The Summer of Me & You (12 page)

“Too tired to drive us back?”

He nodded his head. “Mhm.” He blinked. I could hear his voice becoming sleepy. It was the sexiest sound ever.

“I can drive us back,” I offered.

“You will?”

“Yeah,” I said, standing. “Let's go.”

He sprawled out in the backseat. I had the stereo on low, playing a song that I listened to a lot, but now I knew that whenever I heard it after tonight, I would think of Kaleb. I began softly singing along.

I thought he'd fallen asleep, but I knew he hadn't when I felt his fingers run through my hair as softly as a summer's breeze. It was a half hour drive back. He'd sat up and I hadn't realized. I'd been daydreaming. Unexpectedly, he crawled from the back of the car to the front, settling down into the passenger's seat. He leaned his head back against the headrest, closing his eyes. “I love this song.”

“Me too,” I glanced at him.

“I'm starving,” he told me. “When we get back we should eat breakfast together.”

“Where would you like to go?”

“No,” he said. “I mean, at home. My house. I'll cook for you.”

Oh really?

“Thought you were tired.”

“Nah. Not anymore.”

Early morning, we arrived back at Kaleb's house. It was just before the blue hour and there was just enough darkness outside to let us know that night was ending and day beginning. Everything around us was silent, all except for the stirring and chirping birds.

We crept into Kaleb's house. His mom was still asleep. Stephen, Rebekah, Alison, and Stephen weren't there. Kaleb yawned again.

“You don't have to cook breakfast for me,” I told him.

“Are you kidding? I'd love to,” he said.

“Yeah, but I'm really not that hungry and I can tell that you're extremely tired. Rain check? You can do it at another time.”

“You sure? Because I can totally whip you up something to eat.”

“I'm sure,” I told him, hovering near the door. Kaleb had already made his way into the kitchen. He pulled open the refrigerator door and grabbed the orange juice.

“I'll see you tomorrow,” I pivoted around, my hand on the door knob ready to leave. I had just opened it an inch when the refrigerator door crashed shut and he bolted across the living room, pressing his hand against the door, closing it again. He leaned against the door.

“Where are you going, Kayleigh?” His eyes met mine.

“Home,” I told him.

“How? I mean—”

“I'll walk,” I said.

“No way. Not letting you do that. It's dangerous. You're going to stay here with me.”

Now
that
was dangerous.

“I'm not going to make you sleep on the couch again just so I can have your bed.”

“Okay,” he said. “Then we'll both sleep in my bed together. It's big enough for two.” His expression was casual, until he saw my hesitation. I was making it into a bigger deal than it should be. I mean, it was a big deal. For me. But he was totally better at playing it cool than I was.

He gave me his award winning grin. “Kayleigh, there's nothing to be afraid of. I promise there aren't any monsters under my bed.” He leaned up off the door, giving me back my breathing room. “Besides, it's nearly daylight.”

Whoa. Was I really going to lay next to Kaleb Scheffler? In his bed? Were we really going to be that close?

“I trust you with the car. I would let you drive yourself home and bring the car back later on today, but that would be irresponsible of me knowing I kept you out all night. It'd be unsafe and I don't want you getting in an accident.”

He was super convincing. Almost as if he'd planned it. But there were zero complaints. Standing there I even let out a yawn. And he smiled. “C'mon,” he said, sauntering off to his room.

My mom was just getting off her nursing shift. If she found out I wasn't home, she was going to ground me. Big time.

She already had. Punishment would be far worse. She'd probably even kill me if she found out I'd stayed out all night with Kaleb, then fell asleep with him in his bed. Oh God. But it was totally worth it.

She'd never know.

I pulled my cellphone out of my pocket, looking to see if she'd left me any messages. None.

But I'm sure she'd be blowing my phone up within the next few hours, so I silenced it. Like I told you, Kaleb could coerce me into almost anything.

I followed behind him as he twisted the knob to his bedroom, opening the door. His room was extremely tidy, unlike the first time I saw it. Almost like he'd spent a lot of time cleaning it. His bed was even made. No wrinkles in the covers. Wow.

He bent down, untying his shoes. I placed my phone back in my pocket and slipped out of my sandals.

“I'm going to quit smoking,” he said, randomly. “It's a bad habit.”

“Okay.” I watched him as he removed his shoes. “I like cherry bubble gum,” I told him.

He glanced up at me. “What?” He laughed, realizing it related to nothing.

“I thought we were telling each other random things.”

“Are we?”

“We are,” I mirrored.

As he walked to the nightstand, he dug into his pocket and pulled out his blue lighter. He opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic bag.

“What are you doing?”

“Lighting a fizzy pop incense,” he informed me. “I love the smell.” He reached in and pulled one out. “Here,” he said, passing one in my direction. “Smell it.”

I took the fragrance stick from him, raising it beneath my nose. It smelled ah-mazing. Like fairies with magic dust or bathing in a blue soda fountain underneath the stars. Sugary sweet. So that was the mysterious scent beneath the smoke smell on Kaleb.

I noticed he could be neat when he wanted to be. The only thing in Kaleb's room that was “out of place” this morning was the fact he'd left a half eaten bag of Buffalo flavored Dorito's and a canister of Mountain Dew on his nightstand. I handed the fizzy-pop back to him and he lit it, placing it on the incense holder. I reached down and scooped the bag of chips from the nightstand, digging my hand in. He gazed up at me, curiously.

“What?” I said. “They're my fave.” I bit in to one, tasting the burst of flavor. I chewed and swallowed. “Breakfast,” I said.

“Yum,” he laughed.

“Definitely. Never happens at my house. My mom makes me these health food smoothie drinks with vitamins,” I told him. “Absolutely no junk food whatsoever.”

