32| You Just Can't Top Cayden
"YOUR homework for the night is to read the experiment by Eleanor Gibson. It's all about the visual cliff in regards to babies," Mr. Anderson announced. "Your job is to take notes on the visual cliff and show your understanding on the experiment. We'll have a discussion next class."
The bell rang, and I slowly packed my bag. My eyes darted up and met Logan's, who was leaving the classroom. She smiled at me before she left with Gracie. I smiled to myself and continued packing up my bag. Troy and I got up and left the classroom, heading towards the boys locker room. Practice was back on tonight, which meant another scrimmage was underway.
"Are you gonna sign up to go to state?" Troy asked. "Coach sent out those forms last night."
"Right," I said.
The form was basically a form that needed to be signed if we were planning on going to state. Coach Reid and Coach D always liked the idea of having the boys team come to support the girls at state, and vice versa.
"Yeah, I'm gonna come," I said.
"Really?" Troy asked, surprised. "You've never done that."
I shrugged. "It's senior year."
It was true that I hadn't ever gone to the girls' state tournament. I never wanted to go in the first place. I guess you could say that I never wanted to support them because of how much I hated Logan. Things certainly have changed.
"True that," Troy agreed, dropping the subject. "Hey, tomorrow during your off, will you help me with the psych assignment? I just don't understand the whole sensation and perception thing."
"Oh I'll help you. I have the perfect song," I said, grinning.
Troy groaned. "Why do you always have weird educational songs? How do you even find those things?"
"It's so simple, dude. And it's the perfect method to learning something," I told him. "I have my own songs, too."
"Dude..." he drawled as we walked into the boys locker room, where a lot of the team already was. "You did not write your own psychology songs."
"Oh he so did!" Cayden exclaimed as he threw on a t-shirt. "And they're amazing."
"Thank you, Cayden. See? This is why Cayden is my favorite," I said, and Troy rolled his eyes.
We dropped the conversation of my amazing psychology songs so that I could get dressed and ready for the scrimmage. Hey, don't even think about judging me. You don't know how perfect it is to learn psychology terms through music until you try it. Or until you write your own lyrics to the tune of "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction.
The guys started leaving the locker room, and I strategically stayed behind. I needed to be alone with Charlie so that I could talk to him about Logan and I.
The other night was super awkward. It was so obvious that Logan and I were hiding something, and that we definitely hadn't been studying. I don't even know why I blurted out that we were studying in the first place. Stupid, stupid, stupid...
Either way, Logan and I had agreed to keep whatever was going on between us a secret. Charlie seeing us together and being all suspicious definitely wasn't going to help our case.
Finally, I watched as the other freshman, Lucas, left the locker room with Zane. That left Charlie all alone.
"Charlie," I said, and he peeked his head out from a row of lockers. "Come here."
He walked over, folding his shirt inside out to put it on. "Hey, Noah," he said, smiling. "What's up?"
"We've gotta talk about what you saw last night," I said.
"What did I see again?" Charlie asked. "Oh yeah, I saw you and Logan together! Studying at La Belle's."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, we were studying," I said. "Look, I just wanted to clear things up—"
"Noah, are you two like... a thing?" Charlie asked, interrupting me. "I'm just wondering is all. That's just what it looked like, and... well... I think you guys are really cute."
Oh my God. "Charlie, you're making this really weird."
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Logan and I are... kind of a thing," I admitted, and his eyes widened. Apparently, he wasn't expecting me to tell him that. "But we're keeping it a secret for now. You know? Keeping it between us."
"Ohhhh," Charlie realized. "That's why you said you were studying. Well, that makes sense."
I nodded. "Yep."
"Why are you keeping it a secret though?" Charlie asked. "I know that you two kind of hated each other, I mean, I saw a little bit of it this year. But mostly, I've seen you guys getting all close."
Sometimes I forgot Charlie was a freshman, and he hadn't seen me and Logan practically attempt to kill each other every other year of high school.
"Because," I sighed. "A lot of people would have a lot of different opinions on us being together. Especially considering our shaky past. We just want to keep it private."
Charlie nodded. "I get it," he said. "I'm not going to go around telling people, if that's what you're worried about. If you guys want to keep your relationship a secret, it's none of my business."
I smiled and patted Charlie on the back. "I like you, kid," I said. "Thank you." I started walking towards the exit of the locker room.
"No problem," he said. "Hey, wait— did you just now decide that you like me?"
