Finding Lena | ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Six

"You got it bad, huh?" I say, smiling.

"Very," he replies. And when he realises what he just said, he stands up straighter and clears his throat. "We should be getting back over there."

I grin and nod.

Once we get back to the table, we take our seats and smile at the others.

"You didn't bring back any forks," Caleb whines, pointing to his pasta.

"Shoot, must've slipped my mind," I reply, and chuckle.

He throws me a mock-agitated look, and instead grabs the spoon from my plate and starts using that instead.

"Woah, you guys look like hell," Liam comments, throwing a fry in his mouth.

I look at Caleb and then at my reflection in his spoon. Liam's right. We look like complete and utter shit.

Well, I do. Caleb makes his tired complexion look like the next big trend or fashion statement.

We'd both got to sleep late last night, very late, and the bags under our eyes and our worn-down appearances tell them so.

"Thanks, man," Caleb says, taking another scoop of pasta.

"Gotta love the honesty," Liam replies, grinning wildly and shrugging with a hint of innocence in his eyes.

"He's right though, you guys look awful," Abigail says, making Liam snort out a laugh.

I shoot Caleb a look, a smile on my lips.

"Does anyone else on this table wanna insult us? Oh wait, there's no one left. Me and my beautiful lady have been insulted by every member of this table," Caleb says, placing his hand on my thigh. His compliment makes me blush so I take a chug of my soda to wash away the fluster.

His hands slowly creeps up my leg, until it's so far up a tingling feeling flows from my thigh to the rest of my body.

"Wait a second, are you two so tired because you were up all last night, you know...getting it on?" Liam questions, sniggering.

Caleb drops his spoon into his pasta with surprise and his hands slips off my thigh, while I choke on my soda. I gulp it down and it goes down the wrong hole. By the time I've recollected myself, the soda leaves a painful burning at the back of my throat.

"I'll take that as a 'yes', then," Liam says, smirking from ear to ear.

"No, we were not getting it on, I'll have you know," Caleb snaps with a hint of amusement that's evident in his tone.

"Have you...you know, done it?" Abigail asks curiously.

I shoot Caleb a look. With everything that has been going on, we haven't really spoke about it. "We've had a lot going on," Caleb says honestly.

Liam throws us both a fascinated look, but neither of them push it further.

We're silent for a moment.

"Hey, Caleb, what's your dad's name?" Abigail asks, which makes Caleb freeze in place.

He slowly chews on his piece of pasta, and responds in a forced-casual voice, "Michael, why?"

"No way, your dad's name is Michael Myers?" Abigail says, disbelieving.

He nods slowly.

"Michael Myers," Liam considers. "Like the Michael Myers from Halloween, that series of slasher films from, like, late 1970s?"

"Oh yeah, I never thought of that," Caleb replies, voice still on-edge on the topic of Michael.

"Dude, I watched those and Michael Myers freaked me out, when he murdered all those teenagers, and his sister..." Liam shudders. Abigail giggles beside him.

"Yeah, Michael Myers is pretty scary," Caleb says, and I don't know if he's talking about the fictional character or his dad.

"You think they'll make any more of those movies?" Abigail wonders aloud, taking a bite of her pizza.

"Well, I wouldn't want Michael Myers to return, that would end badly," Caleb jokes, but it puts me further on edge.

I send him a look, and when he meets it, he turns away quickly.

"Hey, Lena, are you as good at calculus as you are biology?"

"You kidding? She's good at everything," Caleb comments, having loosened up from the recent topic of conversation.

I smile at him, and then turn back to Liam. "What do you need?" I gently ask.

"Well, I heard what a good tutor you were for Caleb, I was wondering if you could help me out for my calculus test next week?"

"You want me to tutor you?" I ask.

He nods cheerfully.

"Um, sure."

When the bell goes, Caleb starts to walk me to my next class after we wave to Liam and Abigail. I tell Liam I'll come to his tonight.

When we're alone, Caleb murmurs, clutching his bag strap, "You know that thing that Liam was asking about? About...us?"

"You want to know if we should..." my voice dwindles.

He nods. "I'd only do anything if you were ready. I don't need sex to prove how much a love you."

The comment sends pleasant waves through me. I press my body to his when we get to my classroom, and stand on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. When I stand back down again, I say, "I want it to be special. And I certainly don't want to be worrying about Michael bursting through the door whilst we're..."

"Getting it on?" he fills in, smirking and putting his hands into his pockets.

I smack his arm. "You sound like Liam. And to answer your question- yes."

"I'm not forcing you, Lena," he reassures, and I am again reminded of how lucky I am to be with someone like Caleb. "And I want it to be special too, I don't care how long we need to wait for things to be normal. I'll wait as long as you need me to, alright?"

My heart melts a little, and I hug him.

When I pull back, he begins to walk away, calling over his shoulder, "I'll see you after school."

I nod, smiling and biting my lip, before rushing into the classroom.