Chapter FOURTEEN

CA L E B

For once Archer and I were hanging out at his place and not mine. This was mostly due to the fact that Archer was getting his things ready. He'll be driving to his family's house tonight. "Isn't your flight home tomorrow? Why aren't you packing?" Archer asked, placing a folded pile of clothes into his suitcase.

"I'll pack later." I waved my hand in dismissal. Max had left earlier today to visit his family too. Archer shook his head like how a disappointed dad would. "If you do that you'll forget all the necessary items."

"No I won't," I shook my head. "It's just like whenever we go on tour, I pack literally the day before we leave and I still manage to take everything important."

Archer scoffed, now moving on to stuffing a bunch of random pouches into his suitcase. "Right. Everything except your toothbrush, laptop charger, socks and passport. But those aren't important."

"Hey, the passport thing was one time!" I defended myself but Archer merely rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say man," He said. "Speaking of, I can't believe our tour's starting soon. Time moves faster these days, I swear."

Today Patricia emailed us the complete details about our tour and the first stops we'd be making. Only a few of the stops have been announced to our fans. It was currently March, our tour would start in May. For now, we were free to do anything we wanted, but on the last week of April we have to start rehearsals.

I felt myself grinning. "I missed touring. I actually can't wait until we're on the road again."

"Did Patricia tell you anything about what's going to happen between you and Mr. Dreamy once we leave?"

I blinked rapidly at him a few times. "Mr. Dreamy?"

"He kind of is dreamy," Archer replied easily, a smirk taking over his face. "You obviously think so."

I threw a pair of his balled-up socks, Archer managing to catch it before it hit him in the face. "I don't know what will happen," I replied. He threw the socks at me and I dodged them.

"You sure you can manage being away from him for a long period of time?"

"I'll be on a tour with my band, of course I can! A few months is nothing compared to three years," I caught myself before I could add more to that. Shaking my head, I leaned back on Archer's desk chair. "He and I aren't really together, Ash. I think you seem to forget that a lot."

"I still can't believe you never told Max and I about Liam when we were just starting our band." Archer had proceeded to sit down on top of his suitcase, trying to zip it closed. "I mean, you texted him twenty-four seven, and you Skyped him almost every night. I don't know how I missed it to be honest."

"I did tell you guys that Liam was my best friend," I reminded him. "Well, he was more than that, obviously. I was just scared you and Maxey wouldn't be comfortable about having me in the band if you knew I was head over heels for another man."

"Was?"

I grabbed the pillow he threw at me earlier when I joked about cutting his hair and chucked it at him. Archer laughed, tossing the pillow back onto his bed where he was still sitting on top of his suitcase. "Max was right, you know. Your story is like some fairytale shit."

"It's far from that."

"No, it's not," Archer huffed as he finally managed to zip up his suitcase all the way. He plopped down onto his mattress, bringing an arm under his head. "I mean, your houses were literally beside each other, your balconies were inches apart, and you reconnected after years of being apart. That's sounds like a totally cliché love story to me. Why don't you just tell him that you love him?"

"I don't love him. And you know why I can't just tell him."

"Is it because you think he doesn't like you back? Dude, you're Caleb Novak, I've never seen you like this before. I've never seen you get so in denial over anyone."

"Liam is…" I started, trying to come up with an explanation. I ended up just shaking my head. "It's not like that, it's not like the other times I liked someone. This situation's different."

"Because Liam's a boy?"

"Because Liam is different."

I regretted saying that the second it came out of my mouth. Not because it wasn't true, but because I just willingly gave Archer more material to tease me with.

His doorbell rang before he could speak. I was up and walking out of the room in a second.

"Hold on," He called out, jogging out his bedroom. I beat him to his front door, not hesitating to open it.

"He—Liam?"

"Oh, hey! It's great to see you, Liam." Archer walked up behind me, slinging an arm over my shoulders and grinning at the blonde boy wearing skinny jeans and suede boots at his front door. It seemed like Liam didn't expect me to be the one to answer the door either. "What brings you here? Were you looking for Caleb?"

Liam fiddled with the rings on his long fingers. His smile was a dead giveaway, telling us he was nervous about something. "Actually, yeah. You weren't answering your phone, or your front door. I figured I would ask Archer or Max where you were but I didn't have either of their numbers."

"Sorry about that. I left my phone at my place and was just too lazy to get it." There were a bunch of things running through my mind, but all I could focus on was the way his shirt fit across his broad chest.

Archer shook me, quite literally, back to my senses. "Why don't you come in? I'll make you some coffee, or maybe offer you beer?"

Liam smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Archer, but I was hoping Caleb and I could go out today." Archer and Liam both turned to look at me then, expressions both entirely different from one another.

"Come again?"

"If you're not busy, maybe we could grab a bite to eat? Uh…" Liam's eyes flickered from Archer to me then back to Archer, unsure of his next words. "It was Dave's idea, mostly."

Ah. Right.

I ignored the disappointment welling in my chest and stepped closer to where Liam was. "Turns out, I'm free for the day. We should get going, I'm starving. Though I need to grab my phone and wallet first." Just needed to play it cool, that's all.

