“He won’t mind,” I said grinning.
“Well, still, I think I’ll have a talk with him. I planned to anyway if you’re going off to college alone together. He needs to know the boundaries—”
“I get it, Dad. You want to put him through the ringer about my virtue and respectability, sex and parties and staying at his place. I get it. I understand. Go ahead.”
He scoffed and sat looking at me like I was blue or something. “Ok,” he finally said.
“Ok,” I agreed. I jumped off the counter and bent to kiss his cheek. “Goodnight. Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you, too, baby girl.”
Chapter Thirteen
After I brushed my teeth vigorously to get rid of anything Chad and took a shower, my bed was calling my name. I had no idea what Caleb had planned. He promised he’d come back, work it out somehow for sleeping tonight. I believed in him, but no matter his powers of persuasion, there was no way my father was letting him up here tonight.
So I texted him once I was out of the shower and I was so giddy to be texting him. I wrote-
Hey. Drama over. Ready when you are. - Maggie.
He wrote-
Good, I’m dying here ;)
I sat and started to read instead, because otherwise, I would just pace and if I sat on my bed I’d fall asleep in no time.
After careful consideration of my wardrobe, I curled up in my cami and cherry sleep pants in the club chair in the corner of my room. I didn’t want him to think I was trying to be sexy, but I didn’t want to look like a frump either. But I needed to be wearing something that he could easily reach my skin. I gnawed my bottom lip in anticipation of tonight. I mean it didn’t mean anything really. I’d slept with him before, once. It’s just sleep, I knew that, but for some reason, tonight it felt like so much more. Like this was a step for us towards something.
So I read my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. I’d worn down the pages so much that the binding barely held anymore. I know it’s the cliché favorite girl’s book but I can’t help it. It was a perfect story. Elizabeth is the typical girl with confidence yet insecurities and family drama and Mr. Darcy was a fine specimen of what a man should be like.
After I’d read for about twenty minutes I started to be curious. I didn’t want to text him again and seem clingy or controlling but I was worried that he’d already tried to come and Dad had turned him away.
Then I heard the tink of something hitting my window. My heart leapt in giddiness. There’s a guy tossing rocks at my window! It was a very classic movie moment for me. I eased it open and looked down to see Caleb smiling up at me.
It had to be the second floor, he thought to me.
I gasped at his words in my mind and laughed happily but quietly and shrugged. He began to climb up the drainpipe and then hooked his leg over the porch roof. He pulled himself up and walked over easily to the window.“Can I come in?” he asked.
“Yes.” I moved back so he had room. “So this was the big plan? To sneak in?” I jested.
“Yep. I couldn’t think of anything else. Does your door lock?”
I went to it and turned the little bolt to lock it. I came back to him as he shucked his backpack.
“I brought snacks,” he chimed and pulled out two packs of honey buns.
“Ah! Yay!” I took mine and unwrapped it enough to take a bite. “You totally get points for remembering.”
“That’s what I was going for,” he laughed. He took a bite of his, too, and devoured it in two more bites. “Hey, pretty good.”
“How have you not had a honey bun before?”
He shrugged. “Not sure. My favorite snacks are macadamia nut cookies. My mom always makes them for me and mails them to my apartment once a week.”
“Aw, that’s nice. I like cookies, too, but honey buns are just the right amount of sweet,” I said and smiled, but that turned into a yawn.
“Sleepy again?” he asked and pulled me to sit on the bed beside him.
“Yeah. I can’t believe it, but I am.”
“So, what happened with the guy?” His voice was a little hard. “Did I win the bet?”
“Yes,” I sighed reluctantly. “I shouldn’t feel guilty, he dumped me, but I do a little. He was pretty upset.”
“He wanted to get back together, and you said no?”
“What else would I say?”
“I don’t know; that you regret what happened.”
“You mean you? I regret you?” He stayed silent, but that was answer enough. “No. Of course I don’t. He hasn’t given me half of what you have in just the few days I’ve known you and I told him that.”
“He kissed you,” he said so low I barely heard him.
