“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 practiced 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 were 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 rode 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 did 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 had 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.
After 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 kissed 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 way! Jared would kill me, plus I need to change at my house.”
“My bag is at her place anyways,” I reminded Caleb.
He got 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 showed 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 guys 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.
They 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 heard 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.
“Oh, um, hey, um. . . .” Caleb’s discomfort was the only funny thing in this situation. He glanced at me and I stayed mute, merely raising my eyebrows at him.
“What’s the matter, Caleb? Are you feeling alright?” The idiot actually had the nerve to place her hand on my boyfriend’s forehead as if to check for a fever.
I’d had enough. Grabbing her wrist, I flung her arm away. “Nothing is wrong with him except while his girlfriend is sitting on his lap, some one night stand from his past shows up and he can’t even remember her name.”
“Oh my god! You did not just talk to me like that! I’ll have you know that Caleb and I spent a beautiful night together! It was magical!” The idiot screeched and whined at the same time. Talented.
“Caleb, baby?” I said sweetly.
“Yes, princess?”
“What is this slut’s, sorry, I mean girl’s name?”
“Hell if I know,” he answered, shrugging.
I bit back my laughter as the girl’s face turned red. She swiftly stomped back to her OMG posse. First thing I heard her say to them was, “Oh my God!” Then it was like, “Blah, blah, blah, screech!”
At the end of her spiel, the volume in the room turned up. All of the OMG girls were trying to screech over each other in outrage. They were reassuring what’s-her-name that she was the best, most beautiful, better than me and didn’t need a guy like Caleb in her life. The song “Stupid Girls” by Pink began playing in my head. Unfortunately, not loudly enough to drown them out.
Caleb was shaking in silent laughter. I couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s it! Caleb and I are out of here!” I announced to the room.
“Don’t leave me, Gianna! Take me with you!” Cece shouted dramatically.
While Jared was in the shower, Cece and I grabbed our things and snuck out with the guys. We ran out of the house, laughing as we saw one girl stumble into another in a drunken mess. It caused them all to start tumbling like dominos.
Jared was going to be so pissed when Cece didn’t come home tonight, but he’d cover for her with their parents anyways. He was a good brother like that.
As Dante and Cece followed in his car, I finally let out my frustration towards Caleb. “Is that going to happen on a regular basis? How many girls have you slept with, Caleb?”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I was just waiting for you to bitch me out over it.”
Turning in my seat, I asked him, “Do you think I should be okay with all these damn girls?”
“No, of course not.”
“How would you feel if I’d slept with a ton of guys who all came sniffing around trying to get seconds?”
“I’d have very sore knuckles,” he responded, staring at the road ahead. “I can’t change my past, Gianna.”
But would he even want to?
“Never mind,” I told him, feeling ready to cry and not wanting to go there. Instead, I turned towards the window so I wouldn’t embarrass myself if a few tears slipped out.
When he parked in his spot, he unbuckled my seatbelt and dragged
me over to him. I hid my face in his chest, not wanting him to see how upset I was.
“I’m sorry, princess.”
I nodded against his chest. Reaching out, I pushed open the door and climbed out from his side. Before he could see, I wiped under my eyes. He took my hand and we met Dante and Cece where they waited in front of the apartment building.
We mostly just chilled the rest of the night. When Cece used the restroom, I verbally pounced on Dante. I let him know Cece started the night as a virgin and she’d better end it that way. No deflowering on my watch. During our little chat, Caleb just looked up at the ceiling like he had nothing to do with the conversation, all but whistling to himself. Dante was a good sport. I thought Taye or Jared may have already given him the same talk.
The next morning, Dante took Cece home and I warned him to drop her off at the curb and speed away. Beware Jared. Caleb made me breakfast again and I cleaned up afterwards. It was homey, but I was still slightly upset about the night before.
After breakfast, Caleb asked, “How would you feel about doing number five today?”
Number five was a big deal. “Tattoo?”
