Chapter 27 #3
We were driving to the airport the next morning. Cal was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and Lena was holding court in the back.
For the first time in weeks, the tension in the car wasn't stifling. It was warm. Cal’s hand was resting on the center console, palm up. I laced my fingers through his, resting our joined hands on my thigh. We didn't hide it. We didn't pull away when a car passed us.
"Okay, I have questions," Lena announced, leaning forward between the seats. "This is an interrogation. You have to answer honestly. Who fell in love first?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but Cal beat me to it.
"I did," Cal said simply, eyes on the road but a small smile playing on his lips.
I whipped my head toward him. "Bullshit."
Cal glanced at me. "I did! Way before we started hooking up. I think I fell for you the first month we were training together."
"You hated me," I argued, staring at him in disbelief. "You literally told me I was an 'arrogant nepo baby' to my face. Repeatedly."
"Yeah, well, I was confused," Cal laughed. "I thought you were annoying, but I couldn't stop watching you. Why do you think I argued with you so much? I was trying to get a reaction."
"I... I thought I fell first," I admitted, my voice quiet. "I thought I was the one pining while you were just tolerating me."
"Tolerating you?" Cal squeezed my hand on the center console. "Si, I was obsessed with you. I was just terrified you'd figure it out and get weird."
"Okay, obsessed isn't love," I teased lightly. "So maybe I loved you first."
"Fine," Cal conceded with a smirk. "Maybe you loved me first. But I definitely loved you harder."
"Gross," Lena commented from the back, but she sounded delighted. "This is the most romantic, pathetic thing I have ever heard. You guys were literally enemies to lovers in real time and didn't even know it. I'm writing a fanfic about it."
"Do not," Cal warned, laughing.
We got to the airport, ready to head out. Lena and Evan were heading out for more live shows, and Cal and I had a bigger thing to handle: North Carolina. We spotted Evan standing near the gate, drinking an iced coffee, scrolling on his phone.
Lena dropped her carry-on bag with a loud thud.
"You!" she shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at him.
Evan jumped, nearly spilling his coffee. He looked up, eyes wide. "What? What did I do?"
"You traitor!" Lena marched up to him, looking tiny next to his 6'4" frame but radiating pure fury. "You knew! You knew the whole time!"
Evan’s face went pale. He looked frantically between me and Cal, his eyes screaming Did I out you? Did I slip up?
"Is she... does she know?" Evan mouthed at us over Lena’s head, looking horrified.
"We told her," Cal said, suppressing a grin.
Evan let out a breath that deflated his entire body. He slumped against the wall. "Oh, thank god. I thought I was about to get fired."
"Don't change the subject!" Lena poked him in the chest. "You knew for years! I was asking you about Silas's mystery girlfriend and you were just sitting there sipping your coffee like a liar! You're the third wheel! You're supposed to tell me things!"
"It's called an NDA, kid," Evan quipped, recovering his composure. "Non-Disclosure of Affection. I was protecting my investment. If they broke up, who was gonna drive the rental car?"
"I hate you," Lena grumbled, but she was smiling. "I'm the only one out of the loop. I feel like the child in a divorce who didn't know the parents were getting back together."
"That is literally exactly what you are," Evan laughed, ruffling her hair. "Welcome to the family, hun. It's exhausting in here."
Shortly after that, we were on the plane, the hum of the engine drowning out the world around us. We were trying to be quiet, unnoticed in our seats.
"Hey," Cal whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember asking me in Scotland if I wanted kids?"
I stiffened slightly. "Yeah. I remember." That had been years ago. We were just kids ourselves then when I asked that.
"You asked me if I ever wanted any," Cal continued. "And I told you I thought so."
"I was embarrassed I asked," I admitted. "I thought I overstepped."
"No," Cal said, his hand finding my thigh under the small airplane blanket. "I have a point. I always figured... I always figured we'd adopt a really young kid. A baby, maybe. But we got Lena instead. And she really does see us as dads."
I smiled, the warmth spreading through my chest. Then I paused.
"Wait." I turned in my seat to face him as much as I could. "You said 'we'. You always figured we'd adopt a young kid?"
Even as we tried to be quiet and unnoticed on the plane, I could see Cal flush. He looked away, embarrassed.
"Well..." Cal cleared his throat. "I certainly wasn't thinking of having kids with other people. I didn't want kids until I met you."
I froze. "Really?"
"Yeah," Cal said, his voice soft and vulnerable. "You made me want that. I wanted to be a dad with you. I wanted to see you be a dad, and a—"
He cut himself off abruptly. His eyes went huge.
"A what?" I teased, a grin spreading across my face.
"Shut up," Cal muttered, looking away from me.
"Say it, Kincaid," I pressed, poking his side. "You wanted to see me be a dad and a...?"
Cal groaned, peeking one eye out. "A husband. Okay? I wanted to see you be a husband."
My heart hammered against my ribs. It wasn't a proposal, not yet, but it was the promise of one.
I leaned in and whispered in his ear, slow and sweet.
"I'd be your husband any day."