"Yup!" I yelled as I left the locker room.
✯ ✯ ✯
Once we finished the scrimmage, it was just past 6:30. We had started off the girls practice by doing some actual drills first, just so that they would be fully prepared and ready for state. Not to mention, they did a lot of hitting practice, mainly for Savannah's benefit. Even I could admit that Savannah was definitely not the best... Logan kept sending me annoyed looks every time Savannah hit, and I couldn't help but laugh. She was cute when she was annoyed.
Cayden and I were walking out of the school and towards my car. His parents were out of town for the night, and so they were sending him to stay with me for the night.
"Sleep overrrrr!" Cayden yelled, hopping into my Jeep. I rolled my eyes and turned the car on, then backing out of the parking lot. "So. I brought face masks."
"You didn't."
"I did," he said, grinning. "Noah, come on. It'll make your pores practically invisible!"
"Are you saying my pores are huge?" I asked, pretending to be offended.
"You suck," Cayden muttered.
I sighed. "I'd love to do face masks with you, Cay. Did you bring one for Amelia?"
"Duh."
The drive home was short, but definitely not a quiet one. I swear, Cayden could talk a million miles an hour about God-knows-what. He talked about face masks, volleyball, and he even started ranting about diets.
"I mean, have you ever wondered why there are so many diets in the world? And which one best fits you and your nutritional needs and lifestyle?" Cayden asked.
"No—"
"Well, let me just tell you about these diets," Cayden said, continuing his rant.
By the time we'd reached my house, Cayden was wrapping up his diet conversation. I had to admit, I was starting to wonder why there were so many diets, and which one would best fit my nutritional needs and lifestyle.
I opened the garage door and noticed my parents car parked on the right side.
"Your parents are home?" Cayden asked. "That's news to me."
"It's news to me, too," I said.
I pulled into the garage and parked, and Cayden and I got out and headed inside. I wasn't expecting my parents to be home until next week, but something must have came up. I was happy that I was going to get to see them, too.
My parents being gone wasn't my favorite thing because I actually really liked my parents. They weren't super mean our strict or anything like that. I knew that Amelia was probably bouncing off the walls inside having them home.
We entered the house and headed towards the kitchen. I could smell my mom's famous shrimp fajitas cooking up in there. Damn, how I missed those fajitas.
"Noah!" My mom exclaimed as we entered the kitchen. She immediately dropped the spatula she was using to move around the shrimp fajitas mix in her skillet and ran over to wrap me in a tight hug. "I missed you so much!"
She pulled away and I grinned. "I missed you, too," I said.
"Oh my goodness! And Cayden is here too?!" My mom yelled. "This is my lucky day!" She ran past me to hug Cayden as well before returning to her cooking.
"It's good to see you again, Alice," Cayden said to my mom.
"Noah and Cayden!" My dad yelled as he entered the room, wrapping his arms around the both of us. "My two favorite guys. How's it hanging?" He asked, and walked over to pour himself a glass of milk. "How's the school year treating you?"
"It's good, dad," I answered. Cayden and I walked over to sit at the dining table. "Cayden was staying over tonight since his parents are out of town. That cool?"
"Absolutely!" My mom exclaimed.
"You think the team's gonna be good this year, Cayden?" My dad asked, taking a seat across from us at the table.
"Oh definitely," Cayden said. "We've got a good group. The freshman are really good, too."
"I haven't heard about the freshman," my dad said. "Tell me about them."
"There's only two," I told him. "There's Charlie, and he's an outside, but coach is letting him play right side. He's got a good swing, though, and he's super accurate. He knows how to place the ball." My dad nodded as he drank his milk. "And then there's Lucas, and he's a DS. He's a little shy, but he's definitely one of the best defenders on the team."
"Well, not as good as Cayden obviously," my mom said, smiling over at us.
"Nope," I agreed. "You just can't top Cayden."
Amelia then skipped into the kitchen and when she spotted Cayden, she gasped. "CAYDEN IS HERE?!" She exclaimed. "Best. Night. EVER!!!"
Cayden laughed. "I brought face masks for us, Amelia."
"OMG. Cayden. You are my favorite," Amelia gushed, taking a seat at the table.
"Ouch," I muttered. "I thought that I was your favorite."
Amelia shrugged. "You just can't top Cayden."
My mouth opened wide in shock, and Cayden just laughed. "Unbelievable. My own little sister likes Cayden more than me. My own blood."
