Walking into Caleb's modestly built and decorated house, his parents greeted me affectionately and told us when his older sister, Lizzie, would be home. After informing us when dinner would be ready, we were dismissed to Caleb's room.
I wandered in and smiled, "Thought you said you were redecorating?" I asked him, setting my bag down beside his drawers.
He glanced elsewhere sheepishly. "I was."
I laughed, sitting down on his bed before rolling over and studying his film collection. "You still haven't got the last of the Fast and Furious?" I questioned him over my shoulder.
"No," he said, "not yet," I smiled, inwardly recording that someplace for a birthday or something.
Caleb accompanied me on his bed swiftly, leaning back against his pillows. "All I know is that my past life wasn't exactly a film person." He spoke, causing me to stiffen.
In an effort to seem composed and collected, I tossed my hair over my shoulder and smiled, seeing as Caleb followed the minute movement.
"Still don't know if it's a boy or girl?" I asked him, compelling him to chuckle.
Playing with his fingers, he replied, "I think it's a boy, just maybe homosexual."
I nodded, rotating over onto my back, "Makes sense."
I stared up at his ceiling, falling silent as anxiety plummeted into the abyss of my stomach. I hated this. There were people in prison for not dreaming, in mental asylums, dead. It terrified me enormously, and it panicked me even more that I was alone in this. I opened my mouth, I always did, I just never said anything. I simply wanted to tell him, to tell someone.
Except I couldn't. They'd turn on me in terror. I know they would.
"What's wrong?" Caleb inquired abruptly. I sat up, twisting to face him.
"Nothing," I assured him, beaming when he didn't seem convinced. I rose from his bed, "Should we watch one of your many films?" I invited him, attempting to divert him.
He agreed and I plucked one out to watch. Once it was rolling, I rested next to Caleb on the bed, observing as he suddenly seemed uncomfortable.
We didn't get too far into the film before we were summoned for dinner, and I raced Caleb to the dinner table. Having won, I pondered on what my prize should be as Caleb's dad dished out our meal.
"I know," I said, tilting forward to Caleb, who sat opposite me at the table. "You gotta tell me this secret you've been keeping since Year Nine." It was a known fact in our friendship group that Caleb had this golden secret that he had been keeping from everyone for three years; Alex had pestered him in Year Nine Science, and he had revealed a little of the truth. Alex, of course, made it a big deal just to taunt Caleb, thinking she could get it out of him. He still hasn't unveiled it to anyone.
He cast me a dangerous look. "I don't think beating me to the dinner table deserves that big of a prize."
I pouted, "I don't deserve a big prize?" I asked. I was joking, of course, but I saw as Caleb's smile wavered slightly.
When Caleb's parents were finally seated, they sprang up a discussion that lasted until Caleb's dad made a small quip about his wife's past life.
Again, I stiffened.
My knife scraped against the surface of my plate as Caleb's mum reacted, recounting all that she understood about her past life. I could feel Caleb's eyes on me but I ignored him in an effort to appear unsuspicious.
"But, you never know what's real or not real with your past life, do you, really?" She resolved and I nodded, humming.
"Caleb tells me you have problems with your past life, Isobel, is that true?" I glimpsed over at Caleb, suddenly feeling betrayed.
I swallowed, "Uh, yeah, kind of," when she stared at me, I chose to explain myself. "I don't know. The dreams aren't always clear and...I don't know, it's more nightmares than dreams."
"There's always that problem though," Caleb's dad said, "not all past lives were happy."
I nodded, seeing as Caleb's mum cast me a sympathetic smile. Caleb's dad is right but it's not like I possess a past life to fact-check his claim against.
I remained quiet until we were back inside Caleb's room, which was when he quizzed me on what had occurred downstairs.
"Are you okay?" He had asked, "you seemed uneased downstairs."
I smiled, having paused for a while to decide on what to say. "I don't know, dreams are just weird at the moment, that's all," they certainly were—they didn't exist.
"Did you hear about the man who didn't have clear dreams until he was thirty, then he found out that his past life belonged to Marilyn Monroe?" Caleb asked, in no doubt an attempt to cheer me up.
