Heey guys, this is it.
I was going to make it longer, but since you guys are so impatient, I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter for all the drama ;)
Okay that was mean, but still. I hope you enjoy.
You know what to do ;)
Love you all <333
& Thank you all for reading my story. :$
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Chapter 7
“Seriously? I’ve been great, no thanks to you.” I huffed beyond pissed; not only because Caleb left me alone with be jerk of an ex, but because I’m pretty sure Caleb is trying to hook me up with him…again.
“I don’t see why you’re pissed at me; I should be pissed at you.”
“Are you fucking kidding? You should be pissed at me? Care to explain that when you’re the one that slept with me and then dumped me for no apparent reason?!” I was yelling now.
“No apparent reason? You call fucking my cousin no reason? Well why don’t you tell me what a good enough reason to dump someone is?”
I flinched; his yelling was a lot scarier than mine. “What do you mean I fucked your cousin?” I asked utterly confused and no longer yelling.
“Do I need to spell it out for you? You. Had. Sex. With. Caleb.”
My mouth dropped open and I stood there speechless for a second. Before I felt my heart rate speed up and my fists clenching.
“And I assume he told you that?” I asked in a scarily calm voice. Calm before the storm, as they say.
He nodded, “well obviously you weren’t going to tell me.”
“I didn’t tell you because I never fucking did it!” I shouted trying to get out all my anger without hurting someone.
He actually looked scared for a second before stepping back. “Calm down Jayden, it was like what? Three years ago? Don’t worry about it.”
I shook my head furiously. “I never, never slept with Caleb, ever! I hated his guts back then!”
He raised his eyebrows, obviously not believing me. I groaned and leaned against a pick-up truck behind me.
Caleb walked back into the room, drink a water bottle. He looked at Jarrod and Jarrod looked back at him confused, they both looked at me as I glared at Caleb.
“So Caleb, when exactly did I sleep with you? Can you refresh my memory? I seem to have forgotten that part.”
Caleb scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. “What are you talking about, we never…” His mouth formed an ‘o’ as realization came to his eyes. He looked between me and Jarrod and started laughing.
“Oh shit! I’m sorry man, I never slept with Jayden. She pissed me off that day so I told you I did.” He shrugged as if he didn’t ruin a perfectly good relationship.
“Asshole.” I murmured under my breath. Surprisingly I wasn’t that mad at Caleb, I was still madder at Jarrod. Instead of ignoring me and ending it, he should have just talked to me about it.
“What the fuck, Caleb?!” Jarrod asked slapping him upside the head, rather harshly.
“I said I’m sorry! If you guys wanna go bang again be my guest. I won’t get in the way this time, prometto. ” He shrugged turning walking back to the Honda Civic.
I raised my eyebrow when he said ‘prometto’ and looked at Jarrod.
I could see Caleb roll his eyes from under the car. “She’s looking for a translation. It means ‘I promise’, Jayden.” I smirked at how he knew what I was doing even when he couldn’t see me.
“That’s not the point and you know it.” Jarrod exclaimed.
“Whatever, she wouldn’t take you back anyway.”
“I bet she would take me back in a heartbeat. You on the other hand are a dirty player.”
“So are you. You’re still jealous of that one time when I slept with that girl you were trying to get with. What was her name? Cindy? Sandy...” Caleb said scratching his head.
“Sheryl, it was Sheryl. See what I mean you don’t even know what their names are let alone what disease they’re carrying.”
“Are you trying to say Jayden has an STD, because I’m pretty sure unless you have one, she wouldn’t have one, which brings us back to you.”
“No that’s not what I’m saying, but she could have easily got one from another guy she screwed!”
“I don’t think she has…”
“Guys! I’m standing right here, and in case you forgot, you’re speaking English.”
“Oh yeah, so have you slept with any other guys?” Jarrod asked and Caleb turned to me also looking very interested.
I glared at them. They’re hopeless, I stand here while they talk about whether or not I have an STD and they don’t even apologize…
“You haven’t, have you?” Jarrod looked excited and turned to Caleb. “Wouldn’t that be cool popping a girl’s cherry and her not even having…?”
“Okay, okay! Enough, yes I have slept with other guys alright? Now can you please change the subject?” I groaned.
Caleb and Jarrod both looked disappointed at my answer but changed it anyway.
“Well there’s nothing wrong under the hood, it must be somewhere else.” Caleb said looking back to the Honda. “Did you check the undercarriage?”
