PrettyLittleAshwee.11: Thanks so much for the review! It's nice to see a new face (username) on the story! Glad you're enjoying it, and I completely agree - there are not nearly enough Haleb stories anymore!
DuncneyLoveOfMyLife: Yeah, Jordan's the worst, right?! She definitely needs to divorce him. Really should never have married him in the first place.
So this is another one of my favorite chapters; it's super important to the growth and development of Haleb's relationship! Hope you all enjoy!
It was one of the weekends in which Jordan was actually home, and they were going to some charity event tonight. Not their typical charity gala, though. It was a much smaller, more low-key event. The organization was a lot less well-known, and wasn't backed by the richest of the rich the way a lot of other organizations were. But the foundation was run by a friend of Jordan's from Wharton, and it was important to him that they go and support it. She didn't even know what the mission was; it might have been something about starving children or homeless children or something like that.
She didn't know what to expect, or even how to dress. She figured her typical evening gowns for these types of events would make her stand out too much, so she chose a more casual dress that she hoped would be appropriate for the event.
"Hanna, are you ready?" she heard Jordan call out from downstairs.
"Be right there!" she called back.
An hour later, Hanna and Jordan were arriving at the museum where the fundraiser was taking place.
"What is this for again?" Hanna whispered to Jordan as they walked in, hand-in-hand.
"Foster kids. The organization works to support foster kids that are in bad situations. You know, neglect, abuse, hunger. It's a really good cause, and Maya is really passionate about it, so I want to support her," he explained. "I know it's not as upscale as the events that you're used to, so we don't have to stay too long, but I appreciate you accompanying me."
"Of course," she told him, squeezing his hand.
"Jordan!" called out a petite brunette woman, a few years older than Hanna, as they reached the check-in table just inside the entrance. "Thanks so much for coming; it means a lot."
"I wouldn't miss it," Jordan replied in his thick Australian accent, kissing the woman on the cheek. "And this is my wife, Hanna," he told her, putting his arm around Hanna.
"Hanna, it's so nice to finally meet you," the woman said warmly, embracing Hanna. "I have heard so much about you from Jordan. I'm Maya. Maya St. Germain."
"It's nice to meet you, too," Hanna replied politely. "The work you're doing here is great, and we love to support causes like this."
"Aw, Jordan was right about you, you are so sweet! And your husband over here is great, too," she gestured to Jordan. "He's supported my mission for this organization since the beginning and I'm so grateful."
"He is pretty great," Hanna agreed, looking over at her husband.
"Hey, Maya, when am I up?" a voice interrupted their conversation, the voice belonging to a man walking towards them, looking down at the event program.
The man looked up from the sheet of paper, and he and Hanna locked eyes, shock evident on both of their faces.
"Caleb?" Hanna questioned, confused. "Um, hi," she said nervously. "How are you? What are you doing here?"
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. How did she always end up in these situations?
"Uh, hey…Hanna," he replied, equally baffled. "Nice to see you," he said awkwardly. "Uh, I've been working with this organization for years."
"He's one of our best partners," Maya interrupted, oblivious to the tension in the air. "The kids adore him. We all do, really. How do you two know each other?" she asked innocently, gesturing between Hanna and Caleb.
They both hesitated, waiting for the other to answer.
Finally, Caleb spoke up: "We've been working together on Veronica Hastings' campaign for Senate," he said simply. "What brings you two here?" he asked Hanna and Jordan.
"Maya and I have been friends since graduate school," Jordan explained. "I've always been a big supporter of her cause."
"Oh, well, I've never seen you at one of these events before," Caleb replied, and Hanna could hear the slight note of a challenge in his voice, but she hoped Jordan hadn't picked up on it.
"Well, I'm often out of town and unable to attend the events, but I always send my support," Jordan replied calmly, politely, but Hanna noticed the strain in his voice. He already disliked Caleb, just based on the fact that he knew Hanna didn't like him. (Or, so he thought.) And he didn't appreciate the guy questioning his charitable contributions.
She really needed to defuse the situation now.
"Yeah, Hanna's mentioned that you travel a lot," Caleb informed him.
"Oh, she has, has she?" Jordan said with a fake laugh, looking over at Hanna and forcing a smile. "I guess we'll have to go over what's appropriate and what's not appropriate to discuss with strangers, won't we, darling?" he added through gritted teeth and a tight smile.
