Disclaimer: A big emphatic 'NO'! I do not own or even have these characters on loan!
Pairings: Caitlin and Eric
Summary: Eric has arrived back in town and put a wrench in Caitlin and Will's relationship. Caitlin and Eric find themselves drawn to each other and having to deal with the emotions that were left unresolved when he moved away. They must deal with the future and whether they will remain in each other's lives, or will college and other things get in the way?
Author's notes: Seeeeee! It didn't take years! So stop your complaining and ENJOY the chapter :P
Chapter Forty
"Hey Anderson!" Connor bellowed from the end of the hallway. "Phone!"Eric slung his towel over his shoulder and stopped midstride. "Me?" he replied, frowning. He had already had his regular weekly phone call from his parents. Who could be phoning now?
"Uh-yeah." The tanned snowboarder from Oregon rolled his eyes and dropped the black receiver, letting it swing from its metal cord.
Jogging down the hallway, Eric raised a curious brow, as he picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Eric?" His whole body tensed in recognition of the familiar voice.
"Caitlin?" He couldn't hide the excitment and surprise in his voice. "Is that you?"
"Yeah," she breathed. "I was hoping to catch you before you went out."
"Out?" Eric wondered what schedule she had been given; he hadn't planned on going out that night. In fact, he had an insane workload to finish for tomorrow's classes.
"I've tried calling a couple of times and you've been out every time." There was a pause on the phone. "I just assumed you were busy with friends or football," she explained softly.
Her voice made his whole body ache, wishing that she were standing in that hallway talking with him. Eric leaned against the thin plastic barrier that was supposed to keep phone conversations private - it never did of course. "I didn't get any messages," he replied, frowning. Glancing over his shoulder at the several meandering oafs in the hallway, he wondered which idiot had taken his messages.
"Oh."
"But I'm glad you're calling me now," he whispered, leaning into the small, cramped booth-like cuticle. "I've been wanting to talk to you."
"Yeah?" she said, her pitch rose, as if surprised.
"Yeah." He smiled to himself at the intimate admission.
A moment of silence passed between them.
"Well how are classes going?" she asked, breaking the silence.
"Good." He nodded to himself, as if she could see his reaction. "I haven't heard anything that I don't know yet. It's just a little more detailed."
"That's good."
"How about you?" Eric hoped she would tell him that she was having a horrible time. Most of the emails he had received from her had been more fact oriented and little about whether she had made any really good connections with friends...guys. "H-how have your classes been going?" he asked tentatively. "You haven't been overwhelmed or anything like that?"
"Nah." His shoulders slumped. "They have been going great, actually. I am loving most of my professors so far."
"W-well, that's," he exhaled slowly, "great!"
"But I am missing you," she said quietly.
His head jerked up and his eyes widened at her admission. "Yeah?" he said casually, leaning deeper into the booth. The words made his chest tighten, and his throat felt suddenly dry.
"I am loving school, but I am missing everyone from back home."
Eric licked his dry, chapped lips, as he was pondering whether it was him specifically she was missing or just her life in HIgh River in general. It seemed clear moments before, but then she suddenly lumped him in with 'everyone from back home'. He swallowed hard, trying to rid himself of the lump in his throat. "Yeah, I'm sure everything is a lot different than back here in Montana."
Just ask her.
Eric shook off that idea. It would seem too clingy.
"Eric, it's so much bigger around her in New York." He heard her sigh. "I didn't even realize it."
"Well, it can't be too bad, right?" He knew how overwhelmed she must have felt, since he felt exactly the same way going to U of C, and that was in state. Somehow he couldn't imagine what it must be like to be hundreds of miles away from home. Suddenly Eric felt the need to comfort her. "Uh, Christmas isn't too far away?" he offered sheepishly.
Yeah, good one. Eric kicked himself silently, knowing that couldn't have possibly comforting in any way.
"Yeah, I guess," she sighed. "I just don't know what I'm going to do for Thanksgiving and the other small holidays that don't allow me to go home for a quick visit."
"Yeah, I guess that kind of sucks, doesn't it?"
Caitlin laughed. "You could say that," she replied, still chuckling. "I think my roommates might stick around for those too, since they are far from home too."
"Well that's something," he said, unable to think of how else to reply.
