CalPal

-25-

Chapter Twenty Five

    Clay was passed out on the couch while I was sitting in the kitchen. Eret was on FaceTime with me and we were talking about "the tea" of Clay and I's relationship as Eret put it. I don't even remember how we got to talking about it. I know that Niki, Eret, and I were talking about relationships and guys when we were group FaceTiming a few days ago. That's how they found out him and I were dating. I wasn't planning on telling anyone really but I didn't have a good poker face.

    "You guys haven't kissed yet?" Eret gasped.

    "Eret!" I exclaimed with a little chuckle, "We've only been dating for a week!"

    "I'm sorry, I dated this guy one time and we started making out after—"

    "Eret!"

    "Okay, okay. I'm just saying girl."

    "I know. I don't know what's going on, but I don't wanna talk about it or initiate it because I feel like it'll be awkward. I'm already socially awkward enough."

    "Oh I know," Eret laughed.

    "I'm sure it'll happen eventually," I shrugged.

    "What will happen?" Clay asked, entering the kitchen. I didn't even realize he was awake, so I jumped about a foot in the air. Eret started laughing and Clay looked back at me with a confused look. He grabbed a mug from my cabinet and poured himself a drink.

    "Uh—"

    "We were saying how Cal needs to visit me in LA. She said it'd eventually happen but I don't believe her," Eret covered for me. Thank the lord; I can't lie for shit.

    "Good luck with that. It'll take her three business days to get to you because she refuses to fly on a plane," Clay told him as he came to sit down next to me.

    "You won't hop on a plane for me?" Eret pouted.

    "She wouldn't even hop on a plane for me, man," Clay replied.

    It went silent between the three of us, then I just bursted out laughing. It ricocheted to the other two and when it finally settled down, we ended the call eventually. Eret made up some stupid excuse about how he had to go feed his iguana. Clay didn't even realize that Eret had never owned an iguana in his life. Why the fuck wouldn't he say his cat? I texted the group chat five seconds later.

iMessage

"winner babes"

Cal: IGUANA

Niki: iguana?

Eret: iguana.

Twitter

@CalPal: IGUANA

@Nihachu: @CalPal iguana?

@The_Eret: @CalPal @Nihachu iguana.

    The comments underneath our thread were sending me. No one questioned why we were tweeting that. There was just an assortment of people saying "yes" or sending a picture of a bonked iguana with absolutely no context. Has this just become an inside joke in the fandom now? Even the fans don't understand the full context of the iguana joke.

    While we sat around deciding what to do for the day, we each were texting separate group chats. Little did I know, we were whining to our friends about the exact same thing. I only figured that out when Clay went to the bathroom and out of instinct, I had leaned over to read his lock screen. Usually Clay's the one driving when we go out everyday, so I'm always reading him his texts and responding to them for him. It's become a habit to reach for his phone when it goes off. I probably should uncondition myself. I don't do it to be toxic.