LATTE AT FIRST SIGHT

I never believed in love at first sight.

Here’s my philosophy in life: you love someone when you know him or her. You don’t just love someone because you take one look at his or her face and go, “Look at that cute nose/ chiseled jaw/ intense eyes! I AM SOO IN LOVE WITH HIM / She is so hot, I love her already.” Because seriously, love isn’t like that. Screw endorphins, love potions and heart-shaped chocolates.

If so, then why did I have to go and fall in love with my best friend?

It wasn’t love in first sight, that I know. He was just this cute little scruffy boy the same age as me who was the only person who deigned to speak to me first day of preschool. So he was a boy and boys had cooties. But that didn’t matter to me.

And I had to go and develop feelings for him. I don’t know how it happened. It just got to a point when I blushed every time I was around and my heart would go ba-thump, ba-thump. I learnt to curb it though, thank goodness.

Curb it or not, it was something I’d never understood, even till today. I’ve always been one to shy away from clichés. I’m not a preppy cheerleader, nor am I a gothic Goth. (real original adjective, Bri.) But him? Say the words “Caleb Chandler” to someone of the female variety (preferably one who attends Lakeview High too) and she’ll probably scream your ears off.

Yeah, so I fell in love with the captain of the varsity football team. Just shoot me.

If it wasn’t for the fact that Cal’s my best friend, I’ll probably be no one to him. In school, he sure treated me like that. Since he got on the football team, he’d taken to sitting with his other jock friends during lunch. Me? I sit outside on the bench by the tree, sometimes drawing, sometimes just thinking while I ate. No one knew that we even knew each other in person. That’s how it was.

You know that song by Nada Surf? The one that goes ‘I’m head of the class… I’m popular… I’m the quarterback… I’m popular’? I probably can never find another song that fits the bill so perfectly. Because he was a quarterback. He was head of the class. No matter how much I studied, I could never beat his 4.1 GPA.

Someone once said that popularity could ruin everything. It sure had ruined our relationship, alright. He used to give me a ride home every day after school (which is only too easy, considering I live next door to him) but now, I had taken to walking home. And you know what the worst part is?

I can’t hate him because no matter how much he ignores me in school, he doesn’t when we’re not in that tyrannical institution. The last time I talked to him was last week, when we’d been sitting out on the swings at the park. We’d laughed over memories of snowball fights when we were young, reminisced about our childhood and just basically did what best friends did.

I just wondered why he couldn’t be like this at school too…

Then something happened that changed my opinion on this. Forever.

…………..

I was walking to my locker in a grumpy mood. It was Monday. I hated Mondays, seeing as they were the start of the week. The fact that I’d accidentally dropped my favourite book into the bathtub when I had dozed off the last night only served to darken my mood even more.

As if life couldn’t get any worse, someone had to bump into me and spill her latte all over my shirt.

Great. Just great. And what was even better was that the person I’d bumped into was Airhead Cheerleader / Real-life Barbie Number One, Kristy Hanson.

Oh ho, I was enjoying this. Not.

“See what you did!!” her voice pierced the air. Everyone turned to look at us. “That latte cost almost three bucks! And I can’t survive without one in the morning. You bitch, why can’t you watch where you’re going?”

I stared at her in disbelief, latte dripping from my shirt down to the floor. That was most apparent – oh WHY did I have to wear a white shirt that very day? And what was her problem? She was the one who’d bumped into me!

“You were the one who didn’t watch where your pretty little stilettos were going and collided into me,” I shot back. “With that amount of guck on your face though, I can’t say it’s not predictable. Don’t blame me.”

Her Clinique-lined eyes widened. “You dare say that,” she breathed. “You’re going to regret that, you-“

“Hey, hey,” a deep voice intervened. Odd, that didn’t sound like a girl’s voice… right, because HE isn’t a GIRL, doofus. Mental smack on the head. Hey, wait a sec again… wasn’t that the voice of my best friend? “Don’t start fighting, the principal’s already on the edge from last week. It’s just a latte, for god’s sake. I’m sure Bri didn’t mean it.”

