It All Started With A Dare

Chapter fifteen

Chapter fifteen
"Just another ex," I sang quietly, shoveling more ice cream into my mouth.
I was currently sitting on the island table in sweats, an old tank top, and a messy bun. My legs dangled off the edge as I watched Caleb attempt to fix our leaky pipe under the sink. He'd been trying to for at least a half an hour, with no luck. I was there for moral support, and by that, I mean was there to annoy him. I'd been making fun of him and screaming song lyrics at the top of my lungs the entire time. I don't know how I hadn't driven him insane yet.

I swayed from side to side as I hummed to the music. Caleb sat up, an annoyed look on his face. I chuckled, "Did you fix it, yet?" I teased, for the tenth time.

He shot me a dirty look, "Not yet,"

I stabbed my spoon into the ice cream and got a chunk on it for Caleb. I held it out to him. He took the spoon from me and ate the ice cream before handing the spoon back.

He sighed, "Okay," and went back under the sink.

"Are you sure you know how to fix a sink?" I questioned him. I tilted my head and smiled.

His mother had volunteered him to fix the sink for us, without Caleb's knowledge. "I thought I did," he muttered.

His phone buzzed beside me. "Uh, you got a text," I informed him.

He grunted as he messed with the pipe. I couldn't even tell what he was doing at that point. "What does it say?" he questioned.

I hit the home button to illuminate the screen. The text solely said 'Attachment: 1 image'. "It's just a picture from a random number,"

He raised his eyebrow, "Okay," he paused, "What's the image of?"

It wouldn't show the image with the phone locked, "Your phone's locked,"

He didn't hesitate, "Oh the password is Everly's birthday. It's zero-four-one-two,"

I picked up his phone and typed in his password. His home screensaver was a picture of me, Vikki and Evan. It was from when we went camping; the three of us were walking along the trail. I hadn't even realized he had taken the picture.
I clicked the green messenger button. It pulled up a list of all the people he'd texted recently. The first person was the unknown number, below that was my name listed as Scarlett with a yellow rose beside it. I clicked the random number. My face dropped. A picture of the girl from the home video popped up on the screen. Caleb's ex-girlfriend, Lexi. Beside her was the guy from the video, Caleb's best friend. The two of them were topless as they kissed. At the bottom of the picture, it read 'You should have taken the chance when you had it'.

My stomach churned. Lexi seemed like a horrible excuse for a human being. There was no way I could let Caleb see this. It would break his heart, again. I considered deleting the text while I had his phone but, let's face it, there was no way that was going to work. "What is it Scarlett?" he questioned.

I hesitated. What am I going to tell him? I really didn't want him to see the message, but I didn't have much of a choice, "It's nothing,"

He drew his eyebrows together and sat up, "You're a really bad liar, Love,"

I laughed nervously and stared at his phone screen, "Really, it's nothing,"

He stood up and walked over to me. I slid the phone behind me and basically sat on it. "Scarlett," he warned.

He stood in between my legs and leaned in closer in an attempt to grab his phone. I leaned back and pushed the phone underneath me. "You really don't want to look at it," I frowned.

He chuckled, "It can't be that bad, Love,"

Yes it can. He leaned in closer. I was basically laying down on the island to get away from him. He sighed and wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me up off the counter. A small squeal escaped my lips as I instinctively wrapped my legs around his waist, "Caleb! I'm serious you shouldn't look at it," I tried to explain.

He chuckled, "I'm a big boy, Love, I can handle it,"

He used one hand to grab his cell phone while his other arm supported me. His smile dropped almost immediately as he saw the picture. I could feel his blood go cold, his arm losing its hold on me. I slowly started to fall down. "Shoot!" His attention was drawn back to me as he lifted me back up.

"It's okay," I dropped my legs and stood up.
He stared emotionlessly at the wall. His body was stiff. "Caleb," I whispered.

My attention was quickly drawn away from Caleb by a loud growl that had come from my cat in the other room. I knew that sound all too well: it was the sound she made when she was destroying a pair of shoes. My mind went into full blown panic. I had left my combat boots by the back door. The combat boots Carolyn had given me. I heard a second growl as she took another chunk out of them and with it a piece of my soul.

Caleb rubbed his face, "I'm fine, Scarlett,"

I took his hand, forgetting all about my shoes. They could wait, they were just shoes after all. "You're not fine,"

He closed his eyes and leaned against the island, his chest heaving as he tried to take deep breaths. I took a spot next to him. I was never good with words so I just simply stood by him. He didn't seem like he wanted to talk right now.

I took the phone from his other hand. He let it go easily. I set it on the counter next to me, after deleting the photo, and gave his hand a gentle squeeze. The two of us stood in absolute silence. Caleb's hand shook slightly in mine. I held it tighter to steady it. His face remained completely stiff. "I should have listened to you," he finally spoke.

I shook my head, "She doesn't deserve you, she never did,"

He reached his hand out. I placed his phone in it and watched as he unlocked his phone and firmly blocked Lexi. "You're right,"

He let out a deep breath and cracked a small smile, "Alright, we still have a sink to fix," he paused and gave me a weird look, "Is your cat okay?"

I made my voice exceptionally cheerful, "Yep," I popped the 'p', "she's just enjoying a pair of shoes,"

Caleb's eyes widened. I walked calmly over to where the sound was coming from. Sure enough, my combat boots were firmly in her grip, now even more beaten and torn than before. One shoe had been completely shredded, the other was still mostly intact. Bella could be vicious sometimes.

I thought I would be sad when I saw the shoes, or angry, or any other emotion but instead I was just simply numb, completely empty inside. I had just lost another piece of Carolyn.

Caleb stared at me with a horrified look on his face, "Love, I'm so sorry,"

I shrugged and attempted to grab what was left of my boots. Bella stared up at me with her best innocent face. She let go of the shoe and wined. Her deep sapphire eyes stared up at me in sorrow. Her eyes almost matched Caleb's. I chuckled at the thought, "It's okay, I needed a new pair anyway,"

I headed back over to the front door and placed the shreds of my shoes on the clear holder. I didn't own another pair of shoes so as for what I was going to wear the rest of the week shall remain a mystery. "Let's go finish the sink!" I cheered.

He grinned, "You mean I'll fix the sink and you'll make fun of me," i could tell he was trying to lighten up the mood.

I nodded enthusiastically, "Don't forget, I feed you ice cream. I am a crucial part of the process, Caleb Hunter,"

A/N
This chapter is dedicated to @silentgirl209 she requested and update and since this chapter was fairly short I figured it wouldn't hurt to update a few days early.

Had the first day of swimming tryouts today! I hope they went well... I was on the team last year but due to COVID they have to make more cuts.

Okay, on this book becoming a sample: how do we feel about it? I really want your guys opinion on this because you guys mean the world to me and I want to do what makes you guys happy.

This book has twenty chapters, if it were to become a sample it would maybe end on chapter sixteen? Not sure though.

Let me know what you guys think :)

Lots of love,
Rachelle <3