by Rae Hachton
I bolted forward. Oh my God my mother was going to kill me! I raised up to dig my phone out of my pocket, but gazing eyes startled me. Kaleb was lying next to me, his shirt off and a dreamy smirk on his face. One hand was underneath his head, revealing the muscles in his arm and bicep, and the other hand he used to smoke his cigarette. He brought it to his lips. Inhale. Exhale. Still gazing at me.
We were under the covers together. His feet were touching mine. I felt his body heat radiating. The fan was off and the window open.
When had he gotten up here?
He noticed the look on my face and said, “The beanbag chair became too uncomfortable for sleeping.”
I bet my hair was a complete mess. I'm sure I looked awful. But seeing Kaleb lying there with that stupid little grin across his face had me frozen solid. He scooted closer, reached up to my face. I didn't know what he was doing so I swatted his hand away.
“Ow,” he said.
“Oh shut up. It didn't hurt.”
“Your glasses are crooked,” he said. “I was trying to adjust them.”
Horrifying. “I think I can do it myself.” I fixed them back on my face, then asked him. “What time is it?”
“You have a phone. Check the clock yourself.”
“Fine,” I told him, reaching into my pocket. “I will.”
“Good.”
I slid the bar over to unlock my phone and when it lit up it displayed the hour. 3:33 pm in the afternoon.
“Kaleb! It's three o'clock! I'm dead. Totally dead.” I immediately clicked over to my messages and phone calls, checking to see how many times my mother had decided to yell at me before she'd given up. Surprisingly it was zero. Huh? That was strange.
“What's wrong,” he asked, smoking his cigarette, cool and composed.
“My mom hasn't even called me. That's so unlike her. Especially when I didn't come home last night.” I continued to gaze at my phone, thinking that at any minute all of the voice mails would pop up all at once.
“Your mom is out of town. Didn't she tell you?”
Yeah, in fact she had. How had I forgotten?
Kaleb continued. “She asked my mom to watch you. She didn't want you sneaking off with any of those guys you met at the party, and she didn't want you bringing any of them into your room. Your mom's got you on total lock down. No bad boys touching Kayleigh. No way. She won't have it.”
More like Kaleb didn't want me with any of those guys at the party. My mother knew nothing about that event. But she knew I was with him.
I scoffed. “I bet my mom has no idea that you're here this weekend though.”
“That's right,” he said, all wild eyed. “And I intend to keep it that way. She thought I went with Stephen on his camping escapade. After all, that was originally the plan. But I backed out the way I always do.”
“Hey—” I told him, realizing. “This was a set up. You knew about this the whole time. You just wanted to see if I'd break my mother's rules and stay over with you on my own without having a reason to be here.”
He grinned. I seethed. That jerk!
“Look—I promised my mom I'd be on my best behavior. And so far I have, haven't I?”
I steered the subject away from that. So far, Kaleb had been incredibly shocking. After all, this was Kaleb we were talking about. He hadn't tried anything, he hadn't tried to make any moves on me. I was the one who felt disappointed. I wanted him to be the Kaleb I knew him to be. I wanted him to flirt with me, try to kiss me, touch me, anything. But he didn't. Maybe I didn't know Kaleb at all. Maybe he wasn't that guy after all. Perhaps all of that really had been rumors.
I didn't want to give Kaleb any stars just yet though. And I didn't want him to know what I really thought.
“My mom would've never agreed to let me stay here if she knew you were here.”
“I know,” he said, flicking the ashes into the ash tray. “That's why I didn't tell her.”
“So...you lied.”
“I wouldn't necessarily put it that way. I just decided not to go. Sometimes, plans change.”
“Why?” I wondered if it had anything to do with me being here this weekend. Had Kaleb wanted to spend time with me?
“Do I look like the kind of guy who enjoys male to male bonding over stupid camping, hiking and fishing trips?”
“I couldn't say. I don't know what you like, to be honest.”