“Yes,” I answered truthfully and waited. Was he angry? Did his silence mean he regretted it? Was he disappointed because he thought I let him or wanted it? “I didn’t let him if that’s what you’re thinking. In fact, I shocked him or... something when he wouldn’t let go.”
“Wouldn’t let go?” he asked and I heard the edge to his tone.
“I handled it.”
“Did he hurt you? Force you?” He moved to stand over me, tower over me. “Tell me the truth, Maggie.”
“No, he didn’t hurt me, just got a little carried away. I zapped him or whatever and told him I wanted you. And then I went inside.”
His breathing was heavy and his face hard. “He better hope I don’t see him walking around.”
“It’s ok.” I stood, too, and placed my palm on his cheek. His breathing almost instantly calmed and he sighed, leaning into my hand. “Then Dad scolded me for it, like it was my fault. And then...he said he’d like it if I went to college next semester.”
“He said that?”
“Yeah,” I said softly and so hated to stomp on the hope in his voice. “But I can’t go. I told you, I completely screwed up this year. The rest of the years won’t matter. No one’s going to let me in.”
“Let us handle that. Will you? We have connections at Tennessee. If you’re sure you want to go there, you’re in.”
“What kind of connections?”
“Well, Benjamin Franklin is the most famous.”
“What was he your great, great, great uncle or something?”
“No,” he laughed. “I meant hundreds, as in dollars. We furnished the library in the Jacobson family name. Plus all colleges give alumni special privileges.”
My heart skipped at the idea, but plummeted in the next beat. “But I don’t have any college money. My mom took it when she left and my dad let things go too badly to help me with loans.”
“Don’t worry about it. My dad wants to take care of it.”
“What! Like pay my way to college?” I stared at him. “No way. I couldn’t let him do that.”
“Why not? He has the money, that’s what it’s there for. Family.” He brought his head to mine. “You’re family now. Anything that’s ours is yours.”
“Caleb, it’s too much.”
“No it isn’t. Just think about it, ok? I’m not guessing here. He already talked to me about it. Same way with the house. It’s your house now, too.”
I hadn’t even kissed him yet and he was already trying to pay for my college.
“Not me, my father,” he corrected, reading my thoughts. “He wants to, he lives for it. We all help each other. It’s why everyone works so hard in our family.”
I looked at him and saw he was completely serious and sincere.
“Ok, I’ll think about it, but it’s pretty crazy and I’m not really comfortable with the whole paying-my-way thing.”
He nodded and continued to look down at me. “Did I tell you how cute you look in pajamas?”
“Yeah,” I giggled. “I think you did. Nice subject change, by the way.”
“It worked,” he smirked and it defined his dimple.
I couldn’t wait another second.
I bit my lip as I slid my hands up his chest to his neck to rest in his hair. It was curly and soft as I pushed my fingers through it. He closed his eyes and groaned a little when I scratched and ran them through the strands. It was exactly like I imagined it was.
“I’ve wanted to do that ever since you knocked me to the pavement,” I said easily and smiled.
He looked like he was having trouble with his breaths. I remembered what he had said that day, about being more affected by my touch than I was to his.
He reached out and did the same to me, ran his fingers through my hair and down my neck. It felt better than anything ever before it. He leaned down to kiss my forehead. I pulled his face down, moving his lips from my forehead to my mouth. I paused for just a second and saw his eyes flash before I pulled him down and...and then we were finally kissing. His fingers tightened in my hair as I pressed my lips to his. When our mouths opened together, it was almost like imprinting all over again.
I felt a tingling burn start at my lips and move outwards down my neck, a cold in my veins and hot on my skin as my body zinged with a jolt of tremors and shocks and a heavy fog seemed to blanket the room, like morphine. I was calm, almost too calm, but also enraptured with him and his lips.I got flashes and glimpses from Caleb and saw that he was feeling the same thing, but we didn’t stop. I moved my fingers to the back of his neck and felt the gentle pressure of his tongue. I could barely take what was happening to me.