After spending some time at the Fitz's and after begging Aria to support Hanna, Caleb decided it was time to go to the airport. Aria and Ezra offered to drive him there, but he told them he preferred to take a cab on his own. Once the taxi driver was there, Caleb put his suitcase in the trunk and hopped into the vehicle.
"Where are we going, man?" the driver asked.
Caleb was about to say 'to the airport', but he suddenly felt like he had to say goodbye to Ashley before leaving. He felt like he had to, he didn't really know why, so he just told the driver Ashley's address, asking if it was possible to go to the airport after that. The driver said there was no problem, then the cab speeded away as Caleb thanked him.
After a little while, they got to Ashley's house. Caleb assured the driver he wouldn't use so long, then he exited the cab and walked to the front door of the house, knocking. Ashley opened after a few seconds.
"Hi, Ashley." he greeted her.
"Hey, Caleb... What are you doing here? Come in!"
"No, thanks but I can't, the cab's waiting for me. I... I just stopped to say goodbye. I'm going to the airport, I'm coming back to Spain."
"Yeah, I knew you were leaving today. And I'm glad you stopped here. But... Where's Hanna? Doesn't she come to the airport with you?"
He sighed deeply before replying.
"Well... Things between Hanna and me are a little...messed up, at the moment."
"What? Last time I checked, everything seemed okay..."
"Yeah. And it was. But... It only takes a moment for me to make a mess. I'm an idiot, Ashley."
"That is not true. But... Are you telling me you guys broke up?" the woman asked, visibly worried.
"No, no. God, no. But... She asked me for some time. We're not gonna see each other for a little while."
Ashley stayed silent for a few seconds before speaking again.
"What about Liam?" she asked then, not wanting to step in her daughter and Caleb's relationship nor making him questions too specific.
"I'll be able to see him whenever I want. Hanna would never take him away from me." Caleb replied.
Ashley just nodded.
"Ashley, believe me, I didn't want to make her suffer again." he added then, sincerely.
The woman smiled a little at him.
"I know, Caleb. I know. Look... I'm not aware of what exactly happened between you and my daughter, and that's not my business, but... Things like fights or arguments and stuff, well, they happen between two people who love each other. And you and Hanna definitely do. You guys will get through this, I'm sure about that. Hanna loves you way too much to let you go like this." she told him comprehensively.
"I hope so... I'll do whatever it takes not to break our bound. Whatever. I promise."
Ashley smiled.
"Come here, honey." she said then, spreading her arms.
Caleb hugged her. God, he had such an amazing mother-in-law-to-be.
"You'll see, it's gonna be okay. Nothing and no one can break you two apart, that's for sure. Soon you're gonna become her husband and you both are gonna laugh thinking about this stupid fight." she continued, smiling at him while pulling away.
"Thank you, Ashley. Thank you. I'm sorry, Hanna wouldn't deserve all of this, and please don't think I came here to you to be somehow justified or to make a gesture or something, and don't tell her I stopped here, I don't want her to think that... I... I just wanted to—"
"Hey, Caleb... Breathe. I know, okay? I know. And I love both you and Hanna. I'm sure it's gonna be okay, trust me." she cut him off.
"Yeah, yeah... Thank you."
"Stop thanking me and go now, or you're gonna miss your flight." she smiled then.
"Sure. Bye, Ashley. I'll see you soon."
"Bye, Caleb. Good luck."
Caleb smiled gratefully at her before turning around and walking back to the cab. He hoped into it and speeded toward the airport.
He was a little relieved after talking to Ashley.
Caleb got to the airport in perfect time. He paid the kind driver and took his luggages from the trunk, walking to the entrance. His suitcase seemed to weight more, and Caleb wanted to think that it was fault of his son's teddy bear, but he knew that it was because of the huge melancholy he felt inside. While waiting for the check-in, he looked for some happiness into the strangers' eyes, hoping it would make him feel better. But it didn't work. He felt the collar of his purple shirt arrogantly tighten around his neck. That shirt was a present from Hanna. She gave it to him without a reason, it wasn't a particular occasion or his birthday. She did it just because she liked how it suited him, that was what she had said.
Then, his mobile rang.
His heart skipped a beat when he saw it was Hanna.
"Hanna?" he immediately picked up.
"Caleb, I... I couldn't let you leave like that..." she murmured.
Caleb bit hard on his lower lip.
"Hanna—" he began again, but she cut him off.
"No, listen, I didn't change my mind. You already know how I feel about this, I just... I won't call anymore after this, but... I just wanted to know if you're okay, if you reached the airport and everything..."
He smiled a little at that.
"I'm fine. I'm checking in." he replied then.
"Alright."
"Hey... Remember that I love you. Always." he said then, biting his lip again.
She sighed through the speaker before replying.
"Caleb... All of this will help us."
Caleb sighed as well.
"If that's what you think... Okay. But don't be too proud... If you need me, you have to call me. You have to." he replied then.
