When I wake up, it's dark out. How long was I asleep for? I know I fell asleep around 1:00... I get up and walk out to the hallway. I see Mum and she runs down the hallway to me. "Mum?" I say groggily.
"Ebby! You've been sleeping all afternoon, it's 9:00 at night now!"
"I was tired," I say.
"Clearly! Baby come downstairs, I'll fix you some sushi, that's what we had for dinner."
"Okay, sounds good. Let me just change into some jammies."
"Alright, I'll be in the kitchen." I go to my room and put on a pair of mint and purple pajama shorts, and a "Camp London" tee-shirt that's way to big for me. I eat a few philadelphia rolls, and chat with Mum about the party, and she okays me going to Caleb's game. Then I climb back up to bed and watch some more Bratayley videos. There's a really funny one from around a year ago called, "Caleb's Back Right In Time For AUSTRALIA!" Where he acts the slightest bit crazy, but I think he's probably tired. And anyway, he's still adorable while doing it. Then I watch a few from when he was really little, and those are even cuter. I wonder what it would have been like if I had already watched Bratayley, I think it would have been really awkward. Caleb seems like the kind of guy that girls from all over are crushing on, but it seems like he doesn't really care for any of them... Well duh, he cares for me. But I mean, I don't think he'd ever go out with any of them. I think it's good I didn't know Bratayley, it allowed Caleb and I to get to know each other for each other, fame didn't matter. I close my laptop and check my phone, there are a few texts from Caleb saying "hello" and "what's up" and I see one that says "did you see my post?" I go to Instagram and see I was tagged in a photo on Caleb's account. It's of Caleb and I hugging during the whole blue icing thing. I'm pretty sure it's one of the one's Hayley took. I screenshot it. I scroll down to see what he said. "My #wcw is Ebony Rose, isn't she cute? The color blue really suits her..." I giggle and scroll down to the comments, people are going crazy. I read a few of them, most of them are flipping out in happiness that Caleb has a girlfriend, but a few others are basically plotting our breakup out of jealousy. I try not to take those to heart, but one really stings. It says, "go back to England, worthless slut." I bite my lip, but then try to convince myself I'll be fine, she's nowhere near me. Then I hit the account of the girl who said it. It's @fionaa.lesley, she seems like any other girl my age, going through puberty and single. I block her account anyway, just in case. Then I go to my account. I now have 2,271 followers. That's more than anyone in my old school. I wonder what they think of me now. I know Zoey must watch Bratayley, because of that Snapchat she sent me. I smile to myself. Then I go to the photos people have tagged me in. Caleb's not the only one who posted a picture of me. Thirty two people have either reposted the picture of Caleb and I, saying something along the lines of congratulations you got a girlfriend, or little Caleb's growing up. But a few accounts, mainly Bratayley fan pages, made beautiful edits of Caleb and I. I like a few and comment ,"wow that's pretty" on a few, and follow the accounts that have my favorite edits. They instantly comment back "OMG EBONY THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR COMMENTING ON MY PHOTO I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT OMGGGGGG!!!!!" I'm taken aback by these comments, I'm surprised these people actually care about my opinion so much. I go to their account and look at some other posts. I notice in two of the people's bios they added "Ebony liked, commented and followed!" I find that so odd. Soon I'm tired again so I text Caleb goodnight and fall asleep.
I wake up to birds chirping. It's 10:00. I go downstairs, thinking about how exciting Caleb's game will be tommorow, and I see a note from Mum saying Dad's gone to work and her and Joey are going out for breakfast and they'll be home around 11:00. I get some Cheerios and FaceTime Caleb. He's getting ready for baseball practice he'll have all day to prep for the game tommorow. We talk for around ten minutes and then he needs to change, so he passes the phone to Annie and Hayley. I chat with them and the Caleb joins in. Soon he needs to go so we say goodbye and I finish my breakfast and go upstairs. I read a few chapters of Girl Online, and then put my hair in a milkmaid braid. The rest of the day consists of me watching Glee, Tyler, Zoe, Colleen, Bratayley, and reading. At one point I go outside and take some really pretty nature shots, and then I go for an hour long run. I come home around 6:00, dripping sweat. It felt so good to run, and I know my way around the neighborhood now. The LeBlancs and my family seem like the only people who have kids. I take a long shower and eat dinner with my family, and watch a family movie, then go up to my room and FaceTime Caleb at 9:00. He picks up immediately, it looks like he just got home from baseball, his hair is stuck to his forehead with sweat. (But somehow he finds a way to make it look cute...)
