Countdown (on hold)

Three years, three days, seven hours, fifteen minutes before

            My countdown skipped forward two weeks. First it went back a few weeks, now its skipping ahead. The strange thing is, that Caleb’s also skipped forward two weeks. He was with me when mine went forward. We were in the park together, and my bracelet made two distinct beeps. My countdown wasn’t over, I knew that right away, but it was different. It took me awhile to find out what was different with it, but I figured it out when Caleb’s did the same thing. His bracelet made to beeps, then skipped forward two weeks. He said that it was most likely they both went forward because they made the same sound. I nodded, and started playing with my fingers. “Room?” Caleb asked me and I nodded again.

            I needed to talk to him and the park wasn’t the place to.  On the way to the school building, Caleb took me by surprise when he started to hold my hand. It wasn’t just a friendly hand holding, either. He intertwined his fingers with mine and held me closer to his side. I looked up at him and he started to apologize. “You don’t need to apologize, I was just wondering why.”

            Caleb used his unused hand to scratch behind his head. “I don’t know, really. It kinda just happened.” He was starting to blush slightly.

            I looked down at my feet, I felt the heat creeping up onto my cheeks. “It’s fine.” Caleb nodded, and I nodded, but neither one of us let go of our hands.

            The walk back to the room was uneventful and quiet except for the sound of a dog barking in the distance or the leaves brushing against each other. For the first time since going to the room through the roof entrance, I didn’t jump, I followed Caleb down the ladder. He looked at me funny at first, but just shrugged it off and continued down the ladder. As usual, Caleb unlocked the door and held it open for me. As I walked past him and into the room, he bowed and said, “My pleasure to hold the door for you, milady.”

            I giggled a little and curtsied to him. “Thank you as always, my kind sir.” Caleb smiled at me before closing the door behind himself. He sat down on the one and only chair in the small, cramped room. I looked around for another place to sit without trying to make it obvious. I didn’t trust the desk, even though Caleb has sat on it countless times. The floor was old and hard, I would be sore before we left. The only option that I was willing to sit on was the chair. Caleb noticed me looking around for a place to sit because he offered the chair to me. “But that wouldn’t be fair to you.” I argued.

            “No its not; I sit on the table all the time.” We went on, saying how it was and wasn’t fair to who for sitting where.

            “Why don’t we just share the chair?” I finally suggested.

            Caleb nodded, “Okay.” He sat back down in the chair and I tried to squeeze in next to him, but the chair wasn’t particularly big enough to fit two people side by side. “Just sit on my lap.” I nodded, but I still wasn’t so sure about that. “Well, are you going to sit down or what?” he laughed.

            “Oh yeah.” I laughed too before sitting down. None of us said anything for a minute. I didn’t know what to say; it wasn’t every day I would sit on somebody’s lap. And I still liked Caleb; he was still my crush even after our bracelets didn’t say we were soul mates, I still had a small piece of hope that somehow me and he would end up together. “You know I still like you.” I whispered.