I realized I didn't know that much about Kaleb at all. Asides from the filmmaking thing, what did he like to do? What were his interests? I glanced around his room trying to see if I could decipher anything about him I hadn't noticed before. Some activity we could talk about to make this whole weekend go by faster. He did have a bookshelf. And it was stuffed with books. I wondered if any of them were interesting or if he even read them at all. Most of the posters on his walls were from movies or film festivals.
“You,” he said, pulling my attention away from the surveying of his room and back to him.
“What about me?”
“You. You're what I like. I like you, Kayleigh.”
Oh no. When I least expected it, Kaleb took a dive into the deep end. I'm not sure if I looked horrified, repulsed, shocked or what. I hoped not. Because I liked Kaleb, too. And I wanted him to like me. And he did. He told me, again. My pulse accelerated. But I wasn't responding the way I should've been. I just gawked at him, like an idiot.
“That's supposed to be a good thing, y'know,” he said, breaking our eye contact to extinguish his cigarette. He sighed, jumping off the bed. He reached down to the floor for his shirt, pulling it over his head. He smoothed it in place. “But maybe it isn't.” He glanced back at me.
Say something Kayleigh. Don't be an idiot. Speak! Tell him you like him, too.
“Hey,” he was speaking again. “I'm going to head out. I have some buddies waiting on me. There's this party my friend is throwing, said I couldn't miss it.”
“You're leaving?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“When will you be back?” I swung my feet over the bed, sitting up. I was fully alert now. My palms pressed into the mattress.
He laughed. “You never know,” he said. “Not with the kind of parties my friend throws. Probably tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?”
“Yeah.”
“What kind of party?” Suddenly my head was swimming. Kaleb would be at a party. With lots of girls. Girls who wouldn't refuse him. Girls who'd tell him how hot he is and by the end of the night he'd have an entire group of them to choose from. He'd end up making out with some girl, who wasn't me. Or worse—sex. He'd have sex with her.
He didn't answer me. He grabbed his wallet from his desk and shoved it into his back pocket. “See ya around, Kayleigh,” he said without glancing back. He opened his bedroom door and left.
I shot up off the bed, following him down the hallway. His mom was in the kitchen. It looked like she was getting ready to prepare dinner. She saw me and—
“Kayleigh,” she said. “Didn't realize you were already here.”
“Kaleb brought me here early this morning,” I told her.
Her attention diverted to him with a glare. “Kaleb?” I could tell she thought the worst.
“What?” he said, completely irritated.
“I told you to sleep on the couch.”
“Ha,” he said. “Right, mom. It takes two bodies to get it on. Kayleigh would have to be interested in me first. I know you're not implying that I'd ever be a rapist.” He frantically searched under the couch cushions for something. When he realized that whatever he was looking for wasn't there, he began digging in drawers.
“Not funny,” she said, then added, “And where do you think you're going?”
“Out,” he said, frustrated.
“Oh no you're not.”
“Oh yes I am.”
“No,” she said, “you're not. I hid the keys.”
That's when it dawned on me what he was looking for. The keys to the car.
/> “Damnit!” he slammed the drawer shut. “If Stephen didn't want me driving his precious fucking car he shouldn't leave it here every fucking weekend!”
“Hey!” his mother scolded. “Watch your language and your attitude. We have a guest.”
“Don't think she gives two fucks, mom. And I don't care anyway. I just gotta get out of this house. It's suffocating me.”
“Sit down,” his mother said firmly, pointing to the couch.
“No, I'm not four years old anymore. Now either you give me the keys or I'll just call someone to come get me.”
“Mhm,” Ms. Sheri watched him cavort around the room. I'd never seen Kaleb like this before. His mood had obviously shifted. “Sure you will, because we all know you have so many friends,” she tempted him.
Kaleb didn't have any friends. Not that I knew of. All of these friends he spoke about—I'd never seen him with any of them.
“Whatever,” he scowled. “Not like you'd even know. You never pay attention to me.”
“Poor baby,” she mocked.
“Stop, mom. You're so embarrassing.”
