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He gently pulls my face towards his and we settle into a long and comfortable kiss. If this had been any day last week, I would have left everything at Caleb’s and gone back home with my soulmate. But things are different now. I slept with Caleb this weekend. A lot. Most recently today. And enjoyed it much more than I should have.
‘Can we keep talking? I know we’re not together, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to share things with you.’
‘Really?’
‘Of course. You’re my best friend.’
He raises an eyebrow and smiles. My heart skips several beats. Goodness. We look at each other for longer than we should, saying nothing, before I exit the car and enter my building.
‘Caleb, are you home?’ I call as I walk into the kitchen to get some water. I’m relieved when he emerges from his room.
‘Caleb, I’m so sorry about this afternoon.’
‘It’s okay. We can talk tomorrow.’
‘No, it’s not okay. Zachary and Jasper weren’t at their best today. Zachary was being Zachary, but Jasper didn’t mean it. He really didn’t.’
‘We have work tomorrow. Let’s just sleep today off.’
Caleb is obviously still annoyed and doesn’t want to talk about it, but I don’t want him to go to bed angry.
‘You should know that I had a long chat with Jasper and he knows he shouldn’t have said what he did. He’s not a bad person, it’s just that—’
‘Caleb, are you coming or shall I just head out?’
A gorgeous girl with rainbow-coloured hair walks out of his room, pulling a thin cream jumper over a beautiful silk bra and sharply carved six-pack. She is wearing a short skirt and black biker boots. I can’t help feeling inferior.
‘Hi, sorry, please stay. I’m just the housemate.’ I wave at her and duck into my room quickly.
‘Aari, wait—’ Caleb calls after me.
I shut my door gently behind me.
‘I asked you to give me a minute,’ I hear him complain to the girl.
‘I did! Are you coming?’
I walk into my bathroom and have just turned on the shower when he starts knocking.
‘Aari! Open up. Please.’
I shut the bathroom door, step under the water and stay in there. All of today’s emotions catch up with me and I let the tears fall. I’m exhausted. Caleb doesn’t owe me anything, it was just physical. This just confirms what I already know. I am probably feeling this way because it was fun, but now it is over.
I wanted real life, and here it is. I need to grow up.
I step out of the shower and the knocking is still going. This time it is softer and less urgent.
‘Come on, Aari, open up.’
I’m too tired to respond, so I lie there listening to it until I fall asleep.
TWENTY-FOUR
CALEB
I didn’t sleep with Dash. The circumstances that led to Dash and me being slightly unclothed in my room are relatively innocent. I didn’t touch her. Much. Aari’s not going to buy it, is she? To be honest, what did she expect? Lunch was excruciating. It was basically the Ariella and Jasper emergency summit. As messed up as Zachary’s actions were, he did us all a bloody favour. The bomb was there in the middle of the table, ticking away. He just slammed down on the detonator. The minute Jasper asked to meet me outside, I knew I had to tell him how I felt. I ducked the questions about the hickies on her neck. I wasn’t going to admit to them and, if asked whether we were sleeping together, I would have flat out lied. He didn’t even consider the possibility. It filled me with relief, but it also pissed me off. So I hit him where it hurts.
‘If I touch Ariella, it’ll be because she really,reallywants me to.’
