7 - Kiss

The walk home with Cale was filled with tense silence. I wanted to ask him why he followed me, but I didn’t think I wanted to know the answer.

“How long are you staying here?” Cale asked, breaking the silence.

“I don’t know, I’m playing it by the ear,” I replied.

“We have classes,” he reminded me.

“And I can miss a couple of them.”

“If you’re staying here because of me--”

I cut him off, “I’m not, Cale. I don’t think you understand that I get it. We aren’t going to happen. I just came here to visit my parents, which I do quite regularly. Sometimes, everybody needs a break from life.”

“What if you can’t get that break?” Cale almost whispered, and I looked at him in disbelief. He was having an actual conversation with me. I couldn’t believe it.

“Then you try,” I shrugged, “Not everything is going to work out the way you want, and there’s always going to be something that’ll demand your attention, but you need to make time for you. No one else is going to make you do that.”

“And your version of that is coming home to your parents?” There was more curiosity in his voice than anything else.

“A part of it, yes,” I responded, “I also read a lot, and I try to go on hikes and runs when I’m feeling overwhelmed.”

“That sounds good,” Cale asked, “Maybe--” he stopped himself before he could continue.

Maybe what? I wanted to ask him. But I knew better than that. If I pushed, this conversation would be over. I stayed quiet, and so did he. We reached home, and I locked up the door when he came in.

“Should I show you where the guest room is?” I asked, turning around and looking at him.

“No, thank you, your mom got me settled in when you were sleeping,” he replied, looking over at me with curiosity.

“What?” I felt very self-conscious.

“Can I ask you something without you getting mad?” he asked, and maybe I was imagining it, but I heard the innocence in his voice.

“Yes?” I was still very cautious.

“Did you hope that Joey would be your mate?” Holy fuck. I was not expecting that question. I stared at him in complete surprise.

“Yes,” I answered, and I instantly saw his face fall. Just a second later, he looked normal.

“Were you sad when it wasn’t him?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. Was I sad? No. Was I surprised? Yes.

“No,” I said slowly, “I wasn’t sad. And neither was he. We knew that we would get to know if we were mates when we turned eighteen, so we decided to never take our relationship to anything beyond friends. I think we were surprised, but not sad.”

Cale nodded, “Thank you.”

“For?” I frowned.

“Being honest with me,” he said, “You didn’t have to.”

“Anytime, Cale,” I responded, “I’ll always be honest. All you have to do is ask.”

“Goodnight, Lisa,” Cale said after a minute. I smiled at him and he walked up the stairs.

Since I had spent the majority of the day sleeping, I was still wide awake. I decided to watch my favourite movie of all time Tangled. I knew all the songs and dialogues, but this movie was a comfort watch for me. I snuggled on the couch with a blanket, putting on the movie.

Since no one was around me, I sang the songs loudly, added my commentary on some scenes and yelled at Rapunzel for believing her witch of a mother. I also sighed every time Flynn Ryder came on to the screen, wishing out loudly that I would marry him in a heartbeat.

Halfway through the movie, I went into the kitchen to make some popcorn. As I waited for the popcorn to pop, I heard Cale behind me.

“Hey.”

I turned around, “Hey, sorry, did I wake you up?”

“No,” he said, looking at me weirdly.

“Okay,” I said, not sure why he was here. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to apologise,” Cale stated.

“For?” I was so confused.

“Everything,” he looked very uncomfortable, “I wish I could explain everything to you, but I cannot. And I do hope you’ll be able to forgive me in the future.”

I wasn’t expecting that. Cale being nice to me wasn’t something I saw happening. Cale apologising to me? This was beyond my wildest fantasies.

Since he was being honest, I decided to be honest with him. “I’m not going to say that it doesn’t hurt me, Cale, but I do understand. We don’t choose our mates, and sometimes, it might not be what's best suited for us. I know one day I’ll forgive you. I hope you find true happiness with someone too.”

I smiled at him. The microwave beeped and I turned around, taking the bag of popcorn out. This felt good, like closure. I turned around, almost smacking my face into Cale’s chest. His arms went around me to stop me from falling. I looked up at his face, and saw wonder there. It was as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“Cale?” I whispered, not knowing what to say or do. His arms were like a vice around me. I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.

He didn’t say anything. He bent down, his lips capturing mine. I was shocked. His lips were soft and hesitant. This was the first time he was kissing me like this. It was as if he was asking me for permission. I dropped the popcorn bag and my hand moved to his hair as I kissed him back. I had never been kissed like this in my life. It was full of passion, it was soft, but hard enough to make me tingle. His hands went to my waist, and everywhere he touched it was like electricity.

I pulled on his hair, standing up on my tiptoes to reach him. I gasped as his hands moved across my stomach. The gasp was enough for him to slip his tongue into my mouth. We were glued together, and in that moment I knew what the big deal about mates was. The sound of a door closing made him pull back from me so abruptly I almost fell down.

Regret. That was the only expression on his face. I wanted to cry. This was not how I envisioned this ending.

Before he could say anything, I faked a smile, “Hey, one last kiss goodbye, right?”

Disbelief filled his face, “Y-Yeah,” he replied, almost running out of the kitchen.

I took a deep breath. I did not want to cry. I was not going to cry. Robotically, I picked up the popcorn and walked into the living room, turning on the movie. I could only see colours on the screen, I didn’t even know what was happening with the movie. Tears flowed down my face, and I was blank. I could curse Cale, but what good would come out of that? It was only when the main door opened that I snapped out of my stupor. I wiped my tears, and pasted a smile on my face.

“Lisa, why are you still up?” Dad asked.

I turned around, hoping that they couldn’t see my tears in this darkness, “I was watching Tangled.”

“The movie looks like it’s over,” Mom commented.

“Just got over,” I said, “I was just going to turn off the TV.”

“Go to bed, honey,” Dad said, “I’ll turn off the TV and check everything. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” I said, almost running up the stairs. I sobbed into my pillow, hating everything in the world. Why couldn’t I get a mate that wanted me? What was so wrong with me that Cale rejected me without even giving us a chance? And the worst part was that I couldn’t tell anyone. If anyone got to know that I was his Luna, and he rejected me, he could be removed from the position of Alpha. I didn’t know what time it was, but by the time I fell asleep I could hardly feel my eyes, and saw sunlight streaming from the window.