CHAPTER 17

Okay, I dunno who I saved in the last war, but suddenly life has become much, much sweeter. I never saw Jeff again after the incident, which was a relief. And Caleb is like, the sweetest guy ever. I mean, I knew he was a sweet kid when we were younger, but as a boyfriend, he could win a prize.

It took a little getting use to, having Caleb as a boyfriend instead of just a guy whom I knew. I mean, we've known each other all our lives and I've never seen this romantic side of Caleb. And let me tell you, that boy is definitely plenty romantic for me. Stuff that he says and does are incredibly sweet and thoughtful that I would get a toothache if I'm not careful. Some of the stuff he says are kinda cheesy and cringey to me whose emotional tank is always on the zero level. But damn if the kid doesn't make me blush and high with his sweet, sweet affection towards me. Caleb should be illegal, but thank goodness he's not. He's all mine and he's spoiling me rotten. I mean, I literally saw hearts and rainbows and unicorns leaping across the meadows and some crap like that, whenever he kisses me. Seriously

I walked out of my dorm and Caleb was already there, waiting for me, perched on his old Harley. He was looking at his phone and looking hella sexy. Quietly, I took out my phone and took his picture. Damn, this boy is hot. Then I went to him.

"Hey you!" I said as I walked up to Caleb. He looked up from his phone and gave me a gorgeous smile.

"Hey gorgeous! Missed you.." Caleb said as he hugged me and kissed me softly. I kissed him back and felt all fluttery. At times, it was a little awkward to kiss Caleb or get physical with him. I mean, I need to get used to it. It's not hard since he tastes so good...

Every time we're together, people couldn't help but look at us. Not that I care. Some out of curiosity, some surprised and some disapprovingly. But some are totally unexpected. There were a few girls who actually smiled approvingly and gave me thumbs up. Girls I didn't know. And that cancelled out the judgmental and disapproving looks from others.

Every morning Caleb would send me to my class. We would go for a quick breakfast and he would send me to class after that. Seeing him every morning is the highlight of my day. He trains every day after class, so sometimes we don't see each other until the next morning. But there were days Caleb would come and sleep over. Just sleep. He'd get so tired from his training, he'd be snoring away when his head touched the pillow. Lois was used to it and didn't mind since all we did was sleep.

And sometimes, I'd follow him to the pool and do my assignments there. It still unnerved me to see groups of girls watching him train and fawn all over him when he takes a break by the pool. I sighed. I will not be the jealous girlfriend. Apart from being ridiculous, it's too embarrassing to admit that I get jealous. And Caleb is always so nice. Which is why those girls never give up. Even when he waved at me and told them I'm his girlfriend, they still didn't stop the flirting. Well, most did. Only some very dense ones never got the memo. Or choose to ignore it. Well, at least I know Caleb's faithful. I see him every single day. But I look forward to seeing him every day. And he seems to love being with me. Which is way nice.

One night, Caleb suddenly took my hand as I started to go up the stairs to my dorm building. I looked over my shoulder at him with raised eyebrows. Caleb took both my hands and looked at me.

"What is it, Caleb?" I asked.

"Will you go on date with me?" Caleb asked suddenly with a sheepish smile on his lips.

"A date? Err, don't we see each other every single day, Caleb?" I asked with a chuckle. Caleb chuckled as well. He sighed and then looked at me closely.

"Look, we're together now, but we never actually did the classic date thing." Caleb said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, fine. What do you wanna do? And when are we going out on a date?" I asked as I looked at Caleb. He scrunched up his face and looked upwards.

"This Saturday. Wear something pretty. I'll pick you up at 7." Caleb said as he let go of my hand and got on his bike. He smiled as he put on his helmet. I smiled and waved him off as he zoomed out of the area. He wasn't spending the night because Lois sister has come for a visit and having your boyfriend sleep with you in the same bed might not be a good thing for a 14 year old to witness. It wasn't wrong but I was embarrassed to let others see how Caleb's with me. I'm only comfortable with Lois. And that's because she doesn't spend the night in her room much. She always sleeps at her boyfriend's place.

Pretty soon, Saturday came. I actually went out to shop for a new dress. Lois and her sister Leena came with to help me choose which dress to wear. And they were very helpful. They talked me into buying a pretty 40s style blue dress that kinda makes my eyes much bluer than they usually are. I was a little self-conscious as I've never worn a sleeveless dress. I hate showing my arms. My upper arms are huge, so I kinda always wear at least a short sleeve. Scoop sleeves are also a no-no.

On Saturday night, I got ready and waited for Caleb in my room. He insisted. He said he'd get me at my door. Okay, whatever you say. He said he wanted to relive his high school fantasy of asking me out on a date and picking me up from my house. He even told me that he even had a hard time when I went to the prom with Len August, who's just a friend. Len was nice and he did like me for a while but I was not interested in having a boyfriend. Apparently, Caleb wanted to be my prom date and he thought he would when he thought no one would ask me. Turns out Len had beat him to it. So, I guess I'm letting him have a taste of picking me up for a date. Weird, I know.

At 7 on the dot, there was a knock on the door. Lois quickly got ready to open the door. I took a deep breath and nodded my head, telling her it was okay to open the door now. She did and there stood Caleb in a loose dark blue pullover and dark blue jeans. He smiled appreciatively when he saw me. Then we both chuckled as we realized we were both wearing dark blue. Caleb took my hand and we walked hand in hand to his bike. I had my black leather jacket on and climbed onto the bike with Caleb. He revved the engine and we zoomed out of the dorm lawn and to our first date ever.

