(Tori’s POV)
Well this is awkward…
“Hey Tori” Caleb said with a smile as he sat down. Everyone’s eyes were on us. They couldn’t believe we knew each other. My best friend Erin looked at me from across the room with her mouth wide open. She was either appalled or jealous or both.
“Tori, if Mr. Montgomery has any questions, will you be sure to help him?” asked Mrs. Frinkle.
“Yeah, sure.” I replied, trying to be polite but not sound too excited that I was the chosen one to help the new kid.
For the first time, I was so excited to be in Jazz Band. When Caleb walked, in my heart skipped a beat. I was talking to my friend Kara, asking about fingerings for notes, watching him sit in the row in front of me, pulling out his guitar and strumming a few delicate notes. It was the most amazing Kodak moment I’d ever seen. Picture perfect.
Nathan came to sit by him, pulling out an other guitar and started playing a solo over top of Caleb’s easy, mellow notes. It didn’t take long to tell they had practiced together many times before. I wish I could hear him sing. I wonder if this is one of the songs in that notebook.
“Wow, you’re really good.” I told him after class was finished.
“Ha ha, thanks. I’ve been playing since I was little.” He replied looking up at me with his glistening blue eyes. I was hooked. Falling for him…hard. That’s when I realized, he was the guy in my dream last night.....
I couldn’t stop thinking about Caleb the rest of the day. His name buzzing around inside my head like a swarm of bees attacking the last flower on the planet. On the bus, I sat in my regular seat. I watched as Caleb walked up the stairs gracefully. His blue and black plaid shirt looked extremely attractive. His eyes met mine as he walked to the back of the bus. I moved my stuff onto my lap so he could sit down if he wanted.
“May I sit here?” he asked with a smile before sitting down. I realized a moment or two had passed and I hadn’t answered because I was so distracted by his deep blue eyes. Blinking myself out of the mini trance I was caught in, I forced myself to speak.
“Of course, haha” I motioned for him to have a seat next to me. As he did, he placed his bag on his lap. I noticed it wasn’t zipped all the way and I could see the corner of the notebook I had picked up earlier with his songs.
We rode most of the bus ride in silence. There was a bit of small talk, some might consider it flirting… “Hey so do you have to go home right away today?” he asked.
“No my mom doesn’t get home until like 5. Why?” I answered nervously.
“Well, Nathan and I are taking Hollie and Joel to get ice cream and smoothies. Do you wanna come with?”
“Umm, yeah sure. That sounds like fun!” My mother would not approve of this.
“We have to stop by my house for a minute and then we’ll go.” Yeah, my mom’s gonna kill me. We got off the bus and walked to Caleb’s house. Nathan ran ahead of us with Hollie and Joel. He definitely had a lot of energy. I was really regretting not wearing a sweater today. I crossed my arms against the wind.
“Are you cold?” Caleb asked.
“Um, yeah a little. I forgot my sweater this morning.” I said. Wow that’s embarrassing.
“You can use one of mine if you’d like” I watched Nathan and his younger siblings turn and enter the house in front of us.
Once we were inside, I was warm again. We walked into his living room and sat on the couch waiting for Nathan to get ready.
“What’s taking him so long?” I asked jokingly.
“We stopped by the smoothie place yesterday and he has a crush on one of the waitresses. He’s gotta do his hair,” he rolled his eyes.
Nathan finally came out and we got ready to leave.
“Here’s a jacket.” Caleb said handing me a perfectly folded zip-up sweatshirt. I put it on and it smelled like heaven with a hint of axe.
We walked out into the chilly, November, Ohio weather and headed out to the smoothie place. When we got there, we ordered our drinks and Nathan once again ran off with the younger siblings to play the pinball game.
“Nathan really knows how to take care of those two.” I said to Caleb.
“Yeah, Nathan’s always had a way with them. Probably because he’s just a kid at heart, haha” Caleb replied. We sat down on the couches set out for people waiting for their drinks.
I looked down and his hand was turn palm up, just asking for me to place my hand into it's smooth folds. But I just met this guy today. Should I really do it?
