c a l e b *
"Caleb?" Mom calls up the stairs. "I need to talk to you, please come down!"
"Be right there!" I yell, getting up from my desk and going downstairs.
"Ok, so I have to go see Granny and Gramps, but you can't go with me this time." Mom begins, "So, one of my best friends all through school offered for you to stay with her. It's Marin Deed, she has a son in your class." Granny and Gramps are my maternal great-grandparents.
"I know who he is, Mom," I say. "But why can't I go? Why can't I stay with Charlie or Cayla? Or Grandma and Grandpa?" Charlie is my older brother, he's 22, and Cayla is my older sister, she's 20; they're both in college and have apartments. I'm the youngest, at 17 and a junior in high school.
"Honey, they have school, and Grandma and Grandpa are going with me. It'll be a good time to bond with Marin's son, and it'll save gas because you can ride to school together!"
Mom has no idea that Marin's son is Sawyer Deed. He's the most popular kid in class, and well...I'm not.
"How long will you be gone? And why can't I go with you?"
"I'll be gone for a few weeks, and you can't miss that much school at once."
"Why are you going?"
"Granny's cancer is back."
"Oh...when are you leaving?"
"Tomorrow. Marin is coming to get you tonight. You need to go get your stuff packed, alright?"
I nod and go upstairs to pack my things.
How could she just spring all of this on me? I'm SO not looking forward to this! Sawyer is going to kill me!
After I pack up everything I need--or think that I'll need--I sit down on my bed, waiting for Mom to call me back downstairs.
"Caleb!" Mom yells. "Marin is here!"
I grab my stuff and go downstairs to find that, not only is Marin standing in my living room but so is Sawyer.
"Thank you for doing this!" Mom is saying to Marin. "I really appreciate it! This all just came up at once, and I don't like to leave him by himself."
I blush. She's always afraid someone's going to break in the house, which I get it, she's my mom and she's going to worry, but I really think I'd be okay.
"Oh, no problem!" Marin tells Mom. "We're delighted to have him!"
Mom turns and sees me standing in the hallway, and Marin and Sawyer look up and see me standing there.
"Alright, well, bye sweetie! Have fun and be good!" Mom says, pulling me into a bone-crushing hug.
"I will," I say begrudgingly.
After we've got my stuff in Marin's car, and have started down the road, Marin looks at me in the rear-view mirror.
"Now, Caleb," she begins. "We don't have a spare bedroom, so you'll be sharing with Sawyer, but he already said he didn't mind!"
Of course, he doesn't.
We pull into an apartment complex parking lot and park beside Sawyer's blue Ford pick-up truck. I get my stuff and follow Sawyer and Marin up the stairwell to their apartment. Marin opens the front door and she lets Sawyer and I walk in first. There are two cats and two dogs running around.
"I hope you like animals!" Marin says.
"I love animals!" I say as a dog, a German Shepherd, comes running towards me. "Hi!"
I look up, and I swear I see a faint smile on Sawyer's face.
"That's Atlas," Marin says and points to the other dog, an Australian Shepherd. "That's Ozzie! There are two cats around here somewhere: a Siamese and a Russian Blue. The Siamese is Bandit, and the Russian Blue is Milo!"
I smile and meet Sawyer's eyes. He's watching me intently.
"Sawyer, why don't you show Caleb where he'll be staying?" Marin says, and although it's phrased as a question, I know it's a command. "And help him with his bags!"
Sawyer walks forward and takes my suitcase, his hand brushing mine. I follow him up the stairs.
"That's the bathroom," he says, pointing at the first door on the right. We go through the first door on the left and I'm in Sawyer's bedroom.
"This is my room, obviously," he says. "You can just put your stuff down. My little sister is right next door and the room beside the bathroom is Mom's bedroom."
As if on cue, a girl comes walking down the hallway, and I vaguely remember seeing her in the halls at school. She pauses in the doorway, and her eyes widen.
"He's not a poster, Sabrina," Sawyer says. "Quit staring at him,"
She blushes and continues on down the hall.
"She's a freshman, and she obviously thinks you're cute, but who wouldn't," he says, adding the last part more quiet than the rest of the sentence.
I freeze at the last part but don't look at him.