I didn’t bump into her! I felt like screaming. But then he shot a very quick wink at me, making my heart flutter.

Oh, right.

Kristy immediately stopped looking like the Queen of Ice Bitches, instead adopting a simpering sweet smile. I was surprised that bees hadn’t started flitting to her. “Oh, hi, Caleb,” she purred, putting a hand on his arm. I could see the well-manicured, bright pink nails gracing that particular hand, so superior to my own short, stubby ones. “We were just having a little disagreement, nothing to worry about at all. Why don’t we go over there and-“

“Brianna’s got latte down her front, Kristy,” Cal interrupted, carefully disengaging his arm from Kristy’s. I felt like pumping my hand in the air with triumph but thankfully resisted the urge to do so. “Come on, Bri, we’ll go get a new shirt for you. You definitely can’t walk into homeroom looking like that.”

“But… but…” Kristy spluttered. Caleb only put an arm around my shoulders and steered me away from the crowd, away from Kristy and her gang of cheerleaders. People were whispering and I could hear snatches of what they were saying. I heard one girl saying, “Isn’t he so cute?” as well as “He’s got some guts, no one ever rejects Kristy.”

The whispers only served to make me even more confused. They were right – no guy ever said no to Kristy. No one. But if I wasn’t mistaken, Cal just had.

What had just happened? Why was he treating me so kindly; in school, no less? I thought he always ignored me whenever we were in this building… and now, he was practically announcing to the entire school that he knew me. This had to be breaking some kind of Popular protocol.

Unusually enough, he didn’t seem to mind, if his paying attention to me suggested so.

“Cal,” I said, still being guided along to God knows where. “Where on earth are you going to find me another shirt to wear? I’m a girl, in case you didn’t know that.”

He stopped. “Of course I know. I should.” The last sentence was said under his breath but I still heard it anyway.

What was he getting at?

“I bought this for Sharon last week.” His head popped back out of his locker. “I was planning to give it to her this Saturday but since you need it more than I do, take it.”

I took the bag cautiously. Sharon was his little sister by two years. Her birthday was this weekend and I had been invited to her birthday party at the Chandlers’ house. I hadn’t wanted to go at first but in the end, I thought heck, why not? I liked Sharon and I knew she’d be bummed if I missed it.

Horrors. This was definitely not what I usually wore.

“Cal, I can’t wear this,” I said, frowning.

“Sure you can,” he said easily. “She’s about the same size as you. God forbid anyone knows that, you should stop wearing those baggy clothes.”

“They’re comfortable,” I said, looking down. My jeans weren’t even baggy! They were pretty form-fitting, though a bit on the worn side. But yeah, my shirt was baggy. So what?

It was 5 minutes till the next bell. I knew I couldn’t go around with my latte-stained shirt on, but yet I didn’t want to wear that. It looked like what Kristy would wear on a day when she couldn’t find any more other revealing clothes. It definitely would show a lot more skin than my usual clothes. To put it bluntly, I’d never wear this even when forced to at gunpoint.

Cal, however, had a different idea. Before I knew it, we were facing the girl’s washroom.

“Hey-“ I started to protest. He put his hand over my mouth (which didn’t feel bad at all) and opened the door, pushing me inside. I was still carrying the bag.

“I won’t let you out till you change into that,” I heard him say from the other side of the door.

Steam almost emerged from my ears. I gaped at the door, torn between strangling him and strangling Kristy. Why did she have to spill her stupid coffee over me?! I didn’t want to be known because I changed the way I dressed for one day. I preferred to stay invisible, thank you very much. But he just didn’t get the point.

I trudged over to the stall and resisted a shudder when I pulled out the top again. I really didn’t want to wear it but Cal had made his words clear. I couldn’t miss classes if I wanted to get into Brown after high school. I had never gotten a tardy before either and I didn’t want a first time for that. Damn it…

It took all my willpower to strip my stained shirt off and get into the top. Stepping out, I felt exposed as I looked into the mirror. My grey eyes stared back at me, reflecting my image. Weirdly enough, I looked kind of… good. The straps of the top were about an inch wide in length, which made it not exactly a spaghetti top. It was pale yellow, clinging to my body and showing off more curves than I wanted to. I never thought of myself as having big boobs but in this…

Did I dare show myself? I checked my watch. Damn. One minute to the bell.

