Dedicated to _Twilight_22

Caelum = KAY-LUHM

03.

friends

I ROLLED OVER WITH A YAWN, dragging my vibrating phone from the nightstand. There was a missed call from mum which I made a mental note to return back later, and a new text from an unknown number which I guessed was Emery.

Emery's text contained her address details, like she had promised to send, and the time to be there. Sitting, I sighed and locked my phone, taking a quick peek at the time. Noon.

Noon. One hour left before going to Emery's.

"Shit!" I not-so-gracefully stood, stumbling as I kicked the duvet before running into the bathroom.

After showering, brushing, and dressing, I put my brown hair in a messy bun, picked my phone and the empty glass from my nightstand, and went downstairs for breakfast.

I ran back to my room after eating, put some money in my pocket, and slipped my feet into my white converse. The mechanic's workshop was five minutes away from my house, so I decided to walk.

Not like I had a choice.

Autumn wasn't my favorite time of the year, but I genuinely preferred it to the heat of August. Even though the heat lingered until October, without the harshness of the sun, movement was easier.

Plus, longer nights equaled shorter days, which meant school didn't take forever to end.

My car was fixed when I got to the shop so I paid for the repairs, thanked the greasy man, and drove away.

When I reached Emery's house, I turned off the ignition of my car and shut the doors. Finding my way past the Jensen's blue mailbox and their perfectly mowed lawn, I didn't have the chance to ring the doorbell because the door suddenly opened to reveal a pretty dark-skinned girl with thick curly hair and brown eyes.

I felt self-conscious standing beside her, which was a surprise because I rarely ever felt that way about my body. But seeing her flat stomach under her crop top made me suck my stomach in. At that point, I was grateful my floral shirt covered my belly completely.

"Daesyn," she said. How she knew my name was beyond me. "Emery won't stop talking about you." Well, that explained things. A bit.

She ushered me in and I thanked her.

We stepped into a wide hallway with plain white walls and several rooms lining it, and then into the large living room. A show I recognized as FRIENDS was playing on the TV, and the remote was placed on the coffee table in the middle of the room.

Dark couches surrounded the coffee table, and the brown linen curtains complemented the cream color of the walls perfectly.

I didn't know how long I was stood admiring the beauty of the interior décor, but next I knew, Emery was skipping down the stairs.

"Hi," she greeted, pulling me in for an unexpected hug. She gestured to the dark-skinned girl. "She's my best friend, Clara."

I sent a small wave to Clara and she smiled.

"So, my brother will take us to the mall today," Emery finished, finally releasing me from the hug. I nodded.

"Caelum!" Emery called. It seemed she'd already made peace with her brother, but what did I know? "Caelum!"

"Coming," a gruff voice yelled. I'd be lying if I said the voice didn't send shivers crawling down my spine.

After standing for what seemed like hours, Caelum finally approached the stairs. I snorted internally. He sure took his precious time.

Emery clapped. "Caelum, meet my new friend Daesyn," she said, pushing me to the front. "Daesyn, meet my brother Caelum."

I pursed my lips at her enthusiasm. Baby steps, Emery, baby steps.

But...

Holy macaroni, I knew him! He was in some of my classes at school. He wasn't exactly 'popular' like Cole the jerk or even his sister, Emery, but Caelum Jensen was well known around school as a loner.

A hot loner.

He was smoking, alright.

Caelum's looks were on another level. He had hair the color of ink, light brown skin—a contrast to Emery's fair skin and the olive skin I'd inherited from mum—and dark eyes that were oddly unemotional. Staring deep into his eyes, I could see how perfectly they matched with the amount of coldness he gave to the world. Those eyes looked like he could see your deepest secrets by just staring at you.

Caelum didn't wear the universal black leather jacket, I never saw him riding a motorcycle, he didn't get into stupid fights, and from the gossips in the hallways, I could tell he didn't sleep with ninety-five percent of the female population in our school. But he put the 'I' in attitude.

I didn't want to come across as a creep, so I quickly averted my gaze. "Hi," I squeaked.

"Yeah, hi," he muttered, his voice as inviting as the empty seat in the detention room.

I gave a small smile, stretching my hand out for a handshake. "I'm Daesyn."

Why did I think telling him my name once again would be helpful?

