Who: Hanna Marin and Caleb Rivers What: First time meeting Where: Coffee shop When: Sunday, April 14 Rating/Warning: Low/none Status: Complete
Although Caleb was no longer living in cheap motel rooms and was subletting a sweet loft apartment, he still like to get out of the house on weekends. Even if that just meant spending the day at a coffee shop. Yes, an entire day. As long as Caleb had his laptop with him he could spend hours anywhere. Coffee shops were his favorite though. Free wifi, caffeine and baked goods? It was about as close to heaven as possible for Caleb.
He was settled in one of the corner tables. Laptop open, coffee and a muffin beside it, fingers flying over the keyboard when he heard someone walk into the coffee shop. Usually when Caleb was in the zone, not much could distract him. And yet for some reason he felt the urge to look up, so he did. That’s when he saw her. he knew right away who she was. Hanna Marin. The Hanna Marin. The girl from his dreams. Hell he’d even go as far as to say the girl of his dreams. Because she was. She was the center of his dreams and he had royally fucked up.
Caleb knew people from the dreams could exist in real life. He just didn’t think it would happen for him. And now that it was? He didn’t know what to do. He sat there for a moment, watching her order her coffee and cupcake, a smirk appearing on his face. Yeah, that was definitely Hanna.
Shutting his laptop Caleb stood up, leaning against the wall by his table. Which conveniently wasn’t far from where Hanna would have to wait for her coffee. Crossing his arms over his chest he gave her a small nod. “There’s space at my table,” he said confidently. Smirk on his face. Not even thinking about the fact that to her he was probably just a random guy. Or maybe he wasn’t. Maybe she had dreamed already too. Caleb had no idea. Either way he couldn’t resist the urge to talk to her.
Hanna had been in Orange County for less than a week and had already tried three different coffee shops. None of them did a decent iced coffee, for starters, and the last place she’d tried to get actual coffee from had some pretentious cup size that was in no way big enough to justify the $8 that she’d had to hand over the counter. Who charged $8 for a small cup of coffee anyway? She understood that this was California, and everything was more expensive, but that was stupid money. If she was going to pay that much for a tiny coffee she’d buy a Nespresso machine and drink it out of tiny pretentious glass mugs in her apartment. Which, honestly, sounded a little appealing but her apartment didn’t have cakes, so here she was. She put a pin in the coffee machine thought.
Having placed her order and paid for it, Hanna drifted to the left and did a cursory glance around the shop for somewhere to sit. It looked annoyingly busy and as nice as it was outside there was a breeze and she had the wrong kind of lip gloss on for a breeze (never mind that any kind of lip gloss was the wrong kind for now, this was the worst of the wrong kind) and with the weather getting warmer, there was also the ever present threat of bugs. So. Indoors it was but since there didn’t seem to be any free tables…
She had spotted a guy in a hoodie with dark hair moving when she heard the soft sound of a laptop closing. He had stood up and she tilted her head a little, taking in the confident posture, the smirk on his lips. Her gaze swept over him again, this time a little more slowly and her eyebrow lifted as she smiled back. “Oh? Are you leaving?” Since he’d closed his laptop, she thought that was a fair assumption.
She didn’t seem to recognize him. Which meant Caleb had probably been right. She didn’t know who he was. Didn’t know how Jenna paid him to spy on her and her friends in the dreams. That was good at least. Nothing to be pissed at him for.
“Nah,” Caleb replied to her question shaking his head slightly. Damn she was even more gorgeous in real life. He couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over her. He needed to snap out of it and just talk to her. Something he usually had no problem doing. It was the damn dreams messing with him. He did his best to push them aside and just focus on the Hanna that was here in front of him.
“Just taking a bit of a break,” he continued, arms still folded across his chest. “Figured I might as well have some company.” A lie. He never took breaks. Yeah being at a coffee shop got him out of the apartment and around other people, but he didn’t usually socialize with them. However, he said it so smoothly there was no way for Hanna to know this was unusual for him.