“Bri, you done?” I heard Caleb call.

“Yeah, but I don’t wanna come outside!”

“It’s just a top,” he said impatiently. “Come on, we’re gonna be late for-“ His words trailed off as I opened the door and stepped out.

“Well? I asked nervously. “Do I look respectable?”

He ran a hand through his brown hair, still staring at me. I felt self-conscious. What was going through his mind? “I- you- it’s perfect for you.” He couldn’t seem to take his eyes off me.

I swept my blondish-brown hair back so that my locks fell behind my back. “So it’s okay?”

“More than okay,” he murmured. He sure was acting kind of weird. Then his eyes snapped to his watch. “We’d better go for homeroom. Bell’s going to ring soon-“

BRINNNGGG!!

“Oh shit!” I shrieked. Cal muttered a curse and laced his fingers through mine. He might not have felt the tingle of electricity when our fingers met, but I sure did… we raced through the corridors till we reached our homeroom. Obviously, we were late.

Mr Jenkings looked sternly over his glasses at us. “Might you explain why you two are late?” He asked in a no-nonsense voice. Caleb’s and my hands were still together and I could see people leaning over to their neighbours and pointing towards our point of connection. (our hands I mean, DON’T THINK DIRTY!!) I immediately released my grip on Cal’s hand.

“Just a little problem with the yearbook committee,” Cal lied smoothly. Did the yearbook committee even meet in the mornings? Man.

“Well, get to your seats then. Since you’re not so late, I won’t give you either of you a tardy. Try to be punctual the next time, especially you, Mr. Chandler.”

We slipped into our seats. The guy beside me eyed me with great interest. Well, was it surprising? He was used to seeing me in clothes that looked like they belonged to boys, and now, I looked a lot more feminine. Except maybe for my jeans.

“Looking good,” he whispered.

I gave him a Look. He withdrew back to his shell. Hah!

The day passed rather quickly. I actually got an invitation from Cindy Pulanski to sit with her during lunch. Cindy was pretty nice, being Russian and all. She introduced me to her friends and to my surprise, they were all in Advanced Art too. I took it in a different period from them so I’d never met them. It was great to know that there were people out there who loved Art as much as me.

For the first time, I felt like I belonged.

When Kristy passed me in the hallways, she sneered at me. I only gave her a bored look and walked off. When she deliberately tripped me in PE, I stole her make-up kit while she was taking her shower. When she was pouring on the charm to impress Nate Martin (a guard on the football team), I walked by and Nate forgot all about her, instead going after me and asking for my number. However, Cal happened to be in the vicinity and told Nate to piss off, which he did without hesitation. No one disobeyed the captain, after all.

“What’s your problem?” I asked, peeking around him to watch Nate’s retreating figure. “He seemed nice.”

“He’s just not good enough for you, Bri. He’s a player, he cheats on his girlfriends, I bet he even smokes.” His blue eyes looked at me sternly. The colour of aquamarine… what would it be like to run my fingers through his hair?

Side-tracked there. I returned to reality. Kristy had already latched onto Cal’s arm and dragged him off, throwing a victorious smile at me. If there weren’t people in the hallway, I would have stuck my tongue out at her back. B-I-T-C-H.

I forced myself not to think so much about it. I walked my customary way home, my sling bag following my rhythm. I mulled over several things as I skirted a bush, basking in the hot August sun. Something had changed when I had donned the top Cal had given me… maybe it was the acceptance by Cindy, or maybe it was the extra attention Cal was giving me. I wasn’t used to talking to him in school. In fact, I had never once talked to him outside our little circle. He was part of THE group and I was part of Nobody’s group. It was a fact I’d learnt long ago to accept.

Yet, what was it in his eyes when he’d seen me? Somehow, that look seemed so familiar… I could have sworn I’d seen that look before. But where?

I almost tripped over a cat; I was that deep in thought. In fact, I had been so deep in thought that I hadn’t heard someone beeping his horn at me.

