Casual Sabotage

Chapter Eight

Returning home through the front door, the apartment was dead silent; only the small lamp in the corner of the living area was on. I sighed to myself, the thought of everything that had been said between Brian and I weighing heavily on my mind. I took my shoes off and placed them to one side, soon making my way down the hallway and coming to a stop at the sight of the open bedroom door. The light was on, and I could hear the sound of movement and the rustling of papers from inside.

Cautiously, I stepped closer to the doorway, my eyes soon landing on Caleb sat on the floor and surrounded by a number of photographs and letters. He had found my keepsake box from high school that had every letter that Brian and I had ever left for each other inside. At the sound of my footsteps from behind him, Caleb startled and turned to me. His eyes were red and I could see the marks of tears that had dried against his cheeks.

"Caleb?" I asked gently. "What's wrong?"

"You knew him?" He threw back at me.

"Knew who?" I questioned, trying to act innocent.

"Brian." Caleb answered back simply.

"No..." I lied.

"Sal!" He shouted, his sorrow turning to frustration. "Stop lying to me. The evidence is right here in front of me."

"Caleb, that's just some old letters from high school." I tried to explain to him.

"Yeah, from Brian!" Caleb argued. "Tell me the truth. Now."

When I didn't respond, he took one of the pages that had been spread across the bedroom floor and started to read the words aloud. Every sentence brought back memories of my time at high school and I could feel the guilt worsening the further he delved into the note.

"Okay, stop!" I shouted at him. "I wasn't all that honest with you."

I took a seat on the end of the bed and put my head in my hands. "I knew Brian from school...we were just friends though. We got into an argument right before we moved to college and that's where it ended."

"Stop. Lying." Caleb sneered. "You dated him!"

"No, I didn't!" I insisted. "Caleb, you have to believe me!"

"I don't believe a word that you say anymore, Sal." He groused, seizing a photo in his grasp and holding it up for me to see. "If you and Brian never dated, how come this exists?"

My eyes studied the print in closer detail, bringing a wrath of guilt to subside in my throat and strangling me. Brian's arms were wrapped loosely around my waist and he was kissing at my cheek. I wore a party hat on my head with the year of our graduation on the front to signify that it was our graduation party.

"We were just close friends." I excused, gaining a doubtful look in response.

"Friends don't have their hands on each other's asses." Caleb pressed, pointing out the placement of my hand in the photo.

"Okay." I sighed deeply. "I admit that we dated—"

"I knew it." He cursed.

"But it wasn't serious." I expressed. "It was casual and didn't mean anything to me."

"It must have meant something to you, Sal." Caleb commented fiercely. "Otherwise, you wouldn't have kept everything in this box."

"What are you doing going through my stuff?" I complained. "That's private."

"And I can see why!" He argued, throwing the photo back into the box.

"I'm sorry that I never told you..." I apologised, placing my hand to his shoulder and feeling the man tense at my touch.