Take it All (Blinded by Love) (5 page)

Lennox’s parents were saying their goodbyes when the two of them approached. Caleb’s mom pulled Lennox into a hug and promised her they’d come back and visit when they could and that she could call anytime she wanted. Lennox’s mom did and said the same to Caleb before they walked away, leaving Lennox and Caleb to say their goodbyes to each other.

Caleb pulled Lennox into a hug, not saying anything, not wanting to say goodbye to her at all. They held onto each other, silently promising they’d see one another again, soon, before the horn to the SUV sounded, startling the two of them. Caleb pulled back, then leaned in and placed his lips on the tip of her nose before quickly turning around and jumping into the SUV.

Stunned, Lennox touched her nose where Caleb’s lips had touched, as she watched the SUV pull away from the curb, with the moving truck following suit. She felt the warm tears begin to roll down her cheeks again as she stood in front of Caleb’s old house and waved until both the SUV and moving truck rounded the corner and disappeared.

That was the last time Caleb and Lennox saw one another. After he moved, he never made it back to Spruce Hill. They talked on the phone everyday for the first three months, then life got in the way and soon it became a few days a week then eventually turned into once a week then over time the calls stopped. It was a two way street, wasn’t anyone’s fault that it happened, they both understood that, being so far apart it could happen, and as much as they didn’t want it to happen, it had been inevitable.

Standing in Fizzy Wigs, Caleb looked into the honey eyes he had known so many years ago and was hit with a wave of anticipation and happiness; feelings he hadn’t felt in so long, possibly since that day in September he left Spruce Hill. He saw that she had her purse and jacket slung over her arm, and realized before he walked in she was on her way out, that she had been sitting there since seven, waiting for him, and he instantly felt like an asshole.

As he began walking in her direction, weaving in between tables, he watched as her lips moved slightly as she said something to herself, before they pulled into a soft smile, and her eyes not moving away from his the closer he got. Before he knew it he was standing in front of her, all six foot one of him towering over her five foot five frame. Smiling at each other, he shoved his hands inside his jeans pockets as he took in the sight of her up close.

How he didn’t recognize her in the picture she sent him, he’ll never know. But seeing her up close, being only an arm’s length away, he knew, without a doubt, it was Lennox, and she looked the same as she did the last time he saw her, only now she was grown up and more beautiful.

“Lox,” he said, his lips pulling into a half grin as he watched her eyes brighten and dance with exhilaration.

“Caleb,” she breathed out, not knowing what else to say as her eyes roamed over his face, taking in his tussled dark hair and the light scruff that had grown over the past couple days from not shaving.

“I’m an asshole,” he blurted out, catching her off guard. A soft laugh sounded from him as he watched her brows furrow together, her expression changing to confusion. “For being late, I’m an ass for making you wait.”

Lennox’s face softened as she said, “You were never one for being on time, Caleb.” A grin pulling on the corner of her lips followed.

He laughed again, louder this time, “Yeah, I guess I wasn’t, was I,” he said then motioned to the booth next to them and they slid in on the bench across from one another.

Lennox laid her purse and jacket back down next to her then looked across at Caleb, and watched as he shrugged off his leather jacket. She watched as his toned, defined arm’s slid out of his jacket, and his plain white shirt pulled tightly across his chest, displaying his broad shoulders. Her eyes lingered on his well-built body a moment before his completely tattooed right arm caught her attention as he lifted it, resting it on the table in front of her.

She could see, through his white shirt that it started on his shoulder and went all the way down, stopping just above his wrist. His arm was like a scene from the movie King Kong, showcasing the climbing of the skyscraper like a piece of art, perfectly executed and blended to perfection in complete black and white while including the police cars surrounding the building all in fine detail. It was a gorgeous tattoo, very simple with not much to it but it was all in the fine detail the artist had included to make it come to life.

Lennox looked up and met Caleb’s gaze that was watching her carefully, his face soft and unreadable. “Gorgeous work,” she said, her eyes moving back to his defined arm.

Caleb followed her eyes to the tattoo on his arm and smiled to himself. “Thanks, it took a little bit of time to actually finish it,” he said, looking back, their eyes meeting.

