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He is standing so close, I can feel his breath.
‘Caleb? That’s his equivalent of a knee-slap – and he’s a bit of a perv, he looks at everyone that way.’
‘He won’t be the last, though, and I don’t think I can handle it.’
Suddenly, my bedroom door swings open with a bang.
‘Ah! Finally, Ariella! You’re missing the party. Chop-chop! Let’s go.’ Caleb is standing there, clapping his hands, looking impatient.
‘You’re not supposed to be up here,’ Jasper responds coldly.
‘Yes I am. I was having a perfectly lovely time before I was dispatched to get her. So here I am. You, come on.’ Caleb points at me and starts waving us past him.
‘Caleb, can you give us a minute?’ I ask politely.
‘No. You guys broke up for a reason. Right now, you’re standing there half-naked with no knickers on, he’s dressed like James Bond, you’re both full of champagne and making googly eyes at each other. Let’s be having you. I was in the middle of a very promising conversation I need to get back to.’
‘Who the hell do you think you are?’ Jasper says, rounding on Caleb.
‘Caleb. Housemate. Currently saving you from having to deal with this one on a daily basis; which, as you’ll know, is pretty exhausting, so you’re welcome.’
‘Caleb, we’ll be down in a minute.’ I step between them as I see Jasper getting angrier.
‘Sorry, strict orders, narrow timeframe. You need to come with me, but Indiana Jones here can do whatever he likes.’
Oh no.
‘What did you just call me?’ Jasper’s voice rises in anger.
Caleb looks at me. He knows he has messed up. ‘I called you Jasper?’ he cautiously offers.
Jasper shoots me a ‘What else have you told him?’ look, then buttons up his jacket and leaves.
‘Oh, Caleb…’ I sit on my bed.
‘Sorry, sorry. It just kind of came out. Listen, your mum is about to cut her cake and I don’t want the girl I’m talking to, to leave. Will you just come downstairs please?’
I straighten my dress and follow him down. Caleb hands me to Isszy and Zachary, then shoots off.
‘Cake time?’ I ask, looking at my watch. It’s still a little early.
‘No, not yet. Your housemate and Katherine have been all over each other since they arrived, so we sent him to get you because we didn’t want an incident. He’s a bit overconfident, isn’t he?’ Zachary asks rhetorically.
‘I think he’s kind of sexy,’ Isszy chips in, smiling, while moving to the music. Zachary rolls his eyes. ‘Not as sexy as you, of course, darling,’ she says, teasing him.
‘I’ll leave you girls to it. I’m going after Jasper.’ Zachary leaves us.
‘You and Jas were up there for a while. Everything okay?’ Isszy asks, concerned.
As I fill Isszy in, I watch Zachary join Jasper and Daddy’s conversation. Beyond them is Caleb, pulling a laughing Mommy on to the dance floor before dramatically tossing his jacket off and getting down on one knee to twirl her around him. Three of them stop to look at him and, almost at the same time, shake their heads before they continue their conversation. Caleb doesn’t notice. At that point, for the very first time, I wish I was a little like Caleb. Shallow, happy and without a care in the world.
I stay with Isszy for the rest of the night, then, the minute my mother has cut her cake, I go back upstairs, wearily take a shower, put on an old T-shirt and fall asleep, surrounded by the music coming from the party.
The next morning, I wake up to Caleb’s laughter, mixed with my mother’s, coming from the kitchen. I quickly put my hair into two pigtails, jump into the shower and change into a jumper and some leggings, before I make my way down to the smell of sausages and bacon.
‘Morning, baby,’ my mother chirps as she looks away from Caleb, who is sitting across from her at the table.
‘Hey, Aaaaaari!’ Caleb childishly drags out the shortened version of my name. ‘You look like Pippi Longstocking,’ he says, pointing at my pigtails.
