She Fell For The Boy Next Door

Stacy grew popular very quickly and for only the second time in her life, Alice got noticed. She put on a smile but a piece of her heart was missing. Approximately half of it was back in New Hampshire, back with her beautiful silent boyfriend. She was considering canceling her classes, dropping out and going home.
Three months had already flown past. Of course Alice had talked to her parents and sister, and even Cale’s parents, but Cale couldn’t speak, so she never spoke to him on the phone.
Another month went and Alice had made her decision. One Monday afternoon, after all her classes for the day, she picked up her cell phone and called Cale’s house. Emily answered on the second ring, sounding happy.
“Hi Alice! How is everything on your end?” she asked.
“Fine, thanks Emily. Could you tell Cale something for me, please?” Alice replied.
There was a pause.
“Cale can-” Emily began.
Alice cut her off.
“Please, Emily” she begged.
“Sure. Fire away” Emily said slowly.
“I need you to tell him that this isn’t working. We thought the whole distance thing would be OK, but it’s not. There is a black hole in my heart and I’m falling apart with this whole thing. I need him to know that I love him dearly, but it’s not working. Thank you, Emily” Alice finished, her voice quivering and small tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
After she hung up, Alice collapsed on her bed and threw her phone across the room. She dove under the covers in her clothes and yanked the duvet over her head. She shook and cried when she felt her heart splinter and break, the heat of death settling swiftly in her. It ran as thick as blood in her veins, as black as tar. Cale’s name came whispered out of the darkness, an ethereal presence in her mind.
Stacy came in two hours later to find Alice passed out in bed, fully clothed. She spotted the cell phone on the floor, picked it up and searched through Alice’s contacts. Upon finding ‘Cale Home’, she pressed ‘call’ and let the phone ring.
A lazy male voice answered the call.
“Hello?”
“This is Stacy, Alice’s roommate. I’m sorry if it’s too late or too early where you are, but I’m worried about Alice” Stacy told whoever she was speaking to.
“What’s wrong with her?” the other voice demanded urgently.
“She’s unconscious in her bed. I can see that she’s breathing but other than that she’s not moving” Stacy said, beginning to get frightened.
“OK, thank you”.
Stacy stared, stunned, at the phone having realized that who she’d been talking to had just hung up on her.

Late the following night, Stacy looked up from her Economics text when a knock pounded the dormitory door. She glanced at Alice, half awake in her bed, and jumped up to get the door. She gaped at the boy standing on the other side of the threshold; the boy out of Alice’s photos. Cale.
He had big green eyes and shaggy black hair and a worried expression. His blue T shirt was drenched with rain and he was bouncing impatiently on the balls of his feet. He peered round Stacy, trying to see past her into the dorm.
“Is Alice inside?” he asked frantically, his eyes wild.
Stacy was shocked.
“You can’t speak” she said dumbly.
Cale shook his head more impatiently and shoved past Stacy, catching sight of Alice lying prone in a small bed on one side of the room.
She lifted her head slowly, thinking instantly that she was hallucinating. Cale couldn’t be here; he was at home in New Hampshire.
Cale reached underneath Alice and swung her into his arms before settling back on the bed with her cradled in his lap. He propped her head up on his shoulder.
“Hey, sugar. How y’all doin’ up in this fancy college? Much fancier than anythin’ we got back home, darlin’, ain’t it?” Cale said, his voice light and airy.
Alice stared up at him, confused.
Cale smiled down at her.
“I’m real, honey. Look at me; I’m real; I’m here” he said, urging her to believe him.
Alice briefly shook her head.
“Not my Cale. My Cale can’t talk” she mumbled.
Cale sighed heavily.
“Turns out I couldn’t handle you going either. Not exactly a traumatic experience, but it got me talking again. I tried so hard for you, to talk again. And you know what, Alice? Calling my mother like that yesterday put her in a spin. She was trying to tell you that I could speak, but you wouldn’t listen and just went on to tell her to tell me we were finished; over. It broke my heart, you know. I missed you too much, but I never would’ve gone to such lengths as you. This has sure put you into a major funk, hasn’t it? You’re more messed up than I’ve ever seen you. Remember that? That hasn’t happened to you for three years, Alice. Keep it that way, honey. Remember me. I am not an apparition or a figment of your wildly overactive imagination, girl! Would you wake up and listen to me, please? Alice Isabelle Nichols, you come back to me right now!” he growled.
He glanced up at Stacy and gestured for her to shut the door; she was still staring at him numbly. She obeyed and sat on the edge of her bed, watching attentively.
“Alice, sweetheart, I’m gonna take you home if you’d just wake up!” Cale said, frustrated and concerned.
Alice blinked up at him and cracked a tiny smile.
“Why’d you stop talking? I’ve waited three years to hear you talk, so you go and rant at me for ages and then you just stop? What’s wrong with you, boy?” she asked.
Cale stared at her and then laughed.
“There’s my girl” he whispered to her, nuzzling her cheek.
“Are you really here to take me home?” Alice asked him, hope lighting her eyes.
Cale nodded.
“I sure am, honey. Pack your things and we’ll be gone; outta here tonight” he replied, grinning at her plain eagerness.
Alice suddenly shoved herself at him, reaching up for his mouth. She kissed him hard, putting all her pent up emotion and stress into it. Finally pulling away, she climbed off of his lap and moved around, gathering her stuff and pulling pictures off the wall by her bed.
When she was done, Alice turned to Stacy and flung her arms around her neck.
“Keep in touch” she said, smiling at her newfound friend.
“Will do!” Stacy replied, smiling also.
So Cale and Alice left.

Several hours later, they stepped off a plane to be greeted by four beaming adults and one screaming six year old girl. Laughing, Alice bent and scooped Cassi into her arms and cuddled her tightly. Annabelle and Jared enveloped both their daughters in a huge bear hug. Emily and William waited for their turn before stepping forward to hug Alice.
“Emily, I’m sorry-“ Alice started.
“Hun, don’t worry about it, it’s OK. I know you were upset. Cale found you, and that’s what counts” Emily said, gripping Alice’s hand for a second or two.
Alice nodded and smiled at her.
Cale took her hand and they ran off to collect her duffel bag and two suitcases.
Cale illegally held Alice on his lap for the drive home.
“Are you OK now?” he whispered in her ear.
“Yes” Alice replied. “I’m fine.”
Cale pecked her cheek and stroked her hair.
“I love you” he murmured.
“Love you, too” Alice said, snuggling further into Cale’s chest.

Alice was in the process of unpacking and sorting her bedroom when Cassi ran in with a big happy grin on her face.
“Hey, Cass, what’s up?” Alice asked, smiling at her sister.
“Follow, me, please!” Cassi said, tugging on Alice’s hands.
Alice went with her, through the woods to Cale’s house. Cassi pulled her up the stairs and straight inside Cale’s bedroom. Cassidy backed out quickly, leaving Alice to stand there, shocked, seeing Cale down on one knee on his bedroom floor. Her heart leapt into her throat and she stared hard at him.
Cale smiled shyly at her and drew a black velvet box from his pocket. He opened it and held it up towards her, just out of her reach.
“Alice, I love you. Will you marry me and be mine?” Cale asked, nervous and hopeful.
“I’ve always been yours” Alice told him.
“Stop being so pedantic!” Cale complained.
“Yes!!” Alice exclaimed, dropping down to the floor and throwing her arms around Cale’s neck.
He wound his arms around her back and hugged her tightly to him.