Don't Try the Noodles

Chapter 06

Chapter 06

Caleb

"Caleb! Did you save me some of the pizza?" Joel calls from the kitchen, looking for the pizza box that is still on the floor from last night. He came back from The Monolith early this morning on an empty stomach.

Putting my shoes on to head out, I reply, "Yeah, it's in my room."

"What's it doing in there? Don't tell me you're back to hoarding food under your bed."

There might as well be lasers coming out of my eyes as I glare at my brother. "That was one time in third grade, Joel."

"It's still hilarious to think about."

I swear, no matter how cool or kind your older sibling may appear to be on the surface, his sole existence is to remind you of every little embarrassing thing you did growing up. It's like those memories outweigh all the other more important things he experienced throughout his life.

I don't give Joel any more attention as I leave our apartment. I have band practice with the guys today. It'll be our second one at our new studio just outside of Freer City. Aiden and Roy are a year older than me, so they were able to save a decent amount of money together working throughout their first year of college to get this place. It definitely beats practicing in Noah's basement no matter how spacious his house is.

When I arrive at the studio, Aiden is on the phone with whom I assume to be his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Roy is passed out asleep on the leather couch. I'm pretty sure he sleeps there at least five days a week. He says it's so he can practice his drums more since that's not possible in his tiny college dorm. But to be honest, it sounds more like an excuse to get away from his roommate, whose snoring supposedly "shakes the floor every night."

Aiden pulls his face away from his phone to say, "Hey, Caleb. Noah says he's running a bit late, but he'll be here soon. There's beer in the fridge if you want some."

"Yeah, thanks."

I walk to the mini-fridge and see it's packed with cans of beer. Even so, I opt for a bottle of water, having learned well of my low alcohol tolerance during senior year. I've tried to play guitar drunk once before, but never again.

I sit cross-legged on the floor since the only seat available is fully occupied by my snoozing bandmate. I'm checking Instagram when I remember the message I didn't send Emma yesterday.

Hey, Emma. How's your summer going? So, I just moved to Freer City and I just kind of randomly remembered that your friend Bailey moved here a few years back too. I was wondering if you might know where she lives. I wouldn't mind hanging out sometime since we did go to middle school together. I don't know if she'll remember me though. Haha...

I immediately start erasing that awfully long message. Try to act casual, my ass. From the corner of my eyes, I catch Aiden getting off the phone and walking towards me, possibly to chat. I wish I could erase this message faster, but I'm still far from the end of it. Aiden claims to have a special ability that allows him to catch when someone's keeping a secret, especially a relationship secret of all things. While I haven't gotten enough proof so far to verify his claim, I'm sure my action right now of rapidly tapping on my phone screen with a twitchy thumb looks suspicious enough.

A sigh of relief escapes me when Aiden actually takes a turn to the fridge for a can of beer. And only a few more words to go now. However, I'm wrong to have relaxed so much right then. My entire body jerks in surprise at the sound of the door being kicked open.

"Hey...guys...Sorry...I'm late..." Noah says between heavy breaths, his big round glasses sitting crooked on his sweaty face. He drops the stack of boxes in his hands and collapses on the floor next to them.

"Hey! Be careful with those, Noah!" Mallory calls, strutting behind him in high heels and a minidress. "Some of them contain glass, remember?"

Noah's voice cracks from exhaustion as he sighs, "Oh, right..."

"Come on. If you can't even lift a couple of boxes up two flights of stairs, what the hell am I paying you for?"

"But you don't pay me..."

"I gave you a ride here in my new car, didn't I?"

"Oh, right..."

I realize Roy finally woke up from his power nap when he says, "So, are you two like dating or what?"

"No way!" Mallory exclaims.

Noah looks kind of hurt by the immediate reply.

Roy shrugs. "Alright, that's cool too. What's with the boxes?"

Mallory begins opening the boxes up. This prompts Noah to help out, even though his tall and very thin frame looks to be on the edge of collapsing once more. The guy is dangerously skinny for someone who's six feet four inches. Those boxes might have weighed as much as him.

"They're just some snacks and drinks I picked up on my way here," Mallory says. "And this last box­—if Noah hasn't broken anything—contains a few bottles of champagne straight from my parents' cellar. It's to celebrate on the new place."

"Sweet. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Yeon."

"Oh, they don't know I took them. But they also don't know how many bottles of wine they even have, so no one's going to notice."

"Double sweet."

My phone vibrates from a new notification. I've received a message from Emma of all people on Instagram. This is one weird coincidence—

Until it's not.

She sent me three question marks.

"Shoot!" I blurt out loud.

My sudden jerk earlier made me accidentally press send on what was left of my message to her, which happens to be just the first two letters. He. Why couldn't I have erased everything fast enough? Or perhaps I should have erased a bit slower to have at least sent the full Hey and not make this completely awkward.

"What's up, Caleb?" Roy asks, making me realize I have now become the center of everyone's attention.

Aiden says, "I know that panicked face. You sent the wrong message to a girl, right?"

"How did you know?" I ask, wide-eyed. I instantly regret opening my mouth.

"My secret senses. Is she your girlfriend?"

"No way!" I surprise myself at how Mallory-like I just sounded.

"You're crushing on her then?"

My face feels hot, not because he's right but rather because the word crush automatically reminds me of Bailey. I haven't been able to stop picturing her in my mind ever since last night. It's like I'm in middle school all over again!

"It's not like that," I say, before gulping down whatever is left in my water bottle to cool my head.

Aiden is clearly not convinced. "Whatever you say, Caleb."

I'm not liking that smirk of his at all.