Spoilers:  After cattle incident and snippets of future episodes

Disclaimer:  I own none of these characters.  They are the property of Nickelodeon.

Pairings: C/E, snippets of C/W

 

Chapter Twenty Eight

 

“Hey!” Eric smiled as he leaned on the locker beside Caitlin’s.  “Did you have a good weekend?”  After the game Friday, Eric had to go to an auction with his dad.  He’d only gotten back late Sunday night.

 

Caitlin smiled.  “Yeah.  I kept busy.”  Eric watched Caitlin stuff a couple of binders into her backpack.  “Did you finish the Chem assignment?” asked Caitlin as she closed her locker and began to walk towards Mrs. Simon’s classroom.

 

Eric sighed.  “Yeah, after I put a dent in my forehead from hitting against our kitchen table!”  He hated Chemistry.  It was one of his least favorite classes.  Eric didn’t realize how accurate and painstakingly boring the class was, when he’d signed up for it.  He thought it would be a lot of mixing of chemicals and explosions.  How wrong he was.  Three quarters of the class was taking notes while the other quarter was doing experiments and taking notes on the experiment.

 

They walked into the classroom together.  Griffin was in his usual spot, right near the back window.  Eric sat in front of him, and Caitlin to Eric’s right.  Mrs. Simon walked in with an overhead projector, which only meant that the class would be taking notes for the 45 minutes they were there.  As Eric pulled out his Chem binder, he felt a piece of paper hit him on the side of the head.  The paper had been crumpled into a ball.  Eric slowly and as quietly as possible, unfolded the sheet of lined white paper.

 

‘Have you asked her to the prom yet?’

 

                                                    Brett

                                                    Jordan

                                                   

Eric rolled his eyes and then glared at Brett and Jordan who were sitting on his left.  He crumpled up the paper and stuffed it into his backpack.  The duo were making kissy faces at him and snickering.    Ignoring his immature classmates, Eric opened his binder to an empty sheet of looseleaf and settled down for a major session of notes that he in the end, would never understand.  Suddenly he felt a tap on his shoulder.  “Eric,” Griffin whispered.  “What did the note say?”

 

Eric turned around, his movement caught the eye of Caitlin, who frowned, silently asking what the commotion was about.  He shook his head and shrugged dismissively.  ‘Yeah,’ thought Eric.  ‘The one thing I need is for Caitlin to find out what the paper had said.’  Caitlin shrugged in reply and went back to taking the jargon of notes Mrs. Simon was explaining.

 

Griffin looked at him with wide eyes and a grin.  “So what did it say?”

 

Eric sighed and dug around in his backpack for the crumpled paper.  He threw it on Griffin’s desk and turned back to catch up on the notes he’s already missed.  After a moment, Eric felt Griffin punch him lightly on the shoulder and chuckle.  “I forgot about that.  Have you even thought about asking her?”

 

The thought had crossed his mind, but Eric didn’t know how to ask her.  Would it be as just friends?  Or would they be starting something more?  Eric shrugged and continued to finish writing the gibberish Mrs. Simon was talking about.  Then impulsively, Eric glanced quickly over at Caitlin, who was rolling her eyes at Mrs. Simon, as she jotted down the notes.  Eric smiled to himself.  She looked cute when she was annoyed and frustrated – two looks he’d mastered at achieving in bringing out in Caitlin.

 

***

 

‘This is so boring,’ thought Caitlin.  She flexed her fingers as it had started to cramp.  Mrs. Simon was always a killer, giving extensive notes in whatever class she may have been teaching.  Even in Art class, the students were made to take notes.

 

Caitlin twirled her pen between her fingers.  She had asked Jim if she could borrow the truck last Saturday so she could head up to Boulder and run some errands.  In private she’d asked Dori to convince Jim to allow her the take the truck because Caitlin wanted to shop for a prom dress.  When Dori heard prom, she’d immediately wanted to tag along, feeling that Caitlin would need some input, but she refused.  “Dori, I’m not even going to buy anything.  I’m just going to look at some dresses,” explained Caitlin, as she flopped onto her bed.  “Now do you think you could convince Jim to let me use the truck, without having to explain to him why?”

