Morning After Self-Doubt

who: Caleb and Jamie
where: her house
when: morning (6:30 to around 8 AM)

When Jamie fell asleep with music still on, she usually judged how her day would be by what was playing when she woke up.

"I'm falling to pieces, and I never thought my time would run out. And I loathe all these reasons that I never fit this mold in your life..."

Well, shit, that was a bad omen. Waking up to a song about suicide was never a good thing in her world. Now fully awake, she lay in bed a few minutes longer, her eyes suddenly wide open. Somehow during the night, she'd curled up on top of Caleb, her head resting on his chest. He was warm, and comfy (apparently he made a good pillow; she'd keep that in mind), and his heart beat in her ear was soothing.

Not soothing enough, of course, to keep her mind off of her behavior last night. Ugh. Whore.

Caleb stirred when she did. He wasn't the soundest sleeper in the world, and he wasn't in his own bed. Ten? His first thought was that he was home and that Ten must have slept in his room again, but his night came back to him really fast. Partly due to the music, but mostly due to the scent of Jamie. He opened his eyes a little, reaching up to rub the sleep out of one as he came more completely to. Making an inarticulate sort of sound announced his consciousness.

She sat up then, smiling faintly down at him. God was he cute in the mornings. Like snuggles and hugs and kisses cute. But yeah, after what she'd done last night? No way in hell. She'd probably go insane hobag again and try to rape him or something. "Morning," Jamie greeted softly, stamping viciously on the urge to play with his hair. No. No touching. Touching bad. She'd done enough of that last night.

He got his eyes to cooperate fully with him and he looked down at her, stretching a little. "Morning." he said back, voice all sleep-hoarse and scratchy. "Did you sleep okay? What time is it?" he asked, vaguely looking around for a clock, but he gave up before he'd put in much of an effort.

That got a full smile out of her, even though she wasn't in a happy sort of mood right now. Caleb was officially twelve kinds of adorable in the mornings. "I slept good. It's 6:30," she murmured, eyes darting over to the clock on the wall. Jamie caved in then, just a little, and reached out to brush his hair back. Hurray for her, she didn't immediately go for his pants! "You can sleep awhile longer. I can wake you up," she offered.

He looked like he was having a slight bit of trouble doing that waking up thing, but he was trying. "No, I can get up now..." he mumbled. Caleb saw her smiling, and gave a sleepy one in return. So all that had actually happened, huh. He'd sort of been wondering if he'd dreamed it.

She toyed with his hair, because that was neutral territory. Hair wasn't sexual. "You sure? I'm one of those horrible morning people. I know most people like sleeping in and being normal. You can hang out in here and I'll bring you breakfast in a little while."

"I'm more nocturnal in nature." Caleb said as he started to wake up a little more. Then he paused. "You'd make me breakfast?" he asked. "While I just crashed out for a while more?" This seemed to mystify him. Mostly because nothing like that would have ever occurred to him to be a possibility.

Jamie laughed, a little grin on her face. "Yeah, I'm domestic like that. You'll have to get used to it. But not too used to it, 'cause I don't want to spoil you or anything." She ran her fingers through his hair one last time before drawing away reluctantly. "Anything sound good to you?"

He couldn't think of anything, because he was still stuck in the 'holy shit' frame of mind. "Anything that's easy?" he suggested. "Are you sure? I can just grab something on the way to the shop, you really don't have to go out of your way or anything like that..." he trailed off, watching her.

She flicked him in the forehead gently. "It's fine, really." Seeing his reaction had her wanting to make him something. Caleb needed a little spoiling, after all. "Pancakes?" she offered, climbing out of bed and heading for her dresser. Pants (or something besides just a shirt) were in order. "Or if you don't like sweets in the morning I can do omelettes, too."

He made a little disconcerted sound and rubbed at his forehead where she flicked him, and when she got out of bed, he rolled onto his stomach, stretching. "I didn't expect room service." he mumbled. God he hadn't gotten near enough sleep in the past few days. Last night had kicked his ass and he'd slept heavy for a while there. He hugged the pillow beneath him, getting comfortable again. His eyes followed her, however. She seemed slightly better than last night, though that didn't mean he'd forgotten it. Seemed kind of mean to hit her with it immediately, though. "Pancakes sound good." he said, since they did. Really good, actually, he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten them.

Jamie pulled on a pair of pajama pants, making a soft noise of agreement. "Then I'll make you some pancakes. Get some more sleep, okay? You sound tired. It'll probably be another hour. And I have to put your shirt in the dryer anyways, so you're stuck here a little while longer until that's done."

