{{Dedicated to @ruleone because she is a brilliant writer and I am honored that she even thought to check this story out}}
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Willa called Rhea that evening to pester her for details. It was a miracle she'd waited as long as she did, though there was no knowing what kind of hangover she was nursing, so there was that. Rhea was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling as she talked to her, like she always did.
"You and Floyd left the party in a hurry last night. Anything you want to tell me?" Rhea could hear the smirk in her friend's voice.
"Yeah, we had sex in his car in a dark alleyway," she drawled out. Willa barked out a laugh at that.
"Nice one," she said after sucking in a deep breath. "For real, though. Where did you guys disappear to?"
"He just gave me a ride," Rhea answered.
"That's all?" Willa asked. "Didn't you guys kiss or anything?"
"Not last night we didn't," Rhea said.
Willa let out a disappointed "Oh" at that, but then Rhea's words registered completely. "Wait, what do you mean not last night?"
"Well, today is a different story," Rhea said, taking pleasure from teasing her friend.
"Elaborate," Willa demanded curtly.
"He came over this afternoon and asked me out."
"Rhea Anabelle Myers," Willa half-shouted, making Rhea wince and move the phone away from her ear. "I can't believe you waited so long to tell me."
"Sorry," Rhea said, grinning sheepishly.
"So, when are you guys going out?"
"We— we already did?" Rhea said, afraid of facing her friend's wrath.
"WHAT?" Willa full-on shouted this time. "Tell me everything."
And tell her everything, she did. She'd never been one of those tight-lipped, secretive people. When something happened to her, no matter how insignificant, she always got the urge to tell someone. That someone usually being her best friend.
When she told her about how she kissed Floyd in the middle of a street, Willa let out a high pitched "Whoop", celebrating Rhea's confidence.
Then, she told her about how he drove her back home and kissed her once again on the porch. It was just a brief summary of the whole thing, though. She glossed over how she felt like her stomach was doing somersaults, and how Floyd wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her close. She didn't have to tell her what a good kisser she thought Floyd was, because the dreamy sigh she let out when she was done talking gave it away.
She couldn't believe how easily everything was working out for her with this whole soulmate thing, it felt as if it was too good to be true.
***
On Monday at school, Rhea saw Floyd even before the classes started. He was leaning against her locker when she reached it, apparently waiting for her, because she knew for a fact his locker was nowhere near hers.
He gave her a peck on the cheek in greeting, and in that instant she decided she liked him even more for respecting her boundaries. She might have kissed him in the middle of a street, but as a matter of fact, she wasn't big on PDA. Besides, they had only been on one date, so it would have been pretty premature to be making out on the school halls at eight in the morning.
They conversed silently until Willa approached them with a sly grin on her face.
"Well, hello there lovebirds," she said, making her best friend groan and glare daggers at her. Floyd, however, merely chuckled at the words and answered with his own "Hello".
She knew for a fact that Willa would tease her about Floyd any chance she'd get, simply because she'd been waiting for forever for Rhea to get with a boy. And probably also because she'd teased her about Wade for a good month before she took pity on them and left them be.
Speaking of Wade, he appeared behind Willa a minute later and wrapped his arms around her middle, planting a kiss on her cheek as he did so. He then gave Rhea a smile and Floyd a nod. No matter how little the gesture, it still made her want to happy-dance to see that they were both accepting Floyd in their own ways.
The next time they were all together again was lunch, where Floyd had now become a regular member of their table for four, and for the first time in a long while Rhea didn't feel like a third wheel. In fact, she was lost in the magic that was a "double date", even though, practically this wasn't a date at all; they were merely eating crappy lunch in the school's crappy cafeteria. Still, she now knew why all the best friends fantasized about getting boyfriends at the same time so they could go on double dates. Which, might she add was a mythical occurrence that came to be once in a blue moon, if not rarer.
***
After lunch, Rhea made her way to Mr. Martin's class, careful not to be late, lest she incur the middle-aged, quarrelsome man's wrath. She settled in the window seat and laid out her stuff on the table, but even when Mr. Martin closed the door and got started with the day's lecture, there was no sign of Caleb.
