A Twist Of Fate [3]

Chapter 3

'You okay, baby?' Cal asked me, as he crawled into bed after a long shower. Felix was long gone and I was still working on my assignment on my laptop in our bed. As he sat in beside me, he placed a hand on my leg and looked at me worriedly. 'You seem distant.'

'I'm sorry,' I sighed. 'I don't mean to be.'

'You want to talk to me about something?' Cal asked me.

The rush of anxiety fell over me as I braved myself to say it out loud and cowardliness pulled me back.

'Umm...' I had no idea how to begin.

'I really don't want us to slip back into old habits,' Cal said, squeezing my leg gently. 'So I'm here for you if something is bothering you. We can talk it over and I'll do everything I can to fix it. Just don't hold anything in if you're having doubts about us again...please.'

'Oh, no, Cal, it's not...' My heart ached just hearing him say those words and I slammed my laptop shut and turned to him as I spoke, exhaling heavily. 'There is absolutely nothing between you and I that needs fixed. We're perfect...you are perfect.'

'Okay, good,' he replied, letting out a soft sigh of relief. 'Are you okay then?'

Maybe it wasn't the right time to mention it. It was late and there was no harm until waiting until tomorrow to talk it over properly when we had more time. Cal had to be up early for work, and I had to be up early for class.

'I'm just tired,' I told him, feeling guilty about my white lie. I wasn't lying...I was just withholding the matter until a better time. I was definitely going to tell him, just not tonight.

'Put that laptop away and get some sleep,' he told me, and I smiled and allowed him to pull it away from me. He placed it on the side table and snaked his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him and leaning in to kiss me. I caressed his cheek as I kissed him back and welcomed the familiar tingle in my chest that I always got when he kissed me; the thrill from his touch had never gone away since day one. He smiled against my lips and I returned it before he pulled back and turned to the movie that was playing.

It still stunned me to this day how I got so lucky in finding someone as amazing as Cal. The beginning of our story was such a bumpy road and I would be the first to admit that I had been far from perfect in our relationship. I'd felt that I didn't deserve him so many times and the fact he was still firmly by my side after all of the drama I'd brought into his life showed how much he truly loved me. He deserved to have a girlfriend that was open and honest with him, especially after all of the lies I'd told in the past. I had to tell him. Tomorrow, I had to tell him.

***

'Prison Literature!' Professor Crow made me jump out of my daze as she entered the room and threw her briefcase to the floor with a bang before writing those exact words on the board as she practically yelled them at us. 'I am Professor Crow and the very first thing I would like to make clear is that phones in my class are not permitted and if I see even one you are kicked from the class permanently, am I clear?'

We all mumbled our understanding responses and I frowned slightly at her tone. Was this high school again?

'Now that's out of the way, I'm actually one of the nicer and cooler faculty members here so don't let that first introduction throw you off,' she chuckled, but only one or two students laughed in return. 'Anyway, in this class we will be looking at poems, memoirs, novels and even songs that were written in prison or about prison but are, believe it or not, a very significant part of American literature.'