The Words to Define These Feelings

“There you are!” I jumped up, looking at Phoebe as she walked into the hotel room we were sharing for the night, “Where were you? What's wrong?”

“I was with Kyle,” She said, “We went to Millennium Park.”

“Ooh, fun?” I responded, “Unless... are you still trying to ignore him?”

“I don't know. I mean, we talked and he apologized and stuff. He even said that he liked me, but...” She sighed.

“But what?” I asked.

“I told him I can't be with him. And it sucks because I like him. But I can't let myself get hurt. I don't want to let him hurt me,” She explained, and I sat down on the bed next to her and gave her a hug.

“I'm sorry, Phoebe,” I said, “Boys can be so dumb.”

“Well, from what it looked like to me at the airport, Caleb seems to be getting smarter,” She laughed, “The looks you two were trading were somewhat sickeningly sweet.”

“Hey, shut up,” I laughed, shoving her gently.

“Not until you finally jump him,” She smiled evilly.

“Well, for your information, I won't be jumping him, but I do happen to have a date with him,” I answered smugly, and Phoebe did a double take from flipping through the tv channels.

“What? When?” She asked.

“In about,” I looked at the clock, “Half an hour.”

“Finally!” She smiled, “What are you going to wear?”

“I... don't know,” I stopped to glance at my limited options in my suitcase, “I guess my only real options are jeans and a t-shirt.”

“We can work with that,” Phoebe said, grabbing my make up bag and heading towards the bathroom. We turned on some music and danced around carelessly as I got ready. I was glad to see Phoebe distracted from the Kyle situation for a little bit. I ran out into the main part of our hotel room as, “Space Cowboy” by N Sync came on shuffle on my iPod. I laughed as Phoebe followed me and we began to scream along, slightly off key, falling over onto the bed laughing. I heard a knock on the door, and I walked over, music still playing as I swung it open.

“Hey,” Caleb stood there, tugging on the sleeve of his red flannel shirt. I giggled as Phoebe kept singing from inside the room.

“Hey, come in,” I opened the door wider and grabbed my purse off the bed as Phoebe stopped the music.

“Hey Caleb,” Phoebe said, “Glad to see you've finally decided to snatch up my best friend.”

I blushed at Phoebe's words as Caleb grabbed my hand and led me out of the room.

“Yeah, I hope Kyle wises up and does the same for you soon,” He said in parting, and I giggled as we walked to the elevators.

“So where do you want to get food?” I asked, and he smiled.

“I was thinking we could just walk until we find someplace that looks good,” He answered.

“Great,” I agreed, and we walked through the streets of Chicago, hand in hand. I felt so unusual being this close with Caleb, letting my guard down completely. I didn't have to worry about what he would think of my actions, or if he was waiting for a chance to criticize me, because he wasn't.

We found a deep dish pizza place that looked good, and sat in a round corner booth, tucked away from the rest of the restaurant. We ordered a pizza to split, and played the kids games on the children's place mats on the table while we waited for our food. I won the game of creating the most boxes out of the dots on the paper when our pizza showed up. Caleb unwrapped his straw and blew the wrapper at me, first hitting me in the nose, then bouncing off into my food.

“Hey!” I exclaimed, pouting at him, “What was that for?”

“Nothing,” He said slyly, taking a bite of pizza, “But you're cute when you pout.”

I giggled and dug into my food, suddenly very hungry. Caleb and I were both fast eaters, so not even fifteen minutes had gone by when the plates in front of us were empty spare a few crumbs and left over crusts. I blew bubbles into my Dr. Pepper absentmindedly, feeling like a two year old but not caring one bit. I felt Caleb shift and suddenly the glass was being pulled away from me and he was right there.

“Hey,” He smiled into my cheek, and I laughed.

“Hi,” I said, and he pulled me into a kiss. It was far less urgent than the kiss we shared previously. It was soft, and carefree. We sat that way for a little while, just kissing gently, until I heard the waitress approaching and slowly pulled away. The waitress took our empty plates and left the check on the table, and I sat, still turned towards Caleb.

“So, that was nice,” I giggled awkwardly, and he just shook his head in agreement.

“Very nice,” He said, kissing me again as he stood up, “I'm sorry that I just left like a moron the last time I did it.”

“We all make mistakes,” I said with a laugh.

“Yeah, well, I'm going to try not to do that anymore when it comes to you,” He said, wrapping his arm around me as we walked out of the restaurant. I was on cloud nine the whole walk back to the venue, even when Caleb gave me a peck on the cheek and left to go warm up for the show.