Taga Long

Cake

"Tabitha-"

"I said I don't want to talk about it Caleb."

"Could you at least give me the chance to-"

"What? Like how you gave Josh a chance? I don't think so!"

"Tab just-"

"And you know what! He's right, you have absolutely no claim on me!"

"I think I have reason to object to that, considering you're having my kid."

I pointed a finger in his face. "Don't you dare bring my baby into this! This is about you and Josh's petty female emotions!"

"Well if you'd give me the chance to explain?!" He threw his arms in the air, throwing me an irratated look. "Geez! You're too entranced by him to even see why I would be upset with him in the first place!"

I sighed as I pulled my hair up. "Fine! Fine, fine, fine!"

He sighed. "Thank you." I gave him a look before he continued. "Eigth grade year and the summer before we got to Carter, Hannah and I dated."

I cocked a brow. "Wait, Hannah, my friend Hannah?"

He nodded and then continued. "We were crazy about each other, she had basically been my first love. But, when we got to High School, we kind of just...drifted apart. So we ended up breaking up." He sighed. "And then Josh moved in on her." He frowned. "See, before it was Amber, it was Hannah. She was the guy everyone wanted, and well, Josh being Josh came in and whisked her off." He made a sweeping motion with his hands. "They dated for a bit, and not too soon after, they slept together, josh cheated, and then they broke up. The entire time I had to watch the girl I loved get played by my best friend, all because I didn't want to break the "bro code". Which now I see was a dumb move. Hannah was crushed, he had taken her virginty. And if course, Josh wasn't there to pick up the pieces, I was. He was too busy sleeping with every girl he came in contact with."

My ears slowly took all of this in. When Hannah had said she'd dated Josh at one point, she failed to mention Caleb and the rest of this. I mean, had everyone seriously dated everyone? It sure seemed like it.

"Tab, when I found out that Josh had his eyes set on you, I was livid. Even with him as my best friend, I didn't want him anywhere near you. He was bad news. I didn't want to be the one picking up the pieces after her broke your heart, because well, first and for most, I would murder him. And secondly..." he paused, watching me with sad eyes. "Your my Taga Long." He smiled sadly. "And I never intened on sharing you." He said frankly. "Had you not left those five or six years ago, I would have asked you out. I would have lost my virginity to you, you would have been my first and only love Tabitha." His eyes burned into mine as he stood just inches from me.

I blinked, and was surprised to find tears. What was I going to do with all this new found information? How was it possible for my heart to be so torn between two guys? I loved Josh, even after what Caleb had just told me. He was a dog, a womanizer, yet I'd fallen in love with another side of him. And then there was Caleb. There was no doubt in the world, I could no longer lie to myself, I was madly and completely in love with him. He was my everything, and I was now tied to him in ways that no one would be able to understand. He was the accedintal father of my unborn child.

"Caleb." I cried shakily. "Caleb," I repeated, but could get no other words out. I had to remind myself to breath evenly before I started hypervenilating. I was in love with two amazing guys. Two guys who were best friends, and now I was the final straw in their relationship. No matter which way I went with this, someone was going to get hurt. And in the end, I would be hurt either way.

"Tabitha." He said quietly. "You can't stand here and tell me that you didn't feel anything that night." He stroked my face with the back of his hand as I recalled the night we first slept togther. It was a night neither one of us could forget. I tried to decipher the unreadable expression in his eyes.

I shook my head, not wanting to admitt to it. What I had felt had been something unexplainable. Shakespear himself would have been unable to put it in words.

I let out a shaky breath. How did we get from he and Josh, to he and I? "Why are you doing this to me Caleb?" I cried softly. This was all so screwed, so messy.

"Because Tabitha Mckenzie Long," please don't say it, please don't say it, please don't say it. "I love you."

I cried. Why would he say that? Why would he do this to me? Wasn't our lives complicated enough?

"Caleb," I couldn't stop crying. Why? Because I loved him back, more so than he probably loved me. My breathing came out in burst as I tried to calm my self down. "I...I, I love you too." I sniffed. "I love you too much. This...this is all a big mess Caleb. What am I suppose to do about Josh? I love him too!"

His eyes sadend, and I could tell this hurt him, which only hurt me more in return. "I know Tab, I know." He brought me into his arms and into a hug, engulfing me in his familar scent.

This was the guy who knew mebetter then I knew myself. There wasn't a thought in my head that he didn't already know. He was my everything, without him, I was nothing, he completed me. And even the short gap in our lives couldn't account to the immense feelings that were still there regardless. We had been born specifically for each other, only months apart. I didn't know what to do. On the other hand there was Josh. A new love that was like fresh air, sunlight. He made me happy, he made me smile. I felt like I could spend my life with him.

So I was stuck. One guy was someone I didn't want to be without, while the other was my childhood best friend, andI was having his baby. It seemed like an easy pick, but in reality, it wasn't, because you couldn't have your cake and eat it too.