Freed

31

"I didn't call you stupid," Caleb laughed and glanced over at me, raising his dark eyebrows. "What you did was though."

"I don't need a lecture from you."

He rolled his eyes and shut his laptop, throwing it down on the bed. "Wasn't planning on giving one."

I leaned my head on his shoulder and picked up my phone, scrolling through the texts Mia had sent me. I laughed at one of them which was in all caps. She was telling me about how Olivia had given her hell when she'd gotten back home, and it was my fault.

I turned my read receipts on, and left her on read, before I turned my phone back off.

A sudden thought came to mind as I thought about how Mia had chased Ethan around earlier. "Caleb, do you think Ethan and Mia could ever..." I trailed off, not knowing how to word it. "Do you think he'd ever like her?"

"Like her how?" Caleb questioned, grabbing his own phone.

"Like how Elijah loves Olivia. Or how I like Julian," I said and Caleb's head snapped over to me. He studied me for a second as if he was trying to contemplate whether I was being serious. When he realized I was, he chuckled incredulously.

"Izzy, he sees her like an annoying little sister," Caleb told me. "And Ethan would never be with someone under eighteen." He studied me for a second. "Why? If something did happen between them, maybe in the future, would it bother you?"

I glanced at him warily. "Why would it bother me?"

Caleb raised his eyebrows. "Because she's your best friend and if they fought, you'd be stuck in the middle."

"No, I wouldn't. They wouldn't make me choose like that." I had no doubts about that. Mia would never put me in a place like that, and Ethan wouldn't either. "As long as they tell me if something ever happens, then it's fine."

"If the roles were reversed, Ethan would disown you."

I stared at Caleb in slight shock. "What?"

He smiled. "If you ever went out with any of his friends, he wouldn't be as nice as you're being right now." My thoughts instantly drifted to Chase, and I remembered how I used to think he was attractive, but that was it. Now, the thought felt wrong to even think about because another person came into mind.

"Okay, well, I'm not an asshole like him," I rolled my eyes and Caleb grinned, throwing his arm around my shoulder to pull me into his side.

"We know that."

We fell into comfortable silence for a few moments before I spoke again. "So, Kaiden moved out?" I asked quietly and Caleb took a deep breath.

"Yeah," he said. "A few hours ago, he left."

My heart constricted. "I can't believe him. He chose Lucas over us. I know he doesn't know everything, but still. He has to know he's an awful person."

Caleb hesitated before replying. "I think there's more to it, Izzy."

I picked my head up off his shoulder to meet his gaze. Caleb ran a hand over his jaw, shifting to be more comfortable. "What do you mean?"

"I talked to him before he left. He was acting weird and I could genuinely tell he didn't want to leave. Lucas called his name from downstairs, and I don't know, it was like Kaiden had to go with."

My eyes widened. "You mean...Lucas could be blackmailing him?" I hadn't thought about that. Could that be? Was Lucas holding something over him and that was why Kaiden was following him around like he was his owner. Did we lose faith in him too easily?