She couldn't believe he had just said that. Usually he was so polite and collected. Caleb must have really gotten to him. She needed to get them away from each other immediately.
"Well, it was lovely to meet you, Maya," Hanna intervened. "Caleb, always a pleasure," she smiled tightly at him before grabbing Jordan's hand and practically dragging him to a table at the back of the room, as far from Caleb as possible.
As soon as she sat down, though, she took out her phone to text Caleb.
"Seriously? Again?! Can't you control yourself?" She had asked him at the wedding to stop making insinuations about their relationship, and she thought he had gotten the message. Apparently not.
The event was nice, definitely not up to the standards of the charity events Hanna usually attended, but well-done, nevertheless.
There was a silent auction, but instead of boats and one-of-a-kind art and trips to ski lodges in Aspen, like Hanna usually saw, it was smaller-ticket items, like gift certificates, and a photography session, and tickets to local attractions.
It was obvious that Maya's organization didn't receive nearly as much in donations as other, larger organizations did, but it was also apparent how much she cared about the cause.
After the silent auction, Maya stood up at the front of the room and gave a brief speech, thanking everyone for coming, and introducing their guest speaker.
Hanna was confused when she saw her hand over the microphone to Caleb. Caleb was the guest speaker?
"Hi, everyone, thanks for coming out tonight," he began. "I see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, so thank you all for your continued support. But I see some new faces as well, so for those of you who don't know me, my name is Caleb Rivers, and I've been a partner of 'Family for All' for about three years now."
Hanna was surprised by how comfortable Caleb seemed giving his speech. Did he do this often? she wondered.
"I spent most of my childhood in the foster system," he continued. "I never met my father, and when I was five, my mom dropped me off at my aunt's house to go shopping, and she never came back."
Hanna couldn't believe what she was hearing. How did she not know any of this? She tried desperately to meet his eye, but he was looking anywhere but at her.
"So I know all about being a foster kid and the challenges they face. I could sugarcoat it, and tell you it's not that bad, and tell you success stories about the few that defied the odds and actually made something of themselves, but that won't accomplish anything. I'm here to tell you the truth about the foster system.
"And the truth is, the foster system is terrible. Probably worse than how most of you would even imagine it. Sure, there were some houses that weren't that bad, some where they even pretended to care about the kids, but those were the ones that were few and far between. I can only speak for myself and my experience, but I know hundreds of other foster kids who have their own stories to tell. Most of the foster parents I had were alcoholics, or drug addicts, or just downright terrible people that should never have been allowed to even interact with children, let alone care for them.
"I was dressed in tattered clothes that didn't fit, I was hungry more often than not, I was neglected, and I was abused. And this was the reality of every house that I was at. I think all foster kids can relate to the hope that you feel when you're told you're being moved to a new family, the hope that 'This one will be better.' But it rarely is. Often, it's even worse.
"I still remember the worst family I was ever placed with. I think I was about thirteen. Neither of them had jobs, so they always had a ton of foster kids so they could collect the check. The man was a mean drunk, and would come home every night ready to fight. One night, he started hitting one of the other kids - I think he was about six or seven. I couldn't stand seeing him beat on a defenseless child like that, so I intervened. Got in the middle of it. And he hit me in the head with his beer bottle for it. That's how I got this scar, actually," he announced, pointing to the scar above his right eyebrow.
Hanna's eyes filled with tears as she listened to him speak. Seriously, how had she not known about any of this? She had even asked him about that scar once, and he just told her that he had fallen off his bicycle when he was little. She now realized that he had probably never even owned a bicycle as a child.
"I'm not telling you all this to make you feel guilty about your privilege, or to make you feel sorry for me. Honestly, I'm one of the lucky ones. No, I didn't go to college, and I'm not a millionaire. But I'm alive, I'm not an addict, and I don't even have any illegitimate children."
He paused as the crowd laughed. Not Hanna, though. She still couldn't get over this. Any of this. Nothing about this was funny. She had judged Caleb so harshly, but after hearing all of this, it was no wonder he was the way he was: closed-off, always using humor to hide his emotions.
"That's the benchmark, the standard that people hold foster kids to in order to decide if they've succeeded or not. But that's not fair. They deserve so much better. So much more. That's why I'm so proud to support this incredible organization and the amazing work it does. Maya, thank you. On behalf of foster kids everywhere, thank you for working to reform the foster system to try and keep kids out of these terrible homes. Thank you for providing a safe space for these kids to go, where they can get food and water and clothes and shoes that fit right and even help with their homework. And thank you for letting me volunteer, and spend time with these remarkable kids.
