Love At First Text ✔️

Her

"You're sure you've got everything?" Caleb asked Eden for the third time. His eyes were running over her bags, as if doing his own inventory. She's already triple checked, so she was sure. Although, each time she checked, she had forgotten something.

She laughed, grabbing his cheeks to pull his attention to her. He smiled at the grin she was wearing. "I'm literally gone for two whole days. Anything I forget I can probably live without for that long."

"Toothbrush?" She went to nod and then paused. He chuckled lightly. "I'll go fetch it." He kissed her head quickly and then ran upstairs.

Lorna was due to pick her up any moment to drive down to London so that Eden didn't have to take her own car. It made sense, for they were arriving and leaving together, and she wasn't sure her own car could get out of the drive most days, let alone manage a half a day journey.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she took it out, eyes skimming the message from Lorna. She was outside. She put it back in her pocket, heavy with... she didn't know what with. Only that the feeling came every time she saw that she didn't have a message from Sebastian on her phone.

Yesterday was nice. The kind message, their short rapport. She missed that. But it was better this way. It was. It had to be.

"Here we go." Caleb mused, shaking her toothbrush at her. He crouched to slot it in the pocket of her weekend bag. When he stood again, his hands found her shoulders. "Now you're ready." He assured her, pushing her hair behind her ears.

"Thank you." She pushed to her tip toes to kiss him. She hadn't planned to stay the night last night, but after the messages with Sebastian, she found herself texting Caleb to pick her up. A distraction. She'd needed it. "Lorna's outside."

He nodded. "I'll help you with your bags." He went to take the one she had slung over her shoulder.

"Caleb, it's two bags. I'm fine." She grinned at his insistence. "Honestly. It's fine. I'll see you when I'm back, okay?" He nodded, threading his fingers in her for a second time. He did that a lot. Eden wasn't much of a fan.

"Okay. Good luck." He kissed her again. Held his forehead to hers. "I love you."

What?

Eden jumped back in fright. What? "Oh! Um... I'll message you when I'm at the hotel, okay?" She pressed her lips to his quickly. Again. What else was she meant to do in this situation? "See you soon." She didn't think she'd ever hurried out of a house so quickly.

He loved her? That couldn't be right. It had only been a month. There was no way he could love her so quickly and mean it. Right?

She popped Lorna's boot open and chucked the larger of her two bags in, borderline hyperventilating. How could he say that to her? They hardly knew each other. You couldn't love someone that quickly. Of course, Eden did, but that was different. She was clearly incapacitated in some way and Caleb, he -

Eden thought she might cry. She'd given Sebastian such a hard time for his mixed signals, and now, here she was, doing exactly the same thing. She'd made Caleb fall in love with her when she hardly felt anything other than a basic attraction to him. She was an awful human being. A horrible person. How could she do this to him!

"You know this is meant to be an exciting moment for us, right?" Lorna chuckled when Eden climbed into the passenger seat, wide eyed and breathing heavy.

She clasped a hand to her mouth, only moving it to reply. "Caleb just said, 'I love you'." She took a deep breath. "I think he meant it too."

Lorna grimaced, pulled the car from the curb, and raised a brow in Eden's direction. "Is that why you look like you're going to vomit?" It was a serious question.