Liam eyed my Guns & Roses shirt. "It's kind of windy. You sure you don't want to grab a jacket?"

"I'll be fine," I reassured him. I turned around to face Archer who was leaning against the doorframe. He smiled at me, almost sadly. I went in to hug him. "See you soon, Cal. Text me, about, you know." He said not-so-subtly. I had to roll my eyes. "We'll see. Text me when you get to your parent's house." I said.

"Will do," Archer nodded. "You kids have fun now, alright?"

#

I didn't want to go out with Caleb today. But only because he's already been through a lot already yesterday. I found that the thought of being near Caleb wasn't as bad as it was before.

Caleb clicked the button for the lobby once we got into the elevator. "You said this was mostly Dave's idea. Did he tell us where we have to go, too?"

"No, not technically. He did, however, say a lot of things."

"Like?"

"I'll tell you later."

"Okay?" Caleb looked suspicious, but he agreed to wait. "Will you at least tell me the plans for today? Where you plan to take me?"

"I figured I'd let you decide where we go," I told him just as the elevator doors opened with a ding. Caleb didn't answer immediately, thinking about it. He managed to make-up his mind once we got near my car. "I'm not in the mood to be around a lot of people."

We both got in, but I didn't start the engine just yet. "Actually, before you tell me where you want to go, there's something I have to tell you."

Caleb waited for me to continue.

Well, can't avoid it any longer. "Part of what Dave told me was that we still haven't been photographed kissing. Um… He meant real kissing, not like last night at the movie premiere."

There was a moment where Caleb's expression remained the same, then it slowly morphed into shock and then something else I couldn't quite pinpoint. His mouth opened, unsure of how to respond. I couldn't blame him. "Wait, so, you mean—this is why you were looking for me? Dave wants us to be seen kissing?"

I winced at the tone of his voice. "His words were real kissing."

"Today?" Caleb asked.

I turned on the engine as a response. Caleb looked like he was having an inner debate with himself. I let the silence settle between us, focusing on getting onto the street.

"I—" Caleb said, then stopped. "That's—" He paused again.

"I know." I mumbled. Truly, I did. I think we both knew this was coming. And now that it's here, neither of us knew how to handle it. I was also a stuttering mess in Dave's office earlier today.

"Has Dave talked to Patricia?" Caleb asked. I was driving without a destination, but I wasn't just going to pester Caleb about where to go just yet.

"I think he said that he called her yesterday."

I heard Caleb sigh. From my peripheral vision, I saw how he rubbed at his temple. "I think that's partly why. Patricia knows I'm flying to visit my parents tomorrow."

"Oh." I said. "That's why it had to be today."

And really, what do you say when you're told by your manager that you have to be seen basically making-out with your fake boyfriend before he left to fly to America tomorrow? Caleb was just as speechless about it as I was.

He did, however, change the topic for now. "How about we get take-out then go to the park?"

"Like a picnic?"

#

A few minutes later, we had two bags of McDonald's take-outs and a whole area in the park to ourselves. It was a weekday, which was why it wasn't as packed as it would be during the weekends. I had a spare blanket in the trunk so Caleb laid that out before we both sat down. Our spot was right beside a tree, and whenever the wind blew you could hear the leaves rustling on their branches.

After I texted Dave about our location, Caleb settled against the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes. His arms were placed crisscrossed on top of his lap.

I let myself look at him at that moment. I used to do that a lot when we were kids, when I thought all I would ever be allowed to do was look at him.

"This is probably the most relaxed I've been all week." Caleb confessed once minutes have gone by. He then peeked open one eye. "I know you're staring, Liam."

The denial was instant, my eyes rolling on their own accord. "I'm not looking at you. I'm looking at the trees." I knew he wouldn't believe me, anyway. Even when we were kids he'd always catch me staring at him.

"The trees must be so captivating, then."

"Yeah," I smiled, because I honestly couldn't help myself. "They are." Our eyes met and we held each other's gaze, waiting to see who broke it first.

It was Caleb who did. "So, food?"

I passed him one of the paper bags like nothing happened. We were both getting good at that. He took out two burgers and one large fries, handing one of the burgers to me and then placing the fries down. He settled our drinks between us. "Any new job offers so far?" He asked, opening his burger and taking a huge bite from it.

"Modeling." I took a slightly smaller bite from mine. "Photoshoot day after tomorrow. Jake's going to kill me for eating fast food by the way, and it's going to be your fault."

Caleb chuckled and simply passed me the fries. "What's the photoshoot for?"

"New fashion line releasing in a few weeks. My agent managed to secure me a spot as their ambassador months ago. It's been in the works for some time now, I'm excited it'll finally start being finalized tomorrow." I shoved a few fries into my mouth. Caleb was grinning at me. "Congratulations, Walker."

"Thanks." I said, blinking a few times and feeling my eyebrows together.

"What is it?" Caleb asked, I took another bite of my burger, chewing as I thought about the conversation that happened just now. "This is still really weird to me."

He seemed to catch on, even raising his drink as he said, "You got that right."

There was another gust of strong wind. I tried not to comment about Caleb only wearing a shirt and how it'll only get colder. "Your parents. Do they know about all…" I gestured to both of us. "This?"

