fiction awards are open! so if you want to, nominate this story under the romance category with my username.
vague mature content before the break of the chapter. just a little warning again.
Chapter Thirty: "Harder, Faster, Deeper."
I HAD WOKEN UP first, staring at Caleb for quite some time. He laid sideways on the bed, long limbs outward in a starfish position. The assumption that he had grown hot during the night came into play by the way the duvet was shoved, curling and covering up the bottom half of his body.
He radiated heat. I could feel it from him and the one leg that had managed to stay pressed against me, making me warm. On the other hand, my arm that had managed to find its way out from the comforter was cold. I tucked it under my head to regain warmth, eyes on the man beside me as the long exhales sounded from his mouth. He was in deep sleep, his chest rising and falling at a steady tempo despite the sun streaming directly onto his face.
Should honestly be illegal to look that good while sleeping, I thought.
I sat up and got out of the bed quietly, trying not to disturb him as he moved, a small sigh escaping his lips. Raising my arms up, I linked my hands together and shook slightly at the toe-curling stretch that overcame my body. At the motion it was then I noticed how sore I was by the activities of last night.
Sore? Yes.
Sated? Quite so.
Hungry? Absolutely.
Tired? Exhausted. The man had worn me out better than I ever thought he would. I had thought about sex with Caleb before but thinking it and it happening were two very different things.
I ran a hand over my face and over my messy-very very messy- hair. "Well fuck," I mumbled, looking at Caleb as he shifted once more in his sleep, laying flat on his stomach, his face to the side.
Taking a glance at his body as I made my way over to the bathroom, I hid a smirk on my face at the two dark markings on either side of his neck. Award for best hickier obviously went to the woman in the room. He could argue with me on that later considering I could feel his own- not on my neck-but on my chest and areas of my stomach he had so delicately nipped and grazed repeatedly. But I knew he wasn't going to say otherwise.
I softly hissed at the red markings on his back too, crescents left from my nails digging into his skin during the satisfying, I would say, events. There was also the dips, smoothness, and hardness of his back my fingers had pressed and felt with eagerness. A slight smile crept onto my face at the conversation we had engaged in about the small birthmark on his hip that was strangely shaped like a banana.
Then my eyes fell onto the lone tattoo on his back. The black font there was different compared to the rest on his chest and sides of his body. Carefully planted with small letters but big enough for me to make out what they said, I murmured the words to myself "Curiosity can be a risk you sometimes don't want to take."
Caleb shifted once more before I could second guess if there were any other words there, tucking a hand under his head. Who said that? I wondered, relishing over the words as I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth, take a shower and hopefully fix the mess that was my hair.
I dug through the shopping for a lingerie set Caleb had thrown at me during our outing in the city. By the time I had managed to put my bra on, Caleb stirred, and I knew he had finally woken up.
I froze, peeking over my shoulder to watch him stretch without opening his eyes. He spread himself on the bed, shoving his head inside the pillow and turning away from the bright sun. I took that opportunity to head over to the blinds and look outside at the calm city. People were at the beach not far from where we had sat last night, spending time with families and friends. A string of tourists taking pictures and enjoying themselves much like we had done yesterday.
Yesterday.
"This is a lovely sight to wake up to."
I closed the blinds, the light behind it giving the room enough brightness. However, the look in Caleb's eyes would have been seen from a mile away, in darkness or light. "Good morning to you too."
He reached his hand out and I accepted it, making my way under the covers. And I waited, watching the soft sleepy smile on his face.
I wasn't smiling.
No. I returned his look with a blank stare because this was Caleb and I knew him. I was only waiting for him to not just fully wake up but come back to reality.
It didn't take long.
It really didn't take long.
I watched the great Caleb Romero Henderson go from satisfaction on his face to realization. He kept his hand in mine but tore his eyes away from my own before saying, "Oh my God, Oh my God."
Here we go.
"Yes," I confirmed for him.
"Oh my God." He repeated, sitting up and the man really looked around the room as if he was just now taking in where we were. Idiot.
"Yes," I said again, waiting for his dramatic ass to come to terms with what we had done.
"We-"
"Yes," I repeated.
"You-"
"Yup." I propped my head on my hand, running a hand over my face.