"It's okay, Noah. Fajitas will cure the hurt you're feeling right now," my mom said. She walked over and started serving up the fajitas.
"Smells amazing, mom," I said. "Did I mention how much I missed these fajitas?"
She sat down. "I am sorry we haven't been home much at all the past few months," she replied. "We've been trying incredibly hard to score this deal with this big-time makeup brand. They're just playing hard to get."
"It's okay mom!" Amelia said. "As long as you come home and make these fajitas, I'm happy."
"Well, I will always make these fajitas," my mom said.
"How long are you guys gonna be home?" I asked.
"Tonight and tomorrow," my dad answered. "We plan to be back at least once next week, and then hopefully a bit more the following week. At least, we're hoping to have sealed the deal by then."
I nodded. "Well, I agree with Amelia. As long as I get some fajitas, I'm happy. I have missed you guys, though."
"We'll be around more when season starts," my dad said. "Can't miss my son playing his senior year."
"Ugh, Noah. I really missed your parents," Cayden said. "They're way better than you."
"Shut up, Cayden."
"You two are cute as ever," my mom gushed. "Tell me. Have you two gotten together yet?"
I nearly choked on my shrimp. My mom certainly had a way with words. She knew that Cayden was gay, and would tease me all the time about dating him. Even when I had a girlfriend, she still teased me about Cayden and I getting together. It was now an ongoing joke.
I rolled my eyes. "No we haven't," I said. "Cayden actually moved on from me. He has a new love interest now."
My mom raised her eyebrows. "Say more now!" She exclaimed, looking right at Cayden, whose cheeks turned pink.
"Aw, Cayden's blushing!" Amelia teased.
"Umm... well, his name is Jeremy," Cayden started. "He's our age, and I guess I've always had a little crush on him. We've been hanging out recently."
"For weeks now," I added.
"Yeah," Cayden said. "I really like him, it's just hard sometimes. We can't exactly be together too publicly."
"Your parents still don't know?" My dad asked, and Cayden just shook his head. "I'm sorry."
Cayden shrugged. "They just wouldn't be understanding about it. Nothing's changed."
"Well, you know that you are always welcome in this home," my mom said.
"Thanks, Alice."
"On a more lighthearted note," my mom started, "I'm really happy that you're happy with this boy! Although, I am slightly disappointed that you and Noah aren't together."
"I'm still straight, mom," I said.
"I don't know... I haven't heard about any girls since the last girlfriend you had," she defended.
"But Noah has a girlfriend!" Amelia exclaimed, and my eyes darted over to her.
Wait. She must have thought Logan and I were dating. I never told her that we were dating, but she must have assumed from the time we hung out.
"I don't," I said, but everyone's attention at the table was still turned towards me.
"Or do you?" Cayden questioned.
"I don't," I repeated. "She's talking about Logan because I brought her to one of Amelia's recitals."
Cayden nearly spit out his water. "You brought her to one of her recitals? I thought that was our thing!"
"She was upset, and I just wanted to do something nice," I defended.
"Wait, wait wait... who is Logan?" My mom asked. "I only know of one Logan, and the things you said about her weren't exactly nice."
"Yup, that's the same Logan!" Cayden exclaimed. "You'll never believe it, but they're friends now."
"Wow," my mom said, clearly surprised. "But you've called her—"
"I know what I've called her!" I interrupted. "Let's just say, we figured things out. We had that bonding camp, remember? And then after that, we just... bonded."
"Bonded. As in you two started seeing each other romantically," my dad said, grinning.
"We're not dating!" I said. "We're just friends. Got it?"
"Whatever you say," my mom drawled.
I stood up and cleared my plate and Cayden's too. Amelia also stood up and cleared hers.
"Now, can we get to these face masks?" I asked. "I'm just way to excited to glob some random shit on my face and act like it's minimizing my pores."
"You're a fool for not believing in the power of face masks," Cayden said as he stood up. "Face masks are pure science, Noah. You would know that if you were better at chemistry."
That son of a bitch.
✯ ✯ ✯
I LOVE NOAH'S PARENTS!!!
Sometimes I do wish that Cayden and Noah would just date, but then I remember how perfect Noah and Logan are for each other. They're just too pure. I love it.
And the fact that Cayden is just bringing face masks makes me so happy. Ugh. Love it.
There will be more Noah and Logan in the NEXT chapter. Which, if I'm being real, gets pretttttty juicy... And a lot goes down. It'll be romantic and... you'll just have to wait and see.