Insomnia

Chapter 14

The next few weeks were stressful for both Cal and me. Cal was constantly stressing about work and making sure everything was always done perfectly. He was a perfectionist, which was a trait I had only just recently found out about him. Things seemed to stress him out twice as much as it would with anybody else. And with the trip for his job, he seemed to have even more weight on his shoulders. Then there was my stress. However, my only problem is that I'm worried for Cal.

My pull for Cal seemed a lot stronger lately than usual. I just figured that it was because we've been together for a while now. The friendship blossomed into much more than I thought it would have. But I couldn't help but think about him all the time, even when I'm not around him. It's become so much of a problem that I've devoted myself to reading more often just so I can get him out of my head.

But even then, he still travels into my thoughts. It's not just about how stressed he is and how I worry for his health, but I think about his eyes. I think about his smile and his laugh. It's strange how I notice these things and think about them so often, and I couldn't explain why.

Cal didn't seem much different than when he had first met. He was still as composed as ever, so I figured it was just me being as weird as I always was. But I couldn't help but notice how tired he always seemed to be. It was as if sleep had no affect on him whatsoever, because he looked just as tired getting up as he did going to bed.

The trip had come faster than either of us had thought it would, and Cal was panicking. I didn't really catch the name of where we were going, but Cal did tell me that there was a beach there. I squealed so much that Cal burst out laughing, and it was nice to see him laughing. I've never been to the beach, and was majorly excited. I didn't like the idea of going far into the ocean, but I was ready to feel the ocean water on my skin. All I knew about them was what I had previously read about in my books.

Cal told me he only tolerated beaches, but he would go as much as I wanted. Normally, I would have told him that we could just go once so he wasn't uncomfortable, but this time I was too excited. I told him we would go as often as we could, but he didn't seem to bothered. He looked happy that I was excited.

Today was the day before we were leaving for the trip. The trip lasted about two weeks, which meant we had to pack for the length of it. Of course, I just suggested that we wash our clothes while there, but Cal told me that there was no way he was doing laundry while on vacation.

Cal was running around the apartment trying to get last minute things for the trip. We had to leave really early in the morning so we could get to the airport and on the plane on time. He looked nervous when he told me we were going on an airplane.

"What's wrong," I asked him. He looked sheepish.

"Nothing is wrong, it's just I figured you might be scared of airplanes," he replied. I gave him a impassive look.

"You've never worried about if I'll be worried about something before, you're just evil like that," I said jokingly. "What's really wrong?" He didn't say anything. "Wait, don't tell me. Is Mr. Muscle afraid of a little airplane?"

"Those things are not little," he declared. "Those are large, heavy, flying deathtraps. It's only normal to be afraid of being in one." I giggled and he glared at me. In all honesty, I hadn't really heard of airplanes until Cal told me about them. I just thought they were amazing as soon as Cal told me about them. I hadn't even thought there would be people afraid of them at the time, but I can see why they would be now.

"I'm sorry, that's hilarious." He shoved me a bit.

"Is not."

"Don't worry, I'll hold your hand." I expected him to come up with some witty response, but he just winked cheekily at me. My face burned and I walked away from the conversation because I didn't know what else to say at that point. For the rest of the night, I could not get the image of his dark, brown eyes winking at me. And my heart seemed to flutter each time.