"Thank you all again for spending your night here with us at 'Family for All.' And thank you for your support. You're all helping us change the world, little by little. Have a great night, everyone."
Hanna tried to wipe the tears from her face as soon as Caleb finished talking. She didn't need everyone seeing her like this, an emotional mess.
"Wow, that was intense," Jordan said, turning to face her. "Kind of makes me feel sort of bad for the chap, I suppose."
Seriously? She knew Jordan didn't like Caleb; he had made his feelings about him perfectly clear. But Caleb had just confessed his tragic life story to a room full of people, and all Jordan could muster up was feeling "sort of bad" for him.
Before she could reply, a middle-aged couple approached their table.
"Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan!" Jordan exclaimed. "How nice to see you two here tonight! Anne, you look lovely, how are you?"
Hanna took this opportunity to slip away from the table, searching for Maya.
She spotted her wishing a couple of people goodnight, and she called out for her as soon as they had left.
"Maya!" She turned her head to find the source, and Hanna made her way over to her.
"Hi, Hanna, I hope you had a good time tonight," she said warmly.
"I did. It was…enlightening. I'd like to make a donation, actually," she told her quietly.
Hanna pulled her checkbook from her clutch, and scribbled furiously.
She handed it over to the brunette, and her eyes widened in shock as she took in the number written on it.
"Hanna, this is incredibly kind of you," she began. "But I don't think I can accept this. It's too much, and Jordan already does so much for us and – "
"I really want you guys to have it," Hanna interrupted. "This is…an amazing cause. You deserve it. Those kids deserve it."
Maya still looked shocked, but she could tell it was no use arguing with Hanna.
"Well, we'll certainly have to give you guys a very special thank-you shout-out in our next newsletter. How would you like it presented? 'Mr. and Mrs. Hobart'? 'Mr. and Mrs. Jordan Hobart'? 'Hanna and Jordan Hobart'? Whatever you want. We can make it happen."
"Actually, I'd like the donation to remain anonymous," Hanna replied.
"Are you sure?" Maya asked, clearly surprised. Jordan had been donating to the organization for years, and she was incredibly grateful, but she always suspected that his generosity had more to do with his image than with actually wanting to help. He had certainly never made an anonymous donation.
"Yeah, I'm sure. It's not about us, it's about the kids. I just want to help them."
"Well, Hanna, this is certainly the most generous donation we've ever received. Thank you so, so much. This is going to help so many kids."
Hanna smiled at her as she walked away.
"You did not have to do that."
She looked up as she heard Caleb's voice to see him walking towards her.
"I wanted to," she said simply. "It's for a great cause."
They stood in silence for a few seconds until Hanna broke it.
"Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered, the tears in her eyes betraying her emotion.
As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was hurt. Really hurt. She had thought that she and Caleb were finally making progress and he was finally opening up to her, and then she found out he had been keeping this huge part of his life a secret from her.
"You never asked," he replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
"I'm sorry," she said through her tears. "But that just wasn't…that wasn't how our relationship was." It was true. Up until recently, their relationship had been based entirely around sex; they didn't have deep conversations like this.
"It's fine," he told her, looking around uncomfortably. He hadn't planned on having this conversation with her - at all, really - but definitely not while her husband was somewhere in the room.
"Caleb, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "That you had to go through all that, I mean."
She wished she could be in his arms right now, or, at the very least, could grab his hand. But she knew there were too many people around. Including her husband.
"Look, Hanna. This," he said, circling his finger around, pointing at her tear-filled eyes. "This is exactly why I don't like to talk about it. That pitying look you have on your face right now is exactly why I don't tell people about my past."
"Caleb, it's not pity," she argued gently. "I just hate that it happened to you. That it happens to anyone."
She suddenly remembered a conversation they had shared a long time ago, way before they started sleeping together. "You know what, I did ask you about your family. In the campaign office one day. Is that why you wouldn't tell me anything? You were too afraid I would pity you? You just snapped at me and told me it was none of my business or something."
Caleb couldn't recall that particular conversation, but it didn't surprise him to hear that he had pushed her away. He felt bad about that now. She was one of the kindest, most compassionate people he had ever met, and, as hard as it was for him to accept, maybe she did just really care. Maybe it wasn't pity, but genuine concern for him.