"Heyyy Eb!" He says, trying to fix his hair.
"Hey! How was your day?"
"Great... But tiring."
"I'll bet!"
"How was yours?"
"Well, pretty boring considering my three friends in the whole country were busy."
"Awe, I'm sorry Eb! Hey, let me make it up to you. Wanna meet in my yard at 10:00, after everyone's asleep? We can hang out by the water for a little while, it'll be nice."
"That sounds lovely."
"Brill!" I laugh at his use of British slang. "Listen Eb, I gotta go take a shower, but I'll see you at 10:00."
"Right, see you at 10:00." And I hang up. For the remaining 45 minutes, I put my hair in a dutch braid and watch the Bratayley video of the day. It's of Caleb's baseball practice and Katie and the girls shopping for school. They're so funny. I'm lucky to have them as my friends. Soon it's 9:55 and I sneak out of the house silently. Caleb's sitting on one of the lawn chairs, holding a can and sipping from it.
"Hey Eb!" He says.
"Hey!" I sit down at the end of the long lawn chair with him. "Whatcha got there?" I ask, pointing to the can.
"Cream soda," he says.
"Cream soda? What? Is it a drink?"
"Yeah, it's soda. You know, carbonated and stuff?"
"Oh! In England we call it a fizzy drink."
"Fizzy drink?"
"Mhmm, so... Does your soda taste like cream?"
"Um, I dunno, you can try it." He says, handing it to me. Even though it's dark out, I can hear he's smiling. I take a swig and need to do everything I can not to spit it out. It's so gross! I hand the drink back to Caleb, my hand firmly over my mouth, trying to swallow. When I finally do I take a deep breath, trying to get some air.
"That is so icky!" Caleb laughs so hard he needs to put the drink down and doubles over. "What? Why are you laughing so hard?"
"Nothing, Eb, you're perfect. Then he leans back in the chair and I put my head on his chest and listen to his heart beat. He strokes my hair and we look up in the stars.
"Did you ever go to school, like not homeschooling?"
"Yeah..."
"What was it like? I mean, why did you start homeschooling?"
"Well, there were a couple reasons. The first was Bratayley, and the second was I didn't really have many friends. I wasn't having the best time in 6th grade, and Mom was already thinking about homeschooling because of Bratayley, and then when I suggested the idea she took it immediately and I began. I really loved it. Then Hayley did it, and eventually Annie joined us. It works really well for our family."
"What school was the one that you left?" He's silent. Something tells me it was Carter.
"Eb, you'll do fine."
"You really think so?"
"I know so." Tears begin to burn in my eyes and I try to wipe them away. Caleb pulls me into a sitting position, and we sit beside each other on the chair. Now that my eyes have adjusted to the darkness, I can see him. He takes his thumb and gently wipes away a tear running down my face. "It's okay, you can cry."
"No," I wipe away the rest of my tears and take a deep breath. "I'm going to stop." Caleb smiles.
"Good, I love it when your happy. It makes me happy."
"God Caleb, you're so great. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Eb, I have no idea what I'd do if I didn't have you."
"I lo- I mean, I-" I stammer. It just slipped out.
"I love you, Ebony." He says, and pulls me into him.
"I love you, Caleb." And I close my eyes and lean in. Our lips touch and then we kiss. This one lasts for longer than the first, and tastes like cream soda. We both pull away at the same time."
"I love you so much." He says, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. We lean back and continue to star gaze. "Are the stars in America... Different from the stars in England?"
I think for a second. "Yeah, the American stars are brighter, and bigger. They're happy and bold." Then we keep stargazing.
"Should we go back to our houses?" I ask about twenty minutes later. It's 11:45. I don't get a response from Caleb. I turn around to see his face, he's fallen asleep. He looks so adorable when he's sleeping, and I've had more interactions where he falls asleep and I end up staring at him then you'd think. I lightly kiss him awake. "Caleb," I whisper, "time to go home."
"Wha? Oh, sorry Eb, baseball practice was really intense today and..." He yawns.
"I get it." I say, and kiss him on the cheek, then stand up. He stands up next to me and gives me a hug.
"Good night, Ebony."
"Goodnight, Caleb. I love you."
"I love you." He says back, and I head up to the house. I successfully sneak up to my room and fall asleep.