Hanna arrived at school a little after, meeting the girls outside as always. They chatted a little as usual, talking about everything and nothing, until they saw Caleb inside from a window.
"Anyone knows where is Caleb staying now? I knew he was staying at Toby's, but now..." Spencer asked.
Emily and Aria shook their head and then all the three automatically glanced at Hanna.
"I have no idea." she shrugged, keeping her original plan not to tell about it.
Spencer raised an eyebrow at her and Hanna sighed.
"I don't know, okay? But if you wanna know something, I'm glad he decided to stay in Rosewood." she blurted out then.
"How do you know he decided that?" Aria asked.
Hanna rolled her eyes.
"We talked a little and he told me, okay? Why this third degree?" she scoffed.
"Oh, you know, this is just the guy whom you've cried over for months because he had left you for another chick and now he's suddenly back in town... Maybe we just wanted to know how you feel about him?" Emily replied.
Hanna sighed again and looked through the window from where she could see Caleb.
"He didn't cheat on me. Things just got messed, and... He had to go. But like I said, I'm happy he's back now. I'm not mad at him. And he told me he wants to help us with -A, so..." she said then, still looking there.
Aria, Spencer ed Emily exchanged looks and then nodded, as Travis approached Hanna.
"Hey." he greeted Hanna and the girls, smiling.
The other three girls waved at him and told Hanna they were going to class, so she and Travis remained alone.
"Why haven't you told me that Caleb was back in town?" Travis asked, directed.
Hanna opened her mouth to say something, but then neither a word got out of it.
"We had a little chat earlier. He told me that you two saw each other the other night..." he continued, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yeah, that's true. I didn't think it was so important to tell you." Hanna replied.
Travis sighed and bit his lip, then Hanna continued.
"What did he tell you?"
"To take care of you."
Hanna bit her bottom lip and lowered her gaze at that.
"He said he won't intrude between us, if you're happy with me. But he also made it clear that he loves you." Travis continued.
"What?" Hanna asked, unsure of what she had just heard.
Travis nodded.
"Yeah. He told me that he loves you." he repeated.
Hanna pursed her lips and looked at her feet.
"Well, you know... We have history, I guess that's normal that he still feels kind of attached to me. But... Caleb may have a lot of defects, but he's honest. If he said he's not going to cause problems, then he won't." Hanna said, still looking at the floor.
"But I'm worried about you." Travis replied.
Hanna, then, lifted her gaze to him.
"Hanna, you can neither look into my eyes while talking about him. Maybe he won't intrude between us, okay, I wanna trust him, but... Maybe his return is itself something annoying to you. I can understand, he's a nice guy but he hurt you, and..." he continued, but Hanna interrupted him.
"It's not a problem. I'm fine with him here. I just really don't want to talk about him, okay?"
"Are you sure you're okay?"
Hanna nodded with decision.
"Well, then let's just go to class." he stated, placing a hand on her back.
The two walked inside, and then passed right next to Caleb. Hanna gave him a small smile, which he returned, and then Caleb nodded his head towards Travis, who waved at him.
"Isn't it a little awkward?" Travis whispered to Hanna, both walking away.
She shrugged.
"We aren't mad at each other. He's been nice to me since he's back, so... No, it's not awkward. It's okay." she replied, looking away from Travis' eyes.
"Even if he still loves you?" he asked, stopping her from walking.
Hanna turned to him and sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Look, Travis... Caleb and I are no longer together. That's all you need to know. And now, please, no more questions or talking about him, okay?" she said with decision.
He sighed deeply but then nodded.
"Okay. See you later." he said then, quickly kissing her cheek.
She smiled at him watching as he walked to his own class, and then turned to Caleb, still there.
"Everything okay with Hackett?" she said loud enough to make him hear.
He turned his head to her and smiled.
"I haven't talked to him yet. He just told me to wait until the speakers say my name." he shrugged slightly.
"Well, good luck then. I'll see you at..." she replied, stopping her sentence before saying the word 'home' to make sure no one would have heard.
Caleb nodded and gave her a wink, so Hanna turned on her heels and entered her class, smiling.
She was just so damn grateful that Travis hadn't asked her if she still loved Caleb, because that would have been a really difficult question...
Because she knew the answer.
Hanna had texted Caleb during her classes to offer him a ride home, but he had texted back writing he was already home because he was done with Hackett and that he could have done his tests the next week. After a little texting chat during her Literature class, Emilly nudged at her.
