Phantom Next Door

5. Promises

Next morning was Saturday. Rosabella woke up with someone gently stroking her blond hair. She opened her eyes and saw Luke sitting next to her on the floor. Slowly she sat up and rested her back against the chilly wall and fidgeted with her fingers. Before the girl could say anything her boyfriend had already opened his mouth. "Look, I know that you said you needed time but I have to make sure you know that I will always be there for you no matter what."

"HEY! What Luke means is that we ALL will be here for you, always." Shouted Reggie from downstairs.

Light thuds could be heard coming from the stairs and soon a head popped in sight - it was Alex. "Luke is right. No matter what you'll always have us. Also I hope you know you can trust us with anything - you don't have to deal with everything alone."

Rosie sighed lightly. "I know... and it's not like I want to be mad at you, I'm just kinda disappointed 'cause this all could have been so easily avoided." She looked up at her brother. "Since you want to know what's going on inside my head, let's start from last Saturday."

"Last Saturday as in your gig?" Questioned Reggie - who had also climbed up to the loft.

"Exactly."

Rosie took a quick look around - everyone was staring at her and waiting for her to continue. So that's what she did. "Okay... You all probably remember that I suddenly started acting weird and wanted to leave."

"Yeah. You said you saw Noah." Alex commented.

"Uhh... Well I might have lied about that." Ro chuckled nervously. "What, you did? I didn't even notice." Alex said sarcastically.

The blond girl was shocked. Do they really notice when she is lying? Usually no one sees through her lies. "You knew? Does everyone know?"

"Yep, pretty much. It was actually Alex who picked up on your lie and he told us about his suspicions." Luke said.

"I want pizza. Can we order some, please?" Reggie blurted out. Wow, is food really the only thing this boy thinks of? The two other boys looked at him in disbelief. "Really Reginald? Ro's trying to pour out her heart to us and you're thinking about pizza." Alex responded.

As the boys found Reggies comment inappropriate for this situation Rosie couldn't do anything but laugh. "Yeah, yeah we can get pizza later today. But first I'm gonna tell you the rest of the story. So as you know I saw someone familiar or I thought I did but I'm not entirely sure. And clearly it was not Noah."

"So, who was it then?" Reg questioned.

For a minute the girl hesitated - maybe she shouldn't be telling them this after all. But she has already started so there is no other way out now. "Caleb..." She whispered quietly - only not quiet enough to go unheard by the three guys.

Luke jumped up from his place on the ground. "You saw who?! Why didn't you tell us?!"

The sudden movement and voice raise startled the 18 year old - tears started to pool in her blue eyes. Her brother was by her side in a second and pulled her in a tight hug. "Luke what the hell do you think you're doing?! If you think yelling is going to make things better you couldn't be more wrong."

Luke turned his gaze back towards Rosie - who was quietly sobbing against Alex's chest. He felt bad seeing the most important girl in his life cry because of him. Why did he do that? He knew perfectly well what she had been through all her life and how easily she got scared of sudden loud noises yet he went and yelled at her anyway. The boy felt like it was for the best if he took a breather and poofed off somewhere.

Reggie sat on the other side of the bed and stroked Rosabella's back. "I'm sure Luke didn't mean to shout. He's just feeling hurt 'cause you didn't tell us sooner. Don't worry though he'll come around." He then got up and left to look for Luke.

The siblings stayed up there for a little while longer. "Alex... Are you mad that I didn't tell you guys?" The blond boy looked down at her sister. "Of course not. Maybe a little sad that you felt like you couldn't tell us. But I'm proud of you telling us - sooner or later."

"What if it was really him? What will happen then?"

"Don't worry about it now. We will figure it out." Alex assured her.

"So how about that pizza? I'm getting kinda hungry."

Alex looked at Ro and laughed. "You and your food. Reggie has been a bad influence on you."

~

Later that day they had a conversation about their possible Caleb situation with everyone - that includes Luke, Alex, Reggie, Rosie and Julie. They agreed to keep an eye open incase he really was in town and decided to make an appearance again.

They eventually changed the subject and once again talked about the upcoming summer vacation. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and it got pulled open. It was Carlos with a couple of pizza boxes. "Here you go ladies and gentlemen, dinner is served. They were delivered to the front door so dad asked me to bring them out to you."

"Thanks Carlos, you're the best." Rosie said and grabbed one of the boxes from the table. She took a bite of a delicious looking slice of pepperoni pizza. "Wow. This is the most delicious thing on earth."

Reggie had to agree with the girl on this one. "You are absolutely right."

Luke, Alex and Julie were looking at the two - they were being weird again. "If I didn't know Rosie was dating Luke I would think those two were a couple. No offence Luke." Julie said while pointing at Ro and Reg. "Hey I can't help that he is my best friend." The blond girl giggled.

"Excuse me? I thought I was your best friend." Julie acted hurt.

Rosabella looked at her friend and slowly got up from the couch and took tiny steps to get further away from Julie - who had already planned a tickle attack. "No, no you stay on that side of the room and I'll stay on this." Rosie pleaded. "Oh no. You should have thought about what you were going to say before you said it."

The girls ran around the studio and the older girl tried to hide behind her boyfriend but he pushed her right into Julie's arms. Ro looked at him in disbelief. "How rude." Julie on the other hand was delighted by Luke's actions. "Why thank you kind sir." She said and started tickeling the other girl. "Any last words?"

"Yes. Please have mercy. I'm sorry, you are the bestest of best friends."