feeling more content with slowly swaying back and forth in the midst of a large group. Neither Michael, nor Caleb, was the center-of-attention type, but they did what they could to make the girls happy.
"Last song of the evening," the DJ called from behind his station, rattling off a few more sentences before people scattered around the gym to find the person they wanted to share the last dance of the night with.
Michael smiled as Alex grabbed his hands. He twirled her at first as if it was a fast song, then pulled her closer as the song began to play. She laughed and looked over as a few boys eagerly asked Nicole and Mackenzie to dance. They accepted their first offers, drawing a few disappointed looks from some kids nearby.
Delilah stayed closely up against Caleb, pressing her cheek to his chest while they danced.
"Did you have fun tonight?" he asked her, upon not talking for the first thirty seconds or so of the song.
She nodded against his chest, "Yeah. Your sister and the girls were really nice. Alex was the one who pulled me in with her. We got along really well tonight."
Caleb smiled to himself, "Good."
"Yeah," she said quietly.
"What's wrong then?"
Delilah looked up at him and shook her head, "Nothing. Nothing's wrong at all." She half-smiled, "I'm just really happy to be honest. I'm happy that they have all kind of accepted me."
"You're one of us now Del," he told her with a grin.
Delilah couldn't help but smile wider. She loved it when he called her by the little nickname and she leaned up to kiss him once. "I really love you Caleb."
"Good," Caleb said back, "Because I really love you too."
She placed her head back against his chest. For a moment, she wondered why she couldn't hear his heartbeat, but it didn't take her but a second to realize how silly the thought was.
None of us have heartbeats, she thought. Her mind drifted to a claim she had heard from both Aro and Caius, stating they didn't have souls; that they were destined for an afterlife in Hell.
Delilah looked up at Caleb and knew that their claims couldn't possibly be true. There was no way the boy who held her in his arms with all the love and care in the world could possibly go to Hell. She wasn't too sure about her own fate, but she was positive about his.
The lights snapped on in the gym and everyone began to separate and scatter as the DJ thanked everyone for coming out and teachers attempted to keep everyone in some type of order.
"Are you walking Delilah back?" Alex asked, approaching them where they still stood linked together.
Caleb back just slightly away, but took her hand. He nodded, "Yeah. I'll walk home afterwards."
"Okay," she told him with a smile. "I'll see ya soon Delilah. Come by the house again soon."
"I will," Delilah assured her, "Thanks Alex."
She nodded and looked at Michael, who said a polite goodbye to them and headed out the door, sensing the girls had already beat them to the car.
Caleb allowed Delilah out the gym doors ahead of him and the two of them managed to get out of sight of the teachers and security guards to get to the window that Delilah made a habit of leaving open. Like always, they shared a brief make-out session to end their night together against the brick wall of the building before Caleb forced himself to pull away.
"You know, you can come over," he told her.
"I will tomorrow," she told him with a smile and a little laugh.
"I don't want to wait until the morning to see you," Caleb whispered, whispering back. He kissed her a few more times.
Delilah smiled, then sighed a little anxiously, "Well, then why don't you stay here then?"
The two of them stood in silence for a minute before her anxiety got the best of her, "If you want," she added, "You can just call me when you get home."
Caleb held his pause for a moment before he shook his head, "No, I'll come up."
She smiled and sighed quietly this time before scaling the building with him just behind her. They stood in silence for a few seconds before Caleb made his way back to her picture collage. "This one's still my favorite," he told her, pointing to the picture of Delilah with her grandmother.
She grinned, "Mine too."
A loud knock at the door made both of them jump and Delilah mouthed the word "hide". Caleb tried not to laugh before scampering out the window.
Delilah giggled quietly into her hand and opened the door for her nightly room inspection.
"Just checking in," a stiff-looking, middle-aged woman with glasses said, adjust her lenses with one hand. She peered over Delilah's shoulder.
"I just got back from the dance," Delilah told her, "Just getting settled."
The woman looked around the empty room again and nodded. She wasn't about to check under the bed and saw no one in the plain sight so she noted that Delilah's room had been check and made her way back down the hall.
When the door closed, Caleb slid back in through the window, grinning wide. He looked down before they both started to laugh quietly. He sat down on the edge of the bed and Delilah leaned down to kiss him, then sat on his lap. She reached over and clicked on the desk lamp and the two of them sat in silence together for a few minutes.
"How long can you stay?" she asked.
He shrugged, "I'll just have to check in with my mom, but I'll stay... all night."
"You don't have to."
"I know. I want to."
Delilah stood up, "I'm just going to change into my sweats in case she comes back. I don't want to be still in my dress and heels.
Caleb nodded and laid down flat on the bed, staring toward the window as she changed. A moment later, she was beside him and laid comfortably against his chest. He reached in his pocket for his phone and began typing with his arms around her.
Delilah read the words that he typed to his mother. Be home in a couple hours. Watching a movie with Delilah.
A few minutes later, Esme's text came in giving him the "okay" to do so.
Delilah looked over at him and smiled and the two of them began to kiss again. She pulled him on top of her and he didn't have it in him to stop himself. Her hands rode up the back of his shirt and Caleb knew his desire for her was heightening. When he stopped kissing her, the two of them went from feeling completely in the moment, to completely tense in a heartbeat.
Her hands continued to push his shirt, just slightly before an unspoken force gave Caleb the confidence to wiggle the rest of the way out of it. He wasn't sure what he was doing, or where that first move was going to lead, but he had never felt more nervous in his life.
"It's alright," she said, "If you want to... or if you don't."
Caleb wanted to shout out loud that he wanted to do what he had been thinking about for so long, but he didn't want her to feel pressure by his over-eagerness. "Yeah," he said, "Um... what do you want to do?"
Delilah wasn't sure how to respond. She didn't want to scare him off, or make him think that she was experienced in the area, when she wasn't at all. She didn't know exactly what to do from there so she did what she was comfortable with and just kissed him. As Caleb's kisses became more passionate, she realized that her nervousness was beginning to diminish, but her excitement began to rise.
Caleb, too, couldn't deny that he was feeling the same way. Without either of them stopping to process the situation, they were barely clothed and under the covers together. Delilah led his hands to her waist and could feel how nervous he was through the slightest shake of his hands. She kissed him again to reassure him that everything about the situation was okay. Because of her sureness, he decided to go with exactly what he was feeling.