“Why King Kong; is there a special meaning behind it?” she asked.

Caleb’s gaze fell back to the art work on his arm, knowing why he had gotten it and the reason behind his Kong, but having never told anyone the real reason. He shrugged his shoulders with a grin and said, “He’s a badass.”

Lennox laughed and rolled her eyes, “A typical guy answer.”

Caleb chuckled and motioned with his head to the coffee counter. “I’m gonna grab a coffee, want anything?”

“A honey vanilla bean latte with an extra shot of espresso?” she smiled pleadingly at him.

“You got it, be back,” he said, then slid out from behind the booth and made his way up to the counter that already had a line up.

Lennox watched as he joined the line-up, his back to her. It had been ten years since she saw or spoke to Caleb, and now he was standing a few feet away from her, ordering her favorite latte. She wanted to pinch herself, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming; that she wasn’t going to wake up and end up meeting someone else in the wake of it. But looking over at Caleb, and at the same moment he turned his head and looked at her over his shoulder, grinning, that she knew she wasn’t dreaming, that it really had been him who walked through the doors and she wasn’t going to wake up disappointed.

Smiling sheepishly back at him she turned her head and focused on the table in front of her, trying to wrap her head around how the guy she had met online weeks ago had turned out to be, of all people, Caleb. She wasn’t sure what it meant, or if it meant anything at all. She had no idea what or if anything was going to come of this unexpected surprise.

She went on the date without having any expectations and only being mad at Tatum for going behind her back and setting it up with a guy she barely knew. She was sure it was going to turn out to be a horrible experience, but now, having Caleb Kingston walk back into her life, completely unexpected, was a game changer, a game changer she wasn’t sure about, one she was becoming nervous about.

It wasn’t just some guy she could sit across from and get to know with the possibly of seeing where it went; if it didn’t she could go her own way. No, this was Caleb and he was a different story. They had history, they’d been close once, and he was a big part of her childhood; he had been her best friend– her only friend at one time. So sitting there in the booth, waiting for him to return, she began to panic and feel sick to her stomach when realization struck that she was on a date; on a date with Caleb and it wasn’t as if they could sit there and talk about their pond and how many frogs they used to catch. They weren’t kids anymore, and things were different. She only knew the Caleb who used to run over first thing in the morning wanting to play or go catch frogs at their special pond in the forest. She knew the young boy who loved peanut butter cookies but hated peanut butter sandwiches, unless it was paired with blueberry jelly with the crust cut off, and that he loved his superheroes and comic books. She didn’t know if he still liked any of that, she didn’t know anything other than people change, and sometimes not for the best. There was no stopping change so she had no idea what to expect from him. She didn’t know whether to feel excited at getting to know this grown up version of Caleb or be completely terrified and find out that all she knew about him back then was not who he was now.

She could see him, from the corner of her eye, making his way back to the table with two coffee cups in his hand. Turning her head, she watched as he sauntered towards her. As he was getting closer, the excitement and anticipation outweighed the terrified and it didn’t matter if he no longer liked peanut butter cookies or if he liked crust on his sandwiches. None of it mattered because it meant she would get to know Caleb all over again, and if he was anything like he was back then, she knew she wasn’t going to be disappointed.

“Honey vanilla bean latte with an extra shot of espresso,” he said, placing her cup down in front of her before sliding back into his side of the booth.

“Thanks,” she said, unable to wipe the smile off her face as she brought her cup to her lips, blowing on the top before taking a small sip.

“Okay, that’s it, you need to answer a question for me,” Caleb blurted out after taking a sip of his drink and placing the cup back down in front of him, wrapping both hands around it.

Lennox sat back in her spot and looked at Caleb with raised eyebrows and said, “Yes, the frog pond is still there and no, I don’t spend my Saturday’s catching frogs,” she said teasingly as she took her cup in her hand, bringing it back up to her lips.

“No, that’s not my question,” he said laughing, “but I’m glad it’s still there. We’ll have to go back and see it sometime, but what I was going to ask was, what the hell is wrong with the guys in this town? They blind or gay or just complete nut tards?” he asked, tilting his head to the side and eyeing her intently.