“Only if you want to, it’s sort of an important decision,” Caleb said seriously.
I thought about it for a minute. “I’m ready.”
Caleb smiled. “Then it’s a good thing I brought the sketch, isn’t it?”
We went to Donna’s shop and several hours later, I had a two and a half inch tattoo on my hip of a boom box with wings. Caleb planned on licking it along with my belly button ring once they were both completely healed. I could safely assume that anything I got done at Donna’s shop would end up being licked by Caleb.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I think there’s a great beauty to having problems.
That’s one of the ways we learn.”
-Herbie Hancock
CALEB
I was so whipped.
How did it come to this?
I needed to reassert my manly authority in this relationship and quit letting Gianna get her way just because she was so damn hot. And Beautiful. And Funny. And Smart. Oh crap. I was in trouble.
I couldn’t believe I was sitting in on an art club meeting after school. Wait, I could believe it because Gianna promised if I spent an hour at art club, checking it out, she’d spend an hour in my room tonight doing whatever I wanted.
Oh yeah.
Finally, it was over. When I left the art room, Gianna was outside leaning against the wall, smiling smugly.
“Why do you look so pleased?” I placed my hands on either side of her head against the wall, and swooped down for a kiss.
“Because,” she said in between kisses.
“Because why?” I asked in between more kisses.
“Because I can tell by your face you enjoyed art club.”
“It was alright,” I said noncommittally. “What’d you do while I was in there? Sit out here, waiting for me? Yearning for me?”
“Psh, whatever! I went to the gym to watch cheerleading practice.” She looked shy and embarrassed, avoiding my eyes.
“Thinking about rejoining?”
“Maybe,” she admitted softly as her cheeks turned pink.
“You know I’ll support whatever makes you happy, right?” I tipped her chin up to look into her blue eyes.
She sighed. “I miss it. Plus, it was a good dance workout Monday through Friday. I’m going to get out of shape if I don’t rejoin or start going to the gym.”
Holding her hand as we walked out to my car, I brought her hand up to my mouth and sucked on the tip of her index finger. “I can think of another good workout you could try.”
Gianna gasped, yanking her hand away. “You are so bad.”
“You love it.” I ran the back of my fingers along her cheek. “And I love it when you blush for me.”
“It’s not every day that some guy starts sucking on my body parts,” she whispered as if we had an audience.
I laughed at her embarrassment. “I’d hope not. Don’t forget, you owe me an hour in my room tonight. There are many parts of you that have yet to be sucked on.”
Her cheeks went from pink to red. I imagined what other parts of her body I could make blush. Perhaps I’d find out tonight.
I teased my girlfriend the whole way home by hinting at all the things I was going to do to her tonight. I planned on doing everything short of actually having sex with her. I’d rather my nosy stepmother not be downstairs baking or knitting or whatever the hell she did, while I was having sex with Gianna for the first time. We’d go to my mom’s place for that. When my mom wasn’t there, obviously.
“My god, Caleb Morrison! You are such a pervert!” Gianna turned the radio up to drown out my naughty words, but the song on the radio was “Bedrock” by Young Money. I laughed as she fumbled to turn it back down.
“What’s the matter, Gianna? Does that song make you think of how I’m gonna make your bed rock tonight?” I grabbed high up on her thigh and squeezed. She squealed and pushed my hand away.
“I’ve made a deal with the devil. But it’ll be your bed rocking. Your room, remember?” Gianna didn’t seem too enthused. It hurt a man’s pride. Maybe she doubted my seduction skills. I’d just have to enlighten the poor girl.
“All this talk is making me hard-” I started saying.
Gianna interrupted so I couldn’t go on, “You are such a pervert! My virgin ears are burning!”
“That’s not all that’ll be burning by the time I’m through with you.”
“Pervert!” Gianna yelled, covering her ears. She was trying so hard not to laugh.
“Now that you mention it-” I began, but Gianna cut me off again.
