The Boy Next Door

a new start in america

I wake up when it's still dark out. Not completely dark, but probably six in the morning. Everything is silent. The memories of last night flood into my head. The storm, which has stopped, my anxiety, going into Caleb's room, the kiss. The kiss! I kissed Caleb LeBlanc last night. My stomach flutters and I grin. That brings me to right now. I use my good eye to squint into the darkness to see him. I slept in his bed with him last night. Once my eyes adjust to the darkness I see my adorable love. His chestnut brown hair is falling into his closed eyes, his mouth slightly open. His chest moves up and down, as he inhales and exhales, his breath making his hair move. I brush it out of his eyes with my fingers and press my lips to his head. It smells good. Then pull away, realizing how creepy it would be if he woke up as I was doing that. I climb down the ladder and peek into where the girls are sleeping. Nobody's awake. I sneak to my blanket and get under it, then put on my glasses and take out my phone. When I turn on Instagram, I'm blasted with followers. My once 250 is now 1,500. All of my photos are blasted with likes and comments. Most of them having to do with Caleb and I dating. Are we 'dating"? I guess you could say that. I mean, we've hugged and snuggled and kissed... I smile to myself about the last one. My first kiss, and it was wonderful. Then I grab my earbuds and watch the vlog Katie posted last night. I'm in it. I mean, I know I was going to be in it, but it's a bit of a shock when you realize you're on a YouTube channel with 4 million subscribers. My introduction was a bit awkward but the scenes where Caleb and I are cuddling are really cute. He does a great job of telling all the subscribers that we're dating without really saying 'Eb and I are dating'.

Stella and Clara wake up around the same time and they wake up Hayley, Zoey, and Annie. We all say happy birthday to Hayley, because now it's officially her birthday. We dance around the room singing to her, and then the girls do a few celebratory cartwheels and I give celebratory piggy back rides. Then we all go into Caleb's room. "I wanna wake him up!" Says Hayley, and she climbs up to his bed. She straddles him, and shakes him. "GOOD MORNING CAE CAE!" She yells.

He moans. "Hayelyyyy..." He mumbles.

"It's my... Birthday!" She exclaims.

He opens his eyes and sits up, looking at the six girls staring at him. Mine and his eyes meet and he smiles, remembering the kiss. "Happy birthday Hay Hay." He says and he gives her a hug.

"G'mornin Caleb!" Annie and the girls say.

"Good morning, Caleb." I say, smiling.

"Good morning Annie, Clara, Stella, Zoey, and Eb." He says. We all giggle. "Can I talk to Ebony, guys?" He asks. They all get the message and leave the room to go eat breakfast.

"Hey..." I say.

"Hey..." He says.

"Thanks... For being there for me last night." I say.

"Yeah... I... About that... Ebony I... Think I really, really like you. Like really." I smile at his attempt to tell me he fancies me.

"Caleb, I know I really, really like you." He smiles.

"So can we make it official, Eb?" He takes my hand and squeezes it.

"I think we can." He smiles, "I think this is only the beginning of something great." I say.

"I do too." He leans in and kisses me lightly, and pulls me into a hug. Then we break away and just hold hands as we walk up to eat.

All the girls, along with Katie and Billy are sitting at the table. Katie's vlogging, and turns the camera to us. She eyes our still intertwined fingers. "Eb and I are official. She's my first girlfriend." Caleb says. Katie looks stunned for a second, taking in this new information, and then smiles.