"Who are you talking to?" she whispered.
"Huh?" Hanna whispered back, her eyes leaving the screen of her mobile for a second.
"Is it Travis?"
"Um... No, actually it's Caleb." Hanna admitted, biting her lip.
Emily gave her a strange look.
"I just... I told you, we've been talking a little, lately. He wants to do some make up tests to come back to school, so today he talked with Hackett, and I was just asking him what Hackett told him. That's all." she said, shrugging.
"Hanna, I know you. You still feel something for him, that's pretty obvious. It's like written on your forehead." Emily stated.
Hanna swallowed and looked away.
"You've never stopped loving him, haven't you?" Emily continued.
"Em... It's late now. And I'm not expecting anything from him... Anymore. We're no longer together. I'm with Travis." Hanna muttered, nervously tapping her fingernails on the desk.
"But you're texting him..."
"So what? It's not like we're getting married! He's back for me and I'm glad he is. He only has me here, okay? I just wanna be sure he's fine."
"So... You're friends."
"Sure. Friends." Hanna repeated, even though 'friends' sounded extremely wrong to her.
"And... You really don't know if your friend has a place where he can sleep at night?"
Hanna shook her head quickly. Maybe too quickly, because Emily had a look plastered on her face saying 'You can't fool me'. Anyway, Hanna shoved her phone in her purse and pretended to listen to the lesson.
When Hanna got in her car to go home, her mobile started ringing. She grabbed it from her purse. It was a call from her mom.
"Hey, mom... What's up?"
"Hanna, I'm home right now, and..."
Hanna's heart stopped. She was supposed to be at work. She was home, instead. And why she was calling her? Did she find out about Caleb?
"You're not at work?" she asked then, interrupting her mother.
"No, Hanna... Look, I see you're not here yet, so I have to tell you by phone... I got an important offer and I have to leave for the weekend. I really can't say no, it's an important meeting and if everything's going okay, I may get a promotion, so... I've come here to pack quickly, because I have a plane in something like two hours, so... Are you okay with this? I mean, maybe you're scared to be home alone after what happened lately, but you know you can call your friends or go to some of them, and..."
Ashley was talking so fast that Hanna was neither sure she had understood everything.
"It's okay, mom. If that's important, you should totally go. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. I can tell the girls to come over for the night. Plus, it's just a weekend, and it's not like I'm five years old." she replied then.
"Good. But call me for anything. I'm going now, okay? I know this was a little sudden, I wasn't expecting it either, and I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye, but..."
"Mom, don't worry. Go." Hanna interrupted her, chuckling.
"Okay, sweetie. Promise me that you'll be careful."
"Promise. Good luck, mom."
"Thanks. I love you, Hanna."
"Love you too. Bye."
And then Hanna hung up.
Weekend alone with Caleb. That's what she thought.
Once she was home, she ran to the basement and opened the door to find Caleb working with his pc.
"Hey." he greeted, raising an eyebrow at her unexpected 'irruption'.
"Hey, you heard my mom earlier? She should have come here."
"Oh, yeah... I was already here in the basement to be careful, though. I know your mom's work time, but I wanted to be safe... What she was doing here by the way?"
"She came to pack. She'll be away for the weekend. Work stuff." Hanna shrugged.
"Oh..." Caleb commented, nodding.
"So... I thought you could stay in the guest room for these couple of days. I'm sure that couch is comfortable enough for you, but a bed is definitely better."
Caleb smiled and closed his pc.
"Thanks." he said.
"You're welcome. C'mon now, you can come out of this secret cave." she chuckled.
Caleb chuckled as well and followed Hanna upstairs.
"Want something to drink?" Hanna asked, walking to the fridge.
"No, I'm okay. Thank you." Caleb replied.
Hanna took a glass of water, as Caleb stood there.
"Well, I guess that today you can take a break from studying, right?" she said then, placing her empty glass in the sink.
Caleb smiled.
"What do you have in mind?" he asked.
"How do you feel about a long Just Dance tournament?" Hanna suggested, smiling.
Caleb laughed at that.
"You know you'll lose, right?" he said then.
"I've got better, trust me. The one who'll lose, then, will go grab take-away for dinner to the Brew. So... Are you in?"
"It will be easy." he smirked.
"Don't be so sure of yourself."