Jarrod shook his head. He went across the garage to get skateboard that Caleb used the other night. He got on it and slipped under the car.
“Jarrod siete affamati?” I heard a scratchy woman’s voice ask seconds before I saw her.
She had short white-gray hair with kind hazel eyes. She looked to be about sixty, with her deep laugh lines and wrinkles around her eyes and forehead. She had a big old smile and stood around 5’2. She was the cutest little ol’ lady I’ve ever seen.
When she finally looked to me and then Caleb, her smile got impossibly bigger.
“Caleb, il mio bambino!” She said her voice going higher, as she ran towards Caleb. She grabbed him in a big hug and he bent down to hug her back. She then grabbed his face and kissed both of his cheeks.
“Come va?” She said finally letting go of his face.
“Bene e si?” He asked grinning at her, but it wasn’t the big grin he gave me, this one was full of adoration and respect, you could tell by how he looked at her, just how much he loved her.
“Buona, buona!” I was completely lost and suddenly wish Kat to be here. The lady finally turned towards me and smiled before she looked back at Caleb questioningly.
“Nonna this is my friend, Jayden.”
“Ah, Jayden.” She nodded her head and winked to Caleb, he rolled his eyes still grinning.
“Well are you guys’ hungry?” She asked in a very heavy Italian accent, she was looking at me but both Caleb and Jarrod answered.
“Si!” I only knew that meant yes because of the hungry look on their faces.
They started to walk to the other side of the garage where everyone seems to disappear to. The woman fell into step beside me.
“Excuse my manners. I’m Guilia.” She gave me a very warm smile before taking my hand a squeezing it.
I nodded understanding now. I should of guessed that was her.
“It’s nice to meet you.” I smiled as brightly as I could to her.
“Likewise, bella.” I blushed; I don’t know why everyone keeps calling me that. At least now I know it meant ‘beautiful’ instead of just the dog’s name. But I still don’t think I’m ‘bella’.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.” She smiled…again but this time it was mischievous, as if she told me a big secret, she wasn’t supposed to tell.
She looked pointedly to the boys that were fighting in front of us about fifteen feet away. We were outside now walking on a red stone path up to a cute little house behind the auto shop. It looks like one of those little comfy houses in ‘Snow White’ with smoke coming from the chimney, a light blue door, and a huge garden of yellow, purple, blue and orange flowers.
“Caleb is a very nice boy you know.” She stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
I nodded, blushing yet again. Is it just me or does it seem like grandma was trying to hook me up?
“Yeah, I agree, he’s great.” I smiled looking up at the boys who were opening the little silver gate about 20 feet away from the house. Jarrod walked up to the house and disappeared inside, while Caleb held the gate for us.
“Ah just like I taught you, that’s my boy.” She looked up proud as she patted his chest walking by, I let her go through first and she winked at me.
“Jayden what do you think of my garden?” She stopped dead right in front of the house door.
I looked around at all of the flowers; there were way more colours up close then it seemed like from far.
“I think it’s beautiful.” I told her truthfully, smiling. What can I say that cute grin of hers was contagious.
“Which are your favourites?” I sighed, now I just think she’s putting me on the spot. Caleb laughed. He must be thinking the same thing.
“I like the tiger lilies.” I said confidently.
“Why? Why not the tulips they’re pretty and delicate, or my petunias they’re natural and pure.”
“Nonna…” Caleb groaned.
I chuckled and nodded. “They’re pretty too, but I like tiger lilies because they’re exotic and beautiful.”
Guilia raised an eyebrow at me and nodded.
“I like you.” Then to Caleb, “she can stay.”
Caleb and I looked at each other and laughed. When she opened the door and walked in I held Caleb back.
“Was I being tested?”
“Oh yeah, if you pass the flower test you’re in.” He smirked.
“What if I had of said I liked the dahlias’?”
He shrugged. “You could have said any of them, as long as you had a reason why…and if she agreed with your reason.”
I laughed, “And which is your favourite?”
He shook his head. “I’m a guy, I don’t like flowers, I like cars.”
I rolled my eyes as walked into the house together and I was instantly hit with the aroma of pasta sauce. I smiled as I looked around; it looked like a typical grandparent’s house.
There were pictures all over the place, in the hallway, on the walls of the stairs, in the living room etc. There were bouquets of picked flowers from her garden, in nice arrangements all over the house.
