Paradox

Chapter Twenty-One

O C E A N

Monday came faster than I could ever imagine. The occurrences of the weekend, kept me up for the remainder of the short break and my best friend completely disappearing, certainly did not help. I pulled on my long white socks and looked out of my bedroom window. The sky was dreary and milky, almost like the atmosphere inside the apartment. My mother and Lawrence were still asleep which meant I had less than twenty minutes before they woke up.

I was going to go to Noah's and head to the bus from there, but then I received a text from Caleb, asking if he could pick me up, because he wanted to talk to me. Throwing a thick jacket over my school jersey, I slipped out of the apartment and quickly skipped downstairs, careful not to fall due to the dew sticking to the metal railing.

When I made it to the bottom floor, a white Mercedes was waiting for me. It reminded me of that day that weird woman dropped me of- I wonder what she was up to, "Hey, good morning, Oce," That nickname made me cringe as I strapped on the seatbelt, "You don't like it?"

I smiled softly, laying my head on the window to give him a undefying gaze, "I think it needs some work, but it's definitely better than Cruise."

Caleb chuckled, placing his palm on the steering wheel and gave me a cup of steaming coffee, "I was not sure if you liked ice coffee, but since it was cold, I figured you preferred it warm."

I preferred it cold and with a straw, "Thanks," The car was nice and warm, but I could sense a plethora of questions in the way he kept stealing glances at me when we stopped at the red lights, "I take it you want to talk about the kiss."

"I do," He sounded unsure of what to say next, "Did it mean anything?"

"No-" I cut my sentence and took a quick gulp, "I mean, yes, our kiss did mean something to me. Did it to you?"

Caleb grinned confused, "Of course it did, you have no idea how long I waited for that, Oce."

I zoned out for most of the car ride to school, he talked about almost everything: cars, university, relationships, money. Every now and then I nodded politely to not make him think that I simply did not care.
After pulling into his special parking spot, he turned to me and said, "I know this is all so new, I understand not wanting to put a label on it just yet, but do you want to sit with me at lunch?"

You mean at the jackass, jock table? Where all the people, who knew me as a slur rather than a person, sat? At the table where Slater constantly rolled his eyes at? "I don't know, uh, I'll think about it."

"Okay, good," And then, he leaned in and gently kissed me, "I'll walk you to your homeroom class."

The walk through the entrance made my skin crawl with anxiety. It seemed that every second person had a comment to make when Caleb and I entered hand in hand. A few girls laughed out loud while others stared at us with fire eyes. The boys were something else. Most of the athletes looked past me and shook Caleb's hand. They did not even see me, not even as an attachment.