I didn’t answer him.
Because if I said “open,” he’d smirk and walk away, and I’d spend all night hating myself for being a coward.
And if I said “closed,” there was no going back. Not with Mom downstairs humming while she cut cake.
Caleb waited. He didn’t touch me. He didn’t have to. The air between us was already too heavy, too hot.
“You’re thinking too loud,” he said. His mouth quirked. “I can hear you from here.”
My phone buzzed again. Mom: _9 minutes!!_
Caleb’s eyes flicked to it, then back to me. “Your choice, Lena.”
That was the first time he’d said my name. Not “stepsis.” Not “hey.” _Lena._ Like he’d been saving it.
Something in me snapped. Not fear. Not sense. Something worse.
I stepped forward and pushed the door. Not open. Not closed.
Just ajar. Two inches.
Caleb stared at the gap, then at me. And he laughed. Quiet, wrecked. “You’re terrible at following rules.”
“Learned from you,” I whispered.
He crossed the room in two steps. His hand landed on the wall beside my head, caging me in. Not touching. Just close enough that I could feel the heat of him, smell the mint on his breath.
“Ten minutes,” he said again. “What do you want to do with them?”
Downstairs, a spoon clinked against a bowl. Mom’s voice: “Caleb? Lena? Cake’s ready!”
We both froze.
His forehead dropped to mine for half a second. Just breathing. “We’re so screwed,” he muttered.
Then he pulled back. Ran a hand through his hair, wrecking it. “Open,” he decided for me.
He yanked the door wide and stepped into the hallway like nothing happened. Like his pulse wasn’t hammering. Like he couldn’t see mine.
But at the top of the stairs, he paused. Didn’t look back.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “No ten minute limit. No Mom downstairs. You decide then.”
He went downstairs. I pressed my hands to my burning cheeks.
Dessert tasted like nothing.
That night, I found a note slid under my door. No lock, just like the rules said.
_My room. Midnight. Door’s open. Your call._
---
🔥 for Part 3 — does she go to his room?
Would you risk it, or shut this down before parents find out?