He could think of worse places to be stuck. He quirked a very sleepy smile at her, something that bordered on a smirk. "You're far too awake and productive for this hour." he said. "But you're cute, so I'll forgive you." he added. It was sound logic to him.

The almost smirk had her blushing; the cute had her warm. Both reactions had her bothered for a completely different reason that had nothing to do with Caleb, but thankfully it didn't show on her face. "Told you, I'm one of those awful morning people. But I'm very glad you forgive me for it." She opened her door and glanced back over her shoulder at him. "Get some sleep. And that's not a request, either. I might not feed you if I come back in and you're awake."

"You'd with hold food? Harsh..." he said, but he stretched again and seemed to settle, getting comfortable again. He'd ask her again if she didn't mind, but he figured that would just get her exasperated with him, and so he decided to just accept her being nice. That and he probably would crash again for a little while. She had a comfortable bed, he was still exhausted...yeah.

She laughed quietly, pleased he seemed to be settling back into bed, then headed out into the hallway, shutting the door quietly behind her. Time to get some things done. Laundry was first; it had to get done before he could leave, after all. His shirt and her clothes she tossed in the dryer, leaving out her still somewhat-stained shirt. Heat and blood stains were not friendly, after all. She'd learned that lesson as a little girl...

After that, Jamie headed into the kitchen to get started on breakfast. Her grandpa always wanted cereal, so she'd just make enough (well, more than enough) for Caleb, and then snag bites off of his plate. She took her time, mostly so he could sleep in a little longer, but it didn't help she was distracted... Why did I act that way? God, how can he stand to even look at me after I practically molested him? I got naked before we were even officially dating for fucks sake... Ugh.

Thankfully, she'd long mastered the art of zoning out while cooking (it was prime time for repetitive studying, really, if she remembered to keep an eye on the food). It wasn't long before she had a stack of buttered pancakes on a plate. The plate she put on a tray, along with syrup, two forks and two glasses of orange juice. After picking it up, she headed towards her room, very carefully opened the door one handed (and nearly lost the syrup in the process) and headed inside as quietly as possible, bumping the door back shut with her hip. "Hey, sleepy-head. Room service," Jamie said in a murmur, sitting on the edge of the bed beside Caleb.

He stirred again since he had fallen asleep once more, and he half shifted and didn't quite open his eyes yet. He made a sound to acknowledge that he was in fact conscious. "Smells good." he murmured, voice muffled by the pillow.

Jamie put the tray down on her night stand, running her hand gently down his back, avoiding the stitches. She hadn't gotten to look at them before now. God, that... that was bad. How often does this happen? How many first aid supplies am I going to need for him? Maybe I should start carrying around a kit... "You want me to leave you alone for a little bit more? It's 7:15. I can go get my shower... The food'll stay warm for awhile, babe."

Caleb twitched faintly, sort of half shifting to his side and he tugged the sheet up a bit more to cover some of the scars. Funny how that was kicking in now. "No, I'm up." he said, pushing himself to sitting and he rubbed at his eye again. "I can't promise coherency, but awake I can do."

"You don't have to do that now, y'know. I mean, you've seen me entirely naked," Jamie said quietly, though she wasn't hurt. She drew back her hand, mostly because of the twitch. She wasn't going to push him right now. "I made too many, so if you can't eat all of them, don't feel too bad. I didn't know how hungry you'd be."

He half drew his fingers through his hair to get it out of his eyes, looking at her a touch sheephishly. "Sorry. I know, I just...not used to it. And...broad daylight, and..." he shrugged. "I said I wasn't gonna get over it overnight...I'm trying." he added. "Um...I'm hungry, yeah. When are you going to tell me what was going on with you last night before we went to sleep?"

She blinked at him, only a flicker betraying the fact that she knew what he was talking about. "There's no way you're that sleepy, if you can remember something tiny like that. I was just tired," Jamie explained carefully, grabbing the tray and balancing it on her lap. If he brought it up again, she'd shove an entire pancake into his mouth.

"I'm observant, it was worrying me, and it still is. I don't think it was tiny, either. C'mon...what's going on?" he asked, leveling his brown eyes on her and trying to figure a way to get it out of her without badgering the shit out of her. He didn't really want it to turn into a fight. Which he was aware was a possibility.