"No, I won't. Just let things this way for a while, please."
"Fine. I'll respect your choice, but... Well, I had to try. Anyway, thank you so much for the call. I would have hated leaving this way. It's my fault, though. You... Take this time to think and make up your mind, but... Be aware of the fact that I want to marry you when I'm back. And I want you to know also that if I had known before that this fucking movie would cause all of this mess between us, well, I would have never accepted the job. Despite how cool the work is, despite the money, despite anything. You... You're more important than anything... You're my life. You and Liam are my life, seriously. And I don't want to lose him... Nor you."
"You should...probably go now." she replied in a whisper.
Caleb sighed deeply.
"Okay, I... I love you." he murmured, not ready for their call to end.
"Bye." she whispered.
Caleb wanted to say something else, but he couldn't because she had already hung up. He rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath. At least she called him. But he just wanted everything to go back the way it was before.
Caleb landed in Spain at seven fourty-five of Monday morning. He had to go back to work around half past two in the afternoon, so he decided to get some rest in his hotel room. He took from his suitcase Liam's teddy bear and held it tight to his chest, lying on the bed. It felt so uncomfortable thinking about his own bed. He fell asleep drowning into the only thought of Hanna, melancholic and sweet at the same time.
As soon as he woke up, he thought about texting Hanna, but then he decided to avoid it, because he had to respect her. Then, when it was time to go, he went to the set. And the first person who saw when he got there, was right her.
Alison.
She walked to him, smiling that false smile of hers. Caleb met her halfway, trying to keep himself calm.
"Caleb... How was your weekend?" she asked.
"It was nice to spend some time with my family, thanks. What about yours?"
"It was great, I recovered some energy!" she replied excitedly.
"Yeah. Look, Alison... Why didn't you tell me the truth about you and Hanna?" he finally asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"What was I supposed to say?" she replied cockily.
He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath before replying.
"Well... For example, that you know each other, and then that you... Let's say that you gave her trouble a few years ago."
Alison chuckled.
"Oh, c'mon... It's been years. What was the point of telling you? Besides, if it wasn't for me, Hanna would have never left Rosewood to come to LA, so you would have never met her. You should thank me, don't you think?" she replied.
Caleb's nerves were jumping up and down like crazy by now.
"Maybe you weren't supposed to tell me, that's true, but at least you could have spared to ask me to send her your bests. What was your purpose? It was obvious that I would find out the truth, I really don't understand what game you were playing. Plus, I don't have to thank you for anything at all." he replied firmly.
"Well... I didn't want to say that, but... If Hanna had never met me, she would also probably still look like a cow. You would have never been interested in that girl, trust me. So... You could thank me at least for that, couldn't you?" she shrugged.
Caleb clenched his fists and had to close his eyes to find the strength to hold himself back. He just wanted to punch that bitch on the face. She was lucky he was a real gentleman who would never even touch a girl. So, after taking a deep breath, he managed to reply without doing anything else, even though the vein on his temple was swollen and twitching.
"You don't even deserve an answer, Alison. Don't you dare say those things again. You should just be ashamed of the person you are. You seem to be the same bitch Hanna told me about. You didn't change at all. Just thank your lucky stars that you're a woman, because if you were a man, I would have punched you so hard that you would have regretted to be alive."
Once he said that, he had to walk away, just to be careful, glancing at her with pure disgust. Then, he bumped into CeCe.
"Caleb, hey... How are you doing?" she asked, smiling.
"Hi... Well, let's say that I had better days, but thanks. What about you?"
"I'm fine, thank you. Something's wrong with Hanna, if you don't mind me ask?"
Caleb shrugged, smiling sadly.
"More or less. I don't even know if there's actually something wrong between us, anyway she has all the reasons of this world to turn her back on me." he replied then.
"I see... I hope that's nothing serious, though. However, if you want to talk, I'm here." she smiled.
"Thank you." he replied sincerely.
"I'm sorry if I'm asking you all of these questions, but... Something happened with Alison too? I saw you guys before, it looked like there was some...tension?"
"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it. I think it's time to start working, CeCe." Caleb replied quickly.
"Sure, you're right."
A/N: So Caleb's back in Spain :( I hope you were happy about Hanna calling him before he left the country, though :) And I also hope you liked the little Caleb/Ashley moment ;) And then, yep, finally you had your Caleb/Ali exchange :P What about it? Anyway, as always, thank you so much for reviewing last chapter :) I'm really happy you enjoyed it even if it was pretty though, and I'm glad the story keeps interesting you even if it's coming a little long :D But I promise there will be some big reveals in the next chapter! Caleb will find out a lot of things, and he's not gonna be very happy about that :/ So, that's all for now. Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter and/or whatever you want to let me know :):) Next chapter of GoW is almost ready too, stay tuned ;) Have you all a nice day! (Un saluto speciale a Gioy, sono molto felice di ritrovarti qui, finalmente! :D ) xx -Atramea.