Authors: April Brookshire
Ian stayed
away from us the rest of the night, but I did spot him from afar. By the time we left, I could definitely cross off number twelve on the list. Gianna was adorably drunk. Helping her to my car, I buckled her into the passenger seat. She stopped me from shutting the door to lay a big one on me, almost missing my mouth.
I put her hands on her lap and
told her to behave before closing the door. Back at the parking garage, I made her sit in the car until I could help her out. “Gianna, I don’t think you’re going to make it to ballet tomorrow.”
“I
don’t think so either,” she said, sounding forlorn. “But it was worth it.”
“So you had a good time?”
She would’ve stumbled if my arm weren’t anchoring her. “Yep. Caleb?” Her eyes were glazed over as she looked up at me.
“Yes
, princess?” I kissed her on the cheek and she giggled.
“Why are you on probation?”
Damn, she did hear that bigmouth.
“Because I’m a juvenile delinquent,”
I answered simply while holding open the door of the apartment building.
“Oh.
” She looked confused but not coherent enough to follow it up with another question.
I push
ed the button for the elevator and changed the subject. “Are you hungry?”
“I don’t
think so.”
“Well, I’m going to feed you anyways. It’ll help prevent a
killer hangover in the morning.” Holding onto her, we waited for the elevator to hit the right floor.
In
the apartment, Gianna unexpectedly pushed me onto the couch to straddle me. “Let’s have sex, Caleb.”
I groan
ed in torment. “Gianna, why couldn’t you suggest this when you were sober?”
“Who cares when I say it
?” she said airily as she unbuttoned my shirt.
“I care and so should you, bad girl.
You might be too drunk to even remember it in the morning.” I moved her off my lap to her displeasure and escaped into the kitchen. “I’m going to make some you something to eat.”
“You suck,” I hear
d her mumble.
I’
d never been the type of guy to take advantage of a girl while she was drunk. I was sure pricks like Ian did that crap all the time. Because of his big mouth, I wasn’t looking forward to Gianna interrogating me about being on probation once she was sober.
Gianna
only ate half her sandwich before declaring herself stuffed. Yawning, she was turning into a sleepy drunk. I gave her two aspirin and held the cup of water as she swallowed them down. “Ready for bed?”
“Yeah,” wa
s her answer but she didn’t move.
Carrying her
to my bed, I set her down on it and took off her boots. I found her pajamas in her bag and helped her change while keeping my eyes mostly on her face. I didn’t need any more temptation tonight.
“Caleb?”
“Yes, princess?”
“Why don’t you want to have sex with me? Is it because I’m a virgin and I’ll
be a bad lay?” She climbed under the covers and was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
I
chuckled at her ignorance. “Of course not. I just don’t think we should rush it. I want you to be sure.”
“I think I’m sure,” she mumbled
.
“Goodnight
.” I kissed her on the mouth long and hard because it was all I’d get tonight.
She laid her head back on the pillow
with her eyes closed. “I love you,” she said softly. She didn’t open her eyes again.
Jolted,
I sat on the edge of the bed watching her sleep. Did she mean that? Did she say that because she was drunk or because she was tired? Did she even realize who she was saying it to? If she did mean it, did I feel the same way? I really doubt she’d remember saying it in the morning.
If she d
idn’t remember, I’d just pretend it never happened.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
“I find beauty in unusual things, like hanging your
head
out the window or sitting on a fire escape.”
-Scarlett Johansson
GIANNA
When I
woke up the next morning my mouth felt dry. I must’ve been dehydrated from drinking so much alcohol last night. Slowly opening my eyes, I stared at the ceiling. Not too bad, I didn’t think I was going to throw up or anything. Wondering if I’d missed ballet, I turned my head to find out the time.
“You missed class,” I hear
d Caleb say.
Rolling my head the other way, I found
Caleb propped up on one elbow, staring down at me. Had he been watching me sleep?
Pushing the thought aside,
I groaned. “My instructor is going to be so mad.”
Caleb shrug
ged one shoulder. “What can she do to you? Take away your favorite tutu?”
I laugh
ed, placing one hand over my eyes. “We don’t wear tutus in class, only in performances and only sometimes then. Besides, you’ve never experienced the wrath of a little old Russian lady. She could even whip you into shape, Caleb.”
Caleb wa
s silent, so I removed my hand from over my eyes to look up at him. He had a thoughtful look on his gorgeous face. “How do you feel?”
“
I haven’t sat up yet, but I don’t feel nauseous. I’m very dehydrated though.”
He pushed me back down as I try to sit up and hopped
out of bed. “Wait here. I’ll get you some water.”
