Beware of Bad Boy

Chapter 26

 "I think beauty comes from within, and society paints a ridiculous picture."

-Rachel Bilson

GIANNA

"Caleb, stop!"

"Come on, just one more time," he begged.

"Ugh, fine! I should've known you'd have some sort of fetish, with all the piercings you have." I lifted up my shirt for the hundredth time so Caleb could look at my navel piercing.

Dropping my shirt, my stomach was covered up again. "Was that so hard?" Caleb joked.

"No, but it was so annoying," I teased him back.

"Admit it, baby. You got the piercing just for me to see, so don't complain." He wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing me sweetly.

"Not everything is about you, Caleb. I got it for me." I acted annoyed, but gladly kissed him again.

We were in the kitchen after school on Thursday, making popcorn for the movie we were going to watch. "Everything about you is about me now, too," he said as he grabbed two cans of soda out of the fridge.

How did I argue against that kind of charm?

"Whatever, sweet talker. Let's go watch zombies eat people who can't run fast enough."

We watched Dawn of the Dead, so romantic. Caleb couldn't keep his hands or mouth to himself during the movie. "Caleb, we may as well turn the movie off. You aren't even watching it."

"I'd rather watch you do a little dance for me." He grinned wickedly. "Why don't we go upstairs to my room?"

"Okay."

His surprised face made me laugh. I took off like a shot. As I ran up the stairs, his pounding tread close behind made my heart race faster. He entered his room at my heels and I yelped as he picked me up in the air and tossed me onto his bed. In a move that rivaled dancer-like gracefulness, he landed gently on top of me. Threading my fingers through his hair, I urged him on.

I let one hand drop down beside my head where it landed on something sticking out from under the pillow. Twisting my head off the pillow, I yanked it out. Caleb didn't notice because he was busy on my other side, making a trail of kisses along my jaw and down my neck. I lifted the notepad over his head.

Gasping at what I saw, it spurred Caleb to catch my lips with his. The boy could kiss, making me forget about the notepad in my hand. It dropped from my hand onto his back.

"What's that?" He stopped kissing me to see what hit him.

"Your drawing pad."

He shot up straight, snatching it out of my hand. "I'll take that."

Smiling as I guided him down for a kiss, I told him, "It's too late. I already saw it."

"It's not supposed to be you," he said, looking uncharacteristically embarrassed.

"Uh-huh, sure," I agreed unconvincingly. "Can I see the picture of me again?"

"No." He reached over to drop it in his nightstand drawer. I laughed inwardly. Like I couldn't find it there when he wasn't around.

Actually, I'd just get it now. I quickly opened the drawer, dug it out and rolled to the other side of the bed onto my stomach. I stared down at the still opened page. There was a picture of an angel that bore a remarkable resemblance to me. The angel wore a long flowing white dress and had thick white feathered wings. "I think it's beautiful."

He grunted, taking it away from me again to put it back in the drawer. "It's nothing."

That was the thing, though. It wasn't nothing. It was everything. Being told you're beautiful your whole life was one thing. Actually feeling like you were, inside and out, was something else. Until I met Caleb, I wasn't sure beauty existed on my inside. With him in my life, I not only saw that beauty to my core, but also in my world around me. This drawing proved he saw that beauty in me.

I could tell he wasn't comfortable with me finding the sketch, so I sort of changed the subject. "You're a really good artist, Caleb. Why don't you take art class at school?"

"High school art class is for pansies." He laid on his side next to me with one elbow propping up his head.

I rolled my eyes at his assessment. "Art class is for artists and you should be in it."

He gave me a look like I didn't know what I was talking about. "I'm not taking art."

"Fine, don't take art at school, but how about a class outside of school? Come on, you might even get to do a nude drawing. Of a woman," I hastily added.

He raised one eyebrow. "Really, naked chicks? Sign me up."

Realizing he was only teasing me, I smacked him on the chest playfully. "Yeah, well won't you be surprised when I volunteer to be the nude model."

The chest my hand still rested on shook as he laughed. "It won't be much of a surprise now since you've already told me." He gave me a stern glare. "I'd drag you right out of there before you had the chance to drop your robe."

"You're not the boss of me," I teased.

"No, I'd never pretend to be that. But, I'm your boyfriend and I say who can and can't see you naked." He kissed me on the tip of my nose. "And I say only I can."

Typical boy, not willing to share his toys, not that this particular toy wanted to be shared. "Well, boyfriend, I have homework due tomorrow. I suggest you do the same. I'll be in my room and you're not welcome." I was so glad tomorrow was Friday.

"That reminds me. Don't make any plans for tomorrow night. We're going to do number twelve on your list."

"Number twelve?" I repeated, trying to remember which one that was.

"Yep, I'm taking you out clubbing and you, young lady, are allowed to get as drunk as you want but not so drunk you throw up in my Camaro."

"I'll say it again, Caleb. You have a way with words. You have to be the most romantic boyfriend ever."

"I'm romantic," he pouted.

Thinking of the drawing, I conceded, "I guess the drawing was pretty freaking romantic."

"Damn straight, girl. Now tell me why you've never gotten drunk while you were out clubbing."

"The only times I've gone to a club have been with the crew and I can't get drunk if I need to perform. Afterwards, we always go to someone's house to drink." I shrugged. "I sometimes get tipsy then."

"Is that the only reason?" he asked.

I don't want to think about the most important reason I don't drink at clubs. It was a year ago and I'm over it now, but not inclined to share. However, this was Caleb and I was beginning to believe I could tell him anything.

"Not the only reason. About a year ago, I went with some of the cheerleaders and football players to a club downtown. Some older guy I danced with bought me a drink and I was too dumb back then to realize what a mistake that was."

Caleb's unhappy expression made to want to stop the story there. "What happened after that?" he prompted.

"Don't worry. Someone stopped him before anything bad happened. My drink was obviously drugged and he almost got me out of the club, but one of the football players stopped him."

"Josh?" he guessed.

"Yeah, how'd you know? You have to understand Josh wasn't so bad back then. He was a really nice guy. He'd been asking me out for awhile and after he saved me from being raped by that creep, I finally gave him a chance."

Caleb made a disgusted face. "And that turned into a year-long relationship?"

"My heart never skipped a beat around him, but I was comfortable with him. It wasn't until we were together for awhile that I started to notice he was becoming obsessive." I didn't like to think about Josh. "Anyways, that's why I don't drink at clubs. I don't trust it."

"At least the psycho did something right in his life. Don't worry about tomorrow night. I'll be there and we'll have a good time."

I liked the promise of that. "Okay, but who's going to protect your virtue?"

"You can tread all over my virtue if you want," he offered while squeezing my hip.