This is You and Me (WATTYS2017)

Chapter Five

Oh my gosh. I must have looked like a strawberry out there.

I set my purse on the counter and pulled on my cheeks and breathed heavily. I waited in the bathroom until my cheeks calmed down. I took a deep breath, and heard a knock on the door.

"Hello?" The voice asked. It was slightly raspy, but beautiful. "Stella you in there? Stella it's Caleb, Mrs. Ryder told me to come tell you that it's story time."

I almost forgot that I was even here. I was so lost in my thoughts. I took a deep breath, and turned the handle of the door, opening it to once again see Caleb.

"You ready to read to the kids?" He asked. He smiled at me with that crooked grin of his, and looked me in the eyes. His friendly blue eyes met with mine as I looked back at him, wishing I could turn away so my eyes wouldn't burn.

"Y-yeah." I said back, having a hard time breathing. I walked past Caleb where the kids were all sitting waiting for me. He followed me. I chose a book from the shelf, and took it to a seat where I would sit and read to the kids. Caleb sat with the girls, with Della on his lap. She sat, looking at me with her thumb in her mouth. Caleb also looked at me, his beautiful blue eyes looking straight into my dark brown eyes. "Today we are going to read The Giving Tree." I looked at the kids, but every few minutes I looked at Caleb, and he continued to smile at me the whole time.

The kids watched me and listened carefully the whole time I read the story. When I reached the end of the story, the girls clapped, and Caleb was still smiling at me. My cheeks turned bright red and I went back to put the book back on the shelf. The girls knew their schedule, so they all got up and went to clean up their rooms.

Caleb followed me to the book shelf. I tried to keep from looking into his eyes again, because if I did, I knew I would turn bright red again. If only feelings were t a thing. What am I doing? I just met the Guy. I don't even know him. So I looked out the window and saw that the sun was higher in the sky, and it was getting pretty bright outside.

Caleb leaned up against the shelf and tried to look me in the eyes. He was smiling at me. I slid the book into its place on the shelf, and smiled shyly. But I didn't look into his eyes.

"Hey." He said.

"Hi." I replied. "What's up?" I dragged out my words, and clasped my hands together behind my back. Caleb shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans.

"Nothing much." He said. "What do we do now?"

"Well Mrs. Ryder said that I should give you a tour of the orphanage so that you can know where to go at certain times." I said. "Do you think now is a good time?"

"Sure, whatever you wanna do." He said.

"Okay." I agreed. I tucked a wisp of hair behind my ear and smiled in a shy way. It's not usually like me to be shy. Why was I acting so strangely today? I knew why, I just didn't want to admit it to myself.

I lead him through the downstairs hallway, showing him the bathroom, and Miss Ryder's office. I then took him upstairs, showing him another bathroom, and about 10 bedrooms where there were about eight beds in each, with a nightstand next to each bed.

When we got back downstairs, I said, "Well, that's the whole orphanage."

"Thanks for the tour." He said. He smiled at me. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

Is he asking me out?

"Err because I... would like to... get to know you, yeah that's what I asked for." His cheeks turned pink, and I couldn't help but giggle.

"No, I'm not doing anything tonight." I smiled at him, and walked with him to the back yard.

"Then would you like to maybe go to the diner with me and we could talk. Get to know each other." He asked. We walked over and we sat down under a huge weeping willow tree.

"Uh, sure." I said. I didn't know exactly if it was a good idea, but the words just blurred out of my mouth.I'm sure mom and dad won't mind if I stay out a little late. Besides I'm walking home anyway so it's not like I need to be picked up or anything."

Oh my gosh am I talking too much? Obviously not, because Caleb looked at me and smiled.

"Okay, sounds good to me." He said.

Wow. We've known each other for a mere hour. What is going on to be going to a diner alone so quickly? Does he like me? Do I like him? It's too soon, right?

~*~*~*~*~*

At the end of the day,  at about 4:00, I was saying goodbye to the girls.

"Stella, don't leave!" The little girls said together.

"I'm sorry, I have to go! I'll see you tomorrow!" I said.

"Bye." They responded sadly.

"Bye girls." I said. I walked to the door with Caleb. He looked at his phone, and saw a reminder.

"Stella, I am so sorry, but I just remembered that I have plans tonight." He said.

"Oh." I said, a little disappointed. He looked me in the eyes with his gorgeous bright blue eyes, and said,

"I really am sorry, I forgot. Can I get a rain check?"

"Yeah." I said. I was trying to smile. "Well, see you tomorrow, then."

"Okay." He said. He seemed to be disappointed too.

I walked home, and when I got there, I opened the door and stepped in to smell the familiar home. Mom was washing dishes and Alice and Dad were playing a game of chess. I didn't see Noah, so I guessed he was with Stacy.

"Hey, Stella!" Mom said. She dried her hands on her pants and welcomed me with a warm hug. "How did your first day go?"

"It was okay." I said. "Great at first."

"Really?" Mom asked. "What happened?"

"Well I met this really cu- er.. nice guy there." I said. Alice smirked at me. "He's working there." I told her all about everything that happened earlier today. "And so he asked for a rain check." I finished off with.

"Sounds like you had a great day." Mom said.

"Yeah." I replied, trying to only think about the good things. But Caleb's words ran through my head. I couldn't stop thinking about him.