Bonus [1]: Bath Bomb Conversation-3

We all looked at Anmol who took the bottle from my hand and took a long enough swig for our eyes to pop out of our heads. That's the thing I loved about my friends. Didn't matter how old we were getting, we could act like lovesick idiots and talk and gush about significant others so easily. I could imagine my seventeen-year-old self barfing at this. I tied my ombre brown hair into a high ponytail, waiting for her to talk, my hand placing itself on Soccer's dark fur. Anmol tilted her head to the side. "Um, when Maddy showed up at the flat today was when we hung up." Maddy narrowed her eyes at Anmol. "That means you've talked to him all night." "Until the morning." Anmol clarified. "Dude," I said. "We were just catching up." "Catching up my ass," Audrey started. "You probably had like phone-" "No, no, no, no, none of that" Anmol protested. "We just talked. I'm not cheating on Doniel like that." "He said something, didn't he?" Maddy asked. "He said he missed me." Anmol leaned back. "And?" I asked. "And I told him I missed him too. What do you guys think? That I wouldn't? He's in a completely different place am I not allowed to miss him? But it already feels like I'm stabbing Doniel in the back because I still feel something for Derek. I don't know." "Easy. Break up with the square, get back together with the football man." Audrey clapped her hands. "Football man isn't going to be in this city for like three months but nice try." "Then break up with Doniel because it is clear you have no interest in him. Do what you gotta do." I told her. I could hear someone inserting a key into the lock of the flat. My heart beat loudly in my chest because I knew Sam wouldn't be coming home until later that night so who the hell would also have the key to our- "Hello ladies, your favourite man has arrived." Caleb walked into our view, wiggling the keys in his hands to let me know that he had taken Sam's own right out under his nose. He ran both his hands through his wavy hair, letting out a breath, the smile still on his face. "Any other man besides Caleb Henderson, is that you?" Maddy grinned and he moved towards her, wrapping her in a hug and raising an eyebrow at the bottle in my hand. "Um, why are we getting drunk at these hours?" "It's just wine," I shook it in front of his face. "Barely any alcohol in this one." "Unfortunately," Audrey mumbled. "Hey, bella." Caleb winked at her and she rolled her eyes at him, resting her feet on his lap. A mental reminder that Caleb and Audrey have slept together flew through my mind. I remember the exact date he asked for my permission. It was about a month after they had met. Caleb walked into the middle of one of my classes, the one day that Audrey didn't show up and was sick. He sat down next to me silently until he whispered to me, "Do I have to ask permission to sleep with Audrey?" I didn't even move my eyes from the projection everyone was looking at. I had leaned back in my chair and said, "You didn't ask me permission to sleep with my cousin when we were seventeen." I reminded him. Caleb hid the smirk that crawled on his face behind his hand. "Is that a yes or a no?" "Does she want to because that's the permission that matters." That's when Caleb handed me his phone and my eyes almost popped out of head at the words between them on the screen. He took the phone away before I could stumble upon what I sure to be a very interesting picture. Caleb nodded, slipping his phone back into his pocket. "I have to admit. She's very straight-forward. Very attractive." Now, after their whatever they like to call it of a relationship they were just friends plus I knew Caleb has never made a commitment to any person and he spent most his time in other countries anyway. "Liz told me you guys are meeting tomorrow?" Caleb asked me. "Yeah," I leaned back into the couch, resting my foot up and wishing I had a certain body to lean against. "Big day huh?" I waved a hand. "It's not that big a deal. They just want to check out what I can do with a camera. That's it." "A millionaire wants to check out what you can do with your camera." "And millionaires have other millionaire friends." Don't remind me. I was freaking out about this on the inside for the past two weeks. I had done little things here and there, but Liz was full on helping me try to get to the path of starting my own company and I was all for it. I wanted that. That was the dream but if I messed up tomorrow I didn't know what could happen. "That way you don't ever have to worry about rent ever again." I heard Caleb say. "She doesn't worry about it now idiot," Maddy said. "Her boyfriend is a football player. She didn't have to pay rent if she didn't want to." "When are you guys moving to that house again?" "When we want to," I muttered. Sam and I would go to the house whenever we wanted peace, but our lives were here. It would take a major change for us to just pack and suddenly move to another city when our lives were here. My job. That mostly only occurs when Liz had a connection for me to take photographs at some event and usually that provided a lot of money per each event. His job. His training. Our friends. Sure, our family was on the other side of the ocean but let's pretend that didn't count.