"And I-"
Someone get this on video. No, seriously.
He threw himself back down on the bed, covering his face with his hands before glancing at me. But there was no regret on his face. There nothing but acceptance of our actions. Sober and consensual actions that we were caught up in that we didn't think this through. "We really had sex."
And it hits me the second he says that. We really did.
Holy shit, Caleb and I had sex.
"Like three times." He picked at condom wrappers that were scattered on the bed, tossing them to the side. "I think three and a half."
"Three and a half?" I glanced over at him and when we locked eyes, vivid memories of the night before came back to me.
A half sounds about right.
I leaned over, reaching for his pants on the ground to take out his phone. "What time is it?" The screen told me 1:47 PM and my eyebrows rose. We had to work tonight at seven and I did not expect to be here at 1-almost 2 PM.
The soreness between my legs came into recollection and I pressed my legs together, deciding to shove my face into the pillow. There was a moment of silence between us and I could feel Caleb's eyes on me. My confirmations were correct when I shifted to look at him and found his gaze on my face. "Caleb, you're staring."
He bit his lip, his hand reaching to the low ponytail I had packed my hair into. I felt his fingers twist strands to curl around his finger as a low exhale left his lips. "How was last night for you?"
I propped myself up on my forearms staring back at him. "You're really asking?"
He didn't say anything. His eyes stayed glued to my hair as he took more and more strands, feeling the texture and twisting it around his finger like I had been wrapped around him last night. He slid his gaze to lock eyes with my own, almost pulling the answer out of me with the intensity.
My tongue poked the corner of my lip and I looked away from him, focusing on the markings I had left on his neck.
"It was," I paused, biting my lip. "Really good." Understatement.
A smirk crawled onto Caleb's face. "Really now?"
I rolled my eyes. "Don't boost your ego now, Romero. It takes two to have good sex."
"Don't boost my ego," He muttered, releasing my hair to move to my hip, yanking me towards him. I squealed in response as he settled over me, lifting so most of his weight was displaced on his forearms. "Do you need a reminder of the sounds that came out of your mouth last night?"
"Caleb." I trailed off, getting lost in his heated gaze as he continued talking. We weren't supposed to be doing anything after this. I knew that and I think we knew that too but didn't care.
"What do you want?" He hovered his mouth over my own before dipping his head down, grazing his lips against my throat. His fingers tilted my chin up to give him more access and my body heat up into his touch. And my core-shit, I couldn't help but think. After last night but who was I to not give myself what-who I wanted right now?
His face moved away from my neck, allowing me to spot the slow grin creep onto his face as he felt me, his hand rubbing between my legs. "Wet? So early in the morning?"
Despite the fact that it was well into the afternoon, I'm convinced this is why no one shut him up.
Because when he spoke like this, I wanted him to talk all day. Lifting my hips up into his hand, I felt his arousal against my thigh and let out an appreciative hum. "Hard? So early in the morning?"
"Morning wood," His expression didn't falter. "Common."
"Wet dream last night?" I said smugly.
"Wet dream in front of me." He chuckled lowly, before sucking his bottom lip in his mouth. "You want fingers?"
I bucked up against him at the increased pressure of his thumb against my bud, circling and moving faster, a moan escaping my lips. Caleb let out a little laugh, hoarse, his head dipping down to my collarbones. With his lips against my skin, he moved lower. The heat of his mouth between my breasts made me gasp, a deep pull near the bottom of my stomach at the actions. He licked, God, he licked down, skipping over my bellybutton to nip around my hipbones all while holding my gaze.
Harsh and raggedy breaths escaped me. I was at a point where I was certain he couldn't feel his hand by the way my thighs were crushing the part of him as he worked me further and further with just the movement his thumb.
"What about my tongue?" He said, his voice almost as breathless as I'm sure mine was. I bit my lip in response, anticipating as his head dipped, his breath over my core that was burning for him as he quickened the movement of his thumb. He licked his lips and that would have had me come undone had I not willed myself to wait. At the sight of Caleb relishing and liking the idea of giving me pleasure.
