Hunted

Malibu oatmeal

The next morning, we wake up around noon. I’m still laying on Caleb’s chest while he’s playing with my hair. 

“Good morning sunshine,” he says while he gives me a kiss on my forehead. I slowly get up and sit on the edge of the couch. 

“How long have you been awake?” I ask him.  

“Not long, maybe half an hour”. 

“Why didn’t you wake me up, we’ve been asleep for almost 13 hours. I’m sure I could have missed half an hour.” 

“You were sleeping so peacefully, and if you didn’t need the sleep you would have woken up earlier.” He is now sitting next to me, his arm around my waist. “And I like watching u sleep.” He whispers in my ear.

“Creep” I roll my eyes and stand up. “I’m going to the Slades to get some coffee; they have a new high-tech machine so I’m going to try it today. Do you want some?” I take off my pajamas and put on a black t-shirt and some grey sweatpants. In the meantime, Caleb puts on some jeans and a black hoody.

“I’m coming with you.”

” Why?”

” Because I want to.” I giggle. He can be very stubborn once he has put his mind to something. It can be very useful sometimes, but most of the time its kind of annoying.

While we are trying to figure out the new coffee machine one of the guys walks in. I have no idea which one, they look a lot alike. 

“Dude what the f**k, put on some clothes” I hear Caleb saying. “Don’t look, it’s not worth it” he whispers in my ear. Caleb is standing in front of me and I can’t see a thing. Apparently, the boy walked away because Caleb’s focus is back on coffee.

“What was that?” I ask. 

” Well, it looks like someone likes naked mud wrestling and wants to share it with everyone”.  “Sounds like a sport for you, don’t you think?”

“Do you want to see me wrestle, covered in mud?” He asks surprised. 

“I want to see you naked” I whisper in his ear while I push a button on the machine and it starts to make coffee. Caleb stands behind me and wraps his arms around me, pushing my arms against my body so I can’t move them.

”You want to do what?” He whispers gently in my ear while he kisses my neck. I feel his soft lips making their way up to mine. With his right hand, he gently grabs my chin and his left starts to wander around. He is now standing in front of me and I look him in his beautiful golden-brown eyes. He kisses me on the lips, starting slow but getting more passionate with every kiss. His left hand is pushing my body against his, while his right is behind my head, making sure not to break the kiss. 

“Coffee is ready,” I say while I escape from his grip, grab the mug, and sprint away from him.  “No, wait, come back! You can’t just leave like that! I have no idea how this thing works”

“Oh honey, I just did” I wink at him while taking a sip from the burning hot coffee.

He panics because he can’t function properly without coffee. I call it addiction; he calls it loyalty. I walk towards the living room where Cat and Edward are. I sit on the couch and I take off my very pink and fluffy crocs. 

“You look happy today,” Cat says while I take a sip of the coffee. 

“A good couple of hours of sleep, a cup of coffee and one very disappointed boyfriend was all it took,” I say, looking at Caleb struggling with the machine. After a good 5 minutes, he did something right because he is now walking towards me with a cup of coffee and a big satisfied smile on his face. We drink the coffee while talking to Cat and Edward, Cat & Ed according to Caleb. It's around 1:30 pm now and I’m getting hungry so we decide to go to the caravan.

 The door is on the right side of the longest wall, and when you come in the first thing you see are the giant storage closets on the right. I don’t know why but they are always filled with food, drinks, and alcohol, way too much for 2 people. Straight ahead is the kitchen, but nothing works except for the water. Next to the kitchen is the door to the bathroom and next to that door is another closet where I keep all of my stuff. On the left side of the caravan are a couch and a table, which you can put down to create a bed. This, however, is too much work to do alone so I always sleep on the couch. Around the couch-table combination are all kinds of cabinets where I keep my clothes. 

I open one of the storage closets to see if we have anything to eat for now.

“Eggs?” I ask Caleb who is getting comfy on the couch.

“We had eggs yesterday.”

“Pancakes?”

“Too many carbs”

“Seriously?!”

“Do we have oatmeal?”

“We don’t have milk so that’s a no.”

“Elle always uses coconut milk; don’t we have that?”

“We have Malibu, but we don’t have milk.”

“How bad can it be?”

