Together Again

Chapter 8

I woke up in a bed somehow. I looked around me and saw blue bed sheets on me in a bedroom that had an old clock, a plant on the windowsill, a desk, and Star Wars posters all over the wall. The paint was chipping on the walls a little bit. It also smelled like apple... I was in Caleb's room, apparently. He must've carried me when I fell asleep. Then he came through the door and awkwardly rubbed his hands together. I looked down and saw I still had my clothes on. However, my black blouse that Kaylin gave me was unbuttoned. My shoes were on the ground next to me.

"Oh, yeah I left you in your clothes. I didn't want to... you know. I mean, I wasn't looking or anything! But yeah, your shirt was," he cleared his throat. "Unbuttoned... for some reason."

The memories came flooding back in. "Steven ripped it open." I look at the floor. "Without my consent."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I sighed. "Thank you for picking me up on the side of the road. And uh, a Mini Cooper?" I laughed. "I like mini coopers, they're so cute. Anyway, Steven was drunk and came home early and wanted to have sex with me. He knew I didn't want to but kept pushing it. I-it was kinda scary. But thank you again because I really couldn't go anywhere else."

"Wow. And uh, sorry, but who's Steven again? You were going to tell me." He moves closer and sits on the end of the bed.

"He's my fiancé." He leaned back all of a sudden. I think he was shocked, but his expression then turned confused and hurt.

"I'm really sorry this happened to you."

Then it hit me. "Wait, if you carried me to your room, where did you sleep?"

He shrugs. "On the couch." My jaw drops.

"You didn't have to do that!"

"Well, you had a rough night and I wanted to make sure you were comfortable." I sigh. Thanks Caleb.

"Well that was very nice of you, but i think I'll get going."

"I made breakfast." He said quickly.

"Oh. Uh-"

"Please stay! I made fluffy waffles just for you!" He cuts me off with a grin. I take a look at his excited eyes and nod my head yes. He excitedly hops off the bed and runs out to the living room/kitchen area. I get up and button my shirt back up.

I smell my clothes and groan. They smell gross with city smoke. Caleb notices me smelling. "I could get a shirt for you or something."

I brush it off like it's no big deal. "It's fine."

"Do you think I'm that dumb? When a girl says she's fine, she's not fine. Besides, I know you're sensitive to smell, and mine smell like air freshener." He flashes a smile and winks at me.

"Ugh, well I'm going to have to say yes!" He laughs and goes to get a shirt. I curiously look at the bar. There are fluffy waffles on deep blue plates with strawberries and strawberry yogurt. The son of a gun knows my favorite breakfast. Next to the plate made up, I see white powder in a container. I slide on a bar stool. "Hey Caleb, is this powdered sugar?" I shout to him in the other room.

He comes back out with a shirt and replies, "you weren't supposed to see that! The kitchen is a mess. Sorry." He rushes to go clean the mess up. Then he shakes powdered sugar softly onto my waffle. I smile. "Oh, here are some clothes you could wear. I think you'll come up with something creative."

He hands me a cardigan, a dress shirt, a tie that's pink and blue that matches with the blue cardigan, and khaki dress pants that were too small for him now. Hmmm. Okay.

"So if you don't mind me asking, what do you plan on doing now? About your fiancé?" He asks, getting serious.

I sigh. "I'll probably ask him what he was drinking, why he came home early. I don't really know."

"But you're still getting married to him?" He tried to clarify.

"Why wouldn't I?" He waves his hands around, trying to mention the current situation.

"Well he scared you. Y-you called me." I stay silent. "So... you love him?" He stares at me. His eyes were hoping for something. It wasn't like he was just looking at me, he was looking at me for a reason. A reason I didn't know of, unfortunately.

"Y-yeah. Yeah I do." He all of a sudden looses eye contact with me. His hand goes near his face and he uncomfortably shifts on the stool.

"Well, once I'm done eating, I'll change." I stab my fork into a waffle and strawberry and take a bite. The sweetness and fluffy mix dances in my mouth. Mmmmm. "Caleb," I say with a mouth full, "you are such a good cook!" I had almost forgotten who made me meals all the time in college. I mean, sometimes we would go to dinner or the cafeteria, but when I was lucky, he did the cooking. Those were good nights.

He waves his hand to brush it off. Such a shy fella. I smile to myself.

After we are done eating a delicious breakfast, I go into the bathroom to change and he goes into his room. I make the outfit work! I take the dress shirt on and tie a loose tie around it. Then, I put the blue cardigan over, unbuttoned. And I also roll up the tan pants to make them look like shorts, and I tuck the dress shirt into that. I also put my hair into a loose, high ponytail and let it wave down.

I come out of the bathroom and go into Caleb's room without a thought. I scream and stand there. Because when I open the door, I see Caleb shirtless. I've seen guys shirtless, but never like this. He has little, cute, brown hairs in the middle of his chest. That's it. I also notice that his skin looks very soft from this angle. Maybe it's just the light through the curtains. I can see small abs and small muscles curving out of his arms. Why hasn't anyone scooped this catch up yet? He quickly turns around and his eyes widen. He struggles to get a shirt on but gets stuck. Feeling sympathetic, I go over and try to help him. I wiggle the shirt down. My hands lightly touch the sides of his torso. Man, he has smooth skin. Suddenly I find my fingers tracing his stomach, then going up the arms to help him. But for the most part, I was feeling his well built upper body. When his head got out of the shirt and it went down, he stared at me. Now we are the same distance away from when I ran into him last night.

I see his chest heaving as he looks into my eyes. He seems to be studying my face. Holy crap, I was just caressing his arms and small abs!

"S-sorry. It looked like you needed some help." I say softly.

Without breaking eye contact he replies, "yeah I guess I did."

I clear my throat and step back. That makes him jump back. "Well I better go, thanks for everything. The breakfast, the clothes... everything!" I try to laugh it off.

He tilts his head and stared at me. "Are you feeling okay? Do you have work later?"

"Uh, yes. And yeah, I work later."

"S-see ya there." He waves.

"Bye." I say awkwardly.

"Bye Julia..."

As soon as I'm on the other side of his apartment door, I let out a sigh of relief. Then I go out to the street and call a cab. The whole way home I'm thinking, how did that just happen? We just met up again! How do I handle Steven? My mind is racing, but yet I feel as though I couldn't comprehend slower. Everything had just happened so fast! At this point, I don't know who to trust.