“Crap!” Gianna sounded panicked and I swung my head to see what caught her attention.
Pulling up in front of the house, I understood what she was referring to. Parked right in the driveway like it belonged was a big black truck. “What the hell is he doing here?”
Gianna had her face in her hands, muffling curses. “Take one guess.”
“I’m going to kick his ass. Again.” I took my time getting out of the car and going around to Gianna’s side.
“No, I’m not getting out. I don’t want to deal with her.”
When Gianna didn’t budge, I reached down to unbuckle her seatbelt and pull her out. “You’re making me think you’re ashamed of me, princess.”
Gianna looked at me with wide eyes. “I’m not ashamed of you! I just don’t want to deal with my mother freaking out about you.”
“In my opinion, I think Josh is doing us a favor. It’s about time this came out in the open.” I guided her forcefully towards the front door.
Before I could open it, Josh came waltzing out with a satisfied smile on his face. He looked momentarily surprised to see us, but his smile soon returned. I let go of Gianna to shove him to the ground.
Gianna stepped between us, placing her hands on my chest. “He’s not worth it, Caleb. We have bigger problems to worry about.”
I looked at her, then down at Josh, then back at her. “Let’s get this over with.” Before going into the house, though, I kicked Josh in his knee. As I slammed the front door shut, I saw him limping to his truck. I’d still beat that fucker later.
When I turned around, Gianna waited with a scowl on her face. “Are you done?”
“For now, unless he wants to come back for more.” Shaking off the anger, I wrapped my arms around her. “It’s gonna be alright. I’m sure your mother can be reasonable about this.”
“Doubtful,” Gianna muttered.
As if on cue, Julie entered stage left from the living room. Gianna tried to back out of my embrace but I held my arms tightly around her while steadily meeting Julie’s shocked gaze.
“Please tell me what Josh said isn’t true. Please tell me you two haven’t been sneaking around behind our backs.”
Gianna’s spine straightened as she backed out of my arms. “Mom, quit being so dramatic.
You make it sound so dirty and seedy.”
“It’s wrong! You two are stepsiblings! You aren’t supposed to date!” Julie was about to lose it, if she hadn’t already.
“We’re related through marriage. It’s not like we’re blood-related. We didn’t even know each other until recently,” I pointed out.
Julie turned towards me, eyes flashing. “I don’t want to hear your attempt to defend it, Caleb. I welcomed you into my home and this is how you repay me? By defiling my daughter?”
“Dammit, mom, quit making it sound like that. Caleb cares about me and I care about him. Plus, no defiling has taken place.” Gianna then unthinkingly added, “Yet.”
I groaned inwardly. That was not a smart thing to say right now.
Julie’s face turned red with anger as she practically frothed at the mouth. “This is going to stop right now! I’ve already called Scott and he’s on his way home. Gianna, go to your room. Caleb, wait in the living room for your father to come home. I’m going to go start dinner. This will all be settled shortly.”
Gianna let out an exasperated sound and ran up the stairs. I did as my wicked stepmother ordered and sat on the couch. This should be interesting. Twenty minutes later, I could hear my dad pull into the garage. When he came in through the garage door, I heard Julie already bitching at him about me.
My dad entered the living room with Julie at his heels yapping like a dog. “Tell him to stay away from my daughter, Scott.”
My dad looked tired and stressed. “Caleb, is this true?” He already knew it was true. He found out about it weeks ago, but maybe he didn’t want Julie to know he’d been keeping it a secret for us.
Standing up so we were all on equal footing, I tried to explain. “Yes, but it’s not the way Julie describes it. She makes me sound like some sort of sexual predator. I’m serious about Gianna. We haven’t even had sex yet,”
Julie got in my face. “Yet? That’ll never happen. Gianna is too good for you! Before you came along everything was perfect. It’s probably your fault she quit cheerleading and broke up with that wonderful boy, Josh.”
Beware of Bad Boy Page 21
