“Hell if I know,” he answered, shrugging.
I bit back my laughter as the girl’s face turned red. She swiftly stomped back to her OMG posse. First thing I heard her say to them was, “Oh my God!” Then it was like, “Blah, blah, blah, screech!”
At the end of her spiel, the volume in the room turned up. All of the OMG girls were trying to screech over each other in outrage. They were reassuring what’s-her-name that she was the best, most beautiful, better than me and didn’t need a guy like Caleb in her life. The song “Stupid Girls” by Pink began playing in my head. Unfortunately, not loudly enough to drown them out.
Caleb was shaking in silent laughter. I couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s it! Caleb and I are out of here!” I announced to the room.
“Don’t leave me, Gianna! Take me with you!” Cece shouted dramatically.
While Jared was in the shower, Cece and I grabbed our things and snuck out with the guys. We ran out of the house, laughing as we saw one girl stumble into another in a drunken mess. It caused them all to start tumbling like dominos.
Jared was going to be so pissed when Cece didn’t come home tonight, but he’d cover for her with their parents anyways. He was a good brother like that.
As Dante and Cece followed in his car, I finally let out my frustration towards Caleb. “Is that going to happen on a regular basis? How many girls have you slept with, Caleb?”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I was just waiting for you to bitch me out over it.”
Turning in my seat, I asked him, “Do you think I should be okay with all these damn girls?”
“No, of course not.”
“How would you feel if I’d slept with a ton of guys who all came sniffing around trying to get seconds?”
“I’d have very sore knuckles,” he responded, staring at the road ahead. “I can’t change my past, Gianna.”
But would he even want to?
“Never mind,” I told him, feeling ready to cry and not wanting to go there. Instead, I turned towards the window so I wouldn’t embarrass myself if a few tears slipped out.
When he parked in his spot, he unbuckled my seatbelt and dragged me over to him. I hid my face in his chest, not wanting him to see how upset I was.
“I’m sorry, princess.”
I nodded against his chest. Reaching out, I pushed open the door and climbed out from his side. Before he could see, I wiped under my eyes. He took my hand and we met Dante and Cece where they waited in front of the apartment building.
We mostly just chilled the rest of the night. When Cece used the restroom, I verbally pounced on Dante. I let him know Cece started the night as a virgin and she’d better end it that way. No deflowering on my watch. During our little chat, Caleb just looked up at the ceiling like he had nothing to do with the conversation, all but whistling to himself. Dante was a good sport. I thought Taye or Jared may have already given him the same talk.
The next morning, Dante took Cece home and I warned him to drop her off at the curb and speed away. Beware Jared. Caleb made me breakfast again and I cleaned up afterwards. It was homey, but I was still slightly upset about the night before.
After breakfast, Caleb asked, “How would you feel about doing number five today?”
Number five was a big deal. “Tattoo?”
“Only if you want to, it’s sort of an important decision,” Caleb said seriously.
I thought about it for a minute. “I’m ready.”
Caleb smiled. “Then it’s a good thing I brought the sketch, isn’t it?”
We went to Donna’s shop and several hours later, I had a two and a half inch tattoo on my hip of a boom box with wings. Caleb planned on licking it along with my belly button ring once they were both completely healed. I could safely assume that anything I got done at Donna’s shop would end up being licked by Caleb.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
“I think there’s a great beauty to having problems.
That’s one of the ways we learn.”
-Herbie Hancock
CALEB
I was so whipped.
How did it come to this?
I needed to reassert my manly authority in this relationship and quit letting Gianna get her way just because she was so damn hot. And Beautiful. And Funny. And Smart. Oh crap. I was in trouble.
I couldn’t believe I was sitting in on an art club meeting after school. Wait, I could believe it because Gianna promised if I spent an hour at art club, checking it out, she’d spend an hour in my room tonight doing whatever I wanted.
Oh yeah.
Finally, it was over. When I left the art room, Gianna was outside leaning against the wall, smiling smugly.
“Why do you look so pleased?” I placed my hands on either side of her head against the wall, and swooped down for a kiss.