The Boy Next Door

stormy weather

dear santa, 

please get me a boyfriend as amading as caleb would have been. a sweet, kind, genuine guy who really cares for me. (if those even exist anymore.)

thanks -e

Hayley and Annie want to make cookies tomorrow, so we need to go to Target before we go home to get some of the ingredients. It's begun raining, and the forecast says it might be stormy tonight. Caleb is the only LeBlanc knows about my fear of storms. He holds my hand, giving me strength. Once we get everything from Target, we go to a restaurant. I get really good soup and raspberry lemonade. Katie vlogs the whole time. After lunch, we go back home and do some school. We stop at 4:00 and play Apples to Apples. It's a lot of fun, but Annie ends up winning.

"I'm the queen of games," says Annie. We laugh some more. It's raining harder, but still not storming. Katie pulls out the vlog camera and begins filming us.

"What am I the queen of?" Asks Hayley.

"Ummm, you're the queen of second grade," I say. She cheers and we keep laughing.

"You're the queen of not having a broken ankle!" Yells Hayley, and everyone cracks up.

"I am, for the first time in weeks!" I say.

"What am I the queen of?" Asks Caleb.

"The queen of being adorable," I say, and kiss him on the cheek. Annie pretends to throw up.

"I thought that was you, beautiful," he says.

"Aweee, young love!" Katie coos.

"Mom, can Ebony sleep over tonight?" Asks Hayley.

Katie thinks for a second and the answers, "sure Hay Hay, I don't see why not. Your Dad and I are going out tonight, and I was going to ask Ebony to help Caleb babysit anyway, so why not sleep over as well? Do you want to, Ebony?"

"Yeah!" I say, "I'll text my Mum." I send her a text really quick and she responds yes almost immediately. Then texts me she'll be home in an hour and she's really happy I have the boot off. We continue playing games, like The Game of Life, until Mum texts me she's home. I text her I'll be right over to get my stuff and say hello.

"Want me to come with you?" Asks Caleb.

"Sure, let's go."

"Wait first let me get an umbrella. You can borrow my rain jacket also, I can use my dad's."

"Okay, thanks," I say as I put it on. It's huge on me, but it will keep my dry. I put the hood on and we step outside. Caleb opens the umbrella, which is huge. Unfortunately, we can't make a run for it because of my ankle so we need to walk slowly. As we're crossing my lawn the first lightning bolt strikes and thunder claps, lighting up the dark night. I jump and stumble into Caleb, who falls over and drops the umbrella. A gust of wind blows and takes it away, and makes my hood fly back, drenching my head. I try to run after the umbrella but a wave of nausea passes through me and I stop and put my hands on my knees. My heart is beating so fast and my breathing quickens.

"I-I'm so sorry Caleb! I- I didn't mean t-to!"

"I know, Eb." He says as he stands up. He's soaking wet. I'm so clumsy.

"A-are you okay?" I ask, he wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close to his body. He take my hand and leads me up to my house. I calm down once we reach the porch.

Mum opens the sliding glass door and throws her arms around us. "My loves! Hello! Oh sweet Ebony, you can walk! And Caleb, you're all wet! Let me grab you two some towels, stay right here!" She returns a few seconds later with towels and she drapes them around us. Joey comes in and says hello, followed by Dad. They're all very excited that I can walk again.