She thought about risking getting caught to send him a quick text. After all, they'd be doing an experiment of sorts today in class, and Caleb not being there would mean she'd be stuck with the entire work load. Which then would mean she'd wipe the floor with his ass the next time she saw him.
A quick glance at the watch she wore on her left wrist revealed that as of now, Caleb was five minutes late. She finally decided it was worth the risk of being told off by Mr. Martin and reached for her backpack to retrieve her phone. Before she could get it out though, the door opened and in walked Caleb. He looked out of breath, his shirt was wrinkled and his hair was a mess. Seriously, it looked like he'd just rolled out of bed and fallen right in front of the classroom's door.
He apologized to Mr. Martin, who — surprisingly— let him off the hook with an irritated "Don't let it happen again".
He quickly scurried towards the work surface he shared with Rhea and let his stuff down, taking deep breaths to try and even his breathing.
"Where were you?" Rhea asked in a whispered tone. "I was starting to get worried that you might not show up."
"Missing me already?" he whispered back teasingly. When it earned him an unimpressed look from Rhea, he answered seriously, "I was napping in my car and slept through my alarm."
"Night shift?" she asked with understanding in her voice.
"Night shift," he confirmed.
Then, they turned their attention to Mr. Martin, who was busy explaining to them the experiment they'd be carrying out that day. Which, apparently, came with an assignment that would require them to work with their partners after school.
Oh, joy.
Not that she had a thing against spending time with Caleb, but spending an afternoon doing a chemistry assignment? Well, she could think of better things to do.
Like licking a llama's feet or listening to Justin Bieber's entire discography in one sitting.
The experiment they were assigned with was simple enough; they'd be doing a titration experiment using sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid. Afterwards, they'd have to write down the equations, draw the titration curve, complete a lab report and turn it in as their first assignment of the semester, which was what would steal an afternoon from them.
When Mr. Martin was finished with explaining to them the basics of the experiment, they got to work. Rhea moved towards the front to grab the supplies they be using. She also took two goggles from the desk, because, well, safety first. When she got back to the work surface she shared with Caleb, she set the chemicals and the burets down and threw one of the goggles at him.
Which caught him off guard, and ended up hitting him right in the face.
Caleb's eyes widened for a second and his expression was so comical that Rhea burst into laughter.
"Physically abusing me and enjoying it," she heard Caleb mutter under his breath. "Why do I always end up stuck with the weird ones?"
"I am sorry—" Rhea said between shallow intakes of breath, trying to control her laughter. "Your face— it was just—"
"Handsome?" he supplied smugly, "Dazzling?"
"No," she said, giving him a pointed look. "You looked like a rabbit caught in headlights."
"A very handsome rabbit, I bet," he quipped, though he looked a little deflated at being called a rabbit, of all things.
She snorted at his words, then cleared her throat. "C'mon, these chemicals won't mix themselves."
They got to work quietly, mixing the chemicals carefully and jutting down notes about the data they got out of it.
Twenty five minutes later, they were done with it all, and they were the first pair to finish. They worked pretty well together, like a well-oiled machine. She started cleaning up the work surface, and surprisingly Caleb helped her with it. She didn't know a lot of guys who'd think to help out in such a situation; most of them chose to sit back unless they were specifically asked to get off their butts and help out. He carried the bottles of chemicals back to the cupboard that they were stored while she rinsed out the burets before returning them to their own cupboard.
There was still ten minutes until the bell, so she thought they could make plans to finish the assignment.
"So, when are you free?" Rhea asked, turning towards him in her seat.
"Finally summoned up the courage to ask me out?" he asked teasingly. "Sorry, sweetcheeks, but I am taken."
"No," she said laughingly. "Geez, get over yourself already. I am asking for the assignment." When this just earned her a grin from him, she continued. "Besides, I have someone, too. Sort of."
"Yeah?" he said, looking at her with surprise. When she gave him an affirming nod, he held up his palm and said, "Well, up top!"
For a long second, she just stared at his hand in disbelief, but then she sighed exasperatedly and high fived him. He gave her a genuine grin, making her shake her head in amusement.
"I can't believe you gave me a high five for getting a boyfriend."
***
A/N: This chapter was a massive pain in the ass to write and idek if it turned out okay, so talk to me.
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-Safiye.