Hanna’s eyebrow lifted and she opened her mouth to say something when the barista said her name. She turned her head, flashed him a bright smile as she took her coffee - the cup had her name written on the side anyway - and considered the offer from tall, cute and interesting. She did need to start making friends here, at the very least so that she didn’t succumb to homesickness and run back to her mom at the first sign of something going wrong after the absolutely epic argument that had followed her impulsive decision to move out here.
She pushed her hair back behind her ear and lifted a shoulder, adjusting how her bag was resting on her arm and then nodded. “I’d be crazy to turn down such an enthusiastic offer of company,” she told him, only a little sarcastically, brushing past as she went to take a seat on the opposite side of the booth to the side his laptop was sitting on.
Settling down, Hanna put her bag on the chair beside her and rummaged out her cell phone, placing it on the table beside the plate that held her slice of double-chocolate fudge cake. There was a fork there too, which she ran her finger over absently as she lifted her drink to her lips and took a sip, waiting for her table companion to re-join her. “Are you working?”
Caleb couldn’t help but smile at Hanna’s first comment, her tone dripping with sarcasm. Again, it reminded him of the dreams but he had to remember to push that aside. He wasn’t the same person from the dreams and she wasn’t either. Though he did wonder, what might have happened, what his life might have been like if he ended up in a town like Rosewood back in high school. If someone had actually showed interest in his well being, refusing to let him live in crappy foster homes. But it hadn’t.
Caleb returned to his seat, pushing his laptop aside for now, giving Hanna all his attention. “Not anymore,” he replied with a smirk. “I’m Caleb by the way.” Probably a good idea to introduce himself. He picked up his coffee taking a sip. “What do you need the fuel for?” he asked referring more to the caffeine than the cake. “Long day?”
“Existing,” Hanna responded dryly, lifting her cup to her lips and taking a sip, watching Caleb - nice name, it suited him - over the rim of her cup. She’d dropped her gaze to track his hands as he pushed the laptop to one side, her mind wandering for a couple of seconds before she returned her eyes to Caleb’s, tracking up his face as she did. Hey, she could take her time. He was nice to look at. Being in a new place, starting at a new college mid-semester and struggling to fit in all over again meant that Hanna was resisting the urge to fall back onto certain old habits and instead was relying on caffeine.
Still, the bag of peanut m&ms in her purse was there for emergencies. Thankfully sitting in a coffee shop across from a cute boy didn’t count.
“I’m Hanna,” she added, hand moving like she was going to reach out across the table but she thought better of it. “But you probably heard that already, huh.”
Caleb had to admit he was a big fan of her sarcasm. It caused the smirk to remain in his face. “Yeah?” he questioned with his brow raised. “That tough to get by in the world?” His tone was light joking with her. Which to be fair, she had invited with her sarcasm.
Her comment took him aback. How would she know he knew her name? There was a brief look of confusion on his face before he realized she meant her coffee. Wow. Good job Caleb.
“Better to hear it from you,” he finally replied pulling a piece off his muffin and taking a bite.
“Oh yeah,” Hanna agreed with a nod, both eyebrows raising as she held the cup with both hands and took another sip, distracted only briefly to check that she hadn’t lost too much lip gloss on the lip of the cup which - thankfully - she hadn’t. She would still need to reapply it once she’d eaten her cake. She brushed her lower lip with her thumb and then continued, coffee back on the table. “Moving across the country and settling into a new school where you know no one is just as easy and painless as I thought it’d be.”
She watched the look of confusion flicker across his face, in a slight crease of his brows that was endearing and intriguing both at the same time. Though she wasn’t sure what it might have been caused by, Hanna didn’t push, especially since then he was pulling his muffin apart and eating it which broke the sort of etiquette that Hanna had been waiting for so she could eat her cake.
Fork being picked up, since her cake was too sticky for hands, she broke a piece off but then before eating it, pulled a band off from her wrist and swept her hands through her hair, tying the strands back in a messy ponytail to try and keep it out of her face, though the shorter front strands fell forwards again.
Tipping her head, she smiled at him again, picking the fork, popping a piece of cake in her mouth. “Well, now you know.” She glanced down at her phone when it buzzed, a text message from her mom making it vibrate on the table. She turned it over. “So… have you lived here long?”
