Finding Mr. Right

Chapter 8

A week had come and gone without too many distractions. Caleb was a really nice guy but I kept my distance from him. It was just better that way. Elizabeth would be coming home this weekend and she and I both were happy. It had been strange not having her home for so long. She was growing up and didn't need me as much anymore. That was both a good thing and a sad thing. I missed having girl talk in my room at night. She would call me a couple of times a week but that just wasn't the same.

I had been able to finally get out of the shop at a decent time every night since Caleb had started which was great. It meant I got to hang out with Rachel more and unfortunately Ethan as well. The summer festival would be this weekend and Ethan had invited me to go and I invited Rachel to come. Elizabeth and her friends from school were going to hang out together at the house. She was never really into large crowded events. I think that's why she chose a smaller college to go to. She had always been that way every since I can remember.

With the weekend approaching and more time to relax it just made me think more of Caleb and what he did at night. Did he spend time at home alone? Did he have a girlfriend that no one knew about? Did he think about me the way I was thinking about him right now? I wanted to find out but I was too chicken to ask him any questions about his personal life.

Tomorrow was Friday and I was going to see if Caleb wanted to join us this weekend. I wasn't sure if he had any friends in town and it didn't hurt to ask. I took my shower and crawled into bed trying to gain the courage to ask him to go. I could do this. I was stronger than I gave myself credit for and if he said no then he said no. I wasn't going to beat myself up over it.

I woke up feeling so refreshed and confident. I had had the best dream ever about my mom. She was there encouraging me to go after what I wanted. She told me to ask him out already and stop dragging my feet about it. I deserved to be happy. She was right I did deserve to be happy. I was going to go for it.

As me and dad headed to work all I could think about was Caleb. I was so excited to see if he wanted to hang out this weekend. I wanted to get to know him away from work where prying eyes and ears couldn't hear our conversation. Me and dad usually got there an hour early to get things ready for the busy day that always followed.  When we pulled up I was shocked to see Caleb there. I looked at my dad and he said. " I have a ton of things to do in the office so I asked Caleb to come and help you out. Just let him know everything you need done."

"Thanks dad for the heads up." I gave him the side eye.

" Well I know you would have told me no."  He looked at me and smirked.

As we stared to walk towards the building to unlock it Caleb go out of his Jeep. It was really awkward and since we hadn't really talked much I didn't know how I would be able to bark orders at him. But this did give me the perfect opportunity to ask him to the festival this weekend. No guys around to give me a hard time.

I had Caleb help me carry some boxes of oil from out of the back. I felt this was the perfect time to ask him.

"So Caleb since you are new to town I thought it would be nice to see if you would like to go to the festival this weekend with me, Rachel and our friend Ethan." I blurted our before I even had time to process or think it through. I then took a big gulp and looked up and smiled at him. I then held my breath and waited for his response.

" I think that is really nice of you to ask. I would love to go with you all. If you don't mine me asking just how long have you and Rachel been dating?" He asked.

"What do you mean by dating?" I asked with a look of utter shock on my face.

"Oh I thought you all were dating since I saw you all kiss and hug when she dropped you off.  I' m sorry I..."

I cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "For your information Rachel and I are best friends. And if you would have looked closer you would have seen me kiss her on the cheek and hugging her because she brought me to work and we were just playing around about how she saved me from a boring day of being stuck at home. Which by the way was not approved by me. Not that I need to explain myself to you. You should never assume anything about someone else. Just because I work in a male dominated field doesn't mean I'm a lesbian and if I was then that's my business. Forget I asked you anything. You can finish up here I need to step away for a minute before I say something I'll regret later." And with that I hurried myself to the bathroom.

Once inside the bathroom I locked the door and started to cry. Of course he would be a male chauvinist pig. I was stupid for thinking he was any different. I dried up my eyes and splashed some cold water on my face and looked in the mirror. I held my head up high and went into the garage right past Caleb and to the car I was working on. All the guys were there now and they could sense the tension between the two of us. Let's just say this was the longest day of my life and I thought it would never end. How could I have been so stupid. Someone like him would never be interested in someone like me. He probably dated skinny model types who were made of plastic, not someone real like me. Well now I had my answer he most definitely would only be a coworker and nothing more.