He hesitates. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Well, yes, when you put it that way…
I groan inwardly.
“Do you have a small light we can turn on?” he asks, crossing the room. “Not the overhead light. I just want… I have to see your face.”
“Yes, m-my desk light, maybe?” I stand, careful to avoid contact with him. I feel my way through the dark to the little white light clamped to my IKEA desk and click the switch. A dim light casts pallor over the room.
I turn to face Caleb, whose imposing figure swallows up all the space in room, and I nervously flop down on the edge of my bed.
He approaches slowly then sinks to his knees in front of me.
Caleb
I sink to my knees in front of her, needing her to see me, and place my palms on her smooth, bare knees. It doesn’t occur to me to ask permission, but when she doesn’t pull away, my heart encourages me to power forward.
“God, Abby, I’m so sorry.” I risk a glance at her face, and she’s staring at me slack-jawed. “I’m such an ass.”
Her head tilts to the side as she silently watches me.
“Right after you climbed out that window, when you stormed away, that’s when I found your ring. It was shining in the sun, and I went to your cousin’s. He would have given it to you, but—” I run a hand under my hat, nervously before I continue “—I wanted to see you again. So I kept it.
“At first, I had it in my pocket. You know, just in case I ran into you. Then, when I finally did see you out, either I was with Blaze, or my friends, or I was just ashamed to admit I had it. That day you stormed out of the yard, and I walked you home, all I could think about was being in that moment with you.”
As I babble on, Abby’s lips part on a sigh when I run my large hands aimlessly up and down her bare thighs, stroking them gently.
“It didn’t even occur to me after that. Well, okay, maybe it did a few times. Not even when you were in my room; because you were in my room. Clearly I did not handle that well.” I clear my throat. “When you’re around, I become… God, I don’t know. Not that the ring wasn’t important—that isn’t it at all. The truth is you’re literally all I can think about. I forget everything else—I fucking adore you. I want to make this work.”
“Abby?” Pausing, I let out a deep breath, wishing she’d say something. “Abby? Is this making any sense, or am I fucking this up, too?”
Abby
He says my name in a tortured whisper, and I watch, spellbound, as his big, strong hands caress my legs.
I’m so stunned I don’t even know what to say. Everything I know about boys does not add up to this moment.
“Abby? Is this making any sense or am I fucking this up, too?”
Bravely, I raise my eyes and look into his face—his serious, broody, sweet face—peering up at me from his spot on the carpet, from under the brim of his ball cap. I take in his five o’clock shadow and the downturned curve of his full lips.
It’s just barely a pout.
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything.
I show him.
Reaching forward, I remove his baseball hat and throw it into the dark pit of my bedroom. It lands with a soft thud on the carpet as I lift my arms and run all ten fingers through his thick, shaggy black hair.
He shutters, closing his chocolate-brown eyes and tilting his cheek toward my palm, nuzzling with an audible groan. “Abby, don’t be mad at me anymore,” he whispers again. “It was an accident.”
I know his intention isn’t to be funny, but a giggle escapes my lips as I finger the loose locks of his silky hair when he drops his head into my lap. “Oh, Caleb,” I whisper back. “What am I supposed to do with you?”
“Whatever you do, just don’t stop touching me,” he moans. “God, I missed you.”
Those four words are the most romantic thing anyone has ever said to me. Sad, but true. “But we’ve only known each other for… what. Three or four weeks?”
He stops caressing my legs and lifts his head, those dark eyes boring deep down into my soul. “Does a timeline really have anything to do with how you feel about me?”
“N-no,” I stutter, then take a steadying breath. “No. You’re right, of course it doesn’t. I don’t know why I even said that.”
His fingers trace circles on my thighs, and I fight back a shiver.
“Because you’re scared.”
“Yes.”
His mouth hitches at the corner and his hooded eyes sparkle. “Not as scared as I am.” He lowers his head and plants kisses on both my knees, one at a time. “I almost threw up in the bushes outside.”