So here we are. It is 2 pm and we are drunk from Malibu oatmeal. It tasted great, but on an empty stomach, a whole bowl of pure Malibu hit very hard. We decided to take a little nap to sober up a little so we could go to dinner somewhere. A little nap became a big nap and we wake up around 10 pm. 

Caleb tries to sit up but I think he did it a little too fast because he falls immediately. 

“Can’t we just… stay here?” He asks while he comes closer to me. He lies next to me with his arm under my head. With his free hand, he starts playing with my hair, so soft and gentle that I almost fall back asleep. 

“Too bad, I’m hungry so we need to go out and get some food.”

He starts kissing my forehead, this boy knows exactly what to do to make me stay. Small kisses turn slowly more aggressive, and within seconds he was on top of me. His legs in between mine, his muscular chest slightly on top of me. His hands start to wander around. From my waist up to my neck, then to my bra. In one quick move he opens it, but before he could take it off, I stopped him.

“I am starving”

He looks down, to his pants, and smiles.

“I mean real food”

“Party pooper” He smiles and climbs off me. “And what is the lady craving on this lovely evening then?” He tries to sound British but he fails and just starts laughing.

“Italian”

“Well, I guess we have to make a little trip downtown.”

He puts on a black shirt. It doesn’t match with his dark blue sweatpants but he never cares too much about his looks. We walked all the way downtown, which took us half an hour, to our favorite Italian place. Lucca’s, that’s how it’s called, has been our spot for over a year now. Some Italian family bought it from the previous owner and since then the place became one of the best in town. We sit down at a table near the window and immediately a young, Italian boy, comes our way.

“How may I help you today?”

“Well, I would like a glass of red wine and the Quattro Formaggio pizza please.”

“And for you, sir?” Caleb is still looking at the menu. 

“He will have the Gnocchi’s with spinach and a beer please”. I know Caleb can never decide what to eat so I have to act like his mother and choose for him.

The waiter left and we are now both staring through the window, overlooking a very busy street. We always play a game to guess what kind of person is riding the car. Most of the time it’s just the stereotypical stuff, but last week a very old lady came out of a Porsche so it’s not always what it seems.

“What did you order for me?” he suddenly says.

“A pasta/potato combination with spinach, you’ll like it. And if you don’t, I do, so I will just eat it all.” He laughs.

After a couple of minutes, the waiter came and we ate our food. Fortunately, Caleb liked it a lot and said that maybe next time he will order this again. After a lot of talking about the gym and all that stuff, we paid and decided to take a little walk through the streets. It is around midnight and the nightlife is coming to life. Everywhere you look you see clubs and their never-ending waiting lines, the drunk people who have been kicked out of the bars and a lot of taxis to try to take everybody home safely. We walk past all the mess until we see a very familiar face.

“Kaj, what are you doing here?” Caleb asks.

“Hmm… train... no, busss.”

“Let’s take this poor man home,” I say to Caleb, who already threw Kaj over his shoulder and started to carry him the long way home. He lived very close to me, so we decided to just bring him to his own home instead of mine. His girlfriend, whom we have not properly met yet, opened the door, and without saying a word she grabbed Kaj and then closed the door.

“You’re welcome you know”.

Caleb’s sarcasm is very noticeable. We just turn around and leave the building. We walk past a little park and take a right turn to exit the city and enter the property of the Slades. I open the door of the caravan and as soon as we are in the caravan, Caleb starts to undress. I just head to the bathroom and start brushing my teeth. A minute or two later he joins me, only wearing some shorts he uses as pajamas. While he is brushing his teeth, I change into my pajamas and lay in bed. While I’m almost asleep he finally joins me. He lays behind me, playing a big spoon. A very warm, sweaty, Italian, and garlicky smelling spoon.  He lays his head on my neck and I feel his warm breath on my skin. He starts playing with my hair while also softly singing a lullaby kind of song. 

“You smell like garlic” 

“I tried to wash it away but the smell lingers so long”

“That’s why you took so long to get ready for bed”

“Come on babe, just go to sleep. The sooner you sleep the sooner the garlic will be away.”

“But I don’t mind the garlic, I like the smell of it”

“I don’t. Now, go sleep”

“Sure. Goodnight, love you”

“Love you too”