It worked to a degree. I laughed, "I don't think that quite applies to me."
He shrugged, pulling a pillow into his lap. "You never know; you might have been Winston Churchill or something."
I rolled my eyes, accompanying him on his bed. "Distract me from my nightmares," I pleaded, concealing my face with my hands.
"We could play TopTrumps," Caleb proposed quickly, and I uncovered my face to nod at him. He chuckled, pulling the cards out from his bedside drawer.
We played a couple of games of TopTrumps—I won the first and then proceeded to lose the rest.
I yawned, resting my head on Caleb's shoulder, "Agility, eight." It took a while for Caleb to answer, and I nearly looked up at him to check if he was conscious.
"Seven," he replied finally, handing me his card. I cheered, collecting his card from his hand and fixing it at the end of my deck.
When the game concluded and I had finally won, I abandoned my cards on the bed and yawned again.
I frowned, noticing something odd about the cards. "Hey, I thought you gave me a card with a seven agility on it?" I examined, checking them through again.
He began gathering them from my hands and agreed wordlessly.
"So where is it?" I inquired as he took the last from my left hand. He shrugged, a small smile on his face.
"Caleb," I groaned, "you weren't supposed to cheat the game,"
"I didn't," he defended.
I deadpanned him, "Did you or did you not give me a card that I wasn't supposed to have." He scratched the back of his neck, making me roll my eyes.
I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by the opening of Caleb's door. It was Lizzie who stepped in, and she smiled when she saw us.
As I gawked at her, I was reminded of how pretty she was; was it imperative that all of Caleb's family be good-looking? Dirty blonde locks framed her face and green eyes sat beneath her immaculately curled lashes.
"I got the pills for you, Izzy." I beamed at her, getting off the bed to follow her out the door and into her room.
As she rummaged through her bag, she said, "So you're staying the night?" She asked.
I nodded, "On the blow-up bed, obviously," I added hastily.
She frowned, handing me my pills. "Didn't Caleb tell you?" I stared at her, waiting for her to finish. "That broke last week; you'll have to share with him tonight." She giggled at my facial expression.
"I'm sure it'll be fine," she said, taking her hair down and brushing through it. Not knowing what to say, I simply thanked her for the pills before leaving her room and closing the door.
I walked back to Caleb's room slowly and opened his door at the same pace. Caleb was holding towels, poised to speak but paused when he noticed my expression.
"What?" He urged, "what's wrong?"
I shut the door behind me. "The blow-up bed is broken?" I challenged him. He whitened suddenly.
"Uh, yeah,"
"Caleb," I complained, "if I didn't know any better," I said, passing my arms over my chest, "I'd say this sounds like a Noah thing."
He pulled a face, "Noah? What?" Discarding the towels onto his bed, he simply said, "I don't know—I didn't know how to tell you, that's all. There were no ulterior motives, Iz."
I regarded him for a few seconds before sighing. Caleb is usually a really respectful guy and now is no different.
I nodded, "Okay," I finally replied, "it's fine."
Sleeping in the same bed as my best friend. That's totally fine. It's fine. Aside from the fact that he gets an up-close view of me not dreaming, of course. It's fine.
_________________________________
iTs FiNe
Okay bby u keep trying to convince yourself x
Caleb and Izzy in a bed together ya ? ;)
Do we ship ?
Calizzy ?
Calzy
Caley
Isoleb
Isobeb (haha)
Beleb (defo)
what should we call them x
-call me maybe
FABULOUS SONGS
Songs that played when I was writing this chapter (in order):
Human - Aquilo
Dancing On My Own - Calum Scott
Forest Fires - Lauren Aquilina
All To You - Sabrina Claudio
Hothouse - 78violet
Escape - Megan Nicole
Still Your Girl - Fleurie
Salt Skin - Ellie Goulding
Call The Shots - Girls Aloud
Adore - Cashmere Cat
END OF FABULOUS SONGS
Date written:
28/12/18
29/12/18
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Next update: Sunyayy
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CHAPTER FIVE SPOILER:
A shocking revelation that puts Isobel's life in danger.