“I'm embarrassing? Really? I'm the one? The only friend that you might have is staying here with us as a guest this weekend, and you're already doing your best to drive her away from you, too. I can't believe you, Kaleb. You ditched Stephen when you found out Kayleigh was coming over just so you could spend ti—”
Something broke. I heard the glass shatter against the floor. My immediate reaction was to jump back. Kaleb had knocked a glass off the counter. His face was red. He seemed so irate when only minutes ago he'd been smiling at me. Telling me how much he liked me. He was a totally different person now.
“Oh— real mature, Kaleb.”
“Screw you,” he told his mom. If I'd ever talked to my mother like that, she would've back handed me. Or worse. Probably choked me until I couldn't breathe. I knew better. “I'm outta here,” he stormed to the front door, jerked it open and slammed the door behind him as he left.
My own emotions were so mixed up I felt like crying. Ms. Sheri turned to me. “I apologize for this, Kayleigh,” she said. “I don't know why he's like that.”
“I think I might've done something wrong,” I told her.
“No. It's not you. He just gets like that sometimes.”
“Why?” I asked her.
But I knew she didn't want to talk about it. “Don't move,” she said. “Let me clean up that glass first. Take a seat at the table.”
“Okay.” I pulled the chair out from the table. Ms. Sheri shook as she cleaned up Kaleb's mess. And I don't know why I asked what I did. It left my mouth before I could think it through.
“Hey, why did you ask me to call you Ms. Sheri instead of—”
“Mrs. Parker?” she gave a faint smile and looked up at me. “Because,” she exhaled. “Stephen and I aren't married. Not yet.”
“Oh,” I said, completely embarrassed by my own question.
She sighed and continued. “Kaleb's never had a father figure in his life. I raised him on my own. I didn't think it was right to marry Stephen at the time. Kaleb didn't like the idea. I think it's because Kaleb doesn't like having to adhere to any rules.”
“But what about your happiness?”
“It's seldom when you're a mom. But Kaleb's grown now and as soon as he leaves for college this fall, Stephen and I are thinking about going away for a while. To get away from all the crazy. Between Rebekah and Kaleb, we're losing our minds.”
I watched as she dampened a cloth and swept it over the floor to make sure there weren't any fragments of glass left behind. “I can't believe my son at times. He knows that Alison runs barefoot across this floor. It's like he doesn't think anymore. He could've cut you,” she said.
“But he didn't.”
She glanced up. “I'm sorry, Kayleigh,” she gave an embarrassed laugh. “Look at me. I shouldn't be talking about this with you.”
“It's okay,” I said. “I don't mind. I'm glad we can talk. My own mom never talks to me.”
“Come with me,” she said, standing up and walking into the living room. “Your hair is so beautiful,” she told me. Then she pretended I was her doll. “You're like the daughter I never had.”
As Ms. Sheri brushed my hair, she said, “Did you know that your mom and I used to be best friends back in high school?”
“My mom? No—there's no way. I can't imagine you two would have anything in common.”
“We really were. I can show you our yearbook picture.”
“What happened?”
“Do you have a best friend, Kayleigh? A female friend?”
I shook my head. “No, none of the girls at school really want to talk to me.”
“Probably because you're prettier than them.”
I smiled.
“Well, sometimes when two girls who are best friends like the same guy, it can really cause a problem. Imagine if you had a female friend and she liked Kaleb the way you do.”
“I would be really jealous, and upset. Angry. I might want to rip her hair out.” I laughed. “So, wait—that's what happened to you and my mom?”
“Mhm. Unfortunately, yes. And we never recovered from it.”
“What guy? I wanna see a picture of him.”
“It doesn't matter now. Neither of us ever see him anymore.”
“I'm glad I can talk to you,” I told her. “I have a lot of questions I'd like to ask my own mom, but I know I'll never be able to.”
“Oh yeah?” Ms. Sheri asked, curiously. “Like what?” She smiled, almost like she wanted to talk about this with me.
“Boys.”