His tongue-fuck that was an experience. My mind flashbacked to last night at the collection of movement and limbs and heat and unadulterated sex with him. But was it right to do this again with him? This morni-
He must have sensed the conflict behind my eyes because Caleb asked, "Or do you want to get right to it and have you take my co-"
I twisted him underneath me, my hand grabbing the back of his neck, so he now lay flat on his back.
His eyes widened in surprise at my actions as I straddled his legs. My hand on his neck moved down, past the tattoos on his torso so the awaiting, urging part of him I had grown familiar with over the night. "What are you doing?"
I grabbed his dick in my hand, running my thumb over the skin. Glancing down at him, I smiled at the feel of him in my hand. Thick. Ready.
He wanted to tease me? No.
Caleb threw an arm behind his head, his hooded eyes flicker from me to my hand. "What do you want?"
There was a smirk on his lips. "Depends on what you're willing to offer, Ms. Okonji."
Okay, that was way too hot coming out of his mouth, I decided, releasing my hold.
Caleb looked like he was about to protest from my lack of touch, but I shut him up quickly and any words that were to spill from his lips were replaced with a low groan as I took him in my mouth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A shower later, I was searching for clothes to change into as Caleb sat on the bed, pulling himself into pants he had bought the day before.
There were no words between us after he said he was going to take a shower. I was waiting for one of us to say something but even I was unsure about what to say to him. Or what he was going to say to me.
Not going to lie, I'm tired of being at a loss for words. Suddenly I didn't know how to form a proper thought-no I had many thoughts, but I didn't know how to string them together and our them in the form of actual verbal words for me and him to hear. That was completely unlike me.
First in the presence of Keith and now in the presence of Caleb?
I wasn't used to this.
The first time Giulio and I had slept together was different. After it had happened, there was no 'let's sleep in the same damn bed'. No. It was 'fuck, get your fill, get out and move on'. I remember because I was the one who had started getting ready after we had done it and went back to the event we were at, carrying no suspicion of where I had disappeared off to.
There were no moments where we broke things down to one another about how we were going to act with one another. We didn't talk about it. We just knew.
Maybe that's why Giulio ended up having feelings for me because I never gave him the impression that we were going to stop, and he thought I was eventually going to feel something for him. Communication was seriously an area I needed to fix when it came to men.
However, Giulio and Caleb were two different people. The relationship-even the friendship I had with Giulio wasn't comparable to the friendship I had with Caleb. The friendship I had with Caleb reminded me of what I had with Sydney.
It was like being in a room filled with all the things you enjoyed. Items that made you feel entertained and comfortable to make you happy as if you were alone. It was refreshing. That's how I felt when I was with my best friend from New York and that reminded me of how I felt when I was with Caleb who easily made me laugh, got me annoyed and put a smile on my face if I was having a hard day.
We were different.
Caleb looked at me hesitantly, zipping the zipper up to his pants and buttoning them. The most unsure I've ever seen him. "I wanted to kiss you that day."
That stunned me. I didn't know he would bring that up. Another thing I was getting tired of. Being caught off guard. "Why didn't you?"
"One, if I kissed you at that moment, I wasn't sure I'd be able to stop. You don't know how attractive you are when you're angry at me," We both shared a laugh at that, the tension breaking and the ease settling back in, making me comfortable. "Two, we're friends. I didn't want to sleep with a close friend of mine and possibly ruin what we have."
"We're not going to ruin what we have Caleb," I assured him, taking a seat next to him on the bed in just pants I had bought yesterday and my bra. "It's just sex. We're attracted to one another. It happens. You do it. I used to. We know how it is."
"We do-I do. But it's never with someone I've become close with, you know? It's usually, 'we're never going to see each other again' but you're not like that."
"You're not like that either," I admitted.
He ran a hand through his hair, inhaling sharply. "Shit."
"We're adults," I reminded him. "It's fine."
Caleb nodded and a pained look crossed his face. "It's not like you were expecting anything more, were you?"
I shook my head quickly, grabbing his hand. I just wanted the feel of him against my own, the reassurance that he was going to stay. "No, no. I may have moved on from Keith, but I just need a little space before I even think about starting something with someone else again."
My words were truthful. I was able to separate sex from feelings. I had done that with Giulio, I had done that with past flings, and I believed that I could do that with Caleb. But allowing myself to be with another person in that way again like I had been with Keith made me hesitate.
