Everything Happens At 2:04 AM

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Caleb Combo - Ready For Pickup.

If the man showed any offence in Caleb's words, it wasn't shown in the bark of laughter that left his mouth. "You're a hotheaded motherfücker today, huh?" I grinned at the man's words and he shot me a crooked smile. "The name is Lorenzo."

"Nice to meet you, Lorenzo," I said, wiggling my phone in my hands. "The name's Octavia."

His eyes lit up in recognition. "It's nice to finally meet the girlfriend Caleb's been going on about."

Interesting, I thought. Wish Caleb went on and on about this guy like he apparently did about me because this was definitely the first, I've heard and/or seen of Lorenzo.

Out of nowhere, Caleb pressed a kiss to my cheek, "I just need to give her something, we'll be back. Watch the news or something."

"The news? What kind of a geezer do you-"

Caleb put his hands on my shoulders, leading me into the kitchen. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, fück you too man."

I snorted, heading over to his fridge myself. I opened it, looking directly at the bottles staring right back at me. "You didn't tell your so-called friend that we aren't actually together?"

Caleb's eyes flickered to the threshold and the loud sound of the actual news came on. However,  my question didn't surprise him one bit. He stepped closer to me; his voice low. "Lorenzo is my friend. But I trust certain people with specific information more than I would trust others."

I frowned, completely understanding. Telling the wrong person about our publicized stunt of relationship could lead to them selling us out for money. Made sense. "How come I haven't heard of him?"

Caleb shrugged. "I don't know honestly."

I tapped my fingers against the side of the fridge. "Do you have a lot of friends around here?"

He tilted his head. "I have a lot of acquaintances, some friends. I used to live in Rome so I know a lot more people over in that city. I only moved to Milan recently. Since I work here for shows, some of the people I get to know live in America. But yes, I have friends around here-I just like spending time with that interesting friend group that you've brought with you."

I hummed in understanding while he twisted the stick of the popsicle, watching me. "What are you taking?"

"You said for me to take as I please," I shot him a look. "Here I am 'taking as I please'." I took the bottles of alcohol, setting them on the table. He had told me that he only stocked up in case people came over because let's face it, the man behind me was in all cases generous.

"Save the Malibu at the party," He said. "That's our drink."

"Speaking of Malibu," I held the bottle in my hand. "How's the story coming?"

A proud smile came to his face. "It's done."

"It's-" My eyebrows rose. "What the hell? That was so fast."

"Yeah, fastest I've ever written actually. I'm working on it with my editor right now."

"Shit," I said impressed. He shrugged like it was nothing but that's only because while he could be cocky from time to time, he was very humble about his talents when it came to writing.

"I was going to tell you tonight at your party but of course you got it out of me."

"Yeah, it's probably best I had asked," I hissed. "I don't think I will remember tonight much tonight."

"You're planning on getting that plastered?"

"I'm planning on getting absolutely plastered." I agreed, holding up both bottles of vodka in my hands. He took his camera out, taking a picture of me with my alcoholic trophies.