Being the Little Sister ♡ New Beginnings Spin-Off

13. Explosions and Explanations

The one good thing about living in a house full of boys is that they all love to sleep in which makes avoidance an easy task. I wake up at six and take a quick shower, getting dressed in a pair of jeans and a soft pink sweater before pulling on a pair of Uggs and heading downstairs to eat breakfast. 

I'm expecting to be alone as I usually am but as soon as I turn the corner, stepping off the stairs I come face to face with the last person I want to speak to. Well actually I supposed Jackson was the literal last person that I wanted to talk to but Caleb was a close second and it wasn't that I was mad at him or that I blamed him for what he did but admittedly he didn't have to tell me he liked me at all if he were just going to turn around and choose my brother over me anyway. 

He looks up from his bowl of cereal and my breath hitches in my throat. Yesterday when we had seen each other we had a lot of buffers between us in the form of my two brothers but this morning it was just the two of us. "Morning" he says softly as I stand in the breezeway unable to move. 

"Hi" I reply softly, taking a couple uneven steps towards him. "Why are you up so early?" I ask casually, trying not to let on that I had woken up this early so that I could ignore him completely. He pushes his cereal around in the bowl, shrugging his shoulders. 

"Haven't been sleeping" he replies, glancing back up at me. "How are you?" he continues, taking me completely by surprise. I didn't expect to have a whole conversation with him...in fact, I would be fine to take my food upstairs to eat alone in peace. 

"I'm fine Caleb" I reply dismissively, pouring my cereal and reaching towards him for the milk sitting beside him. 

"Good" he replies, taking another bite of his breakfast. "So yesterday was just a 24 hour stomach bug or something?" he asks and my eyes widen. I had forgotten that I was supposed to have actually been sick yesterday, not just nursing a broken heart. 

"Um" I stutter and he nods, pursing his lips together. 

"Right. So, you lied?" he asks and I grow a bit angry. He had no right to judge me after he completely shattered my heart into a million pieces. 

"Is it any of your business? We aren't together Caleb" I remind him coldly. "I don't owe you any sort of explanation."

"I didn't say you did but you can't be skipping school and Liam shouldn't be helping you-."

"Don't bring Liam into this. He's the only reason I'm not still sobbing in my room right now so what you should actually be doing is thanking him because he cleaned up the mess that you left behind. Not that you'd know because all that matters is your precious friendship with my brother, right?" I ask, shoving my food away as I've most certainly lost my appetite. 

"You said you understood" he replies coldly and I absolutely loose it. 

"Because I do understand but that doesn't mean it didn't absolutely shatter me" I shout as footsteps sound on the stairs and Liam appears, quick on his feet to join me. 

"What the fuck is going on in here? You do realize you'll wake up Jax if you keep this shit up. And what the hell are you even doing up?" he asks Caleb directly. "Did you wake up early just to piss her off? You toyed with her enough, don't you think?"

"Don't start with me Liam" he snips, standing up and attempting to walk away but Liam grabs his arm, pulling him back. 

"I'll start with you whenever I damn well please and if you continue to fuck around with my baby sister's emotions you'll have much bigger problems than Jackson's disapproval, understand?" 

Caleb swallows harshly and I cower away under his shadow as Caleb nods his head and walks off. I look up at my brother as Caleb heads up the stairs and throw my arms around his neck. "Thank you" I whisper, hugging him tightly and he sighs, returning the embrace.