“Thanks,” I
sighed, glad not to get up yet. While he was gone, I thought back on last night. The last thing I remembered was leaving the club.
After that,
nada
.
Caleb
returned and handed me a glass of water. I sat up and guzzled it down. Caleb stood a couple feet away from the bed with a weird look on his face. I unashamedly checked him out in his boxer briefs. My guy was hot.
“I’ll make some breakfast.
” He exited the room so fast I began to wonder if I’d done something embarrassing last night. He would tell me if I did, right? I couldn’t see him missing an opportunity to tease me.
I
was only a little dizzy when I stood up. Grabbing my duffel bag, I went into the bathroom to shower. A shower and brushing my teeth were definitely in order.
Thirty minutes later
I walked into the kitchen where Caleb was already sitting at the table eating. He motioned for me to sit down in front of where he’d already served me. He still wasn’t acting like himself and avoided my eyes.
“So anyways,” I beg
an. “What did we do after the club?”
He
met my gaze looking suspiciously relieved. “You don’t remember?”
“I reme
mber up until we left the club and after that, nothing. Why? Did something happen?” Now I was beginning to think I’d done something crazy like streak through downtown naked.
“No, nothing happened,” he assured me with a blank face. “
We came back here, had a snack and you went to sleep.”
“Oh, from what I remember
, I had a good time. We’ll have to do that again. Next time we could invite some friends.”
Ca
leb finished eating and went to take a shower. I ate my food then cleaned up the mess in the kitchen. While waiting for him, I flipped through the channels. He appeared back to normal when he sat down on the cushion next to me and pulled me onto his lap. “I’m glad you had fun last night. I had fun watching you have fun.”
“I
didn’t do anything stupid?”
“
Nothing stupid,” he reassured me.
I studied
his face for a few more moments. Something had been up with him earlier. “I’m glad you had fun too.”
“What time do you have to be at Cece’s house?” he ask
ed, rubbing circles on my back with his thumb.
“Not for two more hours
.” His touch was soothing and I burrowed my head into his neck.
“Do you want to go for a walk?”
I lift my head to look at him. “Sure.”
Getting a pair of sneakers out of
my bag in his room, I slipped them on. The weather was perfect outside. We leisurely strolled around the trendy downtown neighborhood for about an hour. He was sort of giving me a tour since all I’d seen of his neighborhood so far was the short walk between the parking garage and the apartment building. Caleb greeted a few people he knew, mostly girls. He told me he and his mom had lived here since the divorce.
When
it was time to head over to Jared and Cece’s house, we picked up my bag at the apartment. Caleb eyed my bag. “You could just leave it here.”
“Well,” I
said drolly, “I’ll need pajamas to change into tonight and clothes to wear tomorrow.”
“You’ll be wearing those pajamas here tonight and changing into those clothes here tomorrow morning
,” he insisted.
I was
holding my duffel bag over one shoulder and I noticed he didn’t offer to carry like he usually did. “Since when do you tell me what to do?”
“You’re my girlfriend. My place is
wherever you are and vice versa.” He crossed his arms over his chest as if he weren’t going to budge on the issue. “And I really don’t want to have a sleepover at Jared’s house. I don’t think he’d appreciate me sharing a bed with you and Cece.”
I laugh
ed. “You’re right, he wouldn’t. Fine, we’ll come back here, but I still need to take my bag because it has my outfit for tonight.” Why not give in? It wasn’t as if I wanted to be apart from him.
He narrow
ed his eyes at the bag. “Alright, I guess you’ll need to take your bag.”
“Jeez,
thanks for permission, master,” I joked sarcastically. Caleb was just too funny when he got possessive. I couldn’t believe what he’d said about his place being wherever I was. It was funny how he could be sweet and bossy at the same time.
He turned
around after opening the apartment door. “What are you smiling about?”
I
wiped the smirk off my face. “Nothing.”
“Uh-huh, sure.
Let’s go, princess.” He motions for me to lead the way and locked the door behind us. He grabbed my bag out of my hand while I hit the elevator button to go down.
The whole crew
was at the house. Cece came up to give me a hug. “Where were you this morning? You missed ballet!”
I look
ed at her guiltily. “I had a bit of a hangover.”
“What? You got drunk without me last night? How much did you drink? You never do that! Where was the party?”
Cece didn’t know how to limit her questions to one at a time.
“Yes, I
got pretty drunk off about five drinks, but not at a party, at a club.” I answered all of her questions in one go.
“At a club?
With who? Didn’t you say you weren’t going to do that ever again after you-know-what happened? Are you okay?” Cece’s questions were beginning to give me a headache.
“Do
n’t worry, I was with Caleb.”
