Ch30

NOVA

"It's not a crush!" I blurt.

Caleb instantly points a finger right at my nose, his smirk widening until his dimples show. "Oh! So it is something after all!"

I groan aloud, dropping my face into my hands and shaking my head. "No. No, no, no. That is not what I meant, and you are twisting every single word coming out of my mouth."

"Look, we are stuck inside this dark wooden box for quite a while until you think we're safe." Caleb says, making himself comfortable against the closet frame and crossing his arms. "Humour me, Nova. Just lay it out for me."

"It's really not the way you're making it sound," I murmur, staring down at my feet, feeling the heat in my face radiating through the dark.

"Okay, then explain it to me," he challenges lightly, nudging my foot with his shoe. "Because from where I'm standing, you look like a girl carrying around a massive, embarrassing secret."

"I don't even know why I bother talking to you," I mutter under my breath, running a hand over my face. "He is so totally off-limits, Caleb. Like, beyond off-limits. He’s practically like a brother to me anyway, considering he's been around my family forever."

"So what you're saying is... it's practically incest?" Caleb asks with a completely straight face.

"Shut up!" I gasp, smacking his arm hard with my sweater sleeve. "Stop saying crazy stuff like that! It is not incest!"

Caleb bursts into a suppressed fit of laughter, clutching his chest where I’d hit him. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! I'm joking! But seriously, if it's that deep, why keep it inside?"

"Because nobody can ever know," I say, my voice dropping into a hushed tone as I look up at him. "Promise me you won't say anything to anyone, Caleb. I'm serious. Nobody can know."

"Hey, don't worry about me, I'm nobody's friend when it comes to keeping juicy gossip," Caleb replies with a wink. "So what's the plan then?"

"I have to get over it," I say, as I lean my head back against the wall. "I just really, really need to get over it."

Caleb stays quiet for a second, just looking at me with an observant, curious gaze, waiting for me to keep going.

"Because it's not even possible for him to ever notice me like that anyway," I add softly, staring at the space between us.

Caleb blinks, tilting his head. "Why not?"

"Because... I'm me. And because..."

"Wait, backtrack for a second," Caleb cuts in, raising a hand to pause me while brow furrowing. "What do you mean 'because you're you'? What, you don't think you're pretty or something?"

I twist my lips to the side, looking away awkwardly and refusing to answer.

Caleb let's out a low laugh. "Wow. Are you actually serious right now?"

"I do think I look good!" I defend immediately, crossing my arms defensively over my chest. "I'm fine! I just don't think I look... Enzo good."

"What the fuck?" Caleb says, dropping his head back and laughing under his breath. "His standards aren't that high, Nova. Trust me, I've seen the girls he talks to, he's not some unattainable deity."

"Have you seen the girls he actually hangs around with?" I counter. "Because they look like they stepped straight off a runway, and I look like... this."

Caleb rolls his eyes playfully, shaking his head at me. "So what is it that you actually want out of all this mess? Do you want Enzo to notice you? Or do you just want him to forgive you for whatever went down between you guys?"

"Both," I confess quietly. "I want both. And I want my brother not to kill me if he ever finds out what I'm actually thinking."

I open my mouth to say something else but then he lunges forward, throwing his hand over my mouth.

"Shhhh," he breathes right into my ear.

The door to the bedroom opens. Footsteps shuffle across, followed by the sound of someone humming. Every single muscle in my body locks up.

Outside the thin wooden doors of the wardrobe, the thud of sneakers hits the hardwood floor. Then comes the low, off-key humming of a song I’ve heard blaring through our living room speakers a thousand times.

It’s not my brother Noah.

It’s Enzo.

Caleb’s eyes are locked onto mine. He holds his breath, slowly shifting his weight so he isn't crushing my knees, but the move makes the wooden base panel under us give off a high-pitched, tiny creak.

Enzo stops humming. Silence stretches inside the wardrobe. I barely dare to inhale. Caleb winks at me, squeezing his eyes shut in a tight grin.

Suddenly, a large, hairy brown blur drops down from nowhere, landing straight into my lap.

An ear-piercing shriek tears out of my throat before my brain can process what’s happening. I slap frantically at my knees, scrambling backward so hard my shoulder slams into the closet frame. "Get it off! Get it off!"

"Whoa... it’s just a sweater!" Caleb wheezes, trying to grab my hands, but the wardrobe door flies open with a swinging crack before he can touch me.

Bright afternoon light floods the dark box, blinding me for a split second.

Standing in the doorway, framed by the bright sunlight of the bedroom, is Enzo.

He’s wearing a fitted black t-shirt, his hair slightly messy. His hand is still on the metal handle of the wardrobe door.

His eyes sweep over the scene inside the wardrobe... me, sitting crumpled against the back wall with my sweater pulled up around my chin and my hair a mess, and Caleb, hovering on top of me with his hands still raised in mid-air.

Caleb clears his throat, breaking the tension as he slowly lowers his hands and awkwardly crouches out of the wardrobe. He brushes off his jeans, offering Enzo a lopsided grin.

"Yeah... so, oops," Caleb mutters, raising two fingers. "Busted."

I glare at Caleb, my chest heaving as I scramble out onto the bedroom floor, desperately getting off my sweater.

I look up at Enzo, whose unreadable gaze slides slowly from Caleb over to me, locking onto my face.

"Enzo... I can explain."