We had Italian and then Caleb took me to watch the new Marvel flick, which was totally awesome! I could never stomach a romantic Nicholas-Spark-inspired-snoozefest. Or Twilight style, intense romance movie. It's too much for me to take the onscreen couple seriously. I'm more into light, action-packed movies. Plus, Thor's really easy on the eyes..heh heh heh. We've watched tonnes of movies together. But we never did as a couple. It was nice, watching a movie cuddling up to the guy you like.

After the movie was over, we walked out of the theater, laughing at some jokes from the movie when someone suddenly said from behind us.

"Charlotte?" I turned towards the voice. Damien was looking at me. A tiny, petite girl with smooth caramel skin and natural fro was standing beside him. She was wearing 6 cheerleaders' worth of makeup and looking fierce. I stared at them.

"Hey, Damien. How're you doing?" Caleb said casually beside me. Caleb has his arm loosely around my waist as he subtly pulled me closer beside him.

"Hey, Caleb. Yeah, I'm doing okay. How's the swimming thing going on?" Damien said in a friendly manner, ignoring me briefly.

"It's been great. I won a national title." Caleb said with a smile on his friendly face. Damien nodded appreciatively. I continued to look at them exchanging banter as I felt my face harden when I saw him looking at me up and down.

"Oh my God! You're that swimming guy! Caleb, right?! Oh my God! My friends and I are die hard fans! You are so much more delicious up close. God, you are so hot!" The pretty black girl beside Damien gushed excitedly.

"Err..." Damien seemed at loss for words.

"My name's Milla and I just want to say you are the reason why me and my friends are into swimming now. I mean, like you said, you won a national title! That is so..wow!" Milla gushed. I hid a smile when I saw Damien looking a little uncomfortable. I smirked.

"Hello, Milla. Nice to meet you. This is my girlfriend, Charlie. And it's late. So we'd better get going." Caleb said as I saw Damien looked shocked when he heard Caleb call me girlfriend.

"Wait, you guys are together now? Seriously? She's your girlfriend?" Damien said his face in a confused crease.

"Yes, she is. If she's not my girlfriend, would I do this -" Caleb said and then suddenly kissed me deeply, right in front of Damien and Milla. It was a very hot kiss and my breath was caught in my throat when Caleb slowly pulled away. He then kinda kissed my nose softly as he smiled and pulled away. Then he turned to face the shocked Damien and amused Milla.

"-and not get punched in the face?" Caleb said as he pulled me closer and I cuddled up to his chest, looking at Damien like I was bored. His jaw clenched and he scoffed. He quickly recovered, though and made up some lame excuse about having somewhere to go. He pulled Milla who waved at us with a huge smile on her face. When they finally left, Caleb looked at me. I was relieved it didn't get ugly.

"So, why did you guys stop dating again?" Caleb asked as we both walked towards his bike.

"He said that he doesn't date fat chicks like me." I said, the lump of sadness suddenly materializes. Caleb suddenly stopped walking and pulled me to face him. His face looked shocked and filled with anger.

"He called you what?!"Caleb cried angrily, his eyes wide and very, very scary.

"Look, it's nothing. I don't care about him, okay. Let's just go." I said, wanting desperately for the embarrassing conversation to be over. I didn't want Caleb to feel sorry for me. It would be too humiliating since he's put me on a pedestal all these years. I tried to walk away and Caleb followed me, trying to catch up to me.

"Hey, hey..Charlie, wait!" Caleb said and he grabbed my arm. I halted and looked down, willing myself to keep it together. He turned me to face him and made me look at him. I looked up and saw it. The pity in his eyes. There was anger, too, but of course I saw the pity first.

"Look, Caleb it's not a big deal-" I started to say when Caleb cut me off.

"Yes, it's not a big deal." Caleb said and my eyes flashed at him. Well, he didn't have to actually agree with me! I guess he saw my incredulous look because he chuckled as he came closer.

"Look, what I meant was, it's not a big deal because Damien is just an asshole who matters very little to us. To you, especially. He's spam, a total waste of space. Nothing he says makes any difference to me and you. Okay? The only thing that matters is what you think of yourself. And what I think, of course. And as luck would have it, I think you're gorgeous, smart, and insanely sexy. Like, totally perfect for me. You are the perfect woman for me. Hell, I've spent years mooning over you. That's gotta be saying something, right? You're all I need, okay?" Caleb said and I felt goosebumps prickled my skin from his words.

"Really?" I said meekly and Caleb smiled as he nodded and kissed me softly. I bit my lips and smiled as well. Good God , what was I, 5?! Caleb won over me so easily, it's just so typical of me. A little flattery will get you every where my friend.

He sent me back and didn't spend the night. It was the first date after all, Caleb had said and I almost laughed aloud.I opened the door to my dorm room and threw my bag and jacket on my bed. Suddenly my phone buzzed. I looked on the screen and frowned. It was a text from Dara. I haven't been texting her for almost a week. I've been feeling so guilty for 'soiling' her little brother.

I read the note and groaned. Dara was coming to see me. She said she mssed me and wanted to introduce her new guy to me and Caleb. I bit my lower lip and thought hard. She'll be in town only for the weekend. Should be aright, right? God, I hope so!