Chapter 5
Lila
That same evening
My phone lit up with a notification that I had a text.
It was 9:30pm, and I was in my sweats. I had been hoping I would get a certain text, and I lunged forward to pick up my phone the instant I heard a notification. I had a hard time forgetting about meeting Caleb today, and I had been hoping he would get in touch with me.
My phone told me that it was 'Maybe Caleb Caldwell' and I felt a giddy rush of excitement before I could even get to the full text and read what it said.
I blinked at the screen.
Caleb:
This is Caleb. We met earlier today. Is this a good number to text?
My heart felt like it stopped.
I could envision his face—his dark eyes. I was all warm and expectant when I thought about talking to him again. I really wanted this to happen. I was grinning from ear to ear as I texted him back.
Me:
Yes, this is my cell. Hey, Caleb! How was your day?
I typed my response, and then I sat there and stared at my phone. Should I ask him how his day was? Was that getting too personal? I deleted it and typed another.
Me:
Yes, this is my cell. Hey Caleb! It's great to hear from you!
I pressed send and then waited to see if he would text back.
Caleb:
I promised Kevin I'd take him to ETC sometime tomorrow. We might work out and check out some basketball. I'd like to run into you. I wondered if you might happen to be going there.
Me:
I could use a trip to ETC.
I didn't know what else to write, so I left it at that and pressed send.
Caleb:
Can I call you?
Me:
Of course. Anytime.
My phone rang five seconds later.
"Hello?" I said.
"Lila?"
"Yes."
"Sorry, is it a good time for me to call right now?" he asked.
"Yes. It's fine. I'm, I have a roommate, but she's in her room." (As if that mattered.)
"How was your afternoon?" he asked.
His voice. I loved it.
"It was good."
"What'd you do?" he asked.
"Uh, at risk of sounding like a better person than I am, I volunteered at a food pantry."
He laughed. "Why wouldn't you want to sound like a good person?"
"I would, but I mean, I just sort of fell into that volunteer position, I didn't seek it out. I went with a friend when we were in college. I still go once a week, but it's only because I've been doing it for years. And also, I don't have to stress about making ends meet."
"So, a reluctant volunteer?"
"No, just reluctant to take any credit for it since it wasn't my idea. And it's just a few hours a week."
"So, it's party planning and volunteering?"
"Yes, and starting in the fall, I'll work part-time in the university library. But even with that job, it's not enough to pay my rent. My parents have been helping me out all through college, and they still are. I don't know how long that will last now that I've graduated. We haven't set any sort of time frame. I know I want to work full-time. I think and hope I'll be able to get the party planning up and running while I'm working at the library."
"Hey, are you free tomorrow?" he asked. "Do you want to meet us at the gym?"
"Yeah, sure. I could go for a trip to the gym. ETC right? What time were you thinking?"
"Sasha said it's best to do their lunch routine, so we need to do it either at ten in the morning or later, after two."
"I have to be at a meeting in the morning, so two sounds good to me. Whatever time you can be there."
"Yeah, I can't believe you know Marcus and Sasha. She acted like she knew you when I showed her your card. I guess I should've figured with running into you in the coaches' lounge."
"Yeah, my dad had me in and out of there since I was a little girl."
"Oh my gosh, how does it feel to have the coolest dad in the world?" He was smiling. I could hear it in his voice. But knowing his background with his father I had no idea how to answer.
I paused for a few seconds and then slowly said, "He's one cool dude," like an idiot.
"Yeah, he is," Caleb said, matching my slow tempo but with a smile that I could still hear in his voice.
I wanted to be next to him. I could imagine what he looked like, and I grinned at the thought of it.
"It's so interesting to me that you love the Crusades. I would love to hear more about it sometime."
"More about the crusades? Don't even get me started. I am a gigantic nerd. I will talk your ear off."
"I never really got into history in school. I don't know why. I did on my own with all the Bible stuff, but that's specialized. Why don't you consider teaching if you love talking about history so much?"
"That's a good question because technically I would enjoy it, but there's so much more to teaching than just getting an idea across to an audience."
"What's more than that? That's the essence of teaching, isn't it?"
"I wish it were. I like talking about history to an interested person. But a portion of any given class doesn't even want to be there. Some of the people aren’t even interested in what the teacher is saying. Once you get past that, then there's all the paperwork—you have to grade students and hold them accountable for learning. And then there's school politics. Some students are mad at you if you're too hard and others are mad at you if you're too easy. Anyway, party planning is fun. And it's more of an environment I can control."
"What about tutoring? People who want to learn one-on-one? Would that be fun for you?"
The question seemed to be specific, and it caused my heart to speed up again. "Why, do you know someone who needs a history tutor?"