So she had just moved here. Again that answered Caleb’s question about her dreaming. There was no way she was yet. It had been a few weeks after he moved for him to start dreaming. And even if hers had started right away Caleb didn’t think she knew who he was. He was pretty sure she would have been looking at him a lot differently if she had seen him in her dreams.
Again he had to push thoughts of the dreams aside. This was the real Hanna in front of him after all. And he wanted to know her. Not compare her to the dreams. Or even think about them.
“Just moved from where?” Caleb asked popping another piece of muffin into his mouth as he watched her tie her hair back and take her time with the piece of cake.
Caleb took another sip of his coffee, licking his lips as he set it back down. “Not really,” he replied honestly, shrugging his shoulders a bit. “Just got here a few months ago.” The plan had been to pass through, like he did every other place he stayed at for the past year. But there had been something about this place that made him stay. And now with the dreams? He didn’t think he could leave. Not to mention the fact that he had an actual legitimate job for the first time in his life. And even an apartment now.
“So why the big move?” Caleb asked unable to hide his curiosity.
“Not here, obviously,” Hanna replied cheekily, looking pleased with herself for that response even as she helped herself to another piece of cake. She took a moment to look around, there were people here dressing for the weather they wish they had and while everyone was free to do whatever they wanted if it made them happy, no one should wear crocs.
She wondered if the dismay was clear on her face at an otherwise on trend bohemian-chic outfit was ruined by legitimately hideous shoes.
“Yeah?” She asked, attention returning to Caleb easily. He was much nicer to look at than a pair of crocs. “Where from?” Her lips twitched up, eyes bright in that she was enjoying the conversation.
Tapping her fingers against her cup she didn’t answer his next question immediately. “Felt like a change,” she settled on saying. “Plus my evil step sister was trying to Cinderella me out of college so I figured I could get away and do something better than her where she couldn’t follow.”
Caleb watched as Hanna looked around the coffee shop, eyeing someone’s outfit with a look of apprehension on her face. Caleb had no idea what was causing it. The outfit looked fine to him. But what did he know? But then she was looking back over at him with those beautiful blue eyes of hers, smile back on her face. Well whatever had worried her briefly was clearly over with now.
“Not here,” Caleb shot back to her question unable to keep that smirk off his face. He took another sip of his coffee setting it back down and brushing the hair out of his face.
“Sounds like your life is a real life fairy tale.” He bit his lip, refraining himself from asking if that made him Prince Charming. That was a bit too forward. Plus Hanna didn’t really seem like the type of girl to need a Prince Charming anyway. “Where you rescue yourself,” he finally conceded. Yeah that was better than the Prince Charming comment.
Hanna laughed, bright and pleased when Caleb shot her own smart-ass response right back at her. She grinned into her coffee and accepted that answer: she’d walked right into that one. She had to accept that.
“Sure, maybe a Grimm fairytale,” she retorted, because though she knew her life wasn’t as bad as bad as some people’s, it certainly didn’t fit in a Disney movie either. She took another sip of her coffee and then wiggled her fingers, shifting on the cushion. “I guess, though sometimes it’s nice to have a white knight?” Not that she’d had one of those before. She’d kissed a lot of frogs and was yet to find one that turned into a prince.
Caleb’s brow shot up at that comment. “I’m guessing you left yours behind?” Yeah, he couldn’t help the question from coming out. It was his way of asking if she was single. Which, he was assuming she was given she had apparently just moved across the country. But it was more than that. He truly did want to know if she had left some guy behind. If he needed to worry about any ex boyfriends…. Yeah he was getting a little ahead of himself there. But still, he wanted to know.
“Who,” Hanna asked, “a white knight?” She let out a sound that was somewhere between a scoff and a snort. “No. Literally no guy back home would fit that description.” She knew that, at least, and maybe it was in part because the nicer guys were never the ones who were attracted to her? Or because the guys she chose tended to be...jerks? But either way, white knights were not in her past. “Buncha toads.”
