Childhood Crushes

Chapter Forty-Four - To Find Something, You've Got To Look For It

RIIIIIIIIIIIIING

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!!

               "Alright, I'm up, I'm up." I grumbled to my phone. Luckily, it was under my pillow, and so I didn't have a chance to ignore the phone call. Note the heavy sarcasm. As I felt around under my pillow for it I heard Mellisa whine for me to turn it off. The two of us had pulled an all nighter last night, catching up on papers we needed to write and books we needed to read - probably something we should have done yesterday, all day.

"I'm trying..." I snapped back at her, finally finding my phone. As I tried to focus on the caller ID, I leapt out of bed with a huge smile on my face. "It's Bale!" I squealed. Mellisa sat up a little to raise one eyebrow at me.

"Who is this 'Bale' you speak of?" She asked. I waved off her comment and flipped open the phone.

"Hey!" I said, still smiling, while I walked out the door and down the hall.

"Hey, Beaver," I could hear him smiling too. "How are you, baby?"

I shrugged, as if he could see me. God I wished he could. "I'm alright, just tired."

He gave a sympathetic chuckle, "Awe, I'll bet. How are your grades?"

"You sound like my dad right now." I giggled before giving a deep sigh, "They're alright. I got a B on my last test. And I have to make up for another one now because I di-heee...." I cut myself off, biting my tongue, hard. How could I have let that slip? If I tell Bale I accidentilly skipped, he'll be angry - and I don't even know why!

Bale seemed to have picked up on what I was saying, though. "I'm sorry, run that last part by me again?"

I exhaled the deep breath I apparently had been holding in. "I ditched. But it wasn't on purpose! And besides, I only had two classes that day, and they weren't even major ones! And my proffesor said that I could just retake the class. Mellisa and I over slept, we didn't mean to." I sounded like a little girl, confessing for stealing a candy from the store.

There was a silence on the phone, and just as I was about to open my mouth and apologize - for reasons unknown to me - Bale began to laugh. Then he began to simply roar with laughter, until soon I could practically see him rolling around on the ground. "It's not funny." I growled.

"I'm sorry, baby. Okay, it's not funny." He chuckled, trying not to laugh, but miserably failing. I stood in the middle of the hall, tapping my foot, waiting for him to finish his laughing fit and get on with the conversation. He finally did, and we went on to talk about what he's been up to lately. Nothing new is really going on with the tackle shop, just a whole lotta nothin', he said. I listened intently to everything he had to say, though. I missed him more than words could say, and I couldn't wait for the next time I got to see his face, the next time I got to curl up in his arms, kiss his lips, and just remember everything we did last summer. When I thought about it, our relationship reminded me of Noah and Allie, from The Notebook. They fell in love in the summer time, and had to wait a long time till they saw each other again. They were best friends as well as lovers and though they were young, they knew what they had was real.

I knew what we had was real, there was no questioning it. I knew it by the way my toes curled when I saw him smile, or when he kissed me, my heart would stop beating all together. Even on my worst days he could make me smile, and I thanked him for that. Bale was a blessing, and I knew it from the second I met him, when we were just two kids, going to middle school.

"Have you talked to Ashley lately?" He asked. It seemed a little out of the blue, but I simply answered that we have been e-mailing regularily. "Why?" I asked.

"I figured she would tell you how the fence at her new place is rotting out. She's told half the town about it." He chuckled. "Anyway, I offered to help her fix it. I'm actually about to head over there."

Ashley did mention her buying a house in town, near Bale's house, actually. She said there were a few things wrong with it, like a leaky sink, and the door squeaked a lot, but no more than that. Poor Ash; a rotting fence could be a downer. "Oh, that was nice of you." I smiled. That's Bale; always thinking about others.

"It's no problem. Something to do while I'm not working... I wish you were here, though."

I bit the inside of my cheek as I smiled, "I do, too."

"I'm going over to Ashley's house, try and get it over with before night falls. I'll call you tomorrow, Beaver. I love you," I could hear his grin as he spoke.

"I love you, too." I smiled.

I closed my phone, replaying our conversation in my head. I always loved talking to Bale, it brought me back to last summer. In some ways, it was a very interesting summer, and I wouldn't want to relive some of those moments, but I would take the bad with the good any day.

"And who might that be, Tennessee?"

I whipped around and was face to face with a smirking Craig. I took a step back, realizing how close we were and bit my lip, "Uh, no one."

"So you love no one?"

Crap, he heard me. Once again, I shook my head. "It's nothing, just my mom."

"Didn't sound like your mom."

"Why am I getting grilled here? Shouldn't I be asking you why you're listening to my phone calls? Why you're sneaking around the hall ways, looking for innocent girls to creep on?" I crossed my arms, knowing I had him there.

Craig didn't seem to think so; he smirked, standing there, waiting for me to answer his original question. "It's none of your business, last I checked." I finally said. "In fact, I barely know you!"

"I paid for your dinner last night, I think I at least deserve an explination for your odd behavior. It'd suck to know I'm neighbors with the craziest girl on campass."

"Well too bad, you're neighbors with the craziest girl on campass. I was talking to my imaginary friend, that's what was happening. His name is Floogenburg, and I've known him since I was a kid." I smiled at my response, even if it was nothing to smile about, and walked around him, just wanting to go back to bed.

"Not that I belive you, but, 'Floogenburg'? Couldn't you have picked a name like Joe or Bob?" He turned, facing me.

"Honeslty, how many people do you know that named their imaginary friend Joe or Bob? Hundreds I'll bet! My friends are original."

"I know how you feel." He chuckled. I knew what he meant by the way his eyes twinkled at me. I blushed, knowing I was making a fool of myself, and headed towards my dorm. "So you're going to the party tomorrow, right?" Craig called after me.

"Not sure yet."

"How am I supposed to find you if I don't know if you'll even be there?"

I laughed out loud and opened my door, and then looking back at him before closing the door. "Like everyone else finds something; look for me."

Another short chapter, I'm sorry, but just read it ;)