"They've obviously seen the articles and the posts. I've been trying to avoid talking to them about it, so far it's working."

I hadn't told my parents yet, either. I was actually hoping this would pass without us having to admit to our parents that we were put into the whole situation. It'll just be entirely confusing and much more complicated. "How do you think they'd react?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." Caleb shook his head. "I mean, it's not like you're a stranger to them."

"Does Melanie know?"

Caleb nodded. "I told her when we saw each other a week ago."

Mel and I haven't spoken to each other in a while. We weren't messaging one another frequently to begin with, so it didn't strike me as odd. However, I was curious to know. "What'd she think about this?"

"She thinks it's weird, let's put it at that." Caleb was almost finished with his burger while I was barely halfway done with mine. Something must've shown on my face, because Caleb stopped midway from taking a sip of his drink to explain. "She doesn't, like, think less of you or whatever. She's aware that this is all my fault; because of the tweet."

That honestly made me feel better. I grinned as a thank you to Caleb, taking another bite of my burger when out of nowhere Caleb started to move wrappers and containers towards the side then looked at me expectantly. "What?" I didn't understand. He was waiting for me to figure it out.

He sighed when I couldn't. "Can you sit here, please?"

I placed my food down and moved to sit beside him. The tree's trunk was big enough for both of us to lean against it. We were really close now, our shoulders touching and legs outstretched beside each other. "You guys really do love black skinny jeans, don't you?"

Caleb burst out laughing at the unexpected comment. "Band aesthetic. It was definitely something I had to get used to."

"Whatever happened to the Caleb who wore Cookie Monster pajama bottoms to the grocery store?"

"Oh my God, I remember that!" He looked up in embarrassment, exposing much of his neck.

The wind blew again and Caleb wrapped his arms around himself, trying to play it off. I took hold of his hand before I could think better of it. "Your hands are cold. I told you to bring a jacket."

He snatched his hand away from me, sticking out his tongue like a mature adult. "I'm not cold."

He really was a piece of work sometimes. "Alright," I sighed, already hating myself for what I was about to do. "I can't believe I'm doing this." I shrugged off my gray jacket. It was a good quality jacket, the fabric was thick enough to keep you warm but not so heavy you start to sweat.

Caleb was shaking his head. "Liam, no, I'm alright."

"Wear it," I said, handing him the jacket. He pushed it back towards me, as expected. "Just take it!" I laughed. "Seriously. You're traveling tomorrow, you might catch a cold."

"I won't." Caleb shook his head determinedly

I frowned. "Don't be stupid. Take the jacket, come on." Caleb glared at me but took the jacket anyway and putting it on. The jacket usually stopped around my wrist, but on Caleb it stopped a few inches above his knuckles.

There was a sudden shift in our surrounding. I actually felt the number of eyes and cameras now focused on us, and I could tell that Caleb did too. You could see just by his expression that he was aware paparazzi were now close by.

"How do we…"

Caleb shrugged. "It's up to you."

I thought for a moment. "Well, they're going to want us to do it eventually. Why not now?" I think I was trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince Caleb. He didn't seem too keen about what I just said. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. Here goes nothing.

Caleb made the move and slowly leaned in. I kept still. Our foreheads and noses were now touching. My eyes automatically closed, and I prepared myself for what's next. I waited, but Caleb seemed frozen.

"Go for it." I whispered. I figured he was just nervous.

"I—" He whispered back. "I can't." Then there was a little more space between our faces.

"Hey, it's fine." My voice was soft as I placed a hand on top of his and squeezed it for reassurance. To the paparazzi taking photos, it probably looked like we were having an intimate conversation. "I'm an actor, remember? I'm usually required to kiss co-stars for movies all the time. If you're worried about things being weirder between us then—"

"No," He replied, voice just as soft. "That's not it."

I squeezed his hand again. "It's just a kiss."

Caleb's eyes closed and I heard him swallow. That's how close we were. "It's not just a kiss. It'll never be just a kiss, Liam. Not to me," He said. "Not if it's with you."

Now I was the one frozen.

"Nothing's ever a ‘just’ with you," Caleb continued to confess, face entirely vulnerable and open like a bleeding wound. "You're not worthy of the word ‘just’, because you're so much more than that."

I had to take a few seconds to understand what he was saying, and by the time I did I felt my eyes stinging with emotion. Caught off guard and too shocked to make my brain work up words I want to say, I settled with just hiding my face into the crook of his neck.

I felt his head dip. "I don't want to kiss you if it's like this," Caleb whispered next to my ear. "I don't want to kiss you if it's for publicity or some sort of confirmation for other people." He was now rubbing my arm slowly in a manner which was way too comforting.

We stayed like that for a minute. I could smell his cologne.

There were many ways I could have responded to his little speech, but right now we were calm even with the distant sound shutters going off from various cameras and I was afraid to ruin the peace. So, instead I decided to ask, "What time do you leave tomorrow?"

"My flight leaves at night, thankfully." Caleb squeezed my upper-arm. "Remind me that I need to give you your jacket back."

"Keep it."