Exposed (#wattys2016)

chapter thirty-three

"Want some coffee, sleeping beauty?"
I slowly opened my eyes which were crusted shut, my stomach churning. It was nearly three, and I had just woken up.

"Yeah," I hesitantly answered, the sun blazing through the windows in our suite. Caspian was putting his flannel on, grabbing his wallet to go get us coffee downstairs.

While I waited, I washed up and put on a fresh pair of clothes. My body ached, but I tried not to let it get to me. This place was too beautiful, even the showers had tile. I thought about things back home before Casp barged through the door with our coffee. He handed me my hot cup, placing a kiss against my lips before shutting the door and setting his cup on a table.

"You were out," he said while studying my condition upon waking up. I just laughed and tried to settle my morning hair down by running my fingers through it.

"I know I was," I told him while rubbing my eyes for a few seconds, grabbing the warm coffee cup a bit harder when I yawned.

"What do you wanna do today?" Caspian asked me, glancing at his watch quickly. He rose his eyebrows as if he was worried about a time constraint or something.

"Sleep longer," I mumbled while sipping my coffee and immediately laying back down. "I actually miss my family," I told him bluntly.

"What? Am I not enough company for you?" I heard him say, picking up on the sarcasm in his voice.

"You are. I get homesick easily, is all," I explained to Casp while laying down on my back. He gave me a confused look. "Well, how the hell did you adjust from Florida, to here?"

I just shrugged and let my hands roll over my stomach while I tried to think of a good answer. "It was forced I think. I really had no choice but to live up here with Missy and my cousins. God only knew I'd be the one looking after everyone," I paused for a minute to rub my forehead before continuing, "I miss them so much."

Caspian shrugged and ran his hand over my arms before speaking quietly. "I don't even know where Liv is, she could be dead at this point."

The mention of her name made me worried. Flashbacks of everything that has happened between us replayed in my head—from her trying to get sex from me to me sneaking around with her brother before it was public. I was getting too nostalgic and I just wanted to go back to that stupid city that I learned to call home.

"I'm actually kind of hungry... do you want to go out somewhere to eat?" He asked me now, as if he wasn't even listening to me.

I let the subject change, nodding slowly as I sat up. "Might as well, yeah."

Caspian pulled out his wallet and walked over to the door where he slipped his shoes on. I followed after him, my hangover feeling stronger than before now that I was out of bed. I took my coffee with me and we walked down the hallway to the elevator. There was another man on our floor, which was the 15th, and he looked so familiar but I couldn't pinpoint exactly. He had a red beanie on with sunglasses which was kind of odd. He spent a few seconds studying Caspian and I as we walked to where he was standing in front of the elevators.

Caspian rustled his hands into his pockets and chewed on the inside of his cheek, making eye contact with the man through the sunglasses. I felt uneasy about the whole thing, but if Caspian didn't get protective over me or anything then the man was probably fine.

The first elevator opened up and the man stepped inside, immediately shutting the doors so we couldn't get on with him.

"What's his problem?" I asked Caspian as we waited for another elevator. Casp shrugged and kept his hands in his pocket. I was waiting for a more detailed answer but it never came.

We were silent in the elevator, and Caspian didn't take my hand until we were pushing through the lobby doors. I tried to look around but I couldn't find the man anymore.

"He just got a stick up his ass," Caspian suddenly told me as he opened the door to our rental car for me. We both climbed inside and Caspian began driving—recklessly, of course.

We found a nice place to eat outside with gliders instead of booths, so you could rock back and forth while eating your meal, considering you don't get motion sickness easily. The waitress gave us a few minutes to look through the menu before asking what kind of drinks we wanted.

"Do you like it so far?" Caspian asked me, a smile on his lips. I could still sense that something was off but I decided not to bring it up.

"Yes, of course. This is fucking amazing, I've never really done anything like this in my life. I think the most amazing part is that I have you," I said while trying to to be too emotional or mushy, because I always hated that in movies. I was being honest, though.

Caspian covered his face when he smiled, and I knew it was a real smile because he covered his face. I could almost see him blushing through his fingers.

"Hale, stop fucking with me. Sometimes I want to punch you for being so nice. You don't deserve someone like me," Casp told me while removing his hands and casually sipping his drink from the waitress, "I'm just some beat up kid that grew up on the wrong side of the street, you know? You're something special and I know it because I can feel it when I'm with you."

I leaned back against the glider and let my lips curl into another smile, watching Caspian talk. "But I do deserve you, because here we are. You're a good person," I said in an attempt to make him not think so negatively about himself.

The good thing about this restaurant was that it was outside. There were a few small streams running through the dining area with plenty of space between tables and gliders. It was almost impossible to hear other people's conversations, let alone pick out what they were saying specifically.

I spent a lot of time watching Caspian talk and eat and drink. I felt warm and fuzzy inside, like this was all supposed to happen this way. Maybe this is what it feels like to fall in love. In my case, maybe this is what it feels like to fall in love with the boy who never wanted to admit he was falling in love with you the whole damn time.

It makes sense now. He was always looking out for me after I made amends with Liv. He studied my bruise from Ed and made sure of what side he punched because he wanted to keep me
safe. He wanted to buy me food because maybe he actually cared. He was nosy because he didn't want me to do anything that made him jealous. But all of that doesn't even matter now, and it was worth it in the long run.

He was my person.