“Oh dear,” she sighed, and laid the brush down. I knew it was going to be a long discussion.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Trying to get my head together
*
I couldn't believe her! That was twice already I'd told her I liked her and she'd said nothing. What a bitch. And my mom? Unfuckingbelievable. I'd just made a complete ass of myself in front of the girl I was practically in love with.
This weekend was going to suck.
With a baseball bat, I busted out the windshield of an old junked car to release some of my anger. God I wanted her. Her perfume was all over my sheets. There was no way I could stay in that house over the weekend with her like that and not get a hard on. Or many. What in the hell was I thinking? I almost needed a cold shower this morning.
Damn, I needed to masturbate to expel the tension.
I stayed in the junkyard until sundown, trying to get my head together.
When I returned, Kayleigh and my mom were curled up on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, watching some stupid show with “hot guys” in it. Kayleigh had a hot guy standing right here in front of her, in real life. One she could touch, make out with, everything. What the hell? My mom was brain washing her. I just knew it. She'd lose touch with reality about how a guy's really supposed to treat a girl. She'd end up wanting some fantasy man instead of a real human guy. Thanks, media. You warp the mind of women everywhere.
“Glad you two are so cozy.”
“Hi, Kaleb,” my mom said, chewing her popcorn. “Back so early? How was the party?”
“Wouldn't you like to know.”
“No, not really.” Munch, munch, munch.
Kayleigh's phone buzzed. She glanced at the message then stuck it back in her pocket.
“Who was that, Kayleigh?”
“It's my mom. She said she's home now.”
“So soon? I thought she was staying all weekend.”
“It got cut short,” Kayleigh shrugged.
“Well okay,” my mom said. “Want me to drive you home?”
“No, Ms. Sheri. It's not that dark. I'll walk. It's only a few blocks away.”
“You sure you want to go home? You could stay the night and have your mom pick you up in the morning.” Was my mother really trying to get her to stay and torture me like this? “We could finish the show...”
“Who ca
res about this ignorant show anyway?”
“Kaleb,” my mother turned her attention to me momentarily. “No one's talking to you. See how we're ignoring you?”
Pfft.
“No thanks. Maybe another time.” Kayleigh's eyes found mine. “I'm definitely going home.”
Oh so this was directed at me. It was all my fault now.
“Thank God,” I said as she slid past me. I didn't think she was going to say anything. But she did. She stopped and looked me straight in the eye.
“What in the hell did I ever do to you? You should be ashamed of yourself, Kaleb for how you acted earlier, making your mom clean up your mess like that. You're seventeen in case you haven't realized that. Grow up. Last night you were someone different and I might've liked you. But now? I'm not so sure anymore.”
I didn't let her detect anything. “Is that supposed to faze me or something?”
“No. Guess not. Nothing's important to Kaleb, but Kaleb. Have a great night.”
“Stop,” I said. “I'm not letting you walk. At least let me drive you home. I want to make sure you're safe.”
“If my mom sees that I'm with you, she'll freak out.”
“Your mom is pretty stupid then, because if she didn't want me around you then why did she ask my mom to look after you over the weekend, knowing there'd be a good chance I'd be here?”
That's when my mother spoke up. “She didn't. I lied to both of you.”
“What?” Kayleigh and I said in unison.
“Your mom didn't ask me to watch you. When she called me, she told me she was going out of town and that you'd be home all weekend alone. She wanted me to keep Kaleb away from you. I kinda did the opposite? I thought it'd be nice if you two could spend some quality time together.”
My mom was such an overgrown teenager. “How parental of you,” I said. “And what sort of “quality time” did you have in mind?” I smirked, walking over to grab a handful of popcorn.
My mom punched me in the arm. Kayleigh smiled.
“Your mom is so cool, Kaleb,” Kayleigh said.
“You mean you actually like the idea of her lying to us both and bringing us together over the weekend?”
“Yeah, my mom would never do something like this.”
“Well if you wake up and find me in the obituaries we'll all know who killed me and it'll be my mother's fault.”
