Stranded

-Alley-

I threw the controller down on the couch cushion, throwing my hands in the air, “Boo-and-freaking-yah!” I cheered, having beat Kyle yet again at Mario Kart. It seemed he could never win against me.

“I don't like playing with you.” He pouted.

“Don't be hatin'” I said in my best gangster impression. I was getting pretty good at those all thanks to my best friend Maddie. She was so white but yet to ghetto.

Caleb walked into the lounge area of the bus, “It's the last show, guys.” He pouted, “And then you'll” He pointed to me, “Be going back to Utah and we'll be going back to Texas and...being bored.”

“Oh, come on, there are six of you guys, not mentioning your techs, you don't need me to have a party.” I scoffed, rolling my eyes at him.

“Yeah, but you're fun.” Jonathan put in, I raised an eyebrow at him, looking at Caleb once again.

“Well, then, what do you want to do?” I asked, turning my looks on all six of the band, and the flamingo.

“Can I take you...on a date?” Caleb asked, “Type thing?” He added. I looked at him shocked, the others just looked a little relieved. Kind of like, “FINALLY!”

I didn't know what was up with the looks, but my cheeks warmed at the thought of being on a semi-date with Caleb. Not finding my voice, I nodded.

“Where do you want to go?” He asked, more nervous than I've ever seen him before.

“I don't know.” I replied, “Do you want to just walk around Central Park?”

“But, it looks like it's going to rain.” Caleb said, looking out the window. I followed his gaze and just as my eyes focused on the ominous clouds, rain started to splatter on the window.

“Are you psychic?” I asked, fake shocked. We sat a while, thinking of what to do while Kyle, Jonathan, Kent, Austin, and Marc all began to have another Mario Kart tournament, leaving Caleb and me out of it this time.

About twenty-some minutes minutes later, we heard laughter from outside our bus. Sara, Makahla, Jack, and Alex were running, soaked, to the hotel doors. Why weren't we in there? And why didn't I get to share a room with my sister?

Truth is, we haven't got along in a while. Just little talks and jokes now and then. I mean, I love her to death, she was just distant ever since dad and Sharon...my throat got tight just at the thought of it all.

“They look like they had fun.” Caleb pointed out, watching as they went inside the hotel, still laughing.

“Yeah.” I nodded, “Why aren't we in the nice and cozy hotel?” I asked finally, looking around.

“The game system isn't hooked up in there...?” Kyle asked more than stated. I rolled my eyes and looked at Caleb.

“Do you want to go to the arcade or something?”

“Uhhh...how about we take an umbrella and go sight seeing or something?” He suggested, still a little nervous. The thought of being scrunched under one single umbrella with Caleb made yet another blush creep onto my cheeks.

“Yeah, I've never been to New York...” I trailed off. “What would we see first?”

“Uhh...the Empire State Building?”

“How far away is that?” I asked, wanting to know if we needed cab fare.

“Just a block or two. We're on 31st street and it's on 33rd...so yeah, two blocks.” He explained after pulling out his phone to check Google maps or something. “Oh! And after that we could go to Kang Su! The Korean barbeque place!”

My stomach growled a little, giving away my hunger, “Or we could go first...” I implied, hoping he hadn't heard my stomach.

“That works.” He nodded, smiling. He picked up an umbrella from the stack of jackets and things and we headed out, bidding adieu to the remaining people in the bus, some now in the hotel.

….

“Ohhhhh...” I said as we walked, “That was some really good food.”

“Yeah, best you've ever had, right?”

“Well, I wouldn't say that because my mom can make some pretty delicious dishes....” We stopped at a rather busy intersection, and my fear of them resurfaced. “Uhhh...can you hold my hand?” I asked, feeling like a child.

“Why?” Caleb asked, but grabbed it anyway as the light to walk turned on, and we moved quickly across the street.

“I hate crosswalks. Especially busy ones like this...”

“You're not a city girl, are you?” He chuckled.

“Not one bit.” I told him, releasing his hand, but he grabbed it again, and I bit back a smile. We walked hand in hand in a comfortable silence until we reached the building.

“Empire is right!” I exclaimed, “It's huge!”

“Yeahhhhhhh.” Caleb drew out, raising an eyebrow at me.

“I knew before, but when you see it with your own eyes, it's just ridiculously ginormous!” I exclaimed.

“It's times like this when I really believe you are Sara's sister.” Caleb chuckled, shaking his head at me. “Do you want to head up?”

I nodded furiously, running ahead of him to the doors.

As the elevator went up and up and up, my stomach started to get queasy. I wasn't afraid of heights, at least not small ones, but then again, as I stated before, this wasn't a small height. My heart beat sped up as I watched as the people on the ground turn to ants.

“You okay, you're kind of rocking back and forth?” Caleb's voice sounded beside me, worried.

“Yeah, uhh...just a little afraid of heights.” He then took my hand again, and the fear slowly seeped away. “Thanks.” I whispered, a seemingly permanent blush on my cheeks. I liked him a lot more than I had originally planned, I admit.

When we reached the top, I was clutching his hand practically for dear life. “Maybe going all the way up wasn't such a good idea.” I mumbled and Caleb chuckled again.

“I won't let you fall.” Caleb whispered, now wrapping his whole arm around my shoulder as I looked out of the window.

“It's so high up.” I whispered, “So high...”

“Al?” He started, not looking out the window, but looking at me. I saw him from the corner of my eyes.

“Hm?” I started, still looking down at the people, my hands clasped together.

It was quiet a few moments, and then he finally spoke, “You're breaking the skin of your hands.” He pointed out finally, and took my hands, releasing the grip. “We can leave if you want...”

“Honestly, I don't think my feet will obey.” I laughed at myself, looking at the impressions on my hands that my fingernails had made.

“Okay, well, I have something to say to you before you leave tomorrow back to Salt Lake.” He took a deep breath and I waited patiently. “Ilikeyou.” He rushed, making it sound like one word.

I blinked, surprised. “Caleb, I--”

“And, before you shoot me down, I want you to know that I don't want it to be awkward between us. We'll text, call, and just be friends if that's what you want, and I would be okay with that...I just don't want to regret not telling you.” He backtracked, taking a step away from me.

“Who said I was going to shoot you down?” I chuckled, closing the space in between us and wrapping my arms around him, pulling on a crooked grin, forgetting about my vertigo. “In fact, I actually like you too.” I finished, placing a small kiss on his cheek.

“Oh, good, I thought I was going to make a fool of myself.” He sighed in relief, laughing at himself.