Mostly because I didn't want to be hurt again. Keith hurt me and broke my trust multiple times behind my back and while I was a part to blame for our failed relationship, I wasn't ready for another one.
Yet. The yet was there. Lingering. I had told Caleb on the terrace of his apartment that night that I would find someone again and I didn't lose hope in that. Time was what I needed and when I felt ready to open my heart to someone again, I would know it.
Looking at Caleb, I wasn't even certain if I had feelings for him and that thought alone left me a mess because I could feel my heart start to race. Was I undoubtedly turned on looking at him? Yes. But did I have feelings- that was another option I didn't even think to explore yet.
Whenever Sydney and I had spoken about him, that's what I had said. All I wanted was sex. But now that I had gotten that- gotten what we both wanted-what was to happen from here?
Conflict passed Caleb's eyes at my words. He glanced down at our hands flat against one another. He didn't remove his touch from mine, but I watched him trace a star on my palm. A slight giggle left my mouth at the feeling and the ghost of a smile played on his lips. "Then we're okay?"
"Of course," I assured him. "Besides, I know you weren't looking for anything."
He wasn't. I knew it every time we had been with each other last night and in the morning- well afternoon.
Caleb was capable of love. I hope he was able to know that someday and he deserved to find it again. But a relationship? He was hesitant on that almost as much as he had been hesitant to kiss me. I knew that there was definitely something holding him back from finding it. It may be due to Bethany's death almost ten years ago but it involved the person he had fallen for a time after her-the one that didn't work out.
I wasn't looking for anything more and neither was he. There was that mutual understanding and I was grateful that we had both voiced it out. He seemed grateful for it to, the look in his eyes almost screamed 'thank you' to me.
"We just released weeks of sexual tension," I admitted.
Caleb leaned back, staring up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. He let out a long breath. "Tell me about it."
"Sydney's going to have a riot." I couldn't help but mutter and Caleb chuckled, raising an eyebrow.
"Sydney? Your best frie-you told her you had the hots for me?"
"You're making this sound like this is news? I'm sorry? Did you forget that we christened this bed like five times? They're going to have to put on a hazard suit to get rid of this bed because of the stuff we've done on it."
Caleb laughed, standing. "You're so cute when you're being dramatic."
"You're so cute when you're not taking me seriously. I'm not kidding." I rolled my eyes and he laughed again, grabbing my hand and pulling me up and into his chest in a hug.
"Wait, so, we're seriously okay?"
"Seriously okay? Caleb, babe, we're good," I said, cupping his face in my hands. "We've done this with other people before. We'll bounce back to how we were with our little quirks and shit and our late-night talks and being the bestest of friends that we could possibly be despite me knowing what your face looks like when you come."
"What my face-" Caleb immediately rolled his eyes to the back of his head, his facial expression extra as possible. "Oh, Caleb, fuck me, harder, faster, deeper-"
I grabbed a pillow, shoving it against his face to stop his exaggerative moaning. "Fuck off."
"Tavi," And I felt myself heat up at my nickname based on the number of times I had heard it from him within a twenty-four-hour period. "I'm only kidding."
I smirked before mocking him in a deep voice. "Shit, Tavi, you feel so good, baby. Keep going, your mouth- holy, I'm going to heaven-keep sucking m-"
"Okay, now you can fuck off." Caleb took the pillow, smushing it against my face to stop my laughter.
"I see why some of your fans call you daddy," I commented, drumming my fingers against his warm skin. My eyes went to the bruises on his neck that he didn't care about. I had concealer that covered up my own but that wasn't going to help Caleb considering we were two completely different tones.
An eyebrow rose, "You read my comments."
"When I'm extremely bored, find myself on phone then on Instagram, yeah. You got a daddy kink?" I laughed, gripping his biceps with my hands.
Caleb kept his eyes down, looking away from me. "I'm not admitting shit."
"Oh?" I exclaimed, for some reason ready to tease him relentlessly with the possible discovery.
He shook his head, obviously wanting to change the topic and I did so as we both relaxed back to our comfortable state with each other. "It was one night," I told him.
"And a little bit of today." He concluded.
I smiled softly. "One night and a bit of today, yes. But that's it."