“Damn,” he said. “I couldn't live there. No freaking way.”

“Me either,” I said, biting into another chip. “I mean, I barely can.” I chewed. It tasted so good. I didn't even care that Kaleb was watching me. “I could like totally devour an entire bag of these.”

He laughed again. Then I realized I was probably looking like a pig. In front of him. “Oh my God,” I said, dropping the bag back down on the nightstand.

“No—” he shook his head. “Don't even turn into one of those girls. Finish the rest of them if you want. Even if it does make your breath stink.”

“I'm good.” I plopped down on his bed, laying back. It would've been more awkward for me if he'd laid down first.

He jerked his black curtains across the window, blocking out the daylight, then switched on the fan. “I have to sleep with this thing on. I like the cool air, and the hum. Helps me fall asleep.”

I gazed at him. “Me too.”

I watched as he dragged his red beanbag chair beside the bed, right under the fan and plopped down. He reached up onto the bed and pulled down the extra pillow.

“What are you doing?”

He stuffed it under his head, extended his legs out, settling in, then laid back, closing his eyes. “I'm a few minutes away from sleeping.”

“Oh,” I said, under the impression he was going to sleep up here on his bed with me.

He twisted his head and opened one eye sneakily to look at me. I bet he wanted to gauge my reaction, but I was already looking at him. He smiled. “Sweet dreams,” he said.

“Sweet dreams.” I rolled over on my side to face the wall. If I'd been any other girl, I bet Kaleb would've crawled up here with intentions of doing anything but sleeping, but since I was Kayleigh he was going to give into his zzzz's.

The room was silent for minutes. I had almost drifted off into sleep when I heard his voice again.

“Kayleigh?”

“Yeah?”

“Aren't you going to take off your glasses?”

***

I'm not sure what pulled me out of sleep—I think I smelled cigarette smoke—but I woke up in an unfamiliar place. As my consciousness settled back in, I realized I was in Kaleb's bed, and not my own. That I'd slept in his room with him and hadn't gone home last night.

I bolted forward. Oh my God my mother was going to kill me! I raised up to dig my phone out of my pocket, but gazing eyes startled me. Kaleb was lying next to me, his shirt off and a dreamy smirk on his face. One hand was underneath his head, revealing the muscles in his arm and bicep, and the other hand he used to smoke his cigarette. He brought it to his lips. Inhale. Exhale. Still gazing at me.

We were under the covers together. His feet were touching mine. I felt his body heat radiating. The fan was off and the window open.

When had he gotten up here?

He noticed the look on my face and said, “The beanbag chair became too uncomfortable for sleeping.”

I bet my hair was a complete mess. I'm sure I looked awful. But seeing Kaleb lying there with that stupid little grin across his face had me frozen solid. He scooted closer, reached up to my face. I didn't know what he was doing so I swatted his hand away.

“Ow,” he said.

“Oh shut up. It didn't hurt.”

“Your glasses are crooked,” he said. “I was trying to adjust them.”

Horrifying. “I think I can do it myself.” I fixed them back on my face, then asked him. “What time is it?”

“You have a phone. Check the clock yourself.”

“Fine,” I told him, reaching into my pocket. “I will.”

“Good.”

I slid the bar over to unlock my phone and when it lit up it displayed the hour. 3:33 pm in the afternoon.

“Kaleb! It's three o'clock! I'm dead. Totally dead.” I immediately clicked over to my messages and phone calls, checking to see how many times my mother had decided to yell at me before she'd given up. Surprisingly it was zero. Huh? That was strange.

“What's wrong,” he asked, smoking his cigarette, cool and composed.

“My mom hasn't even called me. That's so unlike her. Especially when I didn't come home last night.” I continued to gaze at my phone, thinking that at any minute all of the voice mails would pop up all at once.

“Your mom is out of town. Didn't she tell you?”

Yeah, in fact she had. How had I forgotten?

Kaleb continued. “She asked my mom to watch you. She didn't want you sneaking off with any of those guys you met at the party, and she didn't want you bringing any of them into your room. Your mom's got you on total lock down. No bad boys touching Kayleigh. No way. She won't have it.”

More like
Kaleb
didn't want me with any of those guys at the party. My mother knew nothing about that event. But she knew I was with
him.
 

I scoffed. “I bet my mom has no idea that
you're
here this weekend though.”

“That's
right
,” he said, all wild eyed. “And I intend to keep it that way. She thought I went with Stephen on his camping escapade. After all, that was originally the plan. But I backed out the way I always do.”

“
Hey
—” I told him, realizing. “This was a set up. You knew about this the whole time. You just wanted to see if I'd break my mother's rules and stay over with you on my own without having a reason to be here.”

He grinned. I seethed. That jerk!

“Look—I promised my mom I'd be on my best behavior. And so far I have, haven't I?”

I steered the subject away from that. So far, Kaleb had been incredibly shocking. After all, this was Kaleb we were talking about. He hadn't tried anything, he hadn't tried to make any moves on me. I was the one who felt disappointed. I wanted him to be the Kaleb I knew him to be. I wanted him to flirt with me, try to kiss me, touch me, anything. But he didn't. Maybe I didn't know Kaleb at all. Maybe he wasn't that guy after all. Perhaps all of that really had been rumors.

I didn't want to give Kaleb any stars just yet though. And I didn't want him to know what I really thought.

“My mom would've never agreed to let me stay here if she knew you were here.”

“I know,” he said, flicking the ashes into the ash tray. “That's why I didn't tell her.”

“So...you lied.”

“I wouldn't necessarily put it
that
way
. I just decided not to go. Sometimes, plans change.”