"Hey Anderson get off the pay phone!" yelled Dallas, a sophmore on his floor. "Others need to use it too...like me!"
Eric rolled his eyes and ignored the rude request.
"Do you need to get going?" Caitlin asked.
"No, don't worry about it," Eric said dismissively. "They can wait."
"No. I shouldn't tie up the phone like this," she protested. He was about to argue, but she interrupted him. "I should get going too. My roommates are rolling their eyes at me."
"We're going out for supper."
"Oh." Eric hated this. He hated not being able to talk with her for hours on end. They had barely got past the fluff talk and into more important things. "Okay," he sighed.
"I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Um, when's a good time to call?" she asked tentatively.
"Caitlin come on!"
Eric could hear her roommates shouting loudly enough to be picked up by the receiver. "How about I call you during the weekend?" The weekend was hectic, but not so much so that he couldn't find time to find out how she felt things were going when it came to the whole long-distance thing. "In the evening some time?" he suggested.
"Um, actually I can't do it this weekend," Caitlin said apologetically. "I am actually going away this weekend."
"Away?" Eric furrowed his brow at the thought. With who? Doing what?
"Yeah, a few of my classmates talked me into going on a roadtrip this weekend."
"Well it doesn't sound like you're going to have a lack of things to do and people to keep you busy," he retorted, slightly annoyed at the thought she had already made close enough friends to be heading out of town with them.
"Eric." There was a pause. "It's not like that," she protested. "They are making me go."
"Really?" He was skeptical at the explanation. Caitlin was never 'forced' into doing anything she didn't want to do. "How are they doing that?" he asked, doodling on the pad of notepaper with a pencil left for phone messages.
"Look Maisy and Lane got tired of me moping around the apartment that they convinced me to go with them and a few guys from the Arts department to the coast."
"Guys?" He hoped he had accidentally heard wrong. Maybe she meant pies...
"They're friends of Lane's. One of them has a house down there."
Eric shook his head, sticking a finger in his ear, thinking he must be hearing things. "Does Dori know about this little 'trip' you're going on?" he asked irritably, thinking he may be able to appeal to her responsible side, if not guilt her with the morals and ethics the Lowes' instilled in her.
"Eric, you're kidding right?"
He frowned. Why would he be kidding? Of course he wanted them to know! "No," he replied quickly, not sure why the idea sounded incredulous to her ears.
"I'm not going to worry Dori and Jim about every little thing that I'm doing over here," she laughed dubiously. "But to let you know, yes, I did tell them."
Damn them! What happened to their morals? Eric closed his eyes, gritting his teeth and tried to remain calm. "So what are you going to do there?" He tried to keep his tone light.
"Probably some sightseeing and maybe go to a club or something," she answered non-chalantly. "I don't think we've made set plans."
"Well it wouldn't be crazy to cancel then, would it?" he suggested lightly. She laughed. Obviously not.
"Eric stop worrying," she chided. "It's not like I'm going to get there and start making out with one of the guys."
He knew she wouldn't, but wasn't too sure about the guys she was going with. Guys were aggressive, perverse scum when it came to girls.
"Caitliiiiin!" Again her roommates beckoned her. "I'll be right there," she yelled, her voice muffled over the receiver by what was probably her hand covering it.
"I gotta go," Caitlin informed, laughing softly.
"All right," he said reluctantly. "I guess I shouldn't keep the phone tied up here either." Glancing over his shoulder, he could see Dallas approaching, with his roommate as backup. "I'll talk to you later?"
"Yeah," she whispered into the phone.
"I miss you," he said softly, covering his mouth so the approaching mob wouldn't overhear.
"I miss you too, Eric." There was a moment of silent reflection before the moment was broken by a muffled scream. "She has to go now lover boy," a lazy southern accent drawled.
"Bye!" another unfamiliar voice chuckled.
In the background he could hear Caitlin bellowing at the interlopers. "Lane, give that back!"
Then the gutwrenching click of the receiver hanging up - the line going dead.
"Bye." Eric didn't have time to wallow in his sorrow before Dallas grabbed the receiver from his hand and shoved him out of the way. "Hey!" Eric growled.
Dallas rolled his eyes and motioned with a flick of his wrist to get lost. Alan his roommate glared at him with his arms folded across his chest, attempting to look intimidating. "Scram freshman!" Alan barked.