I whipped around and saw a blue Mustang trailing after me. Hey, I recognized that car! Well duh, I saw it only every day, going up the neighbours’ drive…

Cal leant out of the open window. “Bri!” he hailed me. I went over to where he’d stopped. It was a pretty lonely drive and most people didn’t come this way so stopping wasn’t much of a problem. That particular street was lined with homely-looking semi-detached houses and most of the owners were out to work.

“What’re doing here?” I asked curiously.

He rolled his blue eyes. “Trying to catch you so I can give you a ride home,” he said as if the answer was totally obvious. “Come on.”

Confused, I got into his car. What had prompted his change of heart? I really didn’t understand guys’ minds, honestly. I’d much prefer sticking to being a girl. Though, of course, I couldn’t say much for my kind…

“You can keep that shirt,” he said suddenly. I shot a startled glance at him. Either my eyes were fooling me, or his cheeks had a pink dusting over them. Whoa, was Caleb Chandler blushing?

“You’re blushing!!” I said gleefully. “Aww, widdle little Caleb’s face is all red… what’s wrong, heat stroke?”

“Shut it, Bri,” he muttered, swinging into our street. “Or I’ll tell about how you stuffed a piece of popcorn up your nose when we were 7.”

“Dickwad,” I said light-heartedly. “Hey, then what’re you going to give Sharon?”

“I’ll think of something.” He reversed into his driveway. “You’ll be ok, right?”

“Sure, when am I not?” I hopped out. I don’t know why but I felt rather childish then. I needed to draw something, I figured. Or paint. I hadn’t painted for a long time.

“I don’t know…” I heard him say. But I didn’t pay heed to his words, instead waving a goodbye to him and going down the driveway to my house. If I was lucky, my paints would still be intact… my mother tended to be slightly nosy sometimes. Well, okay, not sometimes, a lot of times.

I surveyed myself in the hall mirror. Huh, I didn’t look half-bad. I smiled at my reflection, grabbed an apple from the bowl on the coffee table and ran upstairs to my room. It faced the backyard and I had the perfect view of the pine tree. A nice view to paint, I decided.

I threw my hair into a ponytail, changed out of my clothes (I still couldn’t decide if they were a blessing or a curse), into older ones and got out my easel and paintbrushes. After five minutes of searching, I found my paints below a pile of clothes (how they ended up there I don’t know). I made myself comfortable and started.

What I didn’t know was that the guy next door was having the dilemma of his life.

I looked at myself in the mirror. Damn it, this had been the most frustrating day of my life, in more than one way. But I faced it, just like I faced myself in the pane of glass in front of me – it had everything to do with Brianna.

Brianna. That name alone brought a smile to my face every time I thought of it. What was there to say? That I loved her beautiful, lustrous brownish-blonde hair? That I loved her eyes, how they could be hard as stone one moment and turn a beautiful silvery-grey the next? That she had my heart right in her little hands and didn’t even know it?

Maybe I was to blame. High school had been disastrous for our friendship. I had got onto varsity football and started ignoring Bri. I don’t know what possessed me to do it. Maybe it was the fun my team mates and I had. All I knew was that I seriously hurt her and yet, I’d kept hurting her. Why?

I was a coward. I didn’t want to believe that I loved her. That I had probably loved her ever since I set eyes on her. She had looked so lonely sitting in the sand-box all by herself… my younger self just couldn’t help going up to her. And now, my much older self was probably put to shame.

You cherished popularity too much… and now, you’re gonna have to pay for it.

When I’d laid eyes on her when she came out wearing Sharon’s top, I’d been struck dumb. She looked so sophisticated, yet she looked exactly the way she had. How was this possible? Her skin looked so smooth and light… it had taken all of my will-power to resist permanently attaching her to my side. I’d resorted to using that same will-power to resist punching any guy who looked at her as if she was number one on the menu. I shuddered, thinking of what would happen if she wore a skirt with that top…

Focus, Caleb, my subconscious told me. It’s your senior year. It’s college next year, for God’s sake! If you want to get into Brown with Bri, you gotta work hard…

I sighed. How had I fucked things up so bad?

