“Yes, I would actually, but I think you guys are a little serious after only a week of dating.”
I blew a steadying breath to stall, to give me thinking time. “Dad, he’s different. He’s not going to take advantage of me.”
“I hope not, because I’d hate to go to prison for murder.”
I laughed and went to hug him but he wasn’t amused. “Dad, I’ll be ok. Caleb is a nice guy and very responsible. I promise you I won’t do anything stupid and neither will he. I’m sure he wants to stay alive and keep all his limbs intact. Ok?”
“Ok,” he conceded with a sigh.
“Ok,” I agreed. “Well, let me go call Beck. She’s late.”
When I came back to the door I heard yelling outside. Caleb was standing in the doorway with his head cocked to the side.
“What’s going on?”
“Well,” he said slowly. “It looks like Beck and her date are here.” He looked back at me and grinned. “And it looks like love to me.”
Chapter Twenty One
I peeked over his shoulder and saw that they were fighting and yelling by the curb, right by the trash cans. I groaned.
“Leave it to Beck to start trouble before we’ve even started the date. Bye, Dad!”
“Bye. Be safe,” he said as he came around the corner.
“We will, Mr. Masters, thanks,” Caleb assured him politely.
“Call me Jim, please, Caleb,” Dad said and extended his hand to Caleb. “Mr. Masters makes me feel old.”
Caleb laughed and took his hand. “Jim. Thanks. And don’t worry about Maggie. I won’t let anything happen to her.”
Dad nodded and waved to me as we left. I slowly made my way to the curb and could hear some of what they were saying instead of just the noise of it.
“Well! What do you expect! She texted you with me in the car!” Beck yelled and tapped her pointy booted foot.
“Rebecca, come on. You called me just this morning to go out with you. We’ve been on like four dates. Am I supposed to delete every girl’s number I have even though I haven’t heard from you in weeks?”
“Maybe! Just turn your phone off at least. You didn’t have to text her back.”
“I was telling her I was out with you!”
“Oh, sure,” she said sarcastically and rolled her eyes just as she saw us coming. “Hey, guys.” She jumped and grabbed Ralph’s arm affectionately. “We were waiting for you. Ready to go?”
I looked up at Caleb and he looked torn between laughing out loud and smirking.
“Ok,” I started. “What are we driving?”
“I brought my uncle’s car,” Caleb volunteered and jingled the keys in his hand.
I looked behind Beck at the black Lexus.
“See,” Beck said smartly and smirked. “Told ya, Lexus.”
“Great. Let’s go,” Ralph said hotly and stalked to the car door.
Beck looked at me and nodded her head to the side. I followed her behind the car while Caleb waited by the front passenger side door. “Can you believe him! He-” she started but I’d already heard enough.
“Beck, I know. We heard everything. You weren’t exactly being quiet. Look, please be nice and don’t fight the whole time. I want to have fun.”
“But he texted her, right in front of me!”
“He said it was about you. He told some other girl - a girl he might have been possibly about to go out with, but instead chose you - that he was out with you. You should be happy that he’d do that. Ralph really likes you. What are you doing?” I asked softly.
“I don’t know. You’re right. But if he texts anyone else, so help me...”
I rolled my eyes and pulled her to her door. Caleb opened it for her since Ralph was already in.
“At least someone has manners,” she muttered.
“Be nice,” I commanded. He shut her door and I turned to look at him. “I have a feeling we aren’t going to have very much fun.”
“Yes, we will.” He kissed my forehead fast and soft. “You’ll see.”
I climbed in after he opened my door and waited in the stiff silence of the car for him to get in himself. Once in, I introduced them all and I asked where to go.“Take us somewhere we’ve never been,” Beck said sweetly. “Somewhere from your town maybe.”
Caleb looked at me and I nodded, knowing what he was thinking.
“Ok. Buckle up.”
“Where are we? I feel like we’re in Deliverance,” Beck said as she clutched the back of my seat.
We had just pulled into the lot at Mugly’s and though she was my best friend, I wanted to smack her. We had barely spoken a word on the drive over. She spent her time filing her nails and answering questions with Hmm’s and Uhuh’s.
