IT TOOK CALEB half an hour to figure out what to wear. He'd changed his shirt about ten times and in the end, he decided on a shirt that he stole from Timothy's closet. He didn't understand why he was so nervous about this but for some reason, this little get together felt remarkably like a date. And that was not the case. Not at all. He'd told himself over and over that it was not a date and despite this, he still went ahead to use deodorant about five times and was checking his hair despite the fact that there were really only so many ways that his closely buzzed hair could look.
From the mirror, Caleb could see Timothy walk into the room and drop down onto the bed. He stared at Caleb with a raised eyebrow and a suggestive look. "So, you getting ready for your date?" he asked.
"It's not a date."
"Sure." Timothy propped his head onto his hands and crinkled his brow as he gave Caleb's choice of clothing a once over. He shrugged at him as if to say 'not bad' and Caleb felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulder. Despite the facet that he pretended he didn't care one bit what his brother thought, Timothy was much more fashionable than he was and if he thought it was alright then it probably was. "Is that my shirt?"
"Thanks," Caleb replied briefly. Then something registered in his mind. "Wait, how did you even know that I was meeting up with Shuri?"
"Oh, Beth told me," Timothy answered casually.
This was intriguing. Caleb raised a brow at him. "So, you and Beth, huh? Does that mean that you two are together?" he asked carefully, so as not to give too much away.
Timothy scoffed. "Right. She would never date me. She hates me. She says it all the time. I believe her exact words were 'not even if the world was taken over by monkey and humanity's survival depended on us getting together'."
Caleb smiled at the memory of Timothy asking Beth if she'd like to come over and 'hang out'. "That was a bit of an over exaggeration," he replied simply, looking for a belt.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
Timothy narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Then it's definitely something," he replied, urging his brother to continue. Caleb did nothing but shrug and bite his lips hoping that maybe, just maybe, Timothy would drop the subject. No such luck. "What? Does she talk about me?"
"I can't say," Caleb answered, wishing he could go back in time and close his big mouth.
"Why not?"
"Because she's my best friend and she told me those things in confidence."
Timothy grinned at him. "So she does talk about me?" he asked and Caleb resisted the urge to curse. He turned away from him and shrugged. "Come on, man. This is important. I like Beth."
Caleb was not impressed. "You like a lot of people, Timothy. Like Kate, Lola, Harry, Emily, Ryan. Do you want me to continue? It's a long list."
"Okay, I do like a lot of people but not like this, Caleb. I genuinely care about her and I want her to be happy. The only reason that I haven't done anything about it is because I thought there was no chance that she felt the same way. I need you to help me out here, Caleb. Please."
Timothy stared at him with pleading eyes and Caleb started at him in the mirror, weighing his choices. There was the possibility that Beth would hate him forever and hurt him even he told Timothy how she felt about him but if he did, they could get together and they'd both be happy and in the grand scheme of things, didn't her happiness outweigh everything else?
"Fine," Caleb said in defeat. Beth was definitely going to punch him in the nuts for this. He turned around and pointed his finger accusingly at his brother. "But you can't be stupid, alright? She could possibly, sort of, maybe really like you but she thinks that you're an idiot and you can't commit to a relationship."
"What? When have you ever known me to not commit?" he asked, feigning ignorance. Caleb stared at him pointedly, not even bothering to answer his question. "Fine, but this is still awesome. I can't believe she likes me, I thought she hated me."
"You mess her up and I mess you up," Caleb threatened. It wasn't as effective as it should have been because despite the fact he was nine months older than Timothy, Caleb was significantly smaller than Timothy and kind of wimpy.
"Not a chance," Timothy assured him with a wink. Caleb rolled his eyes at him and searched in his pockets for his phone, happy to let the uncomfortable subject drop. Timothy peered up at him as he'd just remembered something. "Oh, yeah. You should definitely take some condoms. You might need them."
Caleb was well aware that his brother was just pulling his leg and trying to get a reaction out of him. Not only were Caleb and Shuri too young to be doing what Timothy was implying that they would be doing but they weren't even together. It was a joke, really but that didn't stop the heat from rushing into his cheeks and making him duck his head. "Get out," he said shortly.
Timothy laughed and crossed the room. He turned to leave before glancing back at him. "Don't say I didn't warn you. But hey, if you knock her up, would the child technically be a royal?"
"The door," Caleb ordered, his face flushed. Timothy snorted before exiting the room, the sound of his laughter haunting the hallways. Caleb rolled his eyes and stared at his reflection. Despite the fact that he was being an asshole, his words haunted Caleb's thoughts. Not the baby quip but the assumption that it could be something more. What if it was a date and he gave her the wrong impression? What if he made her think that he didn't like her? He did, he really, really did. What if he wasn't good enough? He wasn't rich or even anywhere in the same class as the princess. What if he want good enough? Shuri deserved the best, that much he knew but what if he wasn't that?
Caleb pushed those thoughts out of his mind. This was not a date and Shuri didn't feel that way about him. She was only helping him out because they were friends and that was what friends did. Friends, yeah, that was good enough for him. It had to. Caleb threw on a hoodie and put his phone into his pocket. He walked out of the door and heard voices coming from down the hall. He neared the living room and heard somebody reply to Tim. It was a female voice, a familiar voice.