Jamie toyed with one of the forks. Yes, jabbing it into a pancake, and then shoving said pancake in his mouth? Very tempting. Except she really didn't want to choke him to death this early in the morning. That could wait until later, if he wouldn't drop this. "I don't want to talk about it," she said evenly. "It's not your fault, and I'm not upset with you or anything." On the contrary, she was absolutely amazed he hadn't shoved her off and left after last night.

He ate some of the food. "This is really good." he told her, because it was. He was still a bit amazed on the whole being fed score. Caleb was still watching her, though. "I think it's important." he said, voice not pushing, but quiet.

She snuck a bite of pancake, chewing thoughtfully. "Thank you," Jamie said sincerely, a sad little smile playing on her lips. She took a sip of orange juice, eyes growing distant. "I never said it wasn't important. I just... don't want to argue this early in the morning." Or bring you to your senses and have you bail on me because I'm a stupid whore.

Distant and not looking at him really didn't put his mind at ease at all. In fact, it did the opposite. "How do you know it'll be a fight?" he asked. Though really, with their short track record, she was probably right. They fought. It was what they did, kinda. "Will you tell me later?" he asked instead.

"I don't want to talk about it at all, Caleb," Jamie murmured, stabbing into the unfeeling pancake. It made her feel a little better, but it probably didn't look good for her emotional state. Probably worse, actually. Hopefully he wouldn't start thinking she wanted to stab him with the fork.

He actually was thinking that she might rather be stabbing something more fleshy. And of course it made sure to tell him without saying so that she was still terribly upset over something. He frowned at her. "Well, you went all quiet and upset last night, and your pancakes are already dead, they don't really need to be stabbed so much. So you're obviously still upset. What's going on?" It's fucking disconcerting. "Did I do something?"

Damnit. She took a bite of the very dead pancakes (thankfully stabbing them didn't change the taste), frowning now. "You didn't do anything. It's what I did." Namely, throwing herself at him. She'd gotten completely naked over their first kiss! Gladly! Without even a second thought! The word no had not entered her mind once last night, until he'd put it there! And even then? She'd thought it was a bad idea! Coming to terms with her sudden, all consuming inner whore was going to take awhile.

He was frowning at her, and didn't quite know what to say to that. What she did like what? Caleb wasn't sure he followed, in fact, he knew he didn't. "What did you do?" he asked warily, feeling like he was navigating a mine field.

Jamie sighed, plopping back onto the bed with a sigh. They were going to talk about this, weren't they? Damn. "I acted like a whore last night. I kept throwing myself at you, even when you told me to stop."

Caleb was left choking on his food, which he took a drink quickly to get down, but even after he continued with the coughing fit for a minute. "A whore?" he asked, eyeing her like she was insane. "You're not a whore," he added, because that really seemed important to say.

"Uh huh. If it acts like a whore? It is a whore. I'm a whore." Like Chrissy. Like her mother. "If you hadn't stopped me, I would have had my hands down your pants." Jamie kept her eyes focused on the ceiling, her gaze narrowed, her body tensed up. Now was the part where they got into an argument, or worse: he realized she was right and left.

Caleb was still stuck staring at her. What the fuck did he say to that? He was left blinking, feeling like he'd missed something somewhere. While he knew she was right about the her hands down his pants thing, he still didn't think... well okay she'd been a little hot and heavy on things, taking them really really fast, but that didn't make her a whore. Or so he thought. "You weren't acting like a whore either. We just got...carried away."

She noted he didn't sound all that convinced himself. Yeah, it was official. She was a whore. Absentmindedly she began to play with her hair, not saying anything. What else was there to say, really? Well... "Eat your breakfast before it gets cold."

There. That was something.

"Oh come the fuck on." Caleb said, setting his fork down as he turned a hard look on her. "You say something like that, I tell you no, you aren't, and we just got carried away, and you answer with the brush off? What the fuck, Jamie?" And oh look! The arguing section of their normal interactions. Awesome. They'd only been in each other's presence for a handful of minutes so far, why not cut right to the argument?

"I have never acted like that before. Ever." Her voice was deathly quiet as she spoke. She wasn't feeling much like arguing at the moment. "The word 'no' or 'stop' did not enter my head once last night, Caleb, until you pulled me down." And that? That had only been because of her fear of falling. A happy coincidence for her virginity, nothing more.

Caleb listened, and a sinking sensation hit him. If she'd never acted like that before, maybe it was him. Or something. Maybe just not in a good way, like he was a bad influence. Just in a really extreme way and he didn't know how or why. He didn't know what to say, sort of half scraping his fork on his plate.

