The Boy Next Door

the whipped cream incident

 So we watch Tangled until Katie comes home, pizza in hand. Billy walks in behind her.

"Hey little Hay!" She says to Hayley. "Hey little A!" She says to Annie. "And hey guys!" She says to the party guests.

"Hey guys!" Says Billy, Caleb, Annie and Hayley give him hugs. He turns to me, "hey Ebony!"

"Hey! Nice to see you!" I say.

"Hey Miss Katie! Hey Mr. Billy" The girls say. They laugh.

"Dinner in five!" She says, and motions for Caleb and I to come to the kitchen with her. "So... how was it?"

"Great!" Caleb and I say at the same time, then look at each other and laugh.

"Really? They were behaving well and everything?" She asks, smiling.

"Yeah Mom, nobody needs any spankings tonight," says Caleb.

"Oh Caleb, I would never spank anyone," she says, placing paper plates at each spot around the table. "Did you have a good time, Ebony?"

"I had a really nice time. Hayley's friends are really kind for nine year olds."

"I'm glad," she says. Caleb puts an arm around me and I lean into him. Katie smiles. I know Caleb and I being together would be fine with her.

"Eb and I always have a good time," he says, and playfully dips me down like we were dancing. I laugh and look up at him as he lifts me up with ease, pulling me close to his face. We stay in that position for a few seconds, eyes locked on each other, wide smiles.

"Can you two go get the girls?" Asks Katie, interrupting our brief moment. We both snap out of it quickly and blink hard, trying to regain full awareness of what's going on.

"Wah- oh yeah, let's go Ebony," he says.

"Right, let's go," I say awkwardly. I can't believe Caleb and I were just acting like two smitten chumps in front of his mother. She was smiling, but still... awkward!

Katie vlogs most of the dinner and dessert, and to my surprise, Caleb plays up the 'I'm dating this random British girl Ebony' thing that the Bratayley fans are over the moon about to the camera. It's not in a bad way, he just never leaves my side and puts his arm around me a lot. He even hugs me at one point, and calls me 'adorable' and my accent 'too cute' when the camera's running. I wonder if he finds all the girls fangirling about him amusing. Maybe he just likes people talking about it. Or maybe he's not even doing it for the camera, maybe he's just doing it because he really wants to kick whatever relationship we have up a notch. I go with it the whole time. After dinner and dessert (which was a rich chocolate cake that was incredible!) We all go to the big couch with pillows and blankets. I go to my bag to grab mine, but then realize in the rush of this morning, I totally forgot to grab them. I offer running over to my house but Caleb says that's not a good idea, because it's pouring rain still. He runs to his room and grabs a big soft, navy blue blanket with a baseball on it. We sit in the nook of the "L" shaped couch. Caleb leans back and I wrap the blanket around my shoulders and put my head on his chest, like I did outside, and tuck my legs under me. The girls decide on watching Frozen. I check my phone and see the same blast of comments about how I'm lucky to be friends with Caleb and Annie and asking me how I know them. IN reply to a few of the nicer questions and then turn my phone off. All the girls jump up and dance to Olaf the snowman's solo number "In Summer" they all sing the lyrics and don't miss a single word. I laugh with them and look up at Caleb. His head is tilted to the side and his eyes are closed. He's asleep. He's so adorable. I run my thumb down the side of his face and trace his lips with my fingers. His nose twitches but he doesn't wake up. His hair is falling into his eyes so I brush it away lightly, then I lean back down on his chest and let my head rise and fall to the steady rhythm of his breaths. A while later, Gemma looks over to Caleb and I and whispers something to Clara.

"He's asleep!" Clara whispers loudly to the other girls.

"OOOOOHHHH," they all say.

"Get the whipped cream!" Says Stella, a mischievous grin growing across her face. Annie gets up and runs into the kitchen and returns a few second later, the can in hand.

"Guys do you really think this is the best idea?" I ask. I really hope Caleb doesn't get mad when they make him smear the stuff all over his face.

"Yeah! It'll be so funny!" Says Hayley.

"Ummm if you say so..." I say.

"Get his hand out, Zoey!" Orders Annie, and motions for me to stand up, which I do. Stella sprays a colossal amount of whipped cream into his hand.

"We need something to tickle his nose with!" Says Clara.

"Right, right!" Says Annie, "ummm... we can use..."

"MY HAIR!" Says Hayley, and laughs. Katie comes into the room with the camera in hand. She asks what's going on and Stella explains it to the camera. I kinda sit awkwardly in the background. Then Hayley takes her ponytail and tickles him. We all wait for the reaction. He sniffs, and wipes his nose, smearing if face with the white cream. His eyes open abruptly and his mouth hangs open as he assesses the situation.

"What. Have. You. Done?" He asks. Oh God, he's angry. Everyone laughs, I just sink down onto the couch next to him.

"We got you SO good!" Says Hayley, still laughing.

"You sure did!" He says, and to my surprise, he's laughing as well.

"You aren't mad?" I ask him.

"Of course not, Ebony!" He says and pulls me into his arms, smearing whipped cream all over my cheek.

"I'll go grab some tissues," Katie says between laughs and walks out of the room. She returns with a box of tissues and she's still gasping for breath. She turns the camera off and returns to her room. Caleb and I clean ourselves off and I return to the position I was in, my head on his chest. Frozen finishes, and we begin watching Brave. Caleb stays awake this time, and we whisper to each other the whole time. I can hear the storm getting worse, and I just try to block it out by pulling his jacket closer to my body and closing my eyes. Soon Brave ends and everyone goes to the basement. The girls and I will sleep in the big empty room that separates Caleb's room from the stairs. He lets me use the baseball blanket and runs into his room to grab me a pillow. I set up between Hayley and Stella, and we go brush our teeth. When we get back Stella wants to braid my hair, so she does a clean fishtail braid down the center of my back. Caleb's hoodie covers my scar, so it's okay that my hair doesn't. I thank her and then they begin yawing, so Caleb hugs me goodnight, turns the lights out, and goes into his room. To my relief, the storm dies down. It's really hot, so I take Caleb's jacket off. Then I take my glasses off and fall asleep quickly.