Instead I Called You

The cop held my head down as he placed me in the back of his car. After he slammed the door shut I looked out to see Austin shaking his head and climbing into my car. He quickly drove away and the cop got into the front seat. It was silent, expect the every so often sound of his police scanner sounding, as he did his paperwork. He left the lights on his car while he did this, and it gave everything an odd look to me.

After he had finally finished his work and put his car into drive, he flipped the lights off and turned his car around. I felt my stomach lurch as the car drove over the bumps in the road. I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes, hoping that we’d be at the police station soon.

When we finally arrived, I was doing everything in my power not to throw up. The cop shut the car off and got out. Slowly, he opened my door and reached down to grab my arm and lift me out of the car. I felt wobbly on my feet as he started to lead me inside.

“I’m going to be sick.” I muttered as he started to go through everything he needed to check me into the jail.

“You’ll just have to keep it down until you’re in your cell.” he responded, and asked me if I had anything in my pockets that could hurt him.

I thought for a second before responding “No. Just my phone and my wallet.” He took both of them out and wrote my name on a piece of paper before shoving it all into a bag and then handing it to a receptionist. She looked at me and shook her head while the officer grabbed my arm and lead me down the cold hallway.

After he had me shut in the jail cell that held about ten other guys, most of them were also drunk, he uncuffed me. “I’ll be back when I can so you can have your phone call.” he said before turning and walking down the hallway.

I turned and looked around at the guys, quickly averting my gaze if they looked up at me. My fingers laced themselves together, then unlaced as I tried to keep the contents of my stomach down. After a few nervous moments I knew that I wasn’t able to do it anymore and ran to the toilet in the back of the holding cell and let everything come back up with regret.

When I had finished, I sat with my back to the wall and waited for the officer to come back. I knew I had to call my mom and tell her. I knew that she would be completely disappointed in me and probably wouldn’t bail me out; she’d tell me I have to learn my lesson and stay in jail. But there was no one else with the money to bail me out. I closed my eyes only to have them pop back open when my name was called. I scurried to my feet and allowed a new officer to cuff my hands in front of me before opening the door and pulling me down the hallway to the phone.

I sighed and picked it up, dialing the familiar number and putting the phone to my ear. It rang a total of four times before I heard her sweet voice answered and realized I hadn’t called my mother at all.

“Carla?” I asked, pressing the phone tighter to my ear. It had been a hard six months since I last heard her voice.

“Caleb, is that you?” she asked, suddenly awake. “What happened, why are you in jail?”

“Can you come get me?” I asked, feeling the tears welding up in my eyes again.

“Tell me what happened first.” she ordered, I could tell she was worried about me.

“I got caught…” I let my voice trail off as I looked around the jail. “Drunk driving…” I mumbled, knowing how furious she’d be with me.

“Caleb Michael Turman, I cannot believe that you would do something so idiotic and careless! You could have gotten hurt! You could have hurt someone else!” she yelled.

I just let her yell and yell before I finally broke through, “Hey, do you remember prom?”

It caught her off guard, and she was silent for a moment before she replied. “Of course I remember prom.” in a small voice.

“Hello Mrs. James.” I smiled as she opened the front door.

“Well, if you don’t look handsome Caleb.” she gushed, ushering me into the house. “Carla will be down in a little bit.”

I smiled and nodded while I played with the corsage that I bought her. I leaned against the wall, not wanting to sit down and get dog hair all over my rented tux.

“Hey Caleb.” Paul greeted as he walked into the living room. He wore a nice black button up top and some nice dress pants. “Karen said they’d be ready in ten minutes tops.”

“In other words, half an hour?” I smirked, putting Carla’s corsage down on the table. Paul laughed and nodded his head.

True to their word, the girls were down in ten minutes. My breath got caught in my throat as I looked at Carla. She wore a light blue dress that dipped down a little in front and reached to floor. She looked taller, so she must be wearing heels. When she came closer I noticed that she was wearing the small necklace of a mixed tape that I had won for her at the fair last summer. Her hair was nicely placed on top of her head, with her bangs hanging down nice on her forehead. I smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

“You look beautiful.” I told her when we parted.

She blushed and smiled, “You don’t look so bad yourself.” I laughed and kissed her forehead before reaching down and grabbing her corsage.

“Here.” I smiled, opening up the package and slipping it around her wrist. She smiled as she gently touched the blue petals, then let her fingers play with the white lace.

“It’s pretty.” she said after a moment.

I only grinned, “Not half as pretty as you.” she blushed deeper and looked away.

“Here Carla, you need to pin this to Caleb’s tux.” her mom said coming into the room and handing her a small flower. She took it and lightly took the front of my black jacket and fixed it so that it safely sat there. She then smiled and touched my light blue tie that matched perfectly with her dress and rested her head on my shoulder.

“I love you.” I whispered into her ear as I wrapped my arms securely around her waist. I could smell her lilac perfume and smiled to myself.