“Oh, o
kay.” She settled down and I guessed that was a good enough answer for her.
Jared
walked into the garage and immediately spotted Caleb sitting on the couch up against the wall. Caleb smirked at him and Jared got a sour look on his face. “God, what’s he doing here again?”
“
He
is my boyfriend and likes to watch us practice. You guys bring your little girlfriends all the time so why can’t I bring my boyfriend?”
“
Whatever, just tell him to stay out of my way.” What a big baby he was.
We practice
d for the next few hours and Caleb actually fell asleep. Either that or he was pretending to sleep to avoid talking to a girl one of the guys brought. At least I liked to think so.
After we we
re done practicing, a group of us went to the Ramirez family’s restaurant. I loved their parents. They were always eager to feed people and I was one of their favorite people to feed. It worked out well all the way around. Afterwards, we went back to their house to change.
Cece r
ode with me and Caleb to the club we were dancing at tonight. Club owners paid dancers like us to show up and add some excitement to their atmosphere. Thank god for those dancing competition reality shows on television. They helped crews like us find gigs by adding to our popularity.
We d
id the routine we worked all afternoon on. Taye got the idea a couple weeks back for the routine while he was watching
Braveheart
. We all had one side of our face painted blue and were each wearing at least one piece of plaid clothing.
Cece and I ha
d our hair plaited. We also put blue eyeshadow on our eyelid that was on the bare side of our face. She and I were both wearing red plaid skirts with black tank tops and black leggings underneath. Jared wore a red plaid hoodie and Taye wore red plaid cargo pants. All of the guys managed to find some clothing item to wear that was red plaid, whether it was on their head, body or feet. Any other clothing was black.
The music we’
d chosen was an instrumental version of Eminem’s “Bagpipes from Baghdad.” Our routine consisted of a lot of aggressive popping and locking, plus some breaking. The crowd loved it. Making our performances a little theatrical made sure the club promoters remembered us and thought to book us again.
Dante met us at the club which
I took as meaning he was really into Cece. I’d have a talk with the boy about treating my girl right, even if Jared already beat me to it. Cece was so sweet it made her a target for guys trying to take advantage of it. Caleb’s best friend or not, Dante needed to know not to mess around when it came to her.
A
fter our performance, Caleb embraced me tightly. “You did good, little warrior.”
To give credit to where it was due, Ezra and Taye were the best breakers in the group while Jared was the best at popping. Cece and I had skills, but sometimes I worried we were more eye candy
to our audience than anything else.
But other than skill, the most important part of dancing was confidence, so
I told Caleb smugly, “I know.”
“So it’s like that
, is it? Little b-girl has a big dancing ego?” he teased.
“Yep,
it’s the one thing I know I rock at.”
He kiss
ed me while gripping my butt. “Do you want to go back to my place?”
Before I could answer, Cece bounced
up to us with Dante right behind. “Come on, guys, I want to go home and wash this paint off my face.”
I laughed while wiping some blue paint off Caleb’s cheek.
“My mom is out of town, how about we go there?” Caleb offered.
“No wa
y! Jared would kill me, plus I need to change at my house.”
“My bag is at her place anyways,” I remind
ed Caleb.
He g
ot an annoyed look on his face. “Fine, we’ll go there first.”
Cece
ditched us to ride with Dante in his car, so it was just me and Caleb. Jared was about as interested in spending time with Caleb as Caleb was with him. When we got there, Jared and they guys didn’t show up the entire time Cece and I were showering and getting ready again. Cece and I grabbed beers out of the fridge and took them to our boyfriends in the living room. I had no interest in drinking after the night before.
When Jared and the guys show
ed up, we were sitting on our boyfriends’ laps. Cece quickly jumped off Dante. The girl could move fast. I’d sit on my man’s lap if I want to. Jared wasn’t the boss of me.
Following the guy
s into the house was a group of five girls. I didn’t know them and from the way they were dressed and acting, I didn’t want to know them. Cece and I were always irritated when the boys brought girls like this home from a club or battle.
T
hey said
oh my god
every other sentence and screeched when they were drunk instead of talking in normal tones. They needed to learn to use their inside voices. To get attention from the guys they acted like complete idiots. Some of the guys would definitely get laid, which was why they brought the girls along.
“Oh my god,
Caleb!” one of the idiots screeched.
“Damn,” I hear
d Caleb mumble.
The idiot
teetered over on her stilettos and plopped down next to my boyfriend.
Uh, hello, I’m sitting on his freaking lap! No matter how close you move next to him, I’m still closer!
“Caleb! Where
’ve you been? You never called me! I thought you liked me!” The idiot needed to shut her trap.