 

Finally Dori agreed to state Caitlin’s case to Jim, without resorting to details.  Jim handed her the keys without comment, for which Caitlin was ever grateful to Dori.  As she was bounding out the door, Caitlin yelled at Dori.  “I’ll let you see it if I get anything.”  As Caitlin had been driving the hour- long drive to Boulder, she didn’t quite know why getting a dress was important to her this time around.  She never had wanted to go this far out for a dress before.  Caitlin knew she was going out of her way to not let anyone find out that she was even looking at prom dresses.  That kind of excitement was reserved for Taylor and her gaggle of preppy girls.

 

Caitlin came home empty-handed, but with a better idea of what she wanted.  She didn’t realize that prom dresses would be that expensive either.  Caitlin pushed the thought of the prom and getting a date aside as she walked to her next class.  A loud voice echoed through the long hallway behind her.  “Yeah, definitely Taylor!”

 

She recognized the voice.  It was Will.  Caitlin turned around to see Taylor pawing at Will, who was leaning against a locker.  She rolled her eyes.  It had been weeks since she’d talked with him.  Caitlin was pretty sure he hated her for leaving things the way she did.  But there were moments, in class, when Caitlin would catch him staring at her.  With this announcement in the hallway, Caitlin knew that it was over.  She didn’t have time to worry over immature boys who didn’t know when to let go.

 

Will caught her eye just that moment.  The gleam in his eye was challenging her to say something, to do something.  He was challenging her to tell him it wasn’t over.  Caitlin swallowed and turned away.  But things were over.

 

~~~

 

“Hey Caitlin,” Griffin called as he jogged up beside her.  She had left the school immediately after grabbing her books, not wanting to run into Will.  Caitlin slowed down so that Griffin could catch up.

 

“Yeah,” she replied.  From the twinkle in his eye, Griffin looked like the cat that ate the canary.  Caitlin studied her cousin.  “What is it?”

 

Griffin grinned as they reached his car.  “Did you find a prom dress yet?”

 

Caitlin was in shock.  She didn’t think Dori would have told anyone, after swearing complete silence.  “What?” stuttered Caitlin.  “What are you talking about?”

 

Griffin frowned as he backed out of the parking lot and out onto the street.  “It’s a simple question.  Have you found a prom dress yet?”

 

Caitlin swallowed.  “No, why?”

 

Griffin chuckled.  “No reason Caitlin.  I was just wondering.  Geez, why are you so edgy?”

 

Caitlin let out a quiet sigh of relief.  Griffin had just asked a question and didn’t know about her expedition to Boulder.  “I’m not edgy,” she protested.  “It was just you asked the question out of the blue.  Besides, who says I’m even going to the prom.  I mean, it’s not like I have guys knocking down my door for a date.  Will and I are over, and as you’ve probably already heard, he’s taking Taylor.”

 

She watched as Griffin’s jaw dropped.  “But what about Brett?” he exclaimed.  

 

Caitlin frowned.  “What about Brett?  They were done dating a long time ago.”  Griffin shook his head.  “No. No!” He sighed.  “He still likes her, for whatever stupid reason.  And I hate to admit it, but I still think Taylor likes Brett.”

 

It was news to Caitlin, though she had to admit, they did fight a lot in the halls.  The former couple didn’t seem to even try to avoid each other.  “Well, it’s too late now.  She asked Will.”

 

Griffin sighed frustratedly.  “Girls are so dumb sometimes!” Griffin mumbled.  Caitlin took offense and hit him on the shoulder.  “No we’re not!” exclaimed Caitlin.  “It’s not like Brett has been nice to Taylor or anything.  And he’s never once said that he wanted to take her to the prom.”  Caitlin swallowed hard.  She never thought she’d be defending Taylor’s actions.  It sent a shiver down her spine.

 

Caitlin watched as Griffin rolled his eyes at her.  “Give me a break.  Girls always assume things.  They never let a guy get around to asking them anything.”

 

She bit her tongue at the smug remark.  Caitlin didn’t really care about whether Taylor went out with Brett.  In her opinion, he was better off without her snotty remarks.  “Have you already asked Nikki?” Caitlin attempted to change the subject.

 

Griffin shook his head.  “Not yet.  But we both know we’re going to the prom together,” Griffin retorted.

 

Caitlin shook her head.  “Maybe not,” said Caitlin irritably.  “You know, some girls might not make the same assumptions guys do.  They need to be asked.  And also, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask her soon since she still has to get her prom dress?”

 

As they pulled into the driveway, Griffin shook his head.  “We’ve got plenty of time!”  Caitlin shook her head in disbelief.  He wouldn’t listen.

 

“Whatever Griffin.”

 