I took off my shoes and followed Caleb to the living room where Jarrod made himself at home watching wrestling on a small TV. There were three bookshelves in here, one of them held what looked like romance novels, the other was action/thrillers and the last was Italian. There was a fireplace with pictures on it, and I was curious.
“Jarrod, vieni qui per favour.” Guilia said, and Jarrod groaned getting up and walking out of the room.
Caleb took his spot on the cream, floral designed couch and sprawled out. I rolled my eyes walking to the fire place.
There was a picture of an adorable little boy with his two front teeth missing; his long shaggy brown hair was falling into his bright, emerald green eyes. His cheeks were chubby and stretched out into a big toothless grin. He was on the beach, holding out a lizard to the camera.
I grinned at the picture and turned around to see Caleb looking at me.
“Is that you?” I asked, already knowing it was.
He nodded and smiled one of his crooked smiles. “I was seven, we were in Italy.”
He looked along the pictures from where we were sitting and grinned. “Guess who that is.” He said nodding to a picture on the left.
I stared at it for a second. It was a chubby little boy, with cheeks so big that when he smiled you couldn’t see his eyes properly. His hair was black and long, up to his chin.
He was shirtless and standing beside a sand castle.
I shrugged turning back to Caleb. “Who?” I asked giving up.
His smirk grew, “it’s Jarrod.”
My mouth dropped as I turned back to the picture and I burst out laughing. Jarrod was so muscular and thin now, and he was three years ago too. I would have never guessed.
I heard Caleb laughing too, and I turned to a next picture. Caleb came and stood beside me, tired of looking from across the room.
“That’s mom and dad.” He said and nodded to a couple on their wedding day. Mariella was even more young and beautiful than she was now. Looking like a model with sand brown hair in perfect curls running down her back, a genuine white smile on her face, obvious love in her eyes. Angelo surprised me too.
He looked like a celebrity, short black hair, and green eyes. No wrinkles whatsoever and an impossibly bigger grin than Mariella’s. The only thing off was that Mariella’s belly stretched out from her white dress; she looked about 6 months pregnant.
But it still looked unreal, it was all too perfect. “Was that Adrian?” I asked obviously talking about which child she was pregnant with. He nodded and smiled a small smile.
“They look so young and…happy.” I caught myself smiling at that, I wonder what it’s like to love someone that much?
“They were. Mom was nineteen and dad was twenty-one.”
“So wait, your mom’s only thirty-eight?” I asked appalled. My mom was young too, only a year older but she’s turning forty soon…
He nodded again looking to another picture. It was a younger version of the teenage Caleb. He was wearing skinny jeans and a plaid shirt, with a skater hat and skater hair. He was holding a baby, and sitting on the couch smiling and looking down at the baby wrapped in a pink knit blanket.
I smiled at how cute Caleb was then, those were the kind of guys I went for at that age, the skater boys. But now he’s not just cute; he’s unbelievably hot.
“Annie.” We both said looking at the baby in picture, mine was a question and his was a statement. We both started to chuckle again; I never knew I could be this carefree around anyone. We were both laughing and talking easily, without trying to push a subject or making anything awkward.
I looked to one hung on the wall above the fireplace that caught my eye. Caleb was in a black dress shirt rolled up to his elbows and black suit pants, wearing a white silk tie. His hair was still the skater style, and his arm was around a pretty blonde girl his age. She had brown eyes and was wearing a dark blue strapless dress with black high heels.
“Graduation?” I asked, but I was really wondering who the girl was.
“Yeah, that’s another one of my cousins; Nicolette.” He smiled looking at her, obviously she meant a lot to him.
“A.K.A my sister.” Jarrod said from behind us, I jumped and turned around looking at him. He has a sister?
“Anyways if you two are done walking down memory lane, lunch is ready.” He walked back out of the room hurriedly. Obviously he was hungry.
Caleb was still staring at the pictures, but then looked back to me. “Ready to eat?” I just nodded and followed him into the cute blue kitchen.
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The plates were already full with ravioli and garlic bread, everyone was already seated. So I took the last seat in between Caleb and Jarrod, across from Giulia.
At first it was kind of awkward, but then the boys started talking about cars and stuff I couldn’t keep up with. Then Caleb said something in Italian that I didn’t catch, and Jarrod kicked him under the table…well tried to, anyways.