I knew then that I had to confess my feelings before it was too late. But the question again was not why – it was how…

I got back to wearing my usual clothes for the rest of the week. It was as if Monday had never happened. The only thing that changed was that Cal was paying actual attention to me, to the wrath of Kristy Hanson. Cindy and her gang still welcomed me and I spent another 4 lunch periods discussing with them the finer points of Da Vinci’s works.

I was happy. But I felt that there was something missing, something that should’ve been in my life. Without it, I wasn’t content… maybe it was the attention Cal showered upon me, making me want more. I didn’t know.

Screw endorphins, love potions and heart-shaped chocolates…

“BRIANNA KIMBERLY COLLER! Are you ready or not?” My mom called.

“Yeah, yeah,” I shouted back hurriedly. Just a final touch of eyeliner… there. I surveyed myself in the mirror. I was wearing a black ripped skirt that went to just above my knee and a blue off-shoulder top. I normally didn’t even think about wearing skirts but Caleb was going to be there. I felt like I wanted to dress nicely for once so I did.

I grabbed Sharon’s present (a necklace in a little box) and put it in my purse before rushing downstairs.

“Have a good time,” Mom said, kissing my cheek. “Come home by one, okay?”

“Even if I don’t, you could always march next door and save me,” I joked. “I will, don’t worry.”

Sliding into my sandals (it was only next door so I didn’t much care about footwear), I walked down our driveway and next door. Caleb was at the door welcoming some of Sharon’s friends. Understandably, they were giggling like maniacs. Of course they would, seeing as Caleb was Mr Popularity in LHS. Never mind the fact that he was the epitome of suaveness too.

I tried not to think about how good he looked in his blue button-up shirt with sleeves rolled up and black jeans. It would only serve to delude me even more…

“Bri!” He had spotted me. I smiled and walked up to him. His eyes seemed to approve as he opened the door wider. I stepped through it, brushing against him lightly. The smell of his cologne, if not tantalizing, was definitely dangerous around me. He smelled so good; how was one supposed to resist him??

“You look good,” he said softly.

I looked up at him. At 5”4, I always felt dwarfed by him. He was 9 inches taller than me and I never failed to observe this fact. “Thanks. You too.”

“BRI!” A girl’s voice shrieked. I suddenly found myself engulfed in a hug. “You came!”

“Of course I did,” I grinned, holding Sharon at arm’s length. “Wow, you look good, gal. Any boyfriends?” I asked teasingly.

“If I had one, Cal will chase him off anyhow,” Sharon grumbled. I looked laughingly at her brother, who rolled his eyes at me.

“Come on,” she said excitedly, pulling me into the living room. I managed to get her present out of my purse, adding it to the growing pile of presents there. Sharon might not be as popular as her brother but she was generally well-liked and had plenty of friends. Unlike me.

No need to feel inferior, Bri… cheer up, you’re celebrating someone’s birthday. The least you can do is not look morose for the whole day.

I shied from the games, preferring to stand outside at the railing overlooking the backyard. I loved to watch the stars. When I was young, my grandfather and I used to sit outside till midnight just admiring the stars and constellations. It was a beautiful thing to behold.

“Whatcha looking at?” Turning around, I saw Cal joining me.

“Just the stars. I love looking at them.”

“Yeah, I remember.” He leant against the railing, his arm dangling down. “We used to look at them for hours when we were young.”

With a jolt, I realized that he was right. I had forgotten all about the many things we had done in our earlier years. Sad, but true. That meeting by the swings last week hadn’t been enough to dredge up all the memories, apparently.

“I wanted to talk to you about something,” he said suddenly, turning his head to look at me.

I blinked. “Shoot.”

“I think we’ll be more comfortable up in my room,” he said, getting up from his position. “It’s a bit chilly here, don’t you think?”

True, it was kind of cold out there. Besides, I had gone to his room many times before. There surely wasn’t any danger going there again. Skirting the group of shrieking girls, we took the stairs up to his room, oblivious to the pair of blue eyes following us.

