CHAPTER 38:
CALEB'S POV:
I look from Gianna to Ian, "Getting your f*cking hands off of her."
Ian has never been one to back down, especially from me, "Quit cussing in front of my girlfriend."
Gianna looks uncomfortable, as she should. She puts a hand on Ian's chest, "Let's just go."
Ian looks down at her, "Let's." With that, Ian places his palm against the small of her back and starts leading her away.
Instead of heading towards the exit, they stop in front of a set of black double doors with the words "Staff Only" painted in white on them. Naturally, I follow them there. Gianna slips inside, while Ian leans against the wall to the right of the doors.
As soon as I stop, I feel someone bump into me from behind. I glance back and see Hailey, with a shit-eating grin on her face. So smug. Such a cruel bitch. Before dealing with Ian, I have to know, "Hailey, did you know this would happen tonight?"
She just give me a smug smile and nods her head. I turn back to Ian, who gives me smug look of his own. I'm done with Hailey. Friendship over. I hope it was worth it for her.
"Where did she go?" I ask Ian.
"To grab her bag and change her clothes," he says nonchalantly.
"And then what?" I ask warily.
He shrugs the shoulder that's not leaning against the wall, "My princess will probably be hungry. I think I'll take her out to eat. Something will still be open this late."
Him calling her 'princess', my nickname for her, makes me see red. His blood spilling on the floor. I wonder if she told him and he's taunting me now with it. "I'll be the one to feed her," I say vehemently. Probably the stupidest conversation that I've ever had. Fighting over who will feed a girl.
Ian just shakes his head with a serious look on his face.
"She can't be your girlfriend! She already has a boyfriend."
Ian lifts one eyebrow arrogantly, "You mean that douche Seth? Well, let's just say that I'm in the processing of convincing her that I'd be a much better boyfriend."
I smile at him with actual joy, "So, she's not your girlfriend?"
"Yet," he says with a grin of his own and once again, I'm seeing red. The thought of Ian of all people touching her . . .
I despise the bastard. Have ever since junior high. I don't remember exactly what started it, but from the beginning, we hated each other. We've crossed paths at one school or another. Never at the same one for long, since we both get expelled often. We've even messed around with some of the same girls. Hailey, for example.
I've never cared about that, the other girls. I DO care about having Gianna in common. Not gonna happen. I stand there, arms crossed, legs apart, bracing myself for the battle to come.
Five minutes later, it arrives. Gianna comes out of the double doors wearing low rise blue jeans, a white tank top that is cut just high enough to show the cute belly button piercing that I lust so much and white Sketchers. I see Ian glance down at her stomach and I want to rips his eyes out of his head.
Gianna total ignores my presence and doesn't even look my way. She offers Ian a bright smiles, "Ready?"
"Sure, princess," as Ian says the last word, he look straight at me.
"Gianna!" I call out after her as they make their way through the crowd of people. Either she pretends not to hear me or she can't over the pounding music. The club is about to close, but spirits are still high as the DJ plays one of the last songs of the night.
I follow them out the exit and can sense Hailey still on my heels, breathing down my neck. I guess she plans to enjoy the show.
As soon as we are out on the street, I yell, "Gianna!"
She finally acknowledges me, spinning around, "What the fuck do you want, Caleb?!"
I stalk over to where she's standing next to an annoyed looking Ian, "What the hell are you doing with your life?"
She gives me a sarcastic look, "Why, don't you approve? Do you want to help me become happy again? Should I start writing the list now?"
"Gianna--" I begin.
She continues her tirade, "One! Don't ever trust Caleb again. Two! Never have anything to do with Caleb again. Three! Don't ever let Caleb hurt me again. Four! Find some way to forget about what Caleb did and said. Five! Ignore that Caleb is once again screwing anything with a hole."
Ian is wiping a hand over his mouth, trying to hide his laughter. Skank Hailey is laughing loudly.
I never want Gianna to think that I'd touch another girl. She's my girl. I hold up my right hand, forming a hole with my fingers, "See this?"
She looks confused, but nods.
I clarify, "This is the only thing that I've been screwing."
Her mouth drops open, then it shuts, opening once again to spit out the word, "Liar."
Ian laughs, "Lame."
