Synesthesia

An Awkward Moment

Ana

The next couple days, I hardly see Caleb at all, I'm snuggled up in my room, or Caleb's room, or whatever you want to call it, reading the books he's lined up on the walls.

He's got good taste in books. They're not too violent and gory for me to enjoy, but they're not painstakingly slow. They remind me of the books my mom used to read, the ones in my room, stacked from the bottom of the floor to the top of the celing.

I kind of have an obsession with reading. I used to hate it, but then I read this one that my mom had written everywhere in, little notes, like she was anticipating the fact that I was going to read it before I even did. The cover was ripped off, so I didn't know the title, and the majority of the pages were dog-earred. The book had been loved, so I had decided it was worth a read.

It most certainly was.

To this day, I still don't know the name of that precious book, but I know that it surely has left me more thoughts to ponder than I will ever be able to file through.

~

As I was flipping through a science-fiction adventure on the fourth day of my being at Caleb's house, he walked in on me, just as the climax was about to be solved.

The main character was battling the aliens in his spacecraft; if he didn't defeat them, they would surely kill him and attack Earth.

I looked up, surprised by his sudden appearence. He smiled.

"Hey, uh- do you want me to come back?" he said when he realized I had been reading. The corners of my mouth turned up slightly at the sound of his voice, orange sparks filling the air.

"No, I've been reading through the past three days straight, please talk to me," I responded, smiling, setting the book on the floor face down. I threw the covers off, and gestured for him to sit down at the edge of my- or his- bed.

Orange had exploded everywhere, it was a little ridiculous, the extent as to how orange the room was, I could taste tangerine on my tounge.

"Er... So I just kind of wanted to talk to you..."

"Okay," I said, shifting uncomforably on the bed. Why was this so awkward? He didn't talk for a minute. White clouds now tainted the orange.

"Um... So... I just thought, if you're going to be staying here, you know, we should-er, get to know each other," he said, speaking as if every word was a strangled effort, "So... how old are you?"

"Your mom put you up to this, huh." He didn't respond, only raised an eyebrow incrediously.

"So how old are you?"

"17," I replied, "You?

"18." I sighed. At least he wasn't OLD. If he was old, we couldn't ever be anything more than friends, but he was eighteen... I almost slapped myself. For all I knew, Caleb could have been a murdering lunatic.

Again, I almost slapped myself. Why the heck was I thinking this way? He could have quite possibly saved my life. I was in his house, in his bed, eating his food- Gosh, if he had been a murdering lunatic, I would have been long gone by now.

Caleb was nothing but an extremely hot guy who happened to be kind of nice. Those two things don't come around in a package very often, its usually the conceded ones who get to be the hot ones, and those two traits combined are not up my alley.

Caleb was, though.

A hot, nice, generous, caring guy? Is that even a choice? 

I'll take it.

"So, you like to read?" he asked, trying to continue the conversation.

"Yeah," I said, "My mom used to read a lot."

"Really?"

"I read all of the books she left after she died, its the only real connection that I have to her other that a photo of her right after she had me, but she looks almost dead in that picture, and almost dead is not really how I want to remember her...," I said, realizing how freaking MUCH I was talking.

"Do you miss her?"

MIss her? Miss is a drastic understatement. I would sell my soul to the devil to see her again.

"-Nevermind," he cut in on my thinking, "That was a stupid question. Of course you do." I smile at him. Neither of us talk for a moment. The silence isn't comfortable at all, its awkwardly awkwad. 

"Er... I don't know much about you're interests..."

"Oh, I'm not very interesting."

"I think you are."

"Oh you do?" he said, smirking, "I bet it would be a challenge for you to name 5 interesting things about me."

"Well...," I paused, collecting my thoughts together, "One, you're a thinker, not a talker. You're  kind of quiet, you like to listen, and think about what other people say. Two, you see the good in other people where they only see flaws. Three, you always are there when other people need a shoulder to cry on. Four, You're an extremely rare case of the hot-nice guy, which I have taken special attention to, not many hot-nice guys exist, you see. Most of them know they're hot, and that is the kiss of death. I'm not sure if you know you're hot, but you know... I'm getting the vibe that you don't, so I thought I shoud tell you... Oh, I'll just shut up... Wait, five, you listen to my ramblings, even if I know you're not the slightest bit interested in what I have to say." He grinned broadly.

"You must be the strangest girl I have ever met, Ana Heather Wood, you are so open about yourself and what you think." 

Am I? I've always felt that I lock things up, that I never tell anything to anyone. Which has, until this point, been completely true.

But here I am, truly one hundred percent trusting Caleb, so I guess my hidden self has been melting into the me I present to people.

Wow, that's a scary thought. I don't want to be an annoying person who shares everything about their entire life with strangers.

I guess I kind of did that though...

Whatever. I'm being strangley open with him, and I am going to force him to accept it. 

Whether he likes it or not.

"So-so you don't mind that I talk your ear off?"

"Not in the slightest. I find it quite entertaining."

"Its... INTERESTING?"

"Oh, yeah. Its like listening to your thoughts come pouring out of your lips."

"Er... I don't know if that's... um..."

"Don't worry, maybe the weirdest thing you've said is calling me hot, but that's about the extent of that sort of thing..."

"No, you are HOT."

"Well... Okay..." 

Wow. Way to make me feel awkward, Caleb, I think to myself. I don't respond because I don't trust myself to let my 'thoughts come pouring out of my lips.' He's still quiet. 

"Let's go downtown, there's bound to be something down there that'll interest you," he said, getting up.

Yup, he's had it with the awkwardess of this room too.

Time to escape somewhere where we'll have something to talk about, somewhere where all I am going to see is blue, and I'm not going to care.

A/N

So I've decided to pick up this story again... because Caleb and Ana are my babies, and I can't leave them hanging.

Please leave some sort of comment or review that'll tell me if this is even worth continuing or not... Ok thanks kidos. :)

Btw, the gif is Ana and Caleb talking. I'm going to try and put up a gif or photo for every chapter to help you guys imagine it. :)

-Raime