Hypnotized to Love Me

4- Hypnotized to Love Me

4- Hypnotized to Love Me

----------------------------

"Why the heck is Caleb Donovan paying attention to you?" Amanda whisper/yells to me at our lunch table.

I ignore her and keep browsing through my phone pleading in my head for the bell to ring so we can go back to class. The fact that he's even keeping this act up at our school is appalling to me. The earlier encounter with my ex seems almost a non-issue compared to the way Caleb keeps staring at the back of my neck.

"Oh my freakin gosh, he's coming over here." Amanda sucks in her breath and turns to her food, busying herself.

My heart thumps loudly in my chest and I gulp. Why? Why is he doing this to me? Yes. I have a crush on the guy. But all the events from the dance were just too weird and I have no clue if he's playing with me.

"Hannah, can I talk to you for a moment?" Caleb leans on the table and looks down at my petrified self, his eyes crinkling in a smile. Caleb glances over at Amanda and instantly she stands up from her chair.

"I'm gonna go throw my food away and wait on the bell. Talk to ya later!" Amanda quickly departs, leaving me and Caleb alone. I curse her silently under my breath. I'll have to deal with her later.

"I guess I don't have a choice. What do you want?" I brush my hair out of my face as Caleb sits where Amanda just was.

He smiles gently at me for a second and reaches over for my hand.

"I haven't forgotten about this weekend, Hannah." His voice has dropped low and his thumb has started to circle the middle of my palm methodically.

By this time I'm sure we've caught people's attention. I glance around nervously and quickly pull my hand out of his grasp.

"I- I don't know what you're talking about." My eyes shift to the floor to avoid his penetrating ones.

Lifting my eyes briefly to see his reaction, I see him cock his head to the side with a mischievous look on his handsome face.

"Well then, maybe this will help you remember." Leaning in too quickly for me to react, he softly presses his lips to mine. I hear a couple of gasps behind me as my eyes widen in shock. Pulling away, Caleb smiles and continues to stare into my eyes.

"Wha-what are you doing? We're in the middle of the lunchroom!" I frantically look around to see who saw and pretty much discover everyone glancing our way and talking in hushed tones. A few catcalls, probably from the football team, sound on the other side of the cafeteria invoking some laughter from people.

"Showing everyone what's mine." He responds with an innocent look on his face.

I struggle to find my breath. "Caleb, why are you doing this? You never even looked at me before and now you're even going as far to stake a claim on me when we don't even know each other." I ask, exasperated.

He becomes confused suddenly. "Do I need an explanation for liking you?" He grabs my hand and pulls me up from my chair and into his chest.

Okay, I'm not gonna lie. I'm totally not opposed to him declaring his love for me and everything. I mean I imagined it many times when I had a major crush on him. But there's no basis for him liking me. Which means he either kept liking me a secret from everyone for a long time, or the alternative; hypnosis is real. And in this case, I really wish it were the former.

I look up at him and he smiles an amazing smile down at me which I reciprocate.

"Can I take that as a yes?" My smile falters a little. I'm not sold on this. I don't believe he truly likes me.