Who: Caleb Rivers and Chloe Saunders What: Chloe comes over with a book for Caleb to look at Where: Caleb's apartment When: During the wish upon a star plot in December Rating: PG Status: Complete
Something felt a little off with Chloe, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. There had been a shooting star the other day, but she wasn’t sure if that was something that would affect her life. But then again this was Orange County and strangers things could and did happen to them all the time. Just the other day she had received the Necromancy book that she had been flipping through at the headquarters for the Edison Group. She thought that perhaps Caleb would like to take a look at it so she send him a text asking if he was around.
Once confirmed that he would be there she made his way to his place. The bag was tucked into a tote bag as she walked up this door. When he answered after she rang the buzzer she gave him a small smile, “Heyya. And just so you know - you and I are no longer allowed to go near a cemetery.”
Caleb hadn’t seen Chloe since the whole cemetery incident. He was a little wary of the situation, but Caleb also wasn’t one to live in fear. Chloe was dealing with the same things he was, on a more intense level. The least he could do was help her, or try to figure it out together. So of course when she texted him he was more than willing to let her come over and look at the book. It would probably do them both some good.
Caleb couldn’t help but laugh at Chloe’s opening statement. “Hello to you too. Come on in,” he joked stepping back to let her inside. Techno ran up to greet her, tail wagging. “And here I was dying to go back,” pun intended as well as the sarcasm.
Once the dog came over she leaned down to playfully pet him and give him all sorts of love, “I got yelled at by Henry and Derek and I don’t want to go through that again unless I actually end up almost dead and for a good reason. But if you’re just dying to go back I can make some arrangements.” Funeral arrangements, but that part was heavily implied in her pun and she didn’t feel the need to expressly say it, but she let the smirk on her face say it.
Dog petting time was over and she straightened up as she made her way into his apartment, “So, how has your crazy December been? Looking forward to Christmas?” Once inside the apartment she kicked off her shoes and pulled the tome out of her bag so that he could take a look.
“Damn, the guys in your life are protective.” Ironic coming from Caleb considering he was the exact same way when it came to Hanna. Well it so much the yelling at her. He mostly just checked in on her a little too often.
“Nothing too crazy. Other than the snow,” he smirked leading her over to the couch. “But I guess.” Christmas had never been a big deal to Caleb, considering he never celebrated growing up. It was nice to have people to spend the holidays with now though. “What about you?” he asked as he headed into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?” he asked grabbing a coke for himself.
“Yep, how lucky I am,” Chloe rolled her eyes with a smile. It was amusing how protective the boys could be, but Chloe was making sure that they knew she could take care of herself as well, “And yeah, the snow is annoying. I’ve got a bunch of shopping to do - Henry is going to visit his mom without me and I’m going to see my parents. And yes, I would love something.” She walked over to his couch and took a seat as she set the book down on the table.
He grabbed her a coke as well, making his way back over to her he took a seat on the couch handing her the drink. “That’s cool, that you each get to see your own family,” he said opening up his coke and taking a sip. “I’ll be with Hanna’s. For Hanukkah.” It wasn’t like he had a family of his own. But of course at the mention of families his aunt decided to pop up. This was getting really old.
“I said I forgive you,” Caleb said with a sigh to his aunt. He wasn’t worried about talking to her in front of Chloe, since well she had to see her too. “Can’t you just leave me alone?”
“Henry doesn’t get along with his parents, so it’s nice of him to go and visit them now. I’m trying to help him out with it if I can. We saw his father for Thanksgiving, so that was nice to finally meet his family. And Hanukkah? That sounds like fun - I’ve been to a couple Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, but that’s about as much as I know about the Jewish faith.”
Forgiven? A look of confusion passed over Chloe’s face as she tried to figure out what Caleb was talking about. She looked around and didn’t see anyone else in the room, “Leave you alone? Caleb, who are you talking to?”
Caleb sort of got that. Granted he didn’t know his parents to get along with them or not. He just knew his mom had another family now. “Good for Henry,” Caleb commented sincerely. “Yeah, I went last year but it was just her family. This year some of her friends are going too.”
Caleb furrowed his brow at Chloe’s question. “My aunt,” he answered. “She’s standing right there.” He nodded in her direction which of course led to her speaking up talking nonsense about how she wanted to make sure he was okay.
“I’m fine,” Caleb shot back to her. He had turned out fine no thanks to her. A few sketchy years but everything was great now.
“Do you get to have presents for all eight nights? I’ve always thought that was interesting,” Chloe commented with a small chuckle. As a child she had been curious if her friends got lots of presents or smaller presents every night and then a big present on the last night. Spreading it over eight nights seemed like more fun than just a one and done holiday.
When he explained it was his aunt her eyes moved over to where she was and her brow furrowed. “I don’t see anything…..” which only worried her and her eyes went a bit wide, “I don’t see anything. Shit, Caleb, that’s not normal.”
“What do you mean?” Caleb asked ignoring his aunt now, just focusing on Chloe. His aunt was becoming a real nuisance and Caleb just wanted to be left alone. She didn’t want him when he was a kid, why bother now that she was dead. “I thought you saw spirits?”
“I do. I did. I’ve seen your aunt before, but I can’t now….” Chloe looked a bit panicked at it because this was not her normal life anymore. Something had to have happened and she had to sit for a moment to think about it, “There was a shooting star the other night….but I didn’t think that would do anything….”
Caleb was still a bit confused but things were starting to click into place. “Did you wish to not have your abilities anymore?” He remembered something like this happening last year. Not to him personally but there were certainly mentions of it on valarnet. And honestly, he couldn’t blame her for wishing that.
His aunt disappeared, thankfully. She did that sometimes, which is why for the most part Caleb usually ignored her.
“I did...but I really didn’t think it would come true. This is just weird,” now that the powers were gone Chloe felt like she was empty. She might hate the ability and seeing ghosts, but it was really weird to not see them when she knew they were there. It was almost like being blindfolded and told to live life like that, “Ugh, now I have to tell Henry about this.”
“But, that’s good right? You can do some creepy shit.” Talking to the dead was one thing. Raising dead bodies was too much. Even for Caleb. “If it makes you feel any better, I think the wish will go away?”
“That’s good to know. It’s going to be a bit strange until it does wear off. It is a good thing, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it later, but right now it is just an odd feeling,” Chloe explained to him and then let out a sigh, “Alright, well, I didn’t come over here for nothin’, we should start looking at this book.”
“I bet,” Caleb said a bit envious honestly. Maybe next time he saw a star he’d wish for his abilities to go away. Or at least his aunt. “Good idea,” he agreed opening up the book. Even if Chloe didn’t have her abilities at the moment, they might as well do some research together.