The rest of the week went by extremely slow. Caleb would message me every once in awhile, making sure I was still down for Friday. Of course I am, I thought to myself. What else would I be doing?
I then remembered Ava and Connor. I felt like an ass for ditching them for Caleb. But I thought about a great a friend Ava is. She understands, I kept telling myself. She's fine.
Friday finally rolls around and a scurry towards Caleb the second the last bell of the day rings. He's at his locker surrounded by his friends, Adam and Tyreece. As I get closer, I can tell they notice me as Adam asks Caleb, "Is that her?"
Caleb nods and Adam and Tyreece both high five. They say goodbye and walk off as I come to talk to him.
As I'm giving Caleb directions to my house, I notice a group of girls flirtily wave at him and say in unison, "Hi, Caleb." He waves back, clearly embarrassed and uncomfortable with me seeing this.
After I showed him how to reach my house and we walked together to my car, I realized why everyone was big on love: it felt amazing. There is no feeling quite like the one when someone feels for you. The touch of his arm across my shoulders made the figurative weight on them seem to disappear. He kissed me on my cheek as I got into my car. Tonight is going to be the best night of my life, I thought to myself as I headed home to get ready.
Caleb comes to my house a few hours later. I told my parents I was spending the night at Ava's house and walked out the door to see Caleb, looking fine as ever. I hop into his Smart Car and hit the road. He reaches for my hand as he's driving, and I don't deny him, even though it's dangerous to drive with only one hand.
We drive for what feels like forever past corn and bean fields and finally arrive at a large house in the middle of the country. There's people outside the house talking with cups in hand. I know these people, but I decide to stick with Caleb due to my social anxiety. Also, I'm afraid that if I talk to them, they may offer whatever alcohol they're drinking, and I'm not into that.
We walk into the house and people immediately swarm Caleb and I. At first I try to smile and stay out of the conversations, but as the night goes on I loosen up and talk to other people. Me and Tyreece had a conversation for about 10 minutes, which I think is a record for me.
Looking around, I notice a lot of people I wasn't expecting at a party like this. I see Grace Wong, the smartest girl in our school. She's nice, but, like me, this isn't really a setting I'd expect to see her in. I also see Isabelle Peacock, another surprise. Although I've never talked to her, I know she tends to hang out with the "nerdier" kids at school, and I don't see any of them here.
As I'm inspecting Adam hops onto a coffee table and yells across the room. "Ok, everybody! Listen up."
As he says this, I hear a clock inside the kitchen start ringing. Midnight, I thought to myself. I've never been out this late before.
As I'm thinking this Caleb whispers to me, "I've gotta go." He pulls his arm off of me and quickly rushes into an upstairs bathroom, seemingly concealing his face as he closes the door.
Usually I would worry about this, but...
"I'd like to announce the winner of this year's pig party!"
I froze. I knew exactly what this was. This was all a play by Caleb to get me to come to a pig party, where guys find the most unattractive girls they can find and choose who got the worst date.
I got played. I thought Caleb actually cared. What he told me that day we went for coffee; I thought it was real. Obviously not, I thought to myself. I stormed out the front door, not caring who won their terrible contest. I pulled my phone out and texted Ava to pick me up. Shoot, I thought to myself. She was at Connor's concert, and wouldn't be able to do anything. I couldn't text my parents or they'd find out I was lying. I was stuck in this hellhole.
People start to clear out and come outside again, and I see Tyreece carrying a crudely made trophy while awkwardly trying to place a $20 bill into his wallet. Looks like he won the asshole contest, I think.
That's it. I storm upstairs to the bathroom. I'm not dealing with these people. I pull on the door but realize it's locked. Caleb.
I knock. "Caleb?" I ask.
"What's up E?" he answers back.\
"What the hell was this stunt you pulled tonight? This has been the worst night of my life. You've embarrassed me. I thought what we had was special."
"What are you talking about?" What happened?" he says, pretending to sound confused.
"Don't give me that B.S., Caleb. You brought me to a pig party! You only took me out to coffee just to win this stupid contest! Well, I hope you're proud of myself. Now I'm stuck in this hellhole with no way home!"
I hear a slam in the bathroom and hear Caleb say "Adam" under his breath. He sounds furious. He unlocks the door and opens it for me. It's dark. I attempt to turn the light on, but he stops me. "Don't," he says. "You don't need light. Just lay here in the bathtub and go to sleep. Everything will be ok in the morning."
He places a soft towel over my body as a blanket. "I'm so sorry. You've got to believe me, I had nothing to do with this. Please." His voice sounds sincere, like it did in McDonald's. This makes me skeptical, but I'm not sure whether he's lying or not anymore. I decide to close my eyes, and weep myself to sleep.
I wake up feeling dazed and confused. At first I think what had happened was only a dream, but soon refute after realizing I'm in a bathtub.
I look around. Caleb is nowhere to be seen. I open the door to walk out, but can barely move. There is a herd of people standing in the hallway. As I maneuver around people to see what they're looking at, I shudder.
On the floor, next to his bedroom door, is Adam, surrounded by a pool of blood. There are scratch marks and bruises all over his face and torso. I turn away to see someone calling 911. It's his girlfriend, Sarah. She's crying and screaming hysterically, and I can hear the operator trying to comfort her.
I walk outside to avoid getting sick, and I hear Caleb's car running. I walk over and see him in the driver's seat, his head in his hands. I open the passenger side door and sit down, wrapping my arm around him.
¨I'm sorry Evelyn, I really am. You probably think I knew about this, that I'm a monster. But you've got to believe me: I had nothing to do with this. I...¨
¨Caleb stop,¨ I interrupted him. ¨I believe you. But what happened to Adam?¨
He sat silent, putting his head back in his hands. I knew he had something to do with it. Deep down I wanted to make Adam pay for what he did, but this wasn't right.
¨What the hell were you thinking, Caleb!? I know Adam was acting like an ass, but you could've killed him.¨
¨I was trying to protect you Evelyn!¨ he snapped back. ¨What Adam pulled last night was stupid. He had no reason to embarrass those girls last night, especially you. I'm sorry I did that to him, but I'm not going to let anyone disrespect you like that, Evelyn. I care about you too much.¨
That moment, our eyes met. I could tell he was being 100% truthful. He leaned in for a kiss, I didn't stop him. The pain and hurt I had developed last night fluttered away. My heart and his were one. I finally felt like someone else cared for me.