"Well, that was a long time ago, Han. Before you were spending every night in my bed and worming your way into my heart," he said with a small smile. Now, she practically had him wrapped around her finger; he would tell her anything she wanted to know.
"Worming your way into my heart," echoed in Hanna's mind. That was it. The confirmation she needed. That the feelings, the real, deep feelings she was developing for him, the feelings she knew she shouldn't be feeling, but couldn't fight any longer, weren't one-sided. He felt it, too. This wasn't just physical anymore, this was so much more. She should have known this already after he had been so patient and sweet with her after her nightmare, and after all of the time they had spent together since, but it still felt good to hear him admit it.
Before she could say anything back, they both turned at the sound of Jordan's voice.
"Hanna! Hanna, are you ready to go?"
She turned back to Caleb.
"I'm really sorry. I have to –" she began.
"I know," was all he said, but she could see the hurt and disappointment on his face.
"I'll call you," she promised softly.
Jordan had been home for an exceptionally long time, at least for him, almost a full week this time, and Hanna was relieved when he finally left again.
She and Caleb had hardly spoken since the "Family for All" event, and she had missed him.
Which made finally being wrapped in his arms again extra special.
They had made up for lost time, a few times, actually, and were now curled up on the floor by the fireplace in his living room, their eagerly-discarded clothes scattered around them, a blanket pulled over their naked bodies, her head resting on his chest, Brody asleep nearby.
They had been laying like that for a while when Hanna rolled over, leaning down to kiss him.
As she pulled away, he asked, a gleam in his eye, "Oo, are you ready to go again?"
"Not yet," she told him, chuckling. "I wanna talk first."
"Okaayyy?" he said hesitantly. "I'm nervous now."
"Don't be nervous," she laughed, repositioning herself so that her forearms were on his chest, supporting her, her chin resting on her hands. "I wanna know about your family. I'm finally asking," she told him, looking up at him from underneath her thick eyelashes.
"What do you wanna know?" he asked her.
"I don't know," she admitted. "Everything. I wanna know where you came from, I wanna know what kind of people could just abandon an innocent child, and let him go through all that alone. I wanna know you, Caleb. I want to know all of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly."
She placed a gentle kiss to the scar on his forehead, her heart breaking as she thought about where it really came from. His eyes closed as he felt her delicate touch against the sensitive skin.
"Where are you from?" She started with an easy question.
"A lot of places," he replied simply.
"Ca-leb," she groaned.
"What?" he asked defensively.
"The whole point of this is for you to open up to me," she pointed out. "That was not a very good answer."
He closed his eyes slowly. He wanted to open up to her, he did. But this was new territory for him, and he wasn't sure how to go about it.
"I'm trying, Han, I really am," he told her gently, running his hand down her back tenderly. "I'm just...not used to opening up to people, so this is just really hard for me."
"Let's try again then," she said, placing an encouraging kiss against his shoulder. "Where are you from?" she repeated. "With details."
"Well, I moved all over when I was in the foster system, so let's see," he started as he tried to remember all of the places he had resided, holding Hanna close to him. "Seattle...Wilmette...Salt Lake...Denver...Chicago...Allentown, and then I was in Ravenswood for high school, then spent some time in California with my mother, and now I'm here."
"You went to high school in Ravenswood?" Hanna asked quietly.
"Yeah..." he confirmed, a questioning look on his face, confused as to why she sounded so upset about that.
"You were so close. You should have come and found me," she tried to keep her tone light, forcing a laugh, but her face showed something else...regret, maybe? Disappointment? It was hard to tell. "Things might be so different right now."
"They might," he agreed quietly, but his mind was racing. Was she suggesting that if they had met in high school, she would have given him a chance, a real chance? That maybe it could have been him by her side now, not Jordan?
He knew he needed to change the subject before his mind wandered too much, imagining a life with Hanna, actually with her, a life he knew was impossible.
"So what else do you want to know?" he broke the silence.
"I wanna know more about your family," she replied, running her fingers across his chest, tickling him lightly.
"Well, my dad walked out on us. My mom tried for a few years to do it on her own, but couldn't handle it, I guess. So she left me at my aunt's. My aunt was a good woman, she took really good care of me while I was there, but she didn't want to raise a kid, and she shouldn't have had to. I don't blame her for any of it. My mom kept in touch for a little while, birthday cards and shit like that. I tried for years to find her. I would get my hopes up every single time, and then it was never her."