Caleb eventually turned on a CD, Cold War Kids, and clasped my hand. We talked a little, some in our minds too, but mostly, we let them both just cool off before we got to the restaurant.
And now, we parked and I got out before Caleb could come and open my door. Ralph tried to open Beck’s for her and she just scoffed and walked to catch up with me. She laced her arm through mine as we made our way through the lot to the door.
I looked back at the guys and they were walking a few feet behind us, talking about something. I looked back at Beck and she was seething but with a nasty little smile on her face. I was so confused why she even wanted to come out. I didn’t remember her being so petty before.
“Oh, my goodness, look at this place! It’s right out of the boonies!” she exclaimed loudly when we entered. I turned and pinned her with a stare. “What?” she said just as loudly.
I pulled her arm to make her come closer.
“Jeez, Beck. What is wrong with you? Just because you’re mad at Ralph doesn’t mean you have to be rude to everyone else. Caleb knows the owner here, don’t insult them, please. I brought you here because I thought you’d like it.”
“Ok, ok. Fine. Whatever.”
Caleb came forward and greeted the hostess, a new girl I hadn’t met before, and she said to follow her. He reached back to grab my hand and tugged me along to a back booth. I sat beside him and Beck and Ralph sat on the other side.
Our peppy little waitress came and explained the different barbeque sauces to us, to which my rude best friend laughed at like it was a joke, and then took our drink order. We all ordered sweet tea except Beck, who ordered bottled water.
I’m so sorry about her. I have no idea what’s wrong with her tonight.
It’s ok.
He smiled reassuringly and put an arm around me to pull me closer. He kissed my temple and Beck rolled her eyes.
“So, Ralph. Where are you going to school?” I asked because his date wouldn’t.
“Columbia.”
“Really?” Caleb said interested. “That’s a really good school.”
“Yeah. Is that where Bish went?” Ralph asked me.
“NYU. But he’s actually interning now,” I said and he nodded.
“I wanted to go here, to Tennessee, but my mom is so set for me to go to New York and since they’re paying, it’s not like I have much say.”
“I hear you there, man.”
I heard something in Caleb’s voice then; longing. I peeked into his mind without looking at him, though he could tell, you always can by the little fuzziness. I knew he wanted to go to Arizona, but I didn’t know if it was just a flashing fancy or if he really truly wanted to go. Maybe he didn’t even want to be an architect. His mind told me I was right. He had looked extensively into Arizona. He was good at it but had no real desire to do architecture except to please his family. He had no idea of what he wanted to be except maybe be a geometry teacher. It wasn’t that Arizona was a particularly fantastic school, it was away from here, on his own and no one to stop him if he wanted to take an art or astronomy class or something else useless, but it was his time right? He just wanted to do what he wanted to do.
I smiled up at him and he shook his head at me, the corner of his lips turning up in his profile.
“Uh, hello? Can you come out of La-La Land and answer me?” Beck spouted in irritation.
“What?”
“I asked what we’re doing after we eat.”
“I don’t know but let’s look at the menu. We haven’t even ordered our food yet.”
“Fine.” She snatched the menu up and grimaced when she opened it. “Ugh. Meat, meat and more meat.”
“You’re not a vegetarian,” I countered.
She didn’t say anything else and I told Caleb to get me what he was having again.
“So, we have a theater in town if you want to catch a movie,” Caleb suggested.
“Ugh. No,” Beck groaned. “Do you have any clubs in town?”
“Not anything underage, but a friend sent me a text earlier. He’s throwing a party tonight at the beach.”
“Yay! Sounds good. Let’s do that.”
“Beck,” Ralph said and looked at her funny. “Maybe they don’t want to go to the party. You didn’t even ask.”
“He wouldn’t have brought it up if he didn’t want to go!”
The waitress brought our drinks and we all ordered our food. Then Beck went to the bathroom so I decided to find out what the heck was going on.
“What is wrong with her? She can’t be this upset over a text message,” I asked Ralph and he rubbed his neck, looking uncomfortable and guilty.