{{Dedicated to @freakandtell for her kind comments}}
CHAPTER NINE
When their laughter died down, Rhea once again became aware of her surroundings. She was in a supermarket staff room at one in the morning. It was one in the morning. She'd sent Floyd home, which meant she'd have to walk home. Luckily, it was a small town they lived in, so it was relatively less dangerous to be out at night, though you'd never know. Also there was the 1.30 curfew she'd gotten from her parents. Admittedly, they weren't the strictest parents in the world, but they still had certain rules and as they were pretty reasonable ones, they expected Rhea to obey them.
"I should get my Hershey's and go," Rhea said, getting out of the staff room and moving towards the cash register once more. "I don't want to push it with my parents."
Caleb followed her to the cash register and sat in his assigned seat behind it.
"How are you getting home?" he asked with a hint of concern in his voice.
"I'll just walk," she answered nonchalantly; "It's just five minutes anyways."
"It's one in the morning," Caleb said disbelievingly.
"Yeah, so?"
"So, you shouldn't be walking alone in the middle of the night."
"I can take care of myself," she countered, jutting her chin out. If there was one thing Rhea detested, it was being treated as though she was a fragile little thing that needed to be taken care of at all times.
"I don't doubt that," Caleb amended. "Just give me a call or, I don't know, text me when you make it home."
"But I don't have your– Wait, are you asking for my number?" She grinned at him.
"I was getting there," he said sheepishly.
"Caleb Archer," she said, putting emphasis on the words dramatically, "Do you have a thing for me?"
At that, he barked out a laugh.
"Get over yourself," he said when he'd finally calmed down. "I was just trying to make sure you didn't end up in the morning news. Besides, I have a girlfriend."
Rhea tried to think back to all the times she'd seen Caleb at school, yet try as she might, she couldn't recall a single time she'd seen a girl by his side. To be fair, she didn't see him all that much and when she did, he was almost always alone. Though now it made sense why; between work and that thing he "had to take care of" in the afternoons, he probably didn't have any time to socialize.
"Who is she?" Rhea asked when she couldn't find a possible candidate for the role.
"You wouldn't know her," Caleb responded.
"Well, what's her name, then?" she asked.
"Yasmine," Caleb said with the faint hint of a smile on his face.
"Well, that's a pretty name," Rhea said, not being able to prevent a smile of her own from forming on her lips. Then, she cleared her throat before saying, "I really should go. Just give me your phone for one second."
He retrieved it from his pocket, and she typed in her number quickly. This would be the second boy in a week she'd given her number to. Something must be up with the way the planets are aligned, she thought to herself.
After handing him his phone back, she quickly paid for her chocolate and made to leave the supermarket.
Before she could go out the door, however, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. She stopped in her tracks for a second, smiled to herself and then walked out the door.
***
When she got home after a five minute walk, the lights were off. Her parents hadn't waited up, then. Not that she'd expected them to; her parents trusted Rhea enough to know she wouldn't do anything unreasonable.
As silently as she could, she made her way to her room. Even though her dress was entirely dry by now, it had gotten all stiff because of the salt water and her skin felt sticky. She knew a shower was in order, however, she couldn't find the energy in her. So she just changed out of her dress, sent Caleb a quick text that said "not dead" and fell into bed.
As she was on the verge of drifting off to sleep, her phone vibrated on her nightstand. Blindly reaching for it she checked what it was.
It was a text from Caleb and it simply said, "good to know".
***
Rhea woke up with a mild headache and a horrible case of morning breath. She briefly wondered if it could still be classified as morning breath when it was already the afternoon. Yes, she'd slept through the entire morning, and she decided she'd never loved her parents more than she did in that moment for letting her sleep. Normally, they had a thing for family breakfasts on weekends.
Using every ounce of energy she had in her system, she dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom. Skipping the shower the previous night wasn't one of her brightest decisions; her hair was a bird's nest and if there was a single word that could describe how her entire body felt in that moment, it would be disgusting.
She adjusted the water to the right temperature in record time and stepped under it. When the warm water hit her skin, she couldn't help but sigh softly.
When she stepped out of the shower, she couldn't help but feel as if she'd just bathed in the fountain of youth. Her headache was gone and she felt fresher than ever. Seriously, the healing powers a shower could possess were equal parts frightening and fascinating.
It was five minutes after that she heard the doorbell ring. She'd just gotten dressed in her usual weekend wear, namely sweatpants and a t-shirt, and her hair was still wrapped up in a towel.
She quickly padded to the door; it was probably her father coming back from the grocery store. When she swung open the door, however, she was faced with the last person she expected to see on the porch of her house at one in the afternoon.
Floyd was standing in front of her, looking at her with amusement in his eyes.
"That's a different look than last night," he said jokingly.
"Well, that's what you get for showing up unannounced," Rhea countered. "Seriously, what are you doing here?"
He rubbed the back of his neck at that and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Well, this had felt like a better idea when it'd occurred to me, though I can now see the flaws in my plan."
"What is it?" Rhea asked curiously.
"Okay, here it goes," he mumbled. "I came to tell you that I had a lot of fun with you last night."
Rhea smiled at that. "Me too."
"I also came to tell you that as fun as yesterday was, I would like to take you out on a real date."
"Is that so?" she said, grinning.
"Yes," he said, letting out a short, breathy laugh. "Will you go on a date with me?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Yeah?" he asked, beaming at her in such a way that his smile took up half of his face, his eyes almost closing because of it.
"Yes, I will," she confirmed. "What time, though?"
"I was thinking now-ish?" he said sheepishly.
"What?" Rhea exclaimed, huffing out a laugh. "That's crazy."
"Well, if you're not crazy at eighteen, when will you ever be?" he said, echoing her words from last night that she'd uttered right before she dove into the freezing cold water.
At that, Rhea groaned and buried her face in her hands. "I hate you," she muttered without removing her hands.
"No you don't," he countered, prying her hands away from her face. Was it just her, or was this becoming a thing for them?
"Fine," she said, huffing out a breath, "I don't. Give me ten minutes to get ready and I'll be right down."
***
A/N: Another update! I am sorry about the quality of this chapter. I realize it could be better but the wheels in my brain just wouldn't turn properly.
Anyways, what do you think? VOTE and COMMENT to let me know if you like it.
Happy Thursday, lovely peeps.
May we meet again.
-Safiye.