"I'll sign up for that," he said. "I'd love to take a class with you—even a lesson or two while I'm in Chicago. I think that would be fun. Would that be something you'd be interested in? Would you want to teach me? I'll pay you. I mean, I understand if you can't get started on something so soon, but I can meet up if you can."
My heart was pounding and I could not stop the gigantic grin from crossing my face. I had to calm myself down before I could speak.
"Yeah, no, I'd like that," I said sounding casual and happy. "I could always improv some lesson plans."
"Tonight?"
"What?" I asked even though I heard him.
"I thought you might want to get started tonight," he said.
"Y-yeah. I… where and when were you thinking?"
"I don't know… off the top of my head… maybe a café or diner—some place that's open and wouldn't mind if we sit. Is there something close to you?"
"Yes, there is. I can text you the address. Hang on for a second, and I'll do it right now. I don't know where Marcus lives. If this is too far, we can find somewhere else… meet in the middle. Hang on, I just sent it."
I waited while he opened the text.
"It's fifteen minutes," he said. "And that's fine. I can be there by ten o'clock."
"Okay," I said. "Should I just meet you there? I'll meet you there. Ten o'clock."
"Okay, sounds good."
We hung up the phone, and I rushed to get ready. I spent more time on the historical materials than I did on my appearance. I knew how intelligent this man was. I had looked into him before he called, and I had watched quite a few of his videos. He was an evangelist, but he reasoned with people using logic and facts. He was highly intelligent, and I wanted to put my best foot forward with the history stuff. I chose two of my favorite books and brought a notebook with notes and another empty notebook just in case. I also packed my laptop.
I took a few minutes to change and freshen up my appearance, but before I knew it I was out the door, heading to Sam's. It was a 24-hour diner near my house, and it wasn't busy this time of night. There were only a few tables being occupied. I had arrived five minutes early, and I ordered a glass of water, a slice of pie, and a coffee, decaf. I told the waitress that I was expecting someone. She noticed my books and said that we could take our time.
Caleb was also a few minutes early and got there right after me. I saw him when he was still outside. There were windows lining the whole place, and I watched as he approached. He had on a light blue t-shirt with a zip-up hoodie and jeans. He also had on a baseball cap and glasses. I, too, had on glasses, and I took them off and set them on the table since it felt like we matched. He was less recognizable now, and I figured no one would know who he was.
I saw when he caught sight of me. I watched nervously as he greeted the server and told her he was heading for my booth. I stood up as Caleb approached the table, and he came straight to my side with his hands out. I knew he was coming in for a hug, and I easily hugged him back. It was a quick embrace, but not quite as quick I thought it would be. He paused, holding me for a second or two longer than I expected. Maybe I just thought that because I hoped it was the case.
"Hey, thanks for meeting me," he said.
"Are you kidding? Thank you. This is fun. I would have ordered you some pie, but I wasn't sure what you wanted. I thought about French fries, too." I gestured to the table, to my pie, which had just been delivered and only had one bite missing.
By the time he got settled across from me, our server was there to take his order. He said he would have another slice of pie along with fries and coffee, and she double-checked about the decaf before taking off.
"What did Marcus and Sasha say about you taking a history lesson?"
"Oh, I didn't tell them," he said. "I just said I was going out. I, uh, it wouldn't be something I would normally do, so I didn't tell them about it."
"You wouldn't normally study history?"
"No, I just normally wouldn't do it at ten o'clock at night with a woman." He paused just long enough to look up at the server when she came back to bring his coffee.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome. The cream and sugar are right there on the table. I'll have your food out in just a minute."
My heart was racing, and the interruption from the server allowed me to take a deep breath and a sip of my coffee. Caleb took a sip of his coffee without putting anything in it, and I smiled at him. He was absolutely beautiful. I loved the way he looked when he swallowed, for goodness sake.
"I watched your videos."
He grinned and nudged his chin at me. "Oh, yeah? More than one?"
"Oh, yeah. Probably like six of the longer ones, and I don't know how many of the two-minute ones. Maybe twenty or more. I got hooked on those. You're really good. I see why so many people follow you."
"Nice. Thank you. That's a very kind thing to say."
"You have a good outlook. You're smart. And you're so patient with those people."
He let out a laugh. "Thank you," he said. "I wouldn't say that's naturally my strongest attribute, so I'll take it, thank you."
"Well, history takes patience," I said. "You know that with how many facts you retain. You have to keep going back and back to the facts to really lock them in. At least I do."
"Would you be able to sit here and give me a whole class of accurate information without opening these books?"
"Oh, yes, definitely. But the books are cool. You'll get to see pictures and maps and everything."
He stared at me with an unreadable expression. It seemed his train of thought had changed, and had no idea what he was going to say next. "I’m excited to get started, Lila Decker."
I grinned. "Good. Me too. Let's get to it."