“No, no. I told you before I don’t want you to go.” My words come out a little more desperate than I would like and I add on, “Mila already has a place to live. A friend of hers from school is also transferring and they’re living together.”
“The house is small, Ruby,” he presses as we continue to walk back home.
“I know it is, but it isn’t so small now that we’re roomies.” Now it’s me tossing an elbow into his side.
“But what if you want to bring a guy home?”
“What if you want to bring a girl home?” I shoot back, pursing my lips.
“I don’t want to bring anyone home. I like hanging out with you,” he says, his words far quieter than normal and it almost feels like he didn’t want me to hear them.
“Same here,” I respond. “And tonight, if you can’t sleep at Reid’s house, come home to me.”
Before he can reply to what I’ve just said, Mila comes screeching out of the house, all tan skin and dark hair flying as she runs up to me, throwing her arms around my neck.
“I missed you!” she yells, practically knocking me to the ground.
“I missed you too, but I didn’t miss your loudness,” I reply, wrinkling up my nose at her as we all head back in the house.
“So what’s on the agenda for tonight?” Mila asks and Sienna jumps in spouting off a ton of ideas. None of which are nail painting or doing each other’s hair and I catch Caleb’s eye, smirking at him as he laughs.
“I’m going to head over to Reid’s place because I think I need boobs to join this party,” he says, tossing a thumb in the direction of where Reid lives.
“You don’t have to go,” I say and Sienna immediately starts laughing and pointing an accusing finger at me.
“He does need to go because I think you two need a break from each other. You’re starting to make me think you’re worse than Reid and me.”
I roll my eyes, but she does kind of have a point, something I guess I never considered since we aren’t a couple. We have become close and being apart is hard, not just for me but for him too. I worry about him sleeping alone at Reid’s. I worry he won’t come home if he needs me and I think that’s the part I have trouble coping with.
Caleb disappears into the bedroom to pack his things as Mila, Sie and I sit down at the kitchen table to hammer out our weekend plans. Sienna has already opened a bottle of wine, which more than likely means we won’t be going anywhere. Honestly, I’m totally fine with that. Maybe we all just need a night in.
With his bag now packed, Caleb walks over and kisses both Sie and I on the head as he gets ready to leave and when he walks out the door, my heart clenches in my chest.
Is it weird that I miss him already?
Chapter Twelve
Caleb
I end up heading into work early. Reid and his roommates had long gone by the time I got to his house; traveling somewhere for their game that required an overnight stay. Staying at Sie’s house hadn’t really felt like an option either, not with Mila now in town and the three of them having a girl’s night together.
It had been weird to wake up this morning and face Ruby’s sister. We hadn’t had a chance to meet when she’d got in the night before and this morning was kind of awkward with Ruby not around and me sleeping in her bedroom. Thankfully Sie had been enough of a buffer that I hadn’t gotten too much of an interrogation. Although I had a feeling it was coming given the way Mila kept looking sideways at me.
“Hey,” Ken, the owner says as I walk in. “You’re early?”
“I know, actually I wanted to talk to you about that manager’s position you have open,” I say, realizing this is the perfect excuse for why I’m here before my shift starts. “Whether you’d consider me for it?”
Ken nods as he walks toward me, slinging a towel over his shoulder. “You used to manage a bar back in Rhode Island, right?” he asks and I feel myself tense at what I know is coming next.
“Yeah, I did.”
“For how long?”
I let out a breath. “Two years,” I tell him, even though we had to say it was Joe running the place on account of me being underage. “But the place went under just before I moved here,” I add, trying to stave off the obvious questions I know are coming. “Owner drove it into the ground.”
I don’t elaborate, not bothering to fill him in on the fact that the owner was my dad, a drunk and a gambler, who managed to get himself so far in debt he was forced to go to a ruthless loan shark, who happens to be my best friend’s dad, for help.
Of course that all went south quickly, leaving my dad dead, me beaten to shit, Reid’s dad in jail and both the family bar and our childhood home long gone.
Probably best not to mention any of that stuff.
“Okay,” Ken says. “Well, we haven’t had any takers on it, and I like what I’ve seen with you and your work ethic so far, so if you’re happy to work a trial period, I’m willing to consider it.”
I’m nodding before he even finishes talking. “Absolutely,” I tell him.
“Great,” he says smiling. “Well, let’s start now, huh?”
I spend the hours before my shift actually starts going through the books and shift roster with Ken. It’s all pretty straight forward and similar to how things were back home. Ken is thorough and meticulous with his books, but also open to ideas about the place and when he asks me if I have any suggestions on how to improve things, he actually listens, jotting down a few notes before telling me to make it happen.
Before I realize, he’s heading out just as Adam walks in and the place quickly starts to fill with the busy Friday night crowd of a college bar. I keep my eyes on the door, wondering if Ruby, Sie and Mila are going to show.
Despite me suggesting it to Ruby as we walked home after her class, considering they started drinking in the afternoon, I’m not holding out hope.
“Man, this place is pumping tonight,” Adam says as he pulls on the tap of our cheapest beer, filling a glass.
“I know,” I tell him. “And the football team isn’t even here.”
Adam grins, his eyes spanning the room as he slides the beer toward a guy waiting at the bar. “Which means less competition for the ladies,” he says, winking at me.
I shake my head at him, even though I’m smiling.
“What,” he scoffs. “Not interested or still pretending you don’t fancy that roommate of yours?” he asks, laughing. “Oh, speak of the devil,” he now says, his eyes lighting up.
I look up, my heart suddenly pounding in my chest as I see my sister, Ruby and Mila walk into the bar. Their eyes scan the room and when they catch sight of me, they wave excitedly and walk over, Sie slamming her hands on the bar with a big grin on her face that suggests she’s drunk.
“Sienna,” I say, smiling.
“Caleb,” she replies playfully, jumping up on the foot rail around the bottom to lean over the bar over and kiss my cheek.
I chuckle. “Seems you might be a little drunk,” I tell her.
“Nope,” she says, shaking her head. “Just happy to see you.”