Meet You There

Meet You There - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

I handed the phone back to Kelly and then stepped back, waiting. I wished for more time, to talk to Bennett. When Kelly was done on the call and put down the phone, she was smiling at me.

   "He told you about the family visiting day?"

   I nodded, pulling at the bottom of my sweater.

   "Will you be allowed to go?"

   "Oh, yeah, I hope so. My uncle is pretty cool. He likes Bennett," I told her, even though I wasn't so sure now.

   I had apologized to Caleb from being rude to him. We were okay, it seemed. But he was still walking on eggshells around me. He didn't know if I'd snap at him at any moment. We hadn't talked about Bennett again.

   "Will your parents be okay with me going?" I asked Kelly, suddenly realizing they didn't really know me at all.

  She shrugged. "Honestly, I think they are glad he has you. Everyone bailed on him, last time."

   "Oh. Okay."

   "Have you ever been to Harriston?" she asked, which was legitimate question. It was three hours away.

   I swallowed hard, thinking of my mother, suddenly. "Yeah. I lived there for a year."

   "Oh. I thought you were from California?"

   "Not exactly. I'm from Belport. I moved to Harriston with my mom and lived there for tenth grade, then went to California to live with my dad for junior year," I explained.

   Kelly tucked some hair behind her ear, taking this in. She didn't really know me at all, either. "Oh. So how'd you end up here??

   "I just needed a change."

   We were both quiet for a minute, which got awkward pretty fast.

   "I'll text you the info when I get it from my mom, about the visiting day," she finally said.

   "Okay, thanks." I glanced at her again before turning to leave. "And thank you for calling me. I really needed to hear his voice."

   Kelly smiled this wide, toothy smile. "He loves you."

   I smiled back, but much smaller, then opened the apartment door to go home.

   Things with Caleb were, like I said, still a bit weird. I was making every effort that I could to fix it. I had dinner with him every night that he was home. I took on an extra assignment for my writing class - and chose to write about him, Caleb Connor, Virginia's own Rock Star. He pretended like it was a nuisance, when I interviewed him for it and told him that I was writing about his life, but he was ecstatic when I got the paper back with an A.

   I waited until three days before the visiting day to ask him about it. Kelly had told me the details that week - it was Sunday at 1P.M. His parents were apparently happy that I was going, too. But I didn't know what Caleb was going to think. The last time I'd talked about Bennett with him, he was so mad.

   I jumped up from the couch where I'd been waiting, when I heard him at the door. Fox came in behind him, which threw me off. But she was a good buffer, so I was glad she was there.

   I just stared at Caleb for a few seconds, as he slipped off his shoes and walked down into the kitchen.

   "How was your day?" I asked, following him.

   He looked confused, right away. "Good. I had a few calls and then picked up Fox on my way home."

I nodded. "Good, good."

   "What's going on, Iris?" he wanted to know, facing me now.

   I glanced at Fox, then back to him. "Well, I actually wanted to ask you something."

   "Okay?" He leaned on the island, waiting for me to continue.

   "So.. there's a family visiting day at the rehab centre, where Bennett is... it's Sunday... and -"

   "You want to go?" Caleb finished for me.

   "Yeah. It's been almost six weeks since he left... I just got to talk to him a few days ago, and... I just really miss him."

   I watched as Caleb took a breath in and let it out, gathering the right words. "I know that I said you're almost eighteen and that I wasn't going to tell you what to do -"

   "Then don't," I said quickly, not liking where this was going.

   "I don't want you to throw away everything you've done, how hard you've worked, for... him."

   "I'm not. But he's my boyfriend and I'm not going to abandon him," I said, now looking down at my hands.

   "What's he doing in September? What are his plans?" Now, I could hear the knowing tone in his voice.

   "He might have to redo this semester, so he'll be staying here. He has to do summer school..."

   "And what are you doing in September?" Caleb asked, narrowing his eyes on me.

   "Well, I'll find out in a month, when I get my college letters." I sighed, knowing this wasn't going well. "But it's February. September is far away, and for now, Bennett and I are together."

   "Where's the rehab centre?" Fox spoke up, breaking the tension.

   I looked at her, but then away again. "Harriston."

   "Oh. Uh, really?" Caleb was surprised by this, as I had been.

   "Yeah. Um, I was thinking maybe I could go to see my mom, too." This thought literally just popped into my head. I hadn't pre-planned this. I hadn't even thought about my mom in awhile.

   Now Caleb smiled, like I wasn't a total disappointment after all.

   "What if we all go?" Fox suggested.

   My heart picked up the pace again. "Really?"

   Caleb sighed, "Okay. But only because you're going to see your mom."

   "You miss your sister?" Fox asked him, grinning.

   "Of course I do," he told her.