California Dreaming // keaton stromberg

Chapter 21

Wes POV

"Seriously?" Caroline widened her eyes at me.

"What? I've gotta pee." I shrugged, putting the remote down. Caroline looked like she wanted to murder me, but I knew she wouldn't unpause it until I got back. No matter how badly she wanted to.

"But it's the best part!" She whined, flopping back down on the couch.

"Oh just calm down, will you? I'll be right back." I stuck my tongue out at her and she rolled her eyes at me. Leaving the room, I couldn't help but laugh a little. This girl was still as crazy as ever.

After I stepped out of the bathroom, I hopped over the back of the couch next to Caroline who was screaming over possibly being crushed by me.

"Oh my God! Don't do that!" She slapped me in the shoulder and I laughed. "My life literally just flashed before my eyes."

"Oh please." I laughed, scooching closer to her as if to crush her again. She swatted away at me again, and that's when I heard the front door creak open. My stomach dropped as I heard the two voices laughing together. Immediately Caroline's eyes darted to mine, filled with sympathy. I tried to smile at her, to show that I was totally fine with it, but I just couldn't.

"No yeah, that was definitely the- uhhh..." I turned around as Keaton paused in the middle of his sentence. Not to my surprise, he was standing with his arm wrapped around Gabby's waist. "Dude..." Keaton gave me a weird look.

"What?"

"Uh, Wes... are you watching The Little Mermaid?" Gabby looked from me to the screen, and then back again. I flicked my gaze back to the television where Ariel was about to meet Prince Eric for the first time.

"Hey, I didn't pick it." I raised my hands in my own defense. As Keaton and Gabby each raised a questioning eyebrow, Caroline removed her head from behind my back, and popped into view.

"Woah, okay. Now I know you guys aren't knocking The Little Mermaid. It's a classic." She said, elbowing me. I winced after she made contact and pouted. Ouch, that actually hurt.

"Oh, hey Caroline." Gabby gave her a small smile.

"Hey, Car. I didn't know you were here." Keaton chimed in, greeting her.

"She got here a while ago. You guys were gone from over an hour, you know." I replied, trying not to sound bitter about it. Gabby and Keaton didn't pick up on my tone, but Caroline sure as hell did. She gave me a pointed look, and I bit the insides of my cheeks. "Caroline's gonna be staying with us for a while." I said, changing the subject. "Is that cool with you?" I asked Keaton.

"Uh actually..." He looked uncomfortably between Gabby and me and then Caroline. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" He asked. I rolled my eyes, I didn't have time for this shit.

"Dude, whatever you have to say, can you tell me later? Caroline's staying here." I said. She needed me; I wasn't going to let her face this on her own.

"Why exactly is she staying here?" Keaton tried to whisper to me, but Caroline obviously heard. She rolled her eyes and climbed out of my lap.

"Because, Keaters: I just told my parents that I'm a lesbian and I needed to get out of the house." She didn't say it with any hostility or anything, but Keaton looked immediately taken aback. She must have known that he wasn't asking because he was trying to be rude. He was probably just concerened about me living with my ex-girlfriend.

"Ah... oh. Uhm, lesbian. Uhm okay, cool." Keaton said, trying to take it in. Gabby, Caroline and I exchanged a look and burst out laughing. But that only made Keaton blush a deeper shade of red.

"Awww! Come on and watch the movie with us, guys." Caroline laughed and patted a spot next to her on the couch. Gabby and Keaton nodded and came to join us: the latter blushing profusely.

"Uhm, look Caroline, I'm really sorry for... you know..."

"Basically insinuating that I'm here to be a homewrecker? Nah, don't worry about it." She laughed, taking it all in stride. "Don't worry, I'm not here to get into Wesley's pants. I just needed a break, you know?" Keaton nodded.

"And about the whole lesbian thing? That's pretty cool for you to stick up to your parents like that." He smiled, giving her a nod of approval.

"Thanks. I couldn't have done it without Gabby's help." She smiled at Gabby who was on the other side of Keaton, and she grinned back. It was like the two of them shared some sort of secret. Suddenly Caroline's eyes lit up. "Now on to more important things," she said. "Push play!" She started hitting me excitedly again until I did her bidding. I wouldn't be surprised if I had a bruise on my arm tomorrow.

We watched the rest of the movie, all getting totally into it. I mean, we've all seen The Little Mermaid before, but it's been years for me so I was fully paying attention because I don't really remember what happens. I think she ends up with Eric at the end? I'm not even sure.

"Ugh, Ariel is so pretty." Gabby said, watching as the cartoon mermaid swam around.

"Agreed. I'd bang her." I said.

"Same here." Caroline added with me, and we all busted up laughing.

Hellllllloooooooooo :D I hope you guys liked this chapter, haha :) I had a lot of fun writing it!

-Margee212