"That's it." Caleb nodded assertively and we shared a look before laughing again.
I pressed a kiss to the side of his neck, resting my face there as I whispered. "We're okay."
I meant it at the moment. For us and for our friendship.
"We're okay." He agreed and I thought him pressing a lingering kiss to my forehead would be the sweetest gesture in the world to finish off our moment. It was the sweetest gesture. A gesture he had to ruin when his right hand came down on the left side of my ass.
Jesus.
"Caleb!" I shrieked at how unexpected it was but didn't feel any pain. I couldn't help but hold in my grin at his actions considering I would think to be used to it by now.
"Just one last time for the road." He winked. Dick.
I snorted, pulling away from him. Walking over to look at my sundress that lay on the ground where he had tossed it the night before, I examined the cloth. "You ripped my sundress."
"I did not!" He defended himself. "I took it off you."
"No, no, no, you definitely ripped it," I told him, holding up the end for him to see the tear.
I searched through the bags to look for a shirt only to remember that I didn't buy one. Shit. Caleb grabbed his shirt from last night, tossing it to me. "Wear that."
I threw it on, tying his shirt at the front. It smelled like him, I noticed, watching him pull on one of the t-shirts he had bought the day before.
"You fixed your hair." He commented with a glance at me as he reached into his fanny pack, pulling out two rings to slip onto his fingers.
"I always have a comb and extra hairbands with me for situations I don't plan to end up in." I said before glancing down at where the remains broken lamp lay. "Shit."
Caleb snickered. "Yeah, that definitely was my fault. We're taking a train?"
"My driver is coming," I informed him, picking up the lamp and putting it on the bed. After inspecting that something had indeed broken off it, I said. "He wasn't too far from the city anyways."
"Okay, I'll go downstairs and pay for the lamp," Caleb slipped on his fanny pack as I put my sundress in the bag he had taken his t-shirt from. "Meet at the front?"
"Got it!" I told him and ten minutes later, I came down the same elevator I had practically jumped Caleb in, our bags in my hands and my hair packed under a hat from my backpack that was now hitting my back with every movement I made.
Walking into the lobby, I tried and failed to adjust the straps to my backpack as I spotted Caleb with the lamp on the front desk, talking seriously to who I assumed was the manager. The manager definitely didn't look happy judging by the fact that the lamp I had thought wasn't all the broken, really was.
It now in two pieces. The top of it lay beside the other half. A part of me knew that it had to be because of Caleb because the last time I had touched the lamp it was broken but intact.
I poked Caleb on the side as he spoke to the front desk with our bags in his hand and his FILA fanny pack across his chest. The apologetic look on his face slipped as he let out a tiny laugh at what I had done. I grinned in response, loving that we were still comfortable with one another as I opened the door-
Only to be bombarded by the flashes of cameras.
Oh no.
I didn't even bother questioning how they knew Caleb and I were here. It could have been the hotel, or the people that saw us come in last night. Either way they were phoned and alerted and ended up exactly where the news was.
"Octavia!" I heard being yelled at me.
"Is Romero with you?"
Damn, I couldn't help but think, does the world address him mostly as Romero due to the cover of his books and not as Caleb?
"Any comments on the Keith interview?"
"Did you really go to his apartment to beg for him back?"
Oh, fuck off.
"What are you doing in Venice?"
Not answering your questions that's for sure, I wanted to say but looking down the narrow street and there wasn't a sight of my driver, Marco or the car I was forced to. I usually didn't mind. God, I loved attention more than anything but lately over the past two years- surprisingly whenever I was with Keith-I've begun to hate this attention.
Which wasn't like me, I thought, trying not to frown. I pulled on my brightest smile about to answer the last question when half of the cameras turned to the man that made his way next to me.
Caleb took my wrist, holding it up with the bags of our clothes for them to see. "We went shopping in Venice, obviously. How are you guys?"
He further engaged in conversation with them, trying to pull the view of any questions they may have with me when I noticed a couple of people still staring at me.
Having Caleb and I coming out of the same small hotel was bound to seem interesting on their news. No wonder they were here.
"Hi." I smiled, looking around to see if Marco would get here any faster.