Hanna could hear the pain in his voice, so she kissed his chest gently to let him know she was here for him, whatever he needed.
"So I finally gave up. Accepted that I was on my own, and she wasn't coming back. Was shuffled from foster home to foster home. Slept on park benches and camped out and snuck into my high school at night, just trying to avoid having to go back. But then whatever social worker I had at the time, who probably thought my name was 'Calvin' or something, would come find me and drag me back. I moved around a lot, so I never really made any friends or got close to anyone, since I figured I'd be leaving again soon anyway."
Hanna's heart broke more and more as she listened to his story, but she was glad that he was telling her, anyway. She felt like she was getting to know him on a whole new level.
"And then when I was seventeen, my mom found me. Hired a private investigator and everything. Acted like I was supposed to run into her arms and forget everything that she had done. But while I was starving in abusive foster homes, she was off living it up in Montecito, married to some rich guy. So we have a relationship now, because she's the only family I have, and I was too desperate to turn her away, but we're not super close. It's hard to just forgive something like that, you know?" He had been staring straight ahead during his entire story, but he looked down at her as he asked this.
"God, Caleb," she said. "That's awful. I'm so sorry."
"Han, you can stop apologizing for my shitty childhood," he laughed. "None of this is your fault."
"I know. But it's just so terrible and I wish you never had to go through any of that."
"Well, it's over now," he told her, stroking her hair tenderly. "And I turned out okay. Ish."
She laughed. "I think you turned out great. Well, once you can get through your rough outer layers, at least," she joked, leaning down to kiss him.
"Alright, enough about me," he said as they separated. "It's your turn."
"What do you wanna know? I'm an open book," she told him, just as Brody woke up and started barking, walking over to be near them.
She sat up, encouraging Brody to come closer to her so she could pet him.
"I don't know. I just told you my whole life story, you gotta give me something. Like, when you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?" he asked her.
"You know, no one ever really asked me that growing up," she said thoughtfully, stroking the dog's fur. "I guess they all just figured I would never accomplish anything more than being a trophy wife."
"Hey," he said gently, reaching out to stroke her cheek supportively. "You can be so much more than that. You can do whatever you set your mind to. You're ambitious and determined and hardworking, and I know you would succeed at anything. And come on, there has to have been something you wanted to do."
"Well, yeah, of course there was. I just stopped telling people because they would always laugh at me when I talked about it. But what I wanted, more than anything else, was to be a fashion designer. I wanted to move to New York City and go to the Fashion Institute of Technology and work my way to the top. I had a whole five-year plan and everything," she recalled. Things could be so much different right now if she had stuck to that plan.
"So what changed?" he asked her.
"Well, no one in my family supported my plan. None of them thought I could do it. And then my high school guidance counselor told me she was concerned about whether my 'work ethic' was strong enough to make it, and suggested I do what everyone else in my family did, just go to an Ivy, where my parents could buy my success." She rolled her eyes. "So I went to Yale, definitely would have flunked out if my parents hadn't basically bought my degree, and then I came home and met Jordan. My family thought he was perfect, exactly what I needed, so I married him. And now everyone was right; I'm nothing more than a trophy wife."
She always felt awkward talking about Jordan with Caleb, but he wanted her story, and this was her story.
"Do you ever consider going into fashion now?" he asked her.
"I think about it all the time. But there's no opportunity for it around here, and it's not like I can just uproot my life and move away. Jordan would never go for that."
She winced as she realized she had mentioned Jordan again. She didn't mean to talk about him, but it was hard to tell her story without him, since he was such a big part of it, as much as Caleb and Hanna were both trying to deny it. But she didn't want to make Caleb feel uncomfortable, so she decided to change the subject.
"Okay, now that I've told you about my deepest dreams, is there anything else you want to know?" she asked, attempting to lighten the mood.
"Well, I wanna know everything about you," he replied, reaching over to pull her closer to him again. He missed touching her already. "Seriously, just tell me anything." He already knew he was going to hang on to her every word, no matter what she said.
"Well, my first boyfriend was the minister's son. Sean. Sean Ackard. He was the stereotypical golden boy. Blonde hair, blue eyes, football player, Student Council, straight A student," she said, and he waited for her to continue. "I'd had a crush on him since, like, the sixth grade. And then, junior year, he finally asked me out. Everything was perfect, he was amazing, I was already planning our wedding. And then I find out he's in the Real Love Waits club," she said dramatically.