Hearing Caleb’s question caused her to suck in a breath and almost choke on her latte. Coughing, she placed her cup down shaking her head and looked at him as she gasped out, “Excuse me?”

“Shit, sorry, you okay?” he asked looking at her carefully.

Lennox nodded and looked at him, waiting for him to continue on with what he meant by his question. “What I meant was,” he paused, taking a sip of his coffee and mulling it over before he said, “you’re single.”

Slowly nodding her head, she smiled at him, “Yeah, I believe we went over this a couple conversations ago,” she said confirming his statement.

He looked down at the cup in his hands, “That was before I knew it was you,” he said almost like he was talking to himself.

“What’s the difference?”

Caleb’s face softened as he lifted it up and his eyes locked with hers. “It’s you Lox, something... just... doesn’t seem right, that’s all.”

Her eyes darted away from his and found the dark chocolate brown table top as she felt her face heat. “I don’t know what to say,” she said, feeling slightly embarrassed, and remembering that they had a conversation about dating and that she had come out and told him everything about not being experienced in the dating world. She also told him everything about not dating much all through high school and even now, she had told him everything except that night she went out with Tatum.

Sensing her discomfort, Caleb reached across the table and placed his large hand over hers. The moment his flesh touched hers, the electricity pulsated between them, sending waves of heat cascading over their bodies, illuminating them like a bright blue flame that was invisible to everyone but them. They could feel the connection between them burning hotter and deeper, but neither one of them pulled away. Her eyes dropped to watch his soft, yet rough hand wrap over the top of hers; his thumb moving slowly, gently, over the back of her hand, creating small invisible circles and she instantly relaxed

“Their loss,” he said pausing, and she could feel his gaze move over her face and her eyes lifted and met his now dark azure ones, “is my gain,” he declared.

Lennox opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of a cell phone ringing close by. Hearing it, she knew it wasn’t hers, and that it had to be Caleb’s. His hand moved from hers, the warmth gone, as he dug inside his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone and looked at the screen. Lennox watched as his eyes flared. His face hardened and his jaw clenched then relaxed before he spoke, “Sorry, I have to take this.”

“It’s okay.”

Caleb flipped open his phone and placed it to his ear, answering with a, “Yo, what’s going on?”

Lennox sat across from him, watching his facial expression stay stony as he listened to the person on the other line. “Yeah, I gotcha,” Caleb said, looking anywhere but at her. “Yo, just shoot me a text with the address, and I’ll be there,” he continued listening before saying, “Peace.” He flipped his phone shut and dropped it on the table.

“Is everything okay?”

Caleb ran his hand through this hair a few times before finally making eye contact with her. “Just a work issue I gotta go sort out,” he said vaguely, not looking the least bit impressed.

“It’s okay, I understand, its work,” Lennox smiled softly, shrugging her left shoulder.

“You really are something,” he said in disbelief and slightly amused. “I show up late, so late I was sure I was going to walk in here and find you had left a long time ago but you hadn’t and now, you’re cool with me having to split. Like I said, guys around here are jacked.”

Lennox’s head fell back as she let out a laugh. “Would it make you feel better if I told you that, if it was anyone else, I wouldn’t be so cool with it?

“Ya, then I’d know for sure that I’m special,” he said with a grin. Their eyes locked and held on to one another for what felt like an eternity before Caleb motioned, with his head, towards the front door, “Walk out with me?”

Without thinking the word slipped out as she said, “Always.” A shy smile danced across her lips before she grabbed her purse and jacket that were lying next to her and slid out of the booth.

Grinning, Caleb grabbed his leather jacket and quickly jumped out of the booth. Standing close to Lennox, who was about to slip her black button up jacket on, he reached out and took it in his hands. “Let me,” he said, holding it open for her as she slid her arms in.

“Why, Caleb Kingston, when did you become such a gentleman?” Lennox teased in a southern accent, as she flipped her hair out and let it fall down and around her shoulders, as she turned to face him, smirking.