"Don't care," he said. He turned to Emery. "I'll be waiting outside so please hurry up."

Oh.

The sound of the door shutting brought me back to reality, and I dropped my still outstretched hand with a scoff. "So much for being friendly."

Clara coughed. "Well... that wasn't awkward. At all."

"Daesyn, I'm so sorry." Emery tucked a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear. "You know, he's not always like that."

"No problem." I faked a smile, trying to hide my embarrassment. "Maybe he had a bad day."

Clara glanced at her watch before picking her bag from the couch. "Since that's settled, can we go now?"

Emery nodded, and we left the house.

--------------------

Emery stretched a black dress out as she sorted through the clothing rack with her other hand. "Hey, do you like this dress?"

"It's pretty." I leaned back against my chair, cracking my knuckles.

"I know, right?" she gushed, holding up a yellow one. "How about this one?"

I forced a smile. "Beautiful."

"Anybody with eyes can see how fake that smile is, Daesyn." Clara snorted, twirling around in a blue dress. "What do you guys think of this one?"

Emery grinned, clapping her hands animatedly. "That one was made just for you."

"Thank you." Clara faked a bow, tipping her imaginary hat off. "How about you Daesyn, what do you think?"

I nodded. "I agree with Emery on this one. It's perfect."

The sleeveless dress hugged her chest perfectly and flared at the waist side. Although I was jealous of how good she looked in it, I liked it.

Emery's eyes narrowed. "Meaning you didn't agree with me on the other ones."

"I didn't say that, Emery," I said. "You're just assuming I did."

She huffed.

"Caelum?" Clara waved a hand in his direction. "What do you think?"

"Okay," he muttered without sparing her a glance.

Fifteen minutes later, I was sat awkwardly as Emery and Clara tried on new outfits in the changing room. They, Emery mainly, tried convincing me to join them, but since she saw I wasn't budging, she gave up.

An hour later, I was bored to death.

Clara left us a while ago, saying she had some urgent thing to do at home while Emery kept dragging me from one shop to another. Caelum followed behind quietly since his concentration was solely on his phone, and it surprised me he didn't bump into anybody on the way.

I tried starting a conversation with him when Emery was in the dressing room, but he looked at me weirdly and continued using his phone.

When Emery was finally done shopping, we walked around before stopping in the middle of the mall. "Do you guys want to eat here?" Emery glanced between the two restaurants closest to us.

One of them was McDonald's while the other was supposed to be fifties-themed. I didn't pay much attention to the latter seeing as my stomach was growling like a monster about to begin a war, and I'd never been there so I picked the McDonald's.

Mr. Caelum muttered something about nobody asking for my opinion and it not mattering, but we still ended up in the McDonald's. His loss.

Walking towards our table after ordering our food, I didn't know what I did or how I did it, but I somehow pushed Caelum and he dropped his chicken nuggets.

"Look what you did," he all but yelled, his dark eyes narrowed into slits.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it," I apologized, sitting.

I heard the colorful words he muttered under his breath and I shook my head.

"You know, cursing won't get you new chicken nuggets or a girlfriend," I said.

"That was not included in this conversation, and I did not ask for a girlfriend!" he retorted, his narrowed eyes turning to a glare.

"Well, you seem lonely." I shrugged, taking a fry from my plate.

"I am not lonely!"

"Could've fooled me," I muttered while Emery let out loud shrieks of laughter. Even if Caelum wasn't mad at me, the way Emery laughed was annoying and I knew it got Caelum angrier.

He eyed me. "Just go get me new chicken nuggets!"

"No need to fight," Emery interrupted with a small chuckle. "I'll go get it."

"Uhh... you sure?" I peeked a glance at Caelum. "I should go since it's my fault."

"Yeah, you should," Caelum spat. I ignored him.

"Don't worry about it, I'll go." She had some kind of weird eye conversation with Caelum before standing and walking away.

"Weird," I muttered out loud enough for Caelum to hear, and I received a 'shut up' in response.

-

Author's note:

This is a really crappy chapter, and I'm not proud of it but I had to post it since I promised to.

What do you think of Caelum and Clara?
I personally love Caelum; because he's hot :)

Don't forget to leave your votes and comments (Like I said, I'm a sucker for them).