She pushed herself up at his silence, her gaze scrutinizing. "See? This is why I didn't want to talk about this. You're blaming yourself, aren't you?" Jamie sighed, frustrated. "Look, it isn't you. My mother was a whore. My best friend? Whore. Maybe it's genetic, or maybe it's just a nurture thing. It isn't you."

"Will you stop fucking saying that?" Caleb snapped. "So things got carried away, it happens, it doesn't make you a fucking whore. You're talking about it like that's just it, whatever, give in, just...stop it." It was her tone more than anything that was setting him on edge.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, sitting up all the way and hugging her arms to her chest. God, she felt cold all of a sudden. Cold, and lonely, and she desperately wanted to go back to an hour ago when they were curled up under the covers and not talking about this. Cuddling would be good right now.

And now she was going to be doing that. How spectacularly unhelpful. Not to mention irritating, because she was acting like she'd up and accepted her fate as a whore--which she wasn't--and there was nothing he could say about it to change her mind. How fucking stubborn. "Don't be sorry, just stop acting like you've sealed your fate. You aren't anything like Chrissy, and I figure you're not like your mom. People get carried away with shit, it happens, it's normal, it's not the end of the world. Unless that's just cue for me to get the fuck out, because I had that effect on your, or it's my influence, or whatever fucked up reason you want to fill in the blank with."

Jamie shot him a dark look, but there was an edge of panic, visible under the surface. "I told you not to blame yourself. I don't. I... don't leave. Please," she asked softly, shuddering at the thought. God, when was she going to stop fucking things up? They hadn't even been dating an entire day yet, and she'd already caused both of their arguments.

"Well what do you expect when you're sitting there saying you're a whore?" Caleb asked. "You sure as hell weren't before I got here. At least you didn't feel that way, because you're not now, either. We got wrapped up in stuff, we'll just...not do that again. Whatever." He had a headache forming, a migraine waiting to happen. He could feel it, starting to rise up behind his eyes. Awesome. The daylight wasn't helping that out any. "Either way, it's fucked up, it's worse to hear, and you're making it out to be a lot worse than it is."

Her heart sank. She opened her mouth to say something, thought better of it, then closed it. Yeah, there really wasn't anything to say that wouldn't result in complete and utter failure here. Go her. Jamie hugged her knees to her chest, watching him silently. I knew my issues would fuck up any relationship I ever tried... Now what do I do to try to fix this mess?

"Or, maybe it is the end of the world. You made out with me. Yep. Must be apocalyptic." Caleb said, getting up. He looked down for his shoes, then remembered that they were out by the front door. "Worst thing to ever happen in the history of everything, clearly."

"No," she muttered, her voice shaky. "I'd do it all again in a heart beat. It was quite possibly the best night of my life." And that scared the shit out of her. Jamie scooted off the bed and headed for the door. "I'll get your shirt."

"Well if it was the best night of your life, what the hell is the problem?" Caleb asked, staring at her incredulously. "Honestly, I want to know. What's wrong with things, if..." he trailed off, not sure how to end that thought. Because he was having the hardest time trying to figure anything out.

Jamie scrubbed unhappily at her eyes with the heels of her palms. "I don't know. I'm just scared, I guess. I lost control completely, and I..." Her voice trailed off after that, and she frowned, still covering her eyes. I loved every minute of it, and I want to do it again, preferably as soon as possible, and how does that not make me a whore? Maybe I'm a nymphomaniac. Yeah, because that was so much better.

Caleb just looked at her, quiet as he considered things. His mind was milling over a ton all at once, it seemed. Too much fucking information to try to take in and interpret, and he wasn't particularly fond of what any of it was saying. Everything seemed to him to have gotten messed up somewhere, and he wasn't even sure where. Just that it was officially fucked up, and he didn't have the slightest clue how to go about fixing it. Jamie seemed to have gone crazier than he'd come to expect from her, and what was he supposed to do with that? What could he? "So what do we do about it?" he asked. "Just...cool it and make sure that doesn't happen again?" he suggested, feeling pretty fucking useless at the moment. Talk about not knowing what to do. Most of the time he had some idea a course to take, but this? Absolutely fucking mystified.

She drew her hands away from her eyes to gaze at him, her eyes considerably darker. "That's just it," Jamie muttered. "I want to do it again." Could she make less sense? Really. Even she was aware she was a walking contradiction about this. Them. Ugh.

Yep. Entirely fucking confused. He couldn't have been more confused if killer clowns burst through the door and demanded brains. Or first borns, or sugar, who the fuck knew. That might actually be a better situation, because at least he could take out killer clowns in a relatively straightforward