Two Hearts: The Hunt [Slowly Editing]

Chapter Twenty-Two

Adrianna's POV

"You what?" Caleb growled in disbelief. I watched as he flexed his jaw, staring at me with stormy eyes that matched up with the clouds in the sky above.

I crossed my arms, unfazed. "You heard me. I know for sure you aren't deaf."

"I was just making sure I heard that right," he muttered, and then laughed humorlessly to himself at some inside joke. He sobered up fairly quickly and glared at me. "So you're telling me that your piece of crap car wouldn't start this morning so you walked half a mile over here instead of calling me for a ride?"

So this was where Caleb and I were at the moment. Our second day of being an "official" couple and already we were arguing more times than I could count. We were outside by his usual spot at the steps with his friends-who still weren't talking to either of us although they did enjoy checking making conspicuously obvious efforts to check me out-, except more off to the side because Caleb said he wanted to "have a word with me" after seeing me walk up to the group of jocks with everything on me minus my crappy green Jeep.

The trash can on wheels had finally found a way to screw me over for all those times I had complained about it. I got into the car as usual this morning and stuck the keys in the ignition, expecting to hear the groaning, uneven sound of my car reluctantly awakening to life. Little did I know that karma had been waiting for me, sitting in the backseat and laughing mockingly as I futilely turned the keys, trying to start it again and again. Sometimes it took a few tries to start it up but today nothing worked.

I hated how Caleb was basically mocking my words by repeating them. I groaned, frustrated.

"Yes, I did. I had no idea you would make such a big fuss about it, jeez. It wasn't even that far-"

"Not that far?" he echoed angrily, his dark eyebrows shooting up in disbelief. "Cat, you live on the other side of town. That's way more than a couple of blocks away-and in this weather? Look at you, you're even colder than usual. You should've called me."

I understood where his concern was coming from: fall was now in full swing and winter was already finding ways to seep into the early days of October, warning us of what was to come with cold breezes and overcast skies. I wasn't even wearing a jacket.

It only took me literally thirty seconds to get here to school with my vampire speed, but I couldn't tell Caleb that. Nor could I tell him that the cold weather didn't bother me at all-I hardly even sensed the chilliness of it when the wind stroked my pale skin. Taking into account the fact that my skin was already very cold, this weather was like room-temperature.

I glanced up at Caleb to see that he was looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to accept his words. As much as I hated admitting he was right, I didn't think I had a choice. Running over here like I had done was a risky thing, but I would have rather done so than have to sit around at home and drown in my own guilt in misery. At least when Caleb was around, I didn't feel like such a terrible excuse for a vampire.

I sighed, disliking that I was going to have to lie to him again. "I know, I just didn't want to make you late for class."

Caleb's hard eyes softened at my submitting words, and he placed his hands on either side of my waist, tugging me to him. The warmth that seemed to radiate off his body like an aura caressed my naked skin and caused me to shiver in pleasure.

Caleb misinterpreted it. Hugging me closer to him, he said, more calmly now, "See? You're shivering. And I don't care if I'm late for class-first period wouldn't be as interesting without you there, anyway."

His words were like boxing gloves to my heart. I felt my chest swell with both an ache and a happiness that were impossible to fit together in one place- bursting with contradiction. The only adjective I could use to describe the sensation was bittersweet. Who knew such simple words could have such a great impact on your entire being?