Suddenly, he was rushing into the living room and he found Tim leaning against the wall and Shuri, seated on the couch. Tim was speaking to her but it was hard to hear what he was saying over the sound of Shuri's laughter. It was real laughter. Doubling over, snorting, knee slapping, giggling laughter. He put his hand into his pockets and walk into the living room. "Hey," he greeted.
Shuri turned to him, a grin on her face. "Hey loser," she greeted. She looked good, really good and Caleb couldn't help but stop to take her in. She was dressed pretty nicely but Caleb couldn't focus on her clothes. Instead, his eyes took in her face and just how pretty she looked, sitting there in his living room, having a conversation with his brother.
"You- um- you look very okay," Caleb said and immediately wanted to slap himself across the face. "No, not okay. Better than okay, really okay. You, um, look nice. You look nice."
Caleb pretended not to notice Timothy doubling over in laughter behind Shuri. She smiled at him. "Thanks. You look very okay, as well."
Caleb grinned at her. "So, um, what are we talking about?" he asked and he was baffled once again at how much more eloquent he sounded over text.
Timothy crossed his arms and grinned at him. "Oh, just about the time that you peed yourself in front of the entire school and then proceeded to throw up in the teachers bag." Shuri snorted once again and Caleb sent her an accusing glance.
"Stop laughing. I was eight and it was a very long speech. I was nervous alright?"
Timothy laughed aloud. "Would you like me to tell Shuri what happened with Lisa? It's actually quite an interesting story."
"No!" Caleb cried out. He was beside Shuri in seconds. He took her arm in his hand and steered her away from his brother and towards the door. "She doesn't need to hear that story. We're gonna leave now." They walked out the door, Shuri waving goodbye at Timothy.
"Be responsible or you'll end up with responsibility," Timothy yelled just as the door slammed shut.
Caleb felt the heat rushing to his cheeks and he let go of Shuri's arm. "Sorry about that. My brother's annoying."
Shuri shrugged at him, a grin on her face. "He seemed nice." They walked away from his house. "So what happened with Lisa?"
Caleb shook his head at her and rolled his eyes. "I was kind of hoping that you'd forget about that. Lisa was my first girlfriend. Actually, I'm not even sure that you can call her that. We went on one date and it ended with a kiss. Which would have been great except for the act that I sort of threw up all over her shoes right after that."
"That must have been so attractive," Shuri managed to get out between her laughter. Caleb wanted to feel offended that she was laughing at his misfortune but he couldn't get over how adorable she was when she snorted in between her laughter.
"Yeah, it was so attractive that I never saw her again." This got a light out of Shuri and Caleb couldn't help but laugh as well. It took a while but eventually Shuri regained her composure and straightened up. She glanced at Caleb as they walked down the street. "So, how was your day?"
"It was good," Shuri replied. "I had to convince Baba that I wasn't doing anything illegal down here. He's been pretty worried about me coming down her to see some boy but I sort of convinced him that I'm trying to figure a new way to use Vibranuim."
"And he bought that?"
"Not at all. That's why he sent Okoye down here with me." She turned around and pointed at a figure a few feet behind them. The woman stood at a respectful distance, far enough away that she wasn't in the way but close enough that she could see and hear what was going on. He hadn't noticed her before but now that he did, he couldn't ignore her. The woman's head was completely shaved and she wore a fierce look on her face as if she was trying to figure out the quickest way to kill him.
"Wow."
"Terrifying, I know but Okoye is actually the best. She could kill you in three simple moves but she's the best." The look on Caleb's face must have conveyed the fear that she felt because Shuri laughed and shoved him lightly. "Relax. I already convinced her not to give you the whole 'If you hurt her, I kill you' speech but I think it's pretty obvious that she would."
Caleb nodded, allowing himself to remember that. "It's a good thing that I don't plan on hurting you then."
Shuri smiled at him. "Good." A cool breeze swept in their direction and Shuri shivered in her short sleeved shirt. Caleb shrugged off his sweater and handed it to her, which resulting in a playful eye roll from Shuri. "You are such a cliche, Caleb."
"It's supposed to be charming."
She held her thumb and index finger together. "A little." Still, she took the sweater from him, with a small thank you as she tried to hold back a smile. She draped it over her shoulders and Caleb couldn't get over how cute she looked in his sweater. He was about five inches taller than she was and remarkably bigger so it hung weirdly on her. Its sleeves completely burying her hands and the bottom ended mid thigh. Still, she looked good in it. Much better than he did.
Shuri glanced at him with a strange look on her face and Caleb realized that perhaps, he'd stared a little too long. He glanced away. "So," Shuri started, filling the silence. "Where are we going anyways?"
Caleb pointed down the road at a large brown building. "The library right there. Hardly anyone uses it so we should be able to talk there."
"Great because I have some new information about our little project that you will not believe."
"Awesome. We should go." He skipped his hand into hers tentatively and Shuri leaned a little closer to him. He held her hand more confidently and together, the two ran down the street, the day's worries far away from their minds. Boy thinking about the feel of the other's skin against theirs and how easy it would be to get a little closer and press a kiss to the other's lips.
AUTHOR'S NOTE.
That ending was absolute trash and this chapter was a whole lot of nothing but I kind of like it. I'm going to have to go back and edit this once I'm done so I don't look forward to it at all but thank you so much for 5K on this story. I'm so shook and so confused that anyone reads my trash but thank you so much.
This chapter is dedicated to @ToyoziK, whose comments are always so thoughtful and never fail to make me smile.