The Writer | #4✓

Chapter 11

"He asked you out?" Caleb asked from the other end of the video call. We were using Skype, and I was sitting at my desk as I edited my lecture notes. I watched as Caleb smiled, his brown doe eyes looking at me with happiness. I smiled too, feeling my face grow warm under his gaze. I'd just updated him about Maxwell, and it felt great to have someone to talk to.

Ollie had gone out today. He had left early in the morning, so I did not even see him leave. He has been out and about more lately, and a bit sneaky about it too.

"Yeah," I answered with a shrug before putting my notebook aside. "We're going to see a movie together this evening," I said as my mind thought of the movie I had selected. It was a Romantic Comedy that people didn't see much, and I had picked it because it looked like what I liked to watch.

"That's great!" Caleb said as I heard a bark in the background.

"Is that Duke?" I asked, remembering the name of Toby's dog's name. Well, I guess it was also Caleb's dog now too.

"Yeah," Caleb said with a laugh, turning on his chair so that he was looking towards the direction of his door. "He's following Toby around and being a pest as usual," he laughed before turning back to me with a smile.

I laughed, realizing how much Toby grumbled about the dog, but he seemed to like him a lot since he kept him around.

"So, apart from watching a movie what else are you going to do on your date?" Caleb asked, making me come out of my thoughts. I bit my bottom lip before shrugging.

"I don't know," I said, looking down at my lap as I played with my fingers. "What do you and Toby do on dates?" I asked, looking up to find Caleb's head cocked to the side in thought.

"We watch cartoons." I found myself chuckling at his reply before letting out a sigh.

"Really?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

"Yeah," he said as he ran a hand through his dark brown hair. Caleb had this innocent air around him. I wished I could be like that, maybe I wouldn't be as nervous and out of it as I am. I wonder what Maxwell's doing now. I thought, wondering if he was just as fidgety as I was. It was a Saturday so that probably wasn't the case. He had a lot of friends, so maybe he was hanging out with them. He did tell me to meet him at the bus stop at seven.

"You two are boring," I laughed, making Caleb put before he chuckled as well. When our laughter died down he started humming. We weren't saying anything to each other, but there was just something about looking at each other from the video. It felt homey like we were sitting across from each other on a table.

"I need some advice, like general pointers," I said all of a sudden, making Caleb look up from his drawing pad to me. "Like, relationship advice. You and Toby seem to be doing well."

"Oh," Caleb said, rubbing the back of his neck before biting his bottom lip. "I think in summary all I can say is, don't be selfish. Like, try to make accommodations for the person, but don't let them step over you."

Caleb rested his head on his table. "It's easy to think me, me, me, but you're interested in a person, not a stick of charcoal or something, so you have to be considerate."

"Thanks," I said with a smile when Caleb rose his head.

"It's no problem," he said before he soon fell back on the silence.

Some time passed, and I turned to my phone when I heard it vibrate on the table. Caleb seemed to have heard the noise as well since he was looking through the camera instead of down at his drawing pad.

I picked up my iPhone before unlocking the screen and checking the notifications. I clicked the message from Maxwell, and my face grew warm when I read it.