Through His Eyes

Through His Eyes [20]

{{Dedicated to @goodbyez because she left an amazing comment on the last chapter and also because she is a sweetheart}}

CHAPTER TWENTY

Rhea was having a hard time grasping how she'd gotten herself into this mess.

Ever since she'd realized Caleb was her soulmate, she'd been eager to be around him whenever she could, but that didn't mean she was up for spending an entire evening in close proximity to his girlfriend. Granted, it felt good that Caleb apparently cared enough about her to want to introduce her to his friends. But it also meant that he thought they were strictly friends. After all, you wouldn't want to introduce a girl you might be interested in to your girlfriend.

Her attraction to Caleb was by no means instantaneous. For weeks, she'd thought of him as a really great friend—someone she could rely on. It was after the big revelation that she started to give thought to the possibility of something more. Even then, she didn't go from zero to a hundred very quickly.

As she laid awake countless nights, she contemplated the possibility of this turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Were her feelings for Caleb genuine, or was she developing these feelings because she thought she was supposed to? These thoughts would more often than not end up giving her a dull headache.

All of a sudden, the triweekly Chemistry lessons had become a burden. She tried her hardest to behave naturally, to not let her jumbling mess of conflicting emotions affect their friendship. Some days it was easy; she could just sit next to Caleb and quietly joke around without incurring Mr. Martin's fury, exchange silent looks whenever the teacher's back was turned to them. Other days, she would withdraw into herself fully and stare at the back of Mr. Martin's head as he filled the blackboard with class material, erased it, and filled it again.

For the first couple of times, Caleb tried to ask her if something was wrong; to which she'd always answer with a distracted smile and a shake of her head. As weeks passed, he adjusted to this new side of Rhea, learning to not question her fluctuating mood.

October went by so fast, the whole things was a blur of confusion, conflicting emotions and sleepless nights. The party would take place on the last Saturday of October, which was just around the corner now.

Rhea all but begged Willa to come with her to the Halloween get-together to offer moral support, if nothing else, but Willa couldn't be persuaded. In her defense, it was her and Wade's two year anniversary and it was only natural that they'd want to celebrate alone rather than spend it at a party where they wouldn't know anyone save for two people.

That, of course, didn't stop Rhea from trying to guilt-trip her two best friends into coming at any given chance. She dug deep into their friendship history to unearth all the times she'd been there for them, including the first time Wade and Willa had a huge fight and she persuaded Willa to take back a desperate-for-forgiveness Wade.

When she realized they weren't going to budge, she gave up trying and focused her advances on someone else to have all the backup she could possibly get. Her main incentive was to not walk into the party alone.

What if Caleb was preoccupied? What if he wasn't there yet? Even the thought of stepping into a house full of total strangers by herself made Rhea want to run in the opposite direction as fast as she could. That's why she asked Caleb to meet her out front so that she would have him by her side during her entry. It wasn't that she thought Caleb's friends would be anything but nice, but the prospect of meeting new people was still terrifying. Luckily, Caleb was easily convinced and he promised to wait for her at seven o'clock, threatening her to abandon her to her own devices if she made the mistake of showing up late for good measure.