"Why, Caleb?" Gianna asks. "You said yourself that you don't love me, so why the celibacy?"
I'm not about to get into this with an audience. Especially not an audience that consists of my worst enemy, before Julie came along, and my ex-best female friend. "Can we go somewhere alone to talk?" I plead.
Gianna looks unsure, but says, "I don't think that's a good idea Caleb."
"Neither do I," Ian adds.
"No one gives a fuck what you think, asshole," I glare at him.
He just points an index finger towards Gianna, "She does."
I glance back at Gianna, "Ian has been a good friend, Caleb."
"A good friend?" I ask incredulously. "Ian is a conniving bastard!"
Hailey scoffs, "You and Ian only hate each other so much because you are exactly alike. Bad boys with big dicks."
Gianna shoots Hailey a dirty look, "You are such a wh0re, Hailey."
Hailey moves forward as if about to attack Gianna. I think about grabbing her by the hair, but restrain myself and grab her arm instead, "Don't even think about it. Just leave. You got what you came for."
She ignores me, but starts to yell at Gianna, "You think you're so freaking perfect, don't you cheerleader! Too good for people like me and Caleb, but I have news for you, you're just as unhappy as us."
Gianna's has a calm expression on her face, "That's not news to me."
I yank Hailey by the arm and turn her around, "Go," I say menacingly. Hailey knows me and she knows my temper. The fear on her face shows me that she's finally understood that she's pushed me to the limit.
With one last look back at us, and a "F*ck all of you," Hailey leaves.
I hold out my hand, "Come with me, Gianna."
Before Gianna can respond, Ian's dumbass does it for her, "She's not going anywhere with you, Caleb."
Then I see it in his face, something that he was hiding with smugness and arrogance before. Ian really cares about Gianna. He isn't just trying to get into her pants like with other girls. He isn't just trying to piss me off. He wants her for himself. I should have known. One thing that Hailey is right about is the fact that Ian and I are so similar in personalities. I doubt he has a big dick though. It's probably a two-incher.
Now, I'm worried on a level that I wasn't before. If Ian is serious about her, then what we have is in trouble. Ian isn't her stepbrother. Julie doesn't know about Ian's disgraceful past. He can hide from Julie that he is just like me.
I shake my head to clear it, determination setting in. No, I won't let it happen. Gianna was mine first. She loved me first. She still loves me. Somehow, I'll work it all out, manipulate the situation any way I have to.
"Gianna," I say through clenched teeth, "if you don't want me to kick Ian's ass for the hundreth time, then you need to come with me."
Ian laughs, "As I recall, I've kicked your ass just as many times."
Gianna looks worriedly back and forth between us. "I don't want you two fighting over me."
"Then you best come with me," I drop the hand that I was holding out, that she didn't take, and take a couple steps towards her.
Ian holds a hand up, "Back up, Caleb."
Gianna starts backing up from both of us, "I see only one solution." She then starts walking to one of the cabs parked along the front of the club, waiting for the club-goers to disperse. Ian follows her, trying to stop her, I stand there watching, happy enough that she isn't leaving with him.
I'm still standing on the sidewalk, watching her taxi turn the corner, when Ian stalks up to me with an angry look on his face. He gets up in my face, "Leave her alone, Caleb. You had your chance. Now it's mine."
"She's still mine," I say, glaring just as hard as him.
He laughs bitterly, "She told me everything that happened. You couldn't even say 'I love you' back. Believe me, if Gianna ever says those words to me, I'll be saying them back."
"There was more to it than that, Ian, and once I get it all worked out, I'll be saying it back."
Not wanting to waste any more time on him, I leave, much more sober than I was thirty minutes ago.
As I get into my Mustang, I'm wishing that I knew where she was headed. If I did, I'd follow her to have that conversation she's avoiding.
I decide that I'm in no mood to drive all the way out to the suburbs to my dad's condo, so I drive to the parking garage near my mom's apartment and hope that she's not home. I really don't want to have to answer any of her questions.
When I get to the glass doors of the building, I notice that the light above the doors is out. I'll have to tell my mom so that she can let the building manager know. I punch in the code, using the screen light from my cell phone to illuminate the keypad and see what the heck I'm doing.
