A few hours later, Aunt Del messages Caleb, letting me know that she’ll be arriving around lunch. When it grows closer, I realize I need to get up, shower and change.
The only problem is, he won’t let go of me, and every time I pull my hands from his skin, he whines and holds on to me tightly. His feet are tucked in under my calves, his face buried in my neck, and his arms are tucked around my shoulders.
I have a human-sized koala attached to me.
Perhaps I could stand with him clinging to me, and shower that way.
That has my mind reeling, clearly unhinged from lack of sleep.
I will absolutely not shower with Caleb. I’ve seen him naked, but that will never happen again, and he will absolutely never see me without my clothes on.
But I do need to get up and get changed.
It’s a feat. I peel his limbs off me, and he whines like he’s being ripped from everything familiar. It makes something deep inside me ache.
I want to crawl back underneath him and let him slide against me,but when I’m finally out of his clutches, he curls around my pillow and stuffs his face into it.
“Whit,” he moans, and I rush out of the room, not needing to hear it—him moaning my name.
He’s nothing I want.
Not at all.
I shower and change, the water cold and refreshing. So different from the heat of Caleb’s body. And when I’m finally ready for Aunt Del to arrive, I feel myself full of nervous jitters. I shouldn’t care if they like me. I’m his roommate and nothing more. I’ll probably never see them again.
A knock on the door has me standing a little straighter. And when I pull it open, I expect to see a woman standing there, holding a container of soup. What I don’t expect is her and about four other people on the other side.
We blink at each other, and then they push their way in, bumping into me as they go, all chattering at the same time. Aunt Del is left standing there, a container in her hand, her eyes twinkling. She’s older than she sounded on the phone. She has gray hair pulled back neatly, lines softening the corners of her mouth and eyes. There’s a steadiness to her, something that’s come from years of being listened to and, based on the way everyone is crowding around my room and jostling each other, ignored as well. She’s stronger than she initially appears.
“Hello, Whit,” she says and then moves to the kitchen to place the container in the fridge. I’m slightly overwhelmed by the people here. Who the fuck are they?
“Sorry about this. They can be a bit much, but they were worried. Caleb is a big baby when he’s sick.”
“The biggest man-child,” one of the tall ones says, a goofy grin on his face, his hair tucked under a beanie.
“Sorry, but…who are you?” I ask, my voice sharper than I expect it to be.
“Oh, right. Let me introduce you to the family,” Aunt Del says, touching my arm gently. It’s soft, caring, like a mother should be.
“These are my sons, Luke, Sem, and Liam, and this is Liam’s wife, Anne.”
I nod as my eyes swivel around them all. “Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you, too,” Anne says and then reaches out her hand to me. I shake it quickly and then stuff my hand in my pocket.
“Where’s Mal? Figured he’d be here,” Luke says, eyes swiveling around the apartment.
Just as he says that, the door opens, and the man I’ve seen Caleb with around campus bursts in.
“Yo, dudes! Good to see you. You coming to check on Caleb?”
“The biggest baby!” Liam says, and they all give each other bro hugs, the kind where you slap each other on the back roughly and grunt. It’s affection, I guess.
More than I ever got growing up.
I huff and turn my gaze to Aunt Del, who is watching me carefully.
“Do you mind if I check on my boy?”
