Countdown (on hold)

Two years, eleven months, six days, sixteen hours, thirty minutes before

I didn't let go of Caleb's hand the whole way to my house. Not even when out hands became sweaty and clammy. I didn't want to let go of Caleb because I felt that after what happened with Alex, he needed somebody.

We both stood at the end of my driveway for a few minutes, basking in the last bits of sunshine of the day. Caleb wasn't looking at me, so I took the chance and really studied him. Mrs Dawson was right, his hair was longer than what was considered normal for a boy Caleb's age to have, but Caleb wasn't normal, so I figured it suited him well.

"I'm sorry about what happened with Alex," Caleb started to say, "He used to just have one drink with our father after dinner, but once he turned 18 and he still hasn't met his soulmate, that one drink turned into multiple drinks. I once found him passed out with an empty bottle still in his hands."

I looked at Caleb and saw that his eyes were watering. He saw me looking at him and he started to wipe them away. "It's okay to cry, Caleb." I wrapped my arms around him. He wrapped his arms around me too, and we just stood there for awhile, hugging each other.

I will admit that I liked being that close to Caleb. My head reached his chest and I could hear his heart beating and I liked that. I liked being close enough to Caleb to hear his heart beating. I felt my heart beating in my chest to the same rhythm as Caleb's and that was better than our countdowns being exact.

"I thought you said only Theo came back." Caleb said, breaking the peaceful silence. I looked over to the street and saw Theo and Celeste walking up the street.

"She wasn't here when I left earlier." I noticed that Theo was carrying Celeste's suitcase. "I think she must have just got here."

Celeste noticed us first. "Shay!" She let go of Theo's hand and ran up to where Caleb and I were standing. Celeste and I hugged and from where I was positioned, I could see Theo and Caleb. Theo looked like he was angry and Caleb looked like he was trying to keep him calm.

"Let's go to the house, they can come in when they're done talking." I said once I pulled away from the hug. Celeste nodded and started walking up to the house. I turned back once more to see what was happening between them now. Theo caught my eye and I quickly turned around and ran up to Celeste.

"Do my parents know you're coming?"

"Yes, or they should if Theo told them. We're going to spend a month here. Theo only came earlier than I did because I had to sort some things out with my parents and sister."

I stopped once we reached the porch. "Cel, can I ask you something?"

Celeste sat down on the steps. "Of course, you can ask me anything."

"What does kissing feel like?" I was curious about it and I knew that Celeste and Theo kissed because I've seen them and I felt that asking Mom would be weird.

"Theo was my first kiss, so I don't know how kissing someone else besides your soulmate feels like, but kissing Theo felt right. It felt like we belonged together, which we do, but it just feels normal. But my first kiss, I felt sparks. I felt an amazing connection between us. Kissing is pretty awesome." Celeste sat there with her chin resting on her hands. Her eyes were the size of saucers and looking straight at where she left Theo.

I sat down next to her. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Shay! Of course I like Theo! He's my soulmate!" Celeste looked at me like she couldn't believe what I said.

I sighed, "I meant like do you like Theo as a person?"

"Theo has a great personality. He's caring, and funny, and he always knows when to give me a hug when I need one. You're lucky to have him as a brother, you know that right?"

"I know," I nodded, "We should go inside and get my room ready with the extra bed."

We both stood up, "Theo and I need to talk to your parents about that actually. Since Theo and I went back to my family, we shared a room and we would like to continue that here." I didn't say anything as we walked into the house. "It provides a sense of intimacy between us." I still didn't say anything to Celeste, I just yelled for Mom once we were inside the house.

"Mom! Guess who's here!" Mom walked out of the living room with Dad close behind her.

"Celeste! What are you doing here?" Mom wrapped Celeste in a hug. "And where's Theo?"

Celeste pulled away from Mom's grip. "Last time I saw him he was talking to Caleb by the driveway." Just then, the front door opened and both Theo and Caleb walked in.

Caleb spoke first, "Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, can I speak to Shay outside for a moment?" Dad and Mom looked at each other before nodding. He held the front door open for me and closed it gently behind us.

We sat down on the front steps and I leaned towards him and rested my head on his shoulder. "What did you and Theo talk about?"

He gently nudged my arm. "He just asked me if you were okay since he's been living with Celeste. And he asked me about your friends."

"What'd you say?"

"I said that you missed him, but that you were okay. As for friends, I said that you mainly hung out with me, Kara, and Jane. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, what you said was fine. What did you need to talk to me about?"

Caleb didn't say anything for a second. "Theo got mad when he saw me walking you home. He said that us spending so much time together isn't good for you. He still wants us to be friends because he knows me and trusts me to watch you while he's gone. But Theo said that maybe we shouldn't spend so much time together because people are talking." Caleb stood up then and started to walk down the driveway. "Don't worry, we'll still be friends but maybe we just shouldn't hang out as much while he's home. Bye Shay." With that, he turned around and started walking down the driveway.

I couldn't let Caleb just walk away like that, even though deep down I did agree with Theo a bit. "Caleb wait!" He stopped, but didn't turn around. I ran over in front of him. "If you're just going to walk away, I want to do this first."

I stood up as tall as I could so that I could reach Caleb's mouth. My face was barely an inch away from his and I could feel his breath on my lips. I hesitated for a second before forgetting all my common sense and kissing him. Caleb was shocked, but quickly kissed me back. He was smiling when he said, "Bye Shay," and before he walked away, he gave me another small kiss on the lips.

It wasn't a passionate kiss that I've seen people do, and it wasn't a very romantic kiss that Theo and Celeste do, but it was a perfect first kiss considering everything.

*Author's Note*                                                                                                                                                                          Hey guys! Long time no update, so so sorry about that! Thank you guys so much for staying with Countdown and its rare updates. Love you guys so much <3. Now I know that the rare updates are my fault so I'm going to start posting on a weekly basis every Sunday. Another update, if you haven't noticed already is that I changed my username from cookiecake848 to talentlyungifted . Thanks again everyone and I love you lots.