Eric clenched the towel around his neck, turned around and padded towards the bathroom. He would ignore the stuck up sophmores until he got on the football team, and then he would see who was telling them to scram. Just wait till then.
Having large linebackers at your back tended to halt any unintelligent schmucks from picking on you. And at that moment, that was the last thing he wanted to have to worry about.
-- & --
"You didn't just hang up on Eric," Caitlin said incredulously, pointing at Lane, who was holding the phone behind her. "You tell me you didn't do that." As much as she had a hard time getting along with Lane, Lane's interference in her love life did nothing to endear the girl to her.
"We have to get going or we'll lose our reservations," Lane declared, rolling her eyes, as if she couldn't have cared less if Caitlin was upset. "Besides, were we supposed to wait until you got to the - 'you hang up', 'no you'?" She made contorted smooching expressions and then rolled her eyes again.
"Why didn't you just go without me?" Caitlin folded her arms across her chest. "You didn't have to wait for me," she retorted irritably. "I could have caught up with you later."
She glanced at the cordless phone in Lane's hand and hated how she ended the conversation with Eric. She didn't even get to say goodbye.
"I'm sure she didn't mean to hang up," Maisy offered apologetically. "She probably accidentally hit the end button."
Caitlin glanced over her shoulder and shook her head. "Does that matter?" she spat. "I was having a private conversation, in which you tackled me and took away the phone!" Her face was flushed from the struggle and also anger.
Did no one teach them manners?
"You have to lighten up Seeger," Lane sighed, throwing the phone onto the couch. "I'm sure he'll phone back later, or you'll phone him back and apologize profusely for our 'wicked' behavior." She grabbed her trenchcoat and came up alongside Maisy.
"Now are you coming for supper or are you going to pout the rest of the night away?"
Caitlin glared at her like she was insane. "No." She slipped off her coat and flung it onto the couch. "I think you'll be fine if I stay here," she growled. "I wouldn't want to ruin your fun night."
"Caitlin, we're sorry," Maisy cried, her expression completely distraught. "Please don't be mad."
I had to get stuck with Miss. Attitude? Why me?
"Look, sorry," Lane said drolly, as if it pained her to apologize. "I really didn't mean to hang up on him."
Caitlin turned and studied Lane's tight-lipped expression and debated whether she believed her or not. She could never read her second roommate very well. "I don't really feel like going out anyway," she sighed, running her fingers through the length of her ever-growing hair. "You should just go without me."
Both girls lolled their heads back and groaned. "You're being no fun," Lane sighed exasperatingly. "This is supposed to be a 'roommate' thing that we do!"
"Yes!" Maisy chimed in excitedly. "I think you just need to need to get your mind off of your little beau and join us girl, for a little old fashioned fun!"
"I thought we were just going out for dinner?" Caitlin eyed them suspiciously. "Is there something you didn't tell me about?"
Lane and Maisy exchanged knowing looks. They shook their heads emphatically. "No," they stated in unison.
"We would never plan something fun and," Lane glanced at Maisy, "and not tell you about it."
The two girls broke out in a twitter of laughter.
Caitlin shook her head. Her anger had faded and now she was just curious as to what the two girls had planned to spring upon her. "You guys are terrible," she said, unable to keep herself from chuckling at their conspiratorial looks.
"Are you going to come now," Maisy drawled, her eyes twinkled, as if she were an excited schoolgirl.
Caitlin hesitated, shrinking back at what these two mischievous girls could have thought up as 'fun' for the night. "I don't..."
"Seeger, you so are coming," Lane stated, rolling her eyes and heading towards the door. "Come on!"
Caitlin feigned a look of annoyance at her presumptiousness. Looking over at Maisy, who had a wide grin on her face and was herself moving towards the door, Caitlin sighed, "All right." She stalked towards her two roommates. "Let's go."
"Great!" Lane waggled her eyebrows. "Let the good times roll."
Caitlin glanced briefly over at the phone lying on the couch. She would have to call him later on in the week and apologize.
"Come on," Maisy giggled, pushing Caitlin out the door. "Let's have a girl's night out!"
At least she would have something exciting to talk to Eric about after tonight.