Marco, my amazing quiet driver of a man and Leon, my bodyguard who has protected me from the angst of various people since I was twenty-one, please make your way here.
"How's the movie going?" Someone asked.
"Movie's going good," I told them sincerely. "Almost done filming."
"And the cast?"
"Cast is amazing as always." I kept it short and sweet. But that wasn't enough because one question turned into two which turned into four which felt like a million. I kept a small smile the entire time just listening to all the questions being thrown at me.
But the first question:
"Keith arrived in Italy a couple of weeks ago, rumors have it he visited you on set. Were you planning on getting back together with him?"
"Keith mentioned you had-"
Keith. Keith. Keith.
Was there ever anything else in the world to talk about then just Keith for God's sake?
We dated for two years doesn't mean he's my entire world. God, I thought, it's almost like my entire identity in this world relied on him. And him on me.
No. I wasn't having it.
"Were you and Caleb in Venice together yesterday?"
"Are you and Caleb dating?"
"Yes, we are together."
What?
What the-
That definitely did not come out of one of their mouths.
My face whipped to the man beside me, my usual composed look dropped for a good second before I bounced back.
Holy shit.
Pause.
No.
Rewind. Someone rewind.
Caleb nodded his head to where I saw Marco pull up and my usual bodyguard, Leon came out of the car, already making his way through the paparazzi to get to us. "Sorry to head out but we have filming later today. It was nice seeing you all. Baby, let's go."
Baby. Wasn't even in a sexual manner this time. It was on the level of sounding romantic. I was going to combust.
He laced our fingers together, moving towards the car. I entered first, feeling Caleb's hand on my back before he followed suit, dropping the bags at his feet as I put on my seatbelt. Leon closed the door behind us, taking the seat beside Marco and the car started moving.
Beside me, I found a box of croissants. Shooting Marco a smile to which my amazing friend at the front returned before focusing on the road, I took one before shoving the box into Caleb's abdomen.
I was absolutely famished and almost scarfed down the entire croissant in what felt like one bite. There was no care if the three men in the car so much as looked at me while eating, I needed food and it was the middle of the afternoon. It was a must for Marco to stop by somewhere so I could get my fill of missing breakfast and lunch.
I waited five minutes.
Just five.
The press had left. Leon's eyes were out on the window and Marco's eyes were straight ahead, focusing on the road. It didn't matter that Caleb and I weren't alone; he knew I was going to explode, and he was waiting for it due to the constant glances I was receiving but I kept my gaze on my phone. Waiting for it to ring from one person who would get the news faster than anyone I know.
Time's up.
I stared wide-eyed at Caleb, poking at him hard with my index finger. "What the hell?"
He hissed but I knew that it didn't affect him in any way. "You wanted them off your back. So I got them off your back." He explained.
"Caleb, I would have answered the questions. I don't need you doing that for me." I told him. That's the one thing I hated people doing for me.
He looked apologetic. More apologetic than he had been with the lamp. "I'm sorry but you should have seen your face, Octavia. When they kept saying Karen's stupid name you blanked. I saw it, so I came in, answering their questions like it was nothing. I know you didn't ask for my help but I'm not sorry I gave it to you and solved the issue."
Solved the issue?
"But that could have been done without saying that we're in a relationship," I argued, honestly wondering what possessed him to go to that conclusion. The last thing I needed was a relationship, that was the last thing we both didn't want for ourselves at the moment and he just thought he could say that?
"People already think we're dating." He lamely justified.
My phone started buzzing in my hand. My agent was going to go ballistic. I picked it up, still glaring at Caleb. "Octavia."
"I know who you are." Erika snapped and if I didn't know her voice she would've almost sounded like my mother. Without the Nigerian accent.
I rolled my eyes at her attitude. Now wasn't the time for that and she knew it. "Listen-"
"Are you two dating, yes or no?"
"No," I confirmed. We just slept together once-multiple times.
"Then why did he say you were?"
"That's a very good question," I spat out, putting her on speaker. "Caleb, sweetie, tell Erika why you decided to tell the whole world that we're dating."
Caleb ran a hand through his hair, not at all fazed by my tone of voice. "It just came out, okay? They wouldn't stop pestering their questions on you and I could tell you were getting uncomfortable, so I said that. But look, now they'll stop asking you about Keith and won't attach you to him when they come to terms that you're with me now."