Entering his room, I sat down on his bed. The familiar sight of his football posters and untidy desk made me feel more at ease. I turned to face him as he sat down in his swivel chair. “So, what’s up?”

He looked really cute then. Biting his lip, he looked pretty vulnerable. I was momentarily transported to our childhood days. Biting his lip had always been the first sign that he was nervous.

“I don’t suppose you remember much of what happened when we first met,” he said, eyes cast to the floor.

I frowned. “Weren’t we by the sandbox?”

“Yeah, but there’s more to it,” he said mysteriously. I really didn’t understand guy’s minds. I might be in love with him (sadly, seeing as he probably didn’t reciprocate my feelings), but no matter how much I tried, sometimes I couldn’t understand him at all.

“What more to it is there?” I asked, dusting some imaginary dust off my black skirt.

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. If he would stop doing that, I would stop wondering how it would feel to run my hands through them… darn it.

I really didn’t expect his next words.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?”

My eyes widened and my mouth opened in a slight ‘O’. My heart started doing a drum roll in my chest and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. He was staring at me with intense azure-blue eyes, the colour so like the sky.

Was he confessing that he liked…?

No. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t.

“I don’t know,” I managed to choke out. “Why?”

Cal sighed again. “It’s really embarrassing,” he said hesitantly. “It’s just that… well, I like this girl a lot. I mean a lot. When I saw her for the first time, it was like heaven opened and angels came down or something. God, I sound so cliché… it’s just that I’ve been in love with her for god knows how long but I don’t know how to ask her whether she feels for me too.”

My heart broke into a million pieces.

I should have known. It was impossible for him to be in love with me. Him, the captain of the varsity football team and all-round handsome perfectionist, in love with me? Pah! I felt ashamed at the very thought that he liked me. Perish the hope, Bri, it wouldn’t happen now that he’s confessed to loving another girl…

Why did every tragedy have to happen to me?

“Um.” I couldn’t look at him. My face felt like it was on fire. “Is the air conditioner strong enough? It feels like a furnace in here.” Nice comeback.

Cal moved to lower the temperature. “That okay?”

I tried to compose myself, folding my hands in my lap. “Yeah.”

He sat next to me on the bed. “D’you think I have a chance with this girl?”

It pained me so much to say it. “Any girl who won’t give you that chance is definitely insane, Cal. Even though I don’t believe in love at first sight… but if you think your feelings are right, I can’t stop you.”

His eyes dropped. He seemed disappointed, yet a spark of hope was evident in his eyes. I looked away, trying not to cry. Here I was, a girl who believed strongly in her causes and didn’t let little things get in her way, trying not to shed tears over a guy. Sure, I had loved him for over 5 years. But yet, it seemed as those years had come to vain…

“What if I confess to her my feelings?” he asked softly.

I cleared my throat swallowing. “Who knows? She might like you too. It wouldn’t hurt. If I was the girl, I’ll be thrilled to hear that. No girl loves a guy who dares to confess his true feelings more than she loves strawberry smoothies, or whatever.”

He laughed slightly over my last sentence. “Then you wouldn’t mind this?”

I barely had time to register his words before he took my chin gently between his thumb and index finger, leaned over and…

…Kissed me.

Needless to say, I was shocked. I had never been kissed before, let alone by the boy I loved. His lips were soft and warm on mine, tasting kind of like cinnamon. I wound my arms around his neck, recklessly kissing him back. He nibbled on my lower lip, gaining access to my mouth. Pulling me closer to his solid form, his tongue swept into my mouth to thoroughly investigate it. Oh god, he felt and tasted so good…

We broke apart for a breath. I stared at him, my eyes wide.

“What just happened?” I voiced out what I’d been thinking the day when everything had started. If I wasn’t wrong… oh God, he’d kissed me. HE’D KISSED ME!!

“I’m sorry,” he said hurriedly, standing up and throwing a hand through his hair again. “I didn’t mean to do that… “

“Wait, Cal,” I said, pulling him back down. “Why’d you do that?”

He groaned, his eyes alighting on my legs. My skirt had kind of ridden up, showing a lot of my thigh. I blushed, pulling it back down and straightening my clothing.