"Is that some kind of holy roller virgin society?" Caleb asked, laughing.
"That's exactly what I said!" Hanna gasped. "Basically, yes. And he told me he was serious about his abstinence."
"Something tells me that didn't fly with you," Caleb predicted.
"No," Hanna admitted. "I wanted to lose my virginity, and I wanted to lose it to Sean."
"And?" Caleb prodded.
"And I did," she said proudly, although she wasn't exactly proud of the methods she had used to accomplish it. "We were at a party one night, and we'd both been drinking. We weren't, like, totally drunk, just kinda tipsy. And I basically had to throw myself at him, and even then, he still turned me down. It was completely and totally humiliating! So I gave him an ultimatum, told him if he wouldn't have sex with me, I was done. Not my finest moment," she admitted. "But it worked! At least, it worked that night. But then, like, three days later, he broke up with me, telling me he had decided to become a 'born-again virgin,' and that he already knew I wouldn't be able to accept that so we couldn't be together."
"Ouch," Caleb said simply.
"Well, he called me Hanna Banana, so honestly, I think I dodged a bullet with him."
"'Hanna Banana'?" Caleb echoed, grinning. "That's good, I am so gonna steal that."
"You most certainly are not," Hanna countered. "I will withhold sex if need be."
"No, you won't," he said confidently, smirking at her. "I know you can't resist me," he pointed out, his voice low. "That would be just as much of a punishment for you as for me."
She rolled her eyes, knowing he was right. She couldn't keep her hands off of him.
"So what other boyfriends do I need to know about?" he asked her.
"Well, I was kind of a slut in college," she admitted. She had done a lot of hooking up and not a lot of dating throughout her college career. "And the only even kind-of boyfriend I had was Travis Hobbs. He was a senior when I was a sophomore, and he was the President of the best frat, and I was in the best sorority, and we kept running into each other at parties. He was the guy that all the girls at Yale wanted, and in the beginning, it was great. He was sweet and charming and nice, so I went out with him a few times. But then he became all controlling and possessive, wanting to know where I was going and what I was doing all the time, and he was just an asshole, overall. But the worst of all was when he suggested we have a threesome with my roommate," she finished, rolling her eyes. That had been the last straw for her, even though a lot of other things he had already done to her should have meant the end for them.
"Did you do it?" Caleb asked, a sideways smirk on his face. He didn't mind imagining Hanna involved in some girl-on-girl action.
"No!" she exclaimed, disgusted.
She curled herself into his chest again, wanting to be as close to him as possible.
"What about you?" she asked.
"What about me?" he replied.
"If we're going into ex-territory, I should get to know about yours, too. Tell me about your ex-girlfriends."
"Uh, there's not really much to tell," he said honestly.
She sat up abruptly, looking down at him.
"What do you mean, 'There's not much to tell'?" she mimicked. "I have heard that you are quite the womanizer."
"Well, do you want me to tell you about every woman I've ever slept with?" he questioned. "That's a completely different thing from exes, and could take a while. I don't really do the girlfriend thing, though."
"You don't 'do' the girlfriend thing?" she echoed. "So you've never had a girlfriend?" she questioned disbelievingly.
"Not really," he said truthfully. His affair with Hanna was easily the most serious relationship he'd ever had, which should probably be concerning. "There's been a couple women I've gone out with two or three times, but not many."
She gaped at him, still slightly in shock. Sure, she knew he wasn't exactly the committed-relationship type, but she couldn't believe he had never had a girlfriend.
She laid back down on his chest, still processing this information, silent for a couple minutes.
"Anything else you want to know?" she finally asked him.
"Hmmm...tell me about your first pet," he suggested playfully. He literally wanted to know everything about her. He had never felt this way about a woman before.
"Ah, Guppy," she said with a little smile on her face.
"You named a guppy, 'Guppy'?" he asked incredulously.
"I was two!" she said defensively. It had made sense at the time.
"I bet you were the cutest two-year old," he commented. He just pictured a toddler with wild blonde curls and Hanna's piercing blue eyes.
"I was adorable," she confirmed. She had seen enough baby photos to know that. "I bet you were a cute baby, too."
