Right Where She Belongs

Chapter Eight

[Caleb's P.O.V]

After Adrian dropped me off at home, I was restless. Mum was doing a late night shift at the hospital and Kyle was staying over a friend's house, leaving me alone to wallow in self pity.

It was becoming more and more apparent that me and Adrian would ever be more than friends. And not just because I knew she didn't feel the same towards me that I did towards her either. She was lying to me, I could feel it. And it wasn't just the Jason thing. It was disconcerting to know that something was seriously disturbing her, even more disturbing knowing she wasn't going to tell me. I hated that she was lying to me. Every time she smiled that fake smile and said "I'm fine", knowing she wasn't...it made me want to slam my fist into a wall.

Yet...I was lying to her, too, wasn't I? By not admitting my feelings, I was doing just that, wasn't I?

I growled, pacing the length of my room, ignoring the familiar twist of guilt in my gut. It would be hypocritical to be angry at her for lying to me when I was doing the exact same thing to her.

Deciding I couldn't be cooped up in the house for much longer, I grabbed my leather jacket that I had carelessly thrown over my desk chair when I first entered the room. Grabbing the house keys in my other hand, I rushed out of the house, eager to leave my guilt and worry behind me.

And thoughts of Adrian.

Half an hour later I found myself standing outside of the Cafe. The Cafe had some fancy french name that no one could pronounce so everyone had resulted to calling it the 'Cafe' or the 'Coffee Shop', giving up embarrassing themselves in the process.

Shouldering my way through the doors, I immediately flopped down on one of the unoccupied tables, too conflicted to care about the way the girl from Saturday afternoon kept sending me flirty looks.

Adrian Adrian Adrian Adrian -

I clenched my fists tightly, biting down hard on my tongue. I tasted blood but even the sharp, biting pain wasn't enough to distract me from thoughts of her warm chocolate eyes, button nose that would wrinkle adorably whenever she tried to act angry-

I growled again under my breath. I felt like I was a prisoner, caged and restless.

But the terrible thing was that I was in a cage in my own heart, as corny as that sounds. My love for Adrian was strangling me, the guilt weighing so heavily on me I could barely stand it.

Lord, give me strength.

"Um, hi," the petite waitress stood before the table with a hesitant look on her face. Gone was the flirty waitress, now wary of the big brooding teenager. "Can I get you anything?"

I wanted to yell at her, to demand she take away the pain of unrequited love.

But I wasn't that desperate.

Not yet, anyway.

And it wasn't like she had that kind of power.

"Just a coffee, thanks," I mumbled, scrubbing a hand across my face.

Instead of scampering off like I expected her too, she hesitated.

"Listen," she said after a long pause. "I don't know what kind of problems you're going through, but let me just tell you one thing," she paused long enough for me to lift my head and look at her with pained eyes. Her smile was soft and sweet. "It won't stay this way for long."

Yeah, I wanted to scoff. You don't know the half of it.

Instead, I found myself smiling back. "Thanks," I said truthfully. "I appreciate that."