The Quarterback, Outcast and Me ✔

Chapter Twenty-One - Fancy That Dress

It had been exactly two days and three hours since I had manned up and kissed Caleb right there on the bench in the dog park. To say he had been surprised was like saying Snooki was only a little dumb. I had kept my lips pressed against his until he started responding to the kiss. Then it deepened. His tongue flickered across my bottom lip and I opened my mouth to welcome it inside. Fire burned in every inch of my body. I could barely string one sentence together until, after what felt like a pleasant eternity, he pulled away, breathing heavily.

"Wow," he said, causing me to smile.

"Wow," I repeated, all giddy and warm inside. He grinned and slid his hand across my lap to grab hold of mine. It seemed as if my hand fit perfectly into his, like it had always meant to.

Caleb's bad boy persona was definitely declining rapidly in my eyes and was being replaced by this sweet sweet guy sitting next to me, holding my hand like a true romantic.

We had shared two more kisses before parting ways. He had promised to be in school the next day and I had barely gotten into my car before he sent a text saying he couldn't wait to see me in the morning. I awe'ed and giggled to myself. We texted about random things all night. I suddenly knew more about him than ever before; his father had been MIA since the birth of his younger sister, his mother worked a lot and Caleb worked part time at a mechanic to help out. He wasn't sure about college yet, but engineering sounded interesting, he said. His colour of preference was dark blue, not black, which kind of surprised me.

I had been more than a little excited to seeing Caleb at school the following day. Jace was eying me throughout the entire car ride, but I had kept the kiss a secret, knowing he'd most likely disapprove and give me an anti-Caleb lecture. But he could lecture all he wanted - I was falling and falling hard for Caleb Constantine.

This morning he was waiting for me outside the main entrance. I felt Jace's burning stare on my back as I made my way over to Caleb. Seeing him immediately brought a smile to my lips, one of those really girlish giddily smiles you always gagged about when watching rom coms.

"Hi," I said, suddenly breathless. His "black" look today consisted of a fitted black t-shirt, dark denim jeans and his symbolic black leather jacket.

"Hi," he replied, the hint of a smile in the corner of his mouth.

"I wasn't sure you'd be here today?" I asked as we walked together into the school. Caleb eyed me sideways.

"Why?"

"Two days in a row is like some sort of a record for you."

Caleb chuckled and it was like music to my ears. Boy, was I long gone.

"Ha ha, very funny," he said, jabbing me in the side with a finger.

We went into homeroom together and sat on the back row next to each other. People still turned in the seats to stare, but it wasn't as bad as it used to be when we first started talking. They had gotten used to us.

Sophie Manson sat down in my old seat and it was then that I noticed the absence of my best friend. I blamed Caleb for distracting me with his being here for me not noticing before.

"Where's Carrie? She never misses school."

I checked my phone - no messages, and there were only six minutes until class started. If Carrie was ill she would have texted me. We always warned each other if we weren't coming to school.

Just as I was contemplating on whether or not to text Carrie, the subject of discussion entered the room. She was giggling, like a girl, something she rarely did, at least when I was around her. She turned in the doorway and as I leaned towards Caleb to get a better look, my jaw hit the table with a metaphorical 'clunk'. Mind went into overdrive, senses going haywire. Miss Carrie "oh so sweet" Jansen was sucking faces with non other than Taylor Anderson, Jace's best friend! In front of EVERYONE! His hand was firmly planted on her lower waist and she had both of hers tangled in his hair. You could barely tell which body parts belonged to who. PDA ALERT!