~~~

 

The phone rang as Caitlin was making a sandwich in the kitchen.  “I got it!” Caitlin yelled as she made her way to the cordless phone.  “Hello?”

 

There was a rustling sound on the other end of the receiver and then a guy’s voice piped in.  “Uh, hello?”  Caitlin frowned.  “Eric?”

 

“Uh Caitlin!” Eric chuckled nervously.  “Hi!”

 

She relaxed as she sat down at the kitchen counter and rested the phone in between her chin and shoulder.  “What’s up?”  He sounded kind of strange on the other end, but Caitlin dismissed it.  “Are you working on the Chem lab we did?  I didn’t really get it, but Griffin will probably know what Mrs. Simon was talking about.  If you phoned to talk to Griffin, he’s out in the yard with Jim.”

 

Eric cleared his throat on the other end of the phone.  “Um, no.  That’s not what I was phoning about.”  There was a few moments of silence and then he began to talk again.  “Uh, Caitlin, I was wondering if you had a date to the prom yet?”

 

The bite of sandwich Caitlin had just taken, seemed lodged in her throat.  She swallowed hard, forcing it down.  “Uh, what did you say?”  Caitlin could feel her palms getting sweaty.  Had Eric just asked her to the prom?

 

“Uh,” he stuttered.  “I was just wondering if you had a date to the prom yet?  If you do, then that’s all right.  I was just..”  Caitlin stopped listening, instead a thousand thoughts were racing through her head.  Was this a real date?  Could she go with him?  She couldn’t believe that he was asking her.  Suddenly she found herself tuning back into the conversation.  “Uh, Caitlin?  Are you there?  Hello?”

 

Caitlin cleared her throat.  “Yeah.  I’m here,” she chirped nervously.  She chewed on her lip, wondering how she should answer him.  “Uh, no.”

 

There was silence again.  “No you don’t want to go to the prom with you?” Eric asked.

 

Caitlin’s eyes widened and she shook her head, though Eric wouldn’t be able to see that.  “NO!” she exclaimed.  “I mean, no, I don’t have a date to the dance!”  She felt her heart racing a mile a minute.

 

“Oh.” Caitlin heard Eric sigh.  “Well, do you want to go with me?”

 

The question rang in her ears.  ‘Do you want to go with me?’  Caitlin again, realized she’d phased out of the conversation and quickly replied, “Yes!”  She closed her eyes and hit her forehead.  Caitlin hoped that she didn’t sound too enthusiastic.

 

“Well, okay.  Great,” Eric replied.  “Well, I gotta go work on the Chem lab.”

 

Caitlin swallowed and nodded.  “Okay.  Um, well, I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”  She felt the blood rushing to her face.  Caitlin didn’t know how to end this conversation.

 

“Yeah.  See ya!”  There was a long pause and then a click.

 

Caitlin realized that she’d been holding her breath for the last few minutes of the conversation and exhaled loudly.  She slumped over on the counter and rested her head on her forearms.  She had a date to the prom.