"Well, obviously," he said cockily. "But, uh, I don't really have any pictures of me as a baby," he said awkwardly. He supposed his mother probably had a few lying around somewhere, but he couldn't recall ever seeing one. Even for the first few years of his life that she was around for, she wasn't exactly the model parent. It's not like she brought him to have his photos professionally taken and then made scrapbooks with them.
"Oh, god, Caleb, I'm sorry," she said awkwardly. She always seemed to say the wrong thing around him.
"Don't worry about it," he replied casually. "I don't need photos to know I was a cute kid. I mean, look at me now; how could I not have been?" he asked with a cocky grin, making Hanna laugh.
"Anything else you're dying to know about me?" she asked him.
He thought about it for a moment.
"Hmm, well, you told me about your deepest dreams, so how about…your deepest and darkest secret now?" he suggested.
"Besides sleeping with you?" she retorted, turning her head and smirking at him.
"Ha-ha, very funny," he rolled his eyes.
"Well, one time in high school, my friends and I went to this party and got super drunk. Like, the drunkest I've ever been, still, to this day."
Caleb watched Hanna as he wondered where she was going with this.
"We decided it was a good idea to all get matching 'friendship' tattoos," she recalled, laughing. "But Spencer chickened out at the last minute and never got one! Oh, and they convinced me to get my belly button pierced, too! I thought my parents were going to have heart attacks when they found out. They definitely wanted to murder me."
He laughed along with her as she smiled at the memory, before realizing something.
"Okay, but I am pretty sure I have seen every inch of your beautiful body – how did I not know you had a tattoo?" he asked, confused.
"Because I don't," she clarified. "The day after my mom found out, she literally dragged me to get it removed. She told me that 'Marins don't have tattoos,' and I was disgracing the family name. She would definitely hate your tattoo," she smirked at him.
"Well, luckily, I don't think we have to worry about her seeing it. It's not exactly in a…visible place," he laughed. "But what do you think about my tattoo?" he asked, his eyes dancing as he flirted with her.
"You know I love your tattoo," she said shyly, feeling her cheeks flush as she pictured it.
"So I shouldn't have it removed?" he confirmed.
"Definitely not."
"So what was it?" he asked her, grinning. "Your tattoo?" he prompted, when she looked confused.
"It was a butterfly," she told him.
"How very original," he laughed.
"Hey, we were drunk!" she defended herself. "With really bad fake IDs; they should never have even worked on us!"
"So, where was it?" he asked, his voice low.
She smirked at him as she grabbed his hand to show him just where she had had her perfect skin marked semi-permanently.
"Right…" she murmured, guiding his hand to the skin on her left hip, very close to his favorite part of her body. "Here."
He groaned as he rubbed the smooth skin gently, tenderly. He was so tempted to move his hand just that little bit, but he was actually really enjoying just talking to her, so he pulled back his hand before it went any further.
"So a since-removed tattoo and belly button piercing? That's really your darkest secret? I guess you really are as innocent and pure as you seem," he grinned at her, mocking her. If she had asked him what his darkest secret was, he would feel obligated to confess to any number of the illegal things he had done to support himself when he was younger, and yet her darkest secret was something that most teenagers explored at some point. Maybe she really was way too good for him.
She hesitated, unsure as to how much she was ready to share with him.
"Well, there was also the time, when I was in high school, I got caught shoplifting some jewelry," she admitted quietly, and she noticed the look of genuine surprise on his face.
"I don't even know why I did it," she continued. "I probably had nine different credit cards in my wallet I could have used. I guess I just wanted to stop being so perfect all the time. I was tired of being seen as the obedient, goody-two-shoes daughter of Tom Marin, so I acted out. My parents made a very large 'donation'," she even added the air quotes as she said this, "to the police station in order to make sure it stayed quiet. And it never did come out."
He didn't say anything for a while, and she was worried he was judging her. She hadn't even told Jordan about this. No one knew. Not even her friends. Just her parents and the cops that had been on duty that night.
"I'm actually impressed by you, Han," he finally broke the silence, grinning. "I guess you don't need me to help you earn those bad-girl stripes after all; you did that all on your own."
"Hey!" she exclaimed, hitting him lightly on the chest. "Although, I am pretty bad, aren't I?" she asked, a mischievous glint in her eye.
"You definitely are a bad, bad girl whenever you're around me, Mrs. Hobart," he agreed with a smirk.
She squealed as he pulled her down on top of him, kissing her passionately again.