I kept my glare on him as I waited for Erika's response. And her response was not what I expected.
"He's right," Erika agreed. "They'll stop asking you things about Keith more so than usual and that's something we've always wanted. It definitely puts Keith at a position where everyone will come to terms that he lied during the entire interview."
That's true.
"Honestly," Caleb shifted in his seat with an eye roll. "The man's nothing but a liar. As if you'd get back together with him. I-We just exposed him for the liar he is by saying we're together because this will prove that you never even wanted to take him back. It's a job well done."
"Petty." I couldn't help but comment with a smirk.
"He tried tearing you down," He shrugged, and he matched the expression on my face. "Little Kenny will never see it coming. Good plan?"
"You didn't even think of it." I reminded him. But I liked this almost devious side of him. It was a rare occasion, but it stood for what lengths Caleb would go through for a friend. "But I like the way you think."
"I didn't but he's surely going to take a hit after this, right Erika?"
"Possibly. I'll keep you updated on responses from my assistant. Octavia, you're seen with Caleb at various moments," She further explained. "You work on set together. You're seen spending time together outside of work. It'll make sense to everyone else."
"Exactly." Caleb agreed, shooting me a small and timid smile like he knew that this would be fine. But the man could be almost as impulsive as I was. He didn't see this coming and we didn't know what would happen next.
I didn't give him a response. My mind kept whirling back to what Giulio had told me when we were first filming the movie. A new flame to keep the old one out? Giulio was a person that wouldn't have worked for my benefit but with Caleb? Caleb who I was completely comfortable with and-
"The real question I have is what did you thinking people would suspect anyway?' Erika's voice cut off my thoughts. "You were seen together in Venice last night. The shirt Caleb was wearing is now the same shirt Octavia is wearing. If I'm questioning that then others would be questioning it as well."
Caleb and I shared a glance and Erika continued talking because clearly, we didn't think things through.
"And pictures of the two of you together talking last night at a beach surfaced-"
"Shit." I couldn't help but say. My radar when it came to cameras was usually on point, but the presence of Caleb left me unclear and not at all focused. At least they didn't catch us kissing.
"And those pictures-luckily just pictures were sufficient enough. Ergo, Caleb said to the world that you two are together is a lot less messy then casually stating that you're fooling with each other and could put rise to both of your fanbases. As well as publicity for the movie. Caleb may not exactly be in it but he's an important place in the production."
I glanced down at the shirt before locking eyes with Caleb. "We would be fake dating."
"Just for a while," Erika told us. "Publicity. Simple PR."
I took my sunglasses off, putting a hand to my temple. Caleb took a bite out of his croissant. "You want to do this?"
I shot him a look before nudging him with my elbow. "You didn't give me much of a choice."
"Sorry," A sheepish smile came on his face and any feeling of irritation faded the longer I looked at him. "But it's me you're going to be flaunting and bossing around so you should be glad."
I sighed. "It's fine. There's no one I'd rather be in a fake relationship with than you, to be honest. Could be worse."
"Worse?" He shifted. "You could be in this with an awful person. You could be in a relationship with someone you don't already have chemistry with."
"Chemistry?"
Caleb leaned back, putting his sunglasses on. "Did you forget this morning already?"
I took the chance to give him a once over on his relaxed posture. "Not hard to forg-"
"Anyways," Erika cut in and I stopped talking fast, taking a glance at Leon and Marco in the front seats who quickly pulled their eyes from Caleb and me to focus on the road. Eavesdroppers. "We'll discuss things tomorrow about the two of you. Octavia forward me Caleb's number if you can."
Without so much as a goodbye, my agent hung up on me for the second time in the last couple of days, leaving me in shock. I fiddled with my phone in my hands, knowing there would be a contract involved and she was going to give Caleb and I a complete rundown of how to act in public. Which I knew shouldn't be hard.
I may be an actor but what I had said days before still held up to par. Caleb's one of the best actors I knew. He just didn't get paid for it.
"Damn." He said, a slow smile appearing on his face. "I'm really the Octavia's boyfriend, huh?"
So much for just friends in the public eye.