“So…?” I needed to know the truth. I needed to know if he shared the same feelings as me…

He seemed resigned to his fate. “I know you want to kill me now, but…” he stared off into space. “What I said just now about liking that girl? That girl’s you.”

At those words, the pieces of my heart seemed to mend themselves back together again. My hand flew to my mouth. I couldn’t believe it; had my wish finally come true? But they never did. Could I be dreaming? No, I wasn’t… I could never have imagined the scent of his cologne, how good he had tasted, how irresistibly sexy he looked.

“What?” The word came out hoarser than I wanted it to.

“I’ve loved you for so long,” he said resignedly. “The day I met you at the sandbox. I think that was the day I fell in love with you. My mom used to say that love was too strong an emotion for me to feel but I know it.” He seemed angry now. “I know I love you. But I could never figure out if you felt the same way too.” His expression was full of despair as I looked at him. “I guess I’m an idiot, huh? I pushed you away because I didn’t want to accept the fact that I really do love you. But now I know better.” He laughed weakly. “Caleb Chandler, torn up and broken over love. I should get a medal for this.”

I could only sit there in stunned shock. He loved me…

I sensed movement beside me. I turned, only to find him walking towards the door.

Where was he going…?

Oh God, I hadn’t said I loved him. He probably thought that I thought he was a lunatic. He didn’t know how much I loved him too…

I knew at that point, with absolute finality, that I loved Caleb James Chandler. There was no doubt in my mind. And I had to tell him before it was too late.

“Wait, Cal,” I called, hurriedly getting up from my position on the bed.

He turned back, eyes hollowed with loss. I smiled; he sure was a fool.

“What is it- mmph!” My lips collided with his.

He was stunned a few seconds but then slowly responded, wrapping his arms around my waist. The kiss turned more passionate by the second, filled with pent-up emotion and longing.

We could have stood there kissing for an eternity if the door hadn’t swung open.

“YES!!” Sharon’s voice cut through the air. Caleb and I pulled apart almost guiltily. “I KNEW you guys were going to get together sooner or later. This is SO perfect! Bri, you’re so petite and cute and Cal’s all tall and you two are just SO CUTE together!! Even your CLOTHES match! Oh God, I have got to go tell everyone…” she skipped away as we stood there.

Cal looked at me. I smiled up at him, feeling so happy I thought I’d burst. “I may not believe in love at first sight, but I believe that I love you, Caleb Chandler. I have for such a long time...”

Pure happiness took over his features. “You do?” he grasped my shoulders urgently.

“Do you want me to announce it to the whole world for you to believe me?” I asked teasingly.

He lowered his head till our faces were mere inches from each other’s. “No, but I believe I have something else to do,” he murmured.

Finally. Finally, our feelings were out in the open. I felt like I could overcome everything; everything seemed a thousand times brighter. How we had gone so long without knowing how we felt for each other was a mystery to me, but now that we were officially together, it didn’t matter anymore. He loved me…

I knew what was missing from my life now and it sure wasn’t those brown or white delicacies. I had found him. I knew that I needed to write a thank you note to the manager of Starbucks then. If it hadn’t been for the latte (and Kristy, unfortunately, but she did play an important role in spilling her latte all over me)… would this have happened?

Sure, I still didn’t believe in love at first sight. But that didn’t mean I doubted love as a whole.

“Do you think we’ll work out?” he wondered out loud as we lay on his bed (fully clothed, of course – NO DIRTY THOUGHTS!!). His arm was around me, making me feel protected and safe. In his arms, it seemed as if nothing wrong could happen.

Yup. Screw endorphins, love potions and heart-shaped chocolates. I had Cal and that was all I needed.

“You know what?” I smiled up at him, feeling utterly content. “I think we will.”

A/N - I will not write the epilogue, sorry people! I have a TON on my plate right now - I will be putting up a new Romance/Angst short story soon and I still need to write the next chapter of They Call it a Cliche. So don't worry, I'm not dead but I will only update TCC next week or week after next. Continue reviewing for this, you guys can cheer me up more than you know:)

-Louisa