“I love you too.” she softly responded, closing her eyes and letting out a small sigh. The words weren't meant for anyone else to hear but her and I, but I noticed her mother looking at us with a small smile.

“Picture time!” her mom called, causing Carla’s head to pop up. She sighed again and grabbed my hand, mumbling that this could take a while.

After her mom felt satisfied with the amount of pictures she had taken we were finally allowed to leave the house. Carla and I made our way to my old car. I opened the door for her and made sure her dress was in before shutting it and making my way back to the driver’s side. After I got in, I pulled out, and Carla grabbed my right hand, lacing our fingers together as I drove.

“You really do look beautiful.” I told her as we made our way to the school.

“Oh shush.” she mumbled, and I looked at her from the corner of my eye. I could see the deep blush that was on her cheeks and squeezed her hand.

“Well, you do.” I laughed, “Not that you don’t look beautiful everyday.” I quickly added. She laughed a little and brought my hand up so that she could kiss it.

++

A slow song played through the loud speakers that were set up in the gym. Carla was held securely in my arms with her head on my chest. My head rested on hers as we swayed back and forth. My hands rested on her lower back while hers played with the hair at the bottom of my neck. A smile was on my lips as they grazed the top of her head.

Too soon, the song had ended, and I thought she was going to leave my arms so that we could dance to the faster song that was now playing. But instead she stayed right where she was. My arms tightened around her as I asked, “What are you thinking about?”

It took her a moment but she finally answered “Just how much I love you.”

I felt my heart flutter as I leaned down to kiss her. She eagerly kissed me back, her body melting into mine. I tightly held onto her, my thumbs moving in circles on her hips. She gently bit onto my bottom lip before pulling away.

“Think we could leave early?” she questioned, looking up at me.

“I think we could manage that.” I smiled, placing my hand on her cheek. “I love you.” I smiled, kissing her forehead.

“I love you too.” she replied, kissing me softly. “Lets go now.” I nodded my head and laced my fingers with hers. We quickly went and picked up her silver heels and her small purse. I paused as she slipped her shoes back on and grabbed my hand again. We walked out the front doors of the school, stopping for only a minute to two to talk with the principal and then we were back in my car.

“Where do you want to go?” I asked after I got in. She was playing with her fingers before she looked up at me.

“Did you get us a hotel room?” she whispered, a small spark in her eye.

I gulped and looked at her. Of course I had gotten us a hotel room, I had been hoping to make love to her for months now. But there was no way I was going to pressure her into it. Slowly, I nodded my head as I looked down at her.

“Then, I want to go there.” she softly responded.

I reached over and grabbed her hand. “Are you sure Carla?” she nodded and leaned over to kiss my cheek.

++

I laid with Carla’s naked body in my arms. She shivered slightly so I pulled the covers up more around us. “Are you okay?” I asked for the third time.

She giggled in response, “Stop asking me that Caleb. I told you I’m fine.” she kissed my chest. She nuzzled in closer to me with a smile.

I ran my fingers through her hair, which was now a mess and kissed the top of her head. “I love you so much.” I told her, tightening my arm around her waist, not wanting to ever loose her.

“I love you too.” she responded, tracing circles on my stomach. “Can…can you promise me something?” her voice softly sounded.

“Yeah, anything.” I answered, hugging her.

“Can we not change after we graduate? Can it always be just you and me? I know it’s a lot, but I need to hear it.”

It was a lot to promise. But I felt the same as she did. I never wanted to be away from her, I always wanted to be able to call her mine. “Of course Carla.” I replied, tilting her face up and pressing my lips to hers. “I promise we’ll stay like this after we graduate.”

She smiled widely and laid her head back on my chest. “Good. Because I always want to be yours.” I chuckled and sighed. My eyes scanned the clock and I swore under my breath. “What? What’s wrong?” she quickly asked, looking back up at me.

“It’s three am.” I told her, “Your parents are going to kill me.” she giggled and sat up, clutching the sheet to her chest.

“They won’t kill you Caleb. They think we’ve been having sex for a while now.” she reassured me, standing up. She made her way around the room and quickly started to pull on her clothes. I stood up and dressed too. When I was finished I waited for her to quickly fix her hair and put her shoes on. I placed my hands in my pocket and was met with something cold.

It clicked in my head what it was after a second and I smiled. “Carla.” I said, making her look at me. She raised an eyebrow. “I bought you something.”

She smiled, “You didn’t have to.” she automatically responded, I knew she hated it when I spent money on her.

“I wanted to.” I smiled, pulling the small silver ring out of my pocket. “Come here.”

She made her way across the floor and to me. I took her right hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. She glanced down at her and I could see the smile on her face. “It’s a key.” she said, lightly touching it with her left hand.

“The key to my heart.” I told her, tugging her into my arms and kissing her.

“I love you.” she mumbled against my lips. “More than anything in this world.”

“I love you too.” I said, kissing her once more. “Now let’s get you home.”