The two spent their afternoon playing their favorite game. They were used to play that when they were together, and Caleb was always the winner. He was unbeatable. Hanna wanted to play because she missed even moments like those with him. And in fact she had fun like she hadn't had in a long time. They laughed like kids, both of them not thinking about anything but having fun together. They danced every possible song, occasionally taking a break to drink something, but eventually, the winner was Caleb. As always.
"I can't believe it!" Hanna whined, breathing heavily and climbing on the couch.
Caleb did a happy dance to celebrate, jumping everywhere, as Hanna laughed. Then, he finally climbed on the couch next to her.
"Don't say I didn't tell you." he chuckled.
"One day I'll beat you. I will, it's a promise."
"Well... We'll see."
Hanna roamed a hand through her messy hair and lightly shook her head, made them fall on her shoulders. Caleb couldn't help but notice how much she looked beautiful even after playing Just Dance for hours. Then, he woke up from his dream and cleared his throat.
"Anyway, I can go to take the food. Don't worry." he told her.
"What? No! A challenge is a challenge... I lost, so I have to go. What do you want?"
"A cheeseburger... And some french fries." he smiled.
Hanna nodded, but then she decided to bring up something.
"You know... Travis told me about your little chat of today."
"Oh... Yeah, we... We talked." Caleb stuttered.
"He told me you said that you still love me."
The two shared a long silent look.
"That's true." he breathed out after an eternity.
Hanna sighed, without stopping eye-contact with him.
"I didn't mean to be intimidatory. Don't worry, though, I won't be a problem for your relationship with him, and..." Caleb tried to add, but Hanna stopped him.
"I would have preferred hearing that from you."
Caleb, then, lowered his gaze.
"Well, if you want me out of here, I understand..." he murmured then.
"Of course not. Look, Caleb... I'm the one who asked you to stay here. And the fact that you... Well, you know..."
"The fact that I love you?" he blurted out for her.
Hanna bit her lip and then continued.
"Well, it doesn't change this. Anything."
Caleb stared at her, not knowing what to say. And Hanna did the same, even if she could feel something pushing her towards his lips.
"Okay, well... I'm gonna go, I'm pretty hungry. I'll be right back." she said then, getting up from the couch before anything could happen.
Caleb nodded quickly and then watched her take her coat and exit the house. He sighed as soon as she closed the door. Living under her same roof without being able to touch her was a thousand times harder than he thought.
His mobile buzzed a few seconds later, and it was right Hanna.
Forgot the keys...I'm gonna ring the doorbell.
He typed back a simple 'ok', then he placed his mobile on the table and rubbed his eyes. Maybe he shouldn't have told Travis those things. But neither to Hanna. Maybe he should have just kept them for himself, instead of putting Hanna in a situation so awkward. She was with another guy, but she gave him a place to stay even after all the pain he had caused to her. He should have just been grateful, not telling her -well, letting her know- his feelings. This had made everything awkward. Even if he could feel that she still felt something for him as well.
He didn't know how much time he spent thinking about that, he just heard the doorbell and went to the door to open it.
He made a mistake. He should have looked through the peephole first. But he didn't.
In front of him, he didn't find Hanna. He found Travis.
The guy widened his eyes, and Caleb tried to say something, but he couldn't. What could he say? He was in his ex girlfriend's house, he had just opened the door to his ex girlfriend's current boyfriend who also knew that he was still in love with her. Awesome.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" Travis exclaimed.
"Travis..." came a voice behind him.
Hanna had just arrived, with the take-away bag in her hands.
"So... What's going on here?" Travis asked her, shaking his head in disbelief.
Hanna and Caleb looked at each other. Maybe it was time to tell the truth... Or at least to try to.
A/N: OOOOOPS! Cliffhanger :P I loved writing this chapter! There's some serious drama coming up by the way ;) Can't wait to know what do you guys think! :D Hope you liked to read this as I liked to write it :) Anyway, I wanna thank all of you for the reviews... pigua89, KlarolinexDelenaxx, bladgeyluvr09, , all the guests and the reviewers of the older chapters... Seriously, it means a lot to me! (bladgeyluvr09, you don't know how much I love your stories... I'm so happy to find you here :D) So... What's gonna happen in the next chapter? You'll have a Travis/Hanna pretty intense talk... ;) Let me know what do you think! Thanks again for the support and everything, guys! Lots of love, till next time ;) xx -Atramea.