Christopher | ✔

Chapter Nine

Picture of Caleb Foster

'I'm a sucker for rap music, classical and new age! So I hope you like the video by Yo Gotti - Down In The DM'

PS. The video's funny!

***

My jaw hanged open, as the silence between the two of us elongated from seconds to several minutes. I was actually surprised that Caleb hadn't walked off, bored of the nothingness. Instead, he stood there patiently, his brows furrowed together as he studied my reaction.

"Disgusted?" he finally asked, cringing at the mere thought of that. He held the key of all his emotions in me, which wasn't something I'd want him to practice. I won't always agree with his circumstances, but this one, I didn't even know what to think. Did I see it coming? Were the signs there? Not to my knowledge.

I didn't condone these kinds of preferences, but I wouldn't treat him like dirt.

So I simply turned to lead the path to the car. But I was stopped by a hand, that pulled me back to face its owner. I didn't want to jumble up my words and end up hurting him, but he was making it difficult.

"It's just one person," he whispered as if the trees had ears. I rolled my eyes at the breadcrumb trail he was leaving, but I played along because I really did want to know.

"Who?" I asked, leaning in as a blush formed on his cheeks. His eyes glimmered with a faint sign of excitement.

"I-I can't-"

"For crying out loud, just tell me!" Demanding him to tell me something was becoming a normal thing. He looked away before he could mumble the name.

"It's Emmett." I gasped loudly, smacking him on the shoulder lightly. And then I began to laugh. I began to laugh really loudly. Emmett always had girls pooling at his feet, but I never pictured one guy getting trapped in it. And I sure as hell never pictured that one guy to be Caleb.

Besides, it all made sense now. Caleb wasn't upset because Nina was about to 'give us a bad name'. It was because Emmett had a soft spot for her. That wasn't a concern, that was a cute pang of jealousy, which had me doubling over in laughter.

"What's so funny? This is serious," he stated, clearly peeved. But it couldn't stop. He was behaving so stupid... and cute, but mostly stupid that it was amusing. I literally had tears streaming down my face as my lungs hurt from lack of oxygen. "This why I never tell you anything. You take everything for a fucking joke," he finally said after watching me laugh for a few more minutes before walking off. I ran to catch up to him, still giggling. "Stupid girls, just think a guy can't have feminine feelings," he ranted to himself.

"I'll call Emmett to tuck you in tonight," I whispered near his ears and laughed louder as he picked up speed in his walking.

"Wait on it Zoe, just wait on it!"

"Caleb?" I called to him as walked off into the distance. He turned to face me with a glare.

"What?"

"The car's that way." I pointed to the path in front of me, stifling my laughter as he stomped in my direction, and headed for the car. Soon we arrived, everyone, breathing out a sigh of relief as we approached. Gabriel bolted out of the front seat, pulling Caleb into a big hug, which was so touching, seeing the brotherly love between the two of them. They only had each other left, so they had to make the best of it.

"What were you thinking?" Gabriel asked after he'd let Caleb and I get into the back with Darlene.

"I'm sorry," Caleb answered, playing with his fingers in his lap and Emmett drove off with us. "I just needed to think." He glanced at Emmett in the rear-view mirror for a split-second. Darlene raised a brow at me, her way of silently asking me to spill the beans, but I shook my head no. This time, I was leaving it up to Caleb to do the rest. Soon, my phone ringed, and once I saw the caller ID, I immediately sighed in frustration.

"What Candace?" I groaned into the phone. She instructed me to put her on speaker phone, so I did, rolling my eyes in the process. Her frantic voice filled the quiet atmosphere of the car as we rode back to town.

"Come home quick, all of you!" She was jumbling the words after and I couldn't understand.

"Candace, slow down," Darlene cautioned, edging closer to me with a frown. "What's going on."

"It's-" We heard shouting in the background, and things crashing, emitting a squeal from Candace. "He's gone crazy! Hurry come home!"

"Who Candace? Who?" I asked, frustrated. All I could hear was Candace whimpering and the faint sounds of havoc in the background. Eventually, the line cut off, and I didn't even have to tell Emmett hurry as he sped down the highway, everyone silent and shaken up from the previous call.

***

And thank you for reading this once again! I hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for the next update! Things are going to get ugly.

'Sneaky Peaky'

"The one man, who actually made me happy Candace! The one fucking man!" It was frightening because mom never cursed.

"Mom listen to me!" Candace wailed, tears streaming down her face as I stood there helplessly. She was cut short by the sickening sound of our mother's hand connecting with her face, hard. There was just silence afterwards. No one dared say a word. But we know we were in trouble when she turned her crazed eyes to Nina.

***

And that's all I'm revealing. Tell me what you think and don't forget to comment and vote. Your love means a lot to me.

Taja D'amore.