That answer made Caleb feel better than it probably should have. Especially considering he had just met Hanna. And yet he couldn’t help but feel drawn to her. It wasn’t just because of the dreams either. It was her. “We’re just going to have to change that,” Caleb replied easily. Confident smirk present on his face. He pulled another piece off of his muffin, popping it into his mouth.
“No, thanks,” Hanna said, ignoring the way her stomach flipped a little when that smirk crossed his face again and definitely ignoring how her eyes tracked the movement of his hand. He had really nice hands. Not that she’d noticed or anything. Definitely not. She swallowed, cheeks catching ever so slightly when she realised that she was looking at his fingers again. “I do not need boy drama on top of being the new girl at college. I’ve already got a lot to prove if I want to catch up.”
Not that he cared, but she pulled a face anyway and blew out a breath, “I have to take a chemistry course.” To do fashion design. She wasn’t intending on making dresses that changed colour on the runway, as interesting as that would be. She didn’t need to make superhero suits. Caleb had a piece of hair hanging just over his eye and Hanna had the most irrational urge to reach over the table and push it behind his ear. She stabbed her fork into her cake instead.
“You really have been with a bunch of toads,” Caleb couldn’t help but comment, keeping his tone light. “Not all guys create ‘boy drama’” he even lifted up his fingers to do air quotes around the word, “you know?”
But then she changed the subject, talking about her classes. Caleb took another sip of his coffee, an amused smile on his face at the face she made talking about chemistry. “Clearly not a science major.” Was that even a thing? Science major? It was probably more specific than that like chemistry major or physics major or some shit. Instead of just being under the umbrella of science. But Caleb didn’t know. He never went to college. Hell he hadn’t even finished high school. “So what are you studying?”
Hanna levelled Caleb with a look that said really?, telling him without words that she absolutely didn’t believe that there was a boy out there that didn’t create drama. She ate another mouthful of her cake and waved her fork in his direction dismissively. “Such a boy does not exist,” she said confidently, with another fork wave for emphasis.
“Ugh, god no.” Hanna grimaced. “Not smart enough for science. That’s part of the problem. I’m doing fashion design. I don’t even understand why I have to take extra science classes.” It was evident from her face that she was appalled by this decision.
And just like that Caleb decided he was going to prove Hanna wrong, one day. Though he didn’t say as much. He’d just let Hanna believe what she wanted for the time being. Even though he felt like he already knew her, he really didn’t. He needed to keep comments like that to himself.
Caleb bit his lip, pondering for a moment what science had to do with fashion. Not that he really knew shit about either. “Maybe something with the chemicals in the fabrics?” he offered brushing that hair Hanna had spotted earlier out of his face. “But yeah,” he went on picking his coffee cup back up. “You’re asking the wrong guy. I don’t know much about fashion.” A pause as he took a sip, setting the cup back down. “But I guess you were already able to tell that, huh?” he raised a brown, gesturing with a sweeping motion over his outfit - grey t-shirt under a black hoodie and jeans.
“You’re not a total disaster,” Hanna told him teasingly, hiding her smile with her coffee, lifting it to her lips and taking a couple of sips. She tipped her head and let her gaze roam over what she could see, clearly considering. “It works for you.”
There was a small part of her that was almost disappointed that Caleb had pushed the hair out of his face, but to satisfy some unconscious need to touch hair she lifted her hand and swept a few loose strands back behind her ear. “Are your jeans ripped?” she asked, leaning to the side to look under the table, spotting that he had boots on too, a very distinct style that not everyone could carry off. Head appearing above the table a moment or so later, she grinned at him. “Is all your wardrobe this shade?”
Caleb suddenly felt a little self conscious as Hanna looked him over. Not a feeling he was used too. It quickly dissipated though. He never claimed to be interested in fashion. Hell as long as he had clothes to wear he was happy. Something that wasn’t always a given for him growing up.
“No,” Caleb replied. And the ripped jeans he did have weren’t bought that way. It was just something that happened over time. However it seemed like Hanna had to check for herself, that amused smile was back on Caleb’s face when she popped back up. “Pretty much,” he said with a shrug. “Why? You trying to give me a makeover?”
