BXBX NOVEL Chapter 97
After returning Caleb deflected to his room, without even bothering to say bye. Ashton stood there thinking should he stop or let him go, but decided not to do anything for now and headed upstairs
That night sleep came to Caleb a little later than usual, although his usual was pretty late itself. He couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Despite knowing and agreeing with what happened he found himself hoping for otherwise. He sure would have loved it if they didn’t stop so abruptly.
He wasn’t exactly mad at Ashton, but he was frustrated with the way things were. He needed to come in terms with the fact that despite Caleb’s long crush on him, Ashton’s feelings were relatively new, and that it was important to find the proper pace to not screw things up. Then again, when did emotions ever listen to logic?
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The next morning, waking up late, Caleb decided to talk it out with Ashton. After a good night of sleep he felt much energetic and fresh. On his way he ran into his brother, who was rushing in through the door, looking a bit deranged. Usually him coming in the house is not a big deal, with the amount of work he does, he keeps getting back and forth. But today he had his Car Keys with him, and he was wearing his leather jacket in the temperature above 90 degrees, which was so not in sync with his personality.
“Are you alright”? Caleb called out to his brother loudly which made his brother flinch.
.....
“Don’t talk to me” his brother mumbled in a groggy voice. Suspiciously, Caleb eyed his brother before realisation hit him.
“Are you drunk”? Caleb’s lips curved into an evil smirk.
“No”. A flat irritated voice replied.
“Are you sure”? Caleb shouted for no apparent reason, making Chirstian wince.
“Okay fine, I am. Now shut your damn mouth”. His brother scolded him. “This is all your fault”! Christian shrieked at him before storming off to his room.
Meanwhile, Caleb who was taken aback blinked while he scrunched his eyebrows. “What did I do”? He shouted at the direction of his brother’s room. Shaking his head in disbelief, he headed upstairs. He knocked twice on his door and even announced who he was, but he got no reply.
He opened the door, which surprisingly wasn’t locked only to find it empty. That’s when it hit him that it was Friday, and that being a diligent student, Ashton probably went to school already. He closed the door before running downstairs. One of the servants approached him and informed him that his father had asked him to tell Caleb to go and see him in the office as soon as he was awake.
At first he was annoyed for a moment, but knowing how his father disapproved of Ashton, it was probably for the best that he didn’t infuriate him any further. He went to the office only to be welcomed in his father’s room with a stern cold expression.
“I have a task for you”. His father declared. Unsure of what kind of ridiculous task his father was about to offer he blinked but refrained himself from saying anything. His father continued by saying, “Remember the annual banquet we hold every year”? He asked which Caleb nodded.
“Well, with everything going on, your brother is a bit busy. I want you to take charge of it, but take help from Christian if you need any” His father informed him while Caleb stood wide eyed, unable to believe that his father gave him such a huge responsibility.
The annual banquet that was held by the Wrisbergs was a famous event which many wolves looked forward to. The banquet took place in the pack-hall, adjacent to the pack house and each and every werewolf of the pack, and the wolves who were allies from outside the pack were invited.
It celebrated the inter-territorial harmony and toasted to years of upcoming peace. It was important that every arrangement be done perfectly thus making this a huge deal of responsibility, something he never imagined his father would allow.
“I will see to it” he accepted, while trying to suppress his smile so as to not give away his excitement.
“You have two days to arrange everything. The banquet will take place on Sunday”. His father informed him before he continued to stare at something on his computer.
“Two Days”!? Caleb exclaimed. “How can I get everything done in two days? How will the guests arrive at such a short notice”!? He shrieked at his father.
“Stop overreacting. The invitations were sent by me a month ago. As I said, your brother is too busy, so I am shifting the responsibility to you. I am sure your brother has already done something. Just follow up on that and fulfill the additional requirements”. His father clarified.
“Oh” Caleb voiced, disappointed realising that he was basically a last moment replacement. This brought him back down from his elation.
“If you do a good job this year, you can arrange everything from scratch next year,” his father added. That was enough to bring back his enthusiasm, and thus he exited the room, eager to make the best out of it.
He was rarely ever appointed as the primary in any job related to pack activities. However, most of the time, it was either meager jobs which involved the least bit of risks, or as a secondary to someone else handling the task. Even if this wasn’t exactly a primary task for him, proving himself worthy would make him seem eligible for bigger responsibilities.
Caleb ran back to the pack house and started to bother his brother who kept himself locked in the room until Christian recovered from his headache properly. He was mostly fine physically, in fact his headache seemed a bit minor now, but somehow he felt irritated. No wonder when Caleb kept knocking on the door constantly Christian threw the glass at the door making them shatter all over the place.
Feeling guilty immediately, he answered back to his brother, “Hold on, let me clean this up”. Using the broom to brush away some of the glass away from the door, he opened it to let his brother in.
“What is going on”? Caleb asked him, confused by his reaction.
“I am never getting drunk again”. Christian mumbled, which did not escape Caleb’s ears. “What brings you here”? Annoyed, Christian asked Caleb.
Caleb told him everything his father said, and thus Christian promised to send him everything that he had arranged. “You do have to arrange a Catering service, as the one I selected canceled the last moment”. Christian added to his list of instructions. Caleb nodded, feeling overwhelmed, before agreeing to it.
He couldn’t find any Catering services nearby which would serve over a thousand people for a day. Given how it was a small town, lack of such big services was not uncommon. Going online, he did manage to find a few, and two of them even agreed to deliver on such short notice. But to confirm everything, he had to go there on spot and make a reservation properly.
At first he thought he would go alone, but given the risks it would probably not be the best idea. In fact, there was still a possibility that someone was following him. He couldn’t ask his brother because he was busy as hell, not to mention recovering from hangover and his pissed off attitude. He couldn’t ask Ashton because he had school and not to mention things between them was going exactly smooth.
Therefore he decided to bother the only other person that came to his mind, Matt. Turns out, he was so exhausted that Matt was still fast asleep despite the sun having crossed to the other side of the sky. At first he didn’t pick up his call, so he kept calling. Soon enough it started to go directly into voicemail.
Glaring at a poor squirrel who just happened to be in Caleb’s line of sight, Caleb ran off to his friend’s house. Being a frequent visitor his parents let him right in. When he saw how sound asleep Matt was, Caleb got a big bowl of water before unloading it all at once on Matt.
Matt jerked up on his seat, flabbergasted and obviously alarmed before he glared at Caleb, “Are you fu*****g kidding me”!
“Get up, we have somewhere to go”. Caleb ordered, with zero remorse for disturbing his friend.
“Why do I have to go”? Matt questioned.
“Because I said so”. Caleb shrugged. “And the fact that you like a ride my Porsche”, Caleb smirked, to which Matt simply gave him an unamused expression. “Now get up, we have a long way to go” he patted his back before leaving the room. Matt had an extreme urge to lock the door and go back to sleep, but somehow when he was on his two feet, instead of heading off to the door, he found himself going through the clothes in his closet.