Then I hear a scuffle in the darkness, along the side of the building, a few feet away. And then, "What do you want to talk about, Caleb?"
I let out a sigh of relief, but am quickly breathing harshly in anger, "What are you doing out here by yourself Gianna? Someone could have attacked you!"
I hear her step closer and make out her form, "I have mace."
I give her an pointed look, in the dark, that she doesn't see, "And if there were two of them?"
"I also have a knee that shoots up quickly."
At my exasperated sound, she is silent.
I reach out and grab her waist, touching her for the first time in what seems like an eternity. "Come inside."
I feel her hesitate for a moment, but she lets me lead her through the doorway. Once we are in the apartment, I leave her in the living room to check my mom's room. The door is open and her bed is empty. She must be out of town or at a friend's house. Thank god.
When I get back to the living room, Gianna is sitting on the couch, looking across the room at my mom's newest painting. As I near her, she glances up warily. I sit down on the middle cushion, right next to her and she gets up to move to the armchair across from me.
"What do you want to talk about?" she repeats.
"Us."
She gives me a you're-a-retard look, "There is no us anymore, Caleb. You made sure of that."
I'm dying to tell her that Julie, her mother, made sure of it. But, it's too soon. I have no plan. Instead, I say, "You look beautiful, Gianna."
She rolls her eyes, "So, I'm told. Still not so sure that it's a blessing."
"You're not just beautiful on the outside, Gianna."
She looks surprised, then she looks like she's fighting tears, "Stop it, Caleb. I don't want to hear those kind of things from you."
"I'm sorry." I apologize. "Let's talk about you, then."
She regains her composure, "What about me?"
"First off, why did you get together with Seth less than a day after we broke up?"
She glances away, now looking at the painting over the couch, "He's safe."
"I see. Are you f*cking him?"
Her eyes meet mine, "No."
"And Ian?"
She has a hard look in her eyes, "Right now, the answer is 'no'."
"Right now?" I ask, picturing a bloody Ian again.
"What the hell do you care, Caleb? Did you mark your territory and now you don't want anyone else trespassing?"
"You belong to me, Gianna."
She laughs, "I notice you don't say, 'you belong WITH me'."
"That too," I reply, wishing that I could say so much more.
"You didn't feel that way a few weeks ago, when you practically ran out of my house."
"I've felt that way since we first met, Gianna."
"Felt what, Caleb? Ownership? Possessiveness? No thanks. I think we've chatted enough for a lifetime. It's time for me to leave."
As she gets up to leave, I get up to pull her down onto my lap. "What are you doing, Caleb? Despite what you think, you don't own me. You don't have the right ot manhandle me!"
"No, I don't think that I own you, but I know that I own your heart."
She stops struggling, and starts crying, "Bastard." I just hold her on my lap, waiting for the tears to stop, wishing that I could say the words that would stop them.
When she quiets down, I ask, "Why did you quit the crew, princess?"
She sniffles, "Because I couldn't stand to face them. They were all right about you."
The emotional pain from her words feels physical. "I'm not that person anymore, Gianna."
"I don't know who you are, Caleb."
I almost say, 'I'm the one who loves you', but I don't. Julie is still in control. She's in control of Gianna and therefore in control of me.
I lean my face down to hers and whisper, "I don't want you to be unhappy. I don't want you to hurt."
She pushes herself off of my lap and onto the couch next to me, "Too late, Caleb."
She starts walking to the apartment door, as she reaches down to grab her bag, I shoot up off of the couch, knowing that what I'm about to do is stupid, but not able to help myself.
I wrap my arms around her waist from behind and bury my face in her neck, "Please stay the night with me, Gianna."
She stiffens and I swear she stops breathing. "I don't think that's a good idea, Caleb."
"I need you, Gianna." I have no idea how long it will be before I can hold her again. "No sex, I promise. Just let me hold you."
She relaxes against me, "Okay." She still sounds reluctant, so very carefully, I guide her towards my bedroom, treating her like a frightened animal. Because I know that she's frightened, frightened that I'll hurt her again.
And I'm going to try my hardest not to.
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Well, how did I do?
Do you think Caleb will keep his hands to himself?
Should Ian get a shot?
Should Hailey rot in hell? And take Julie with her?
COMMENT! VOTE!
Thanks for reading!