I winced “Um, that was me.” I said as Jarrod’s right foot connected with my left shin.
“Oh shit, I’m so sorry.” He tried again, and missed.
“Oh dio mio! Jarrod keep your feet to yourself!” Giulia exclaimed angrily, while Caleb was snickering.
It went quiet again, and I looked around the kitchen. All of the appliances were white, the walls blue; with yellow wallpaper at the top that had a blue flowered design. It suited Giulia’s personality perfectly. There was little magnets on the fridge from all over Italy (I assumed by the names on them.)
And by the wall next to me was a collage of ancient looking pictures. But the thing that caught my eye was the larger mad in the middle of all the black and white pictures. It had red dots all over it, and looked to be at least a hundred year old. The dots ranged everywhere from Asia, to North America, to South Africa, to Australia.
“That was my nonna’s map of everywhere she’s been.” Giulia told me. I raised my eyebrows questioningly as to why she traveled so much.
“Would you like to hear the story?” I could see excitement in her eyes, so I nodded.
All of a sudden the guys groaned. “Not again!” Jarrod said. Giulia rolled her eyes and slapped his arm.
“Well, have you ever heard of the soul mate ritual?” I shook my head and she continued.
“Well there’s a saying from long ago that every being has a soul mate. A mate that God or….someone of higher power; has made a mate especially for you. Someone to be your best friend, your shoulder to cry on, your lover, anything you need them to be, and they’re your other half. It’s like your life really isn’t complete until you meet them.” She paused so I nodded for her to continue, interested.
“Well our family the Costa’s strongly believe in that, and everyone from our ancestry has claimed to find their soul mate. My nonna was Isabella and she had a best friend named Stefano. They did everything together…well, everything appropriate for a guy and girl to do together, if it was possible they did it. But one day Isabella realized that she wasn’t happy with her life, she thought something was missing.
“So she told Stefano she was going to look for her soul mate, that she would not rest until she found him. So at sixteen she left home, on her journey. On that map where the red dots is where she’s been, and that faint blue line is what order she went in.
“From Italy to Brazil to Portugal, Russia to Asia to South Africa to South America, anyways you understand. She met all kind of guys. Short, tall, thin, big, muscular, scrawny, Asian, African American, White, Indian, excreta; but none of them were perfect for her. She didn’t feel a strong connection with any of them.”
“After twenty years of searching she finally returned to Italy, heartbroken and empty. She noticed with every passing year she felt more and more alone, no matter how many men she met. Until one day she met up with Stefano again. He was a successful business man, and just got out of a bad divorce. They were there for each other like before, as if Isabella never left.”
“In his arms she felt safe and protected like never before, even though she dated men much bigger and more capable than Stefano. When he comforted her, she felt as if he could make her forget what she needed comforting for. When they snuggled and watched a movie she felt at home. That’s when she realized what she missed all along. That Stefano was her soul mate. Every year she grew more and more, lonely because it was another year without Stefano. Eventually she told him how she felt and he’d told her he had always loved her. They were married for 50 years after that until both of them eventually died.” She finished and smiled at me sweetly.
“That’s so cute! But why didn’t she realize that Stefano was her soul mate before?” I asked finally.
She chuckled and shook her head. “Because, bella; sometimes it takes losing something in order to know what you had.”
I gave her a small smile, and this is why I love talking to elderly people. They’ve all been through so much, through different times, seen different things, have different stories to tell. You never know what wisdom they’ll hand down to you.
I nodded in agreement, thinking of my dad. Don’t get me wrong it’s not like I took my dad for granted, I knew…I know how lucky I was to have him. It’s just I never realized how much he meant to me until he died.
“Well now that I’ve heard that cheesy crap for the sixth time; I’m going to go to something manly and useful.” Jarrod said standing up and going to go wash his plate. He walked back over to give his nonna a kiss on the cheek.
“Grazie nonna, ciao.” He turned to look at Caleb, “I guess I’ll see you later?” Caleb nodded and Jarrod turned to me. “Nice to see you again, maybe I’ll see you around.” He smiled before turning and walking out of the front door.
Giulia yawned and stretched out. “Well kids, it’s time for nonna to have her cat nap. I would love to stay up and talk to you, but my old self needs more sleep time then you little balls of energy.” She smiled and I could see that she was truly tired. “Make yourselves at home.” She turned on Caleb. “Wake me up before you go, per favore.” He nodded and she patted his head, walking in the same direction Jarrod went, but turning left onto the stairs.
“Well I sure know how to clear a room…” I mutterd. Caleb chuckled picking up the rest of the dishes and bringing them to the sink. He looked like he was debating on whether to wash them or not.
“I wash, you dry?” I asked, it look like he was about to decline, so I pushed him aside and started working.
“If nonna finds out I let you do this, she’ll beat me with the wooden spoon.” He whispered to me as I handed him the first washed plate.
I laughed and shook my head. “You didn’t let me do it, but I did it anyways.” I winked at him and he smiled.
Oh lord, did I seriously just wink at Caleb…I’m telling you, this boy is making me crazy.
We were quiet as we finished up the dishes, silent the whole time. It was nice though, a thoughtful silence not an awkward ‘I have nothing to say’ silence. Honestly, I was thinking about the soul mate story that Giulia told me. I thought it was so cute, but I didn’t know if I actually believed it. The whole Isabella and Stefano thing, I believed. It was just the soul mate routine in general I wasn’t sure of, and it was making me nervous for some reason. What if it was true and I never found my soul mate? What if I started believing it so much that I dropped everything and traveled the world like Isabella? OR even worse…what if I had already found my soul mate, and he was right in front of me the whole time?
I laughed at myself mentally as I finished the last plate and handed it to Caleb. I watched him dry it and put it away. “What’s so funny?” He asked, shutting the cupboard and turning back to me.
“Oh nothing, just thinking.” I avoided his eyes and noticed it was already 1:30, wow I wish my days flew by that fast when we were actually at school.
“Mhmm,” he muttered doubtfully. “Hey do you mind if we stick around for a bit, I’m kind of tired. Unless you want me to take you home now?”
I shook my head immediately; I wanted to spend as much time with Caleb as possible.
He shrugged and walked to the living room sitting on the left side of the couch, I sat on the right and the middle was left bare, there was a good three feet in between us. We watched TV for a bit, it was some cop show. I was actually getting interested. It was no Criminal Minds, but still really good. They were at the part when they broke into the killer’s basement it was dark and someone was screaming. I sat there anxious as they opened the basement door, and that’s when Caleb put his head on my legs. I tensed up and covered my mouth to stop from screaming. Caleb looked up at me and busted out laughing. He was rolling around, losing his breath as he laughed uncontrollably. Usually, I would have been mad, but his laughter was so cute I let it slide.
When he finished laughing though, I slapped his left bicep and then clenched my hand into a fist, pursing my lips. Ahh, I should have known they’d be that hard, I mean they look that hard…why would I think me slapping his arm would hurt him more than me.
He started laughing again and I sat there watching the show why he controlled himself. Apparently the killer wasn’t in there. It was just two girls that had been ‘tortured’ screaming out for help, and in the far back room (the freezer) they found seven dead bodies.
I noticed Caleb was quiet now, so I looked down to see him sleeping peacefully. My heart clenched, I mean we all knew he was god damn sexy, but seeing him like this made me realize he was so much more. Though he was big and ‘bad ass’ and hot, he looked vulnerable and kind and caring like this. And the truth is; he is all of those things. Big, bad ass, hot and vulnerable, kind and caring; seeing him with his nonna really made me realize that.
I couldn’t help myself from running my hand through his hair; it was as soft as it looked. I kept running my hand through the stylish mess of dark brown hair. I smiled to myself, but then realized how creepy it would be if he woke up… So I stopped and just stared at him. Okay, so that was just as creepy, give me some credit, at least I wasn’t taking off his shirt and running my hands repeatedly over his chest like I desperately wanted to.
But I decided to play it safe. I sat on my left hand and adjusted so my elbow was on the arm rest, and my head was resting on my hand. I tried not to move too much, but Caleb stirred and turned onto his right side, holding on to my legs for dear life.
I noticed he was so tall, his legs were slung off the side of the couch and it didn’t look too comfortable. I considered moving for him, but I didn’t want to wake him. And plus, even if I wasn’t here the couch was much too small for him.
I just listened to his deep breathing, it was turning into a quiet snore now and I knew he was getting lost into a deeper sleep. I felt his hot breath thorough my jeans, and the sensation was simply wonderful and relaxing. I noticed my breathing getting deeper and more even as I listened to him. My eyes were close now and I was nodding off; before I knew it I was dragged into a deep sleep aswell.