“Why,” Hanna retorted immediately, leaning forward a little, her cake almost completely forgotten in lieu of talking with Caleb. Her expression was bright and playful, head tipped slightly and eyes smiling as she continued, “you asking me for fashion tips?”
Some people could work the grungy hoodie-jeans-boots combo and Caleb was one of them, with his hair being slightly on the longer side it really did work for him. She wouldn’t really tell him to change anything, except maybe to put him in a brighter colour. Blue, maybe, or green. Both would bring out his eyes.
When Hanna leaned forward Caleb did as well, arms resting on the table. “Believe it or not,” Caleb replied smirking at her, his dark brown eyes locked onto her bright blue ones. “I’m not that interested in fashion.”
He licked his lips before continuing. That confidence of his back now that Hanna was done looking him over. “However,” he went on. “I might just be interested in fashion designers.” One to be exact.
Hanna’s eyebrows lifted, not leaning back when Caleb leaned forward, she even went so far as to mimic his posture, her arms folded on the table to let her get that little bit closer, holding his gaze unerringly- even if she’d caught him licking his lower lip in her peripheral vision and it had been a fight not to glance down (a fight she lost momentarily without realising). “I guess you’re in luck then,” she told him, “since they’re my speciality.”
“They?” Caleb countered, eyes still locked on Hanna though his brow definitely rose. “I was talking more about one in particular,” he added pointedly. “Blonde hair, blue eyes, hates chemistry…” Yeah he had started this off by trying to ask her in a casual way. But now he was just going to go for it. “Goes by the name, Hanna.”
Hanna’s expression softened a little, surprised by how forward Caleb was being but also quite clearly unused to it. She looked away, glancing down at the table and wetting her lower lip before she looked up at him again. “She’s not that interesting, Caleb,” she told him, lips curled back up into that playful smile but there was something behind her eyes, a lingering insecurity that made what should have been a tease seem a little more real.
Caleb saw right through that smile. Yes, she said her comment lightly. Like she was teasing him. But there was something there. Hidden behind her beautiful blue eyes. They suddenly seemed less bright. As if she truly believed that herself. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” he challenged. And though he was trying to keep things light, there was a softness to his voice.
Hanna swallowed, wetting her lower lip again and then internally cursing because she was ruining her lip gloss. It needed to be redone anyway but she could have at least waited a little longer. Still, it tasted like cherry garcia and was definitely one of her nicer tasting ones. She’d have to remember to pick some more of it up next time she was in a mall.
The soft tone to his voice made butterflies flutter in her stomach and she had to look away again, pretending to have noticed a loose thread on her shirt and looking down at it, brushing her fingers along the fabric above her stomach, plucking away imaginary lint or whatever it was that she was using as an excuse. Even still, her eyes kept going back to him, where he was leaning forward, not looking away.
“I feel like you’re gonna be trouble, Caleb,” she told him, though her eyes were still smiling.
Caleb’s eyes remained on Hanna. He bit down on his lower lip, amused by her actions. The shyness that suddenly seemed to occur as she attempted to pick something off her shirt. At least he assumed that was what she was trying to do.
“You gonna let me prove you wrong?” he countered. Because he wouldn’t force it. He knew when to take no for an answer. But he didn’t think Hanna wanted to say no. In fact he was pretty damn sure she wanted to say yes. But still the choice was hers. Though he really hoped she said yes.
Hanna didn’t answer for a moment, torn between wanting to make a joke and give a straight answer. Instead of doing either of those things, she picked up her cell and unlocked it, swiping across the screen with her thumb and then placing it down on the table, face up. She spun it and pushed it towards Caleb in a silent offer for him to put his number in, meeting his eyes and nodding her head.
“You saying you’re one of those boys who doesn’t do drama?” she asked, referencing their earlier conversation, “because if that’s the case, this I gotta see.”
Caleb grinned punching his number into Hanna’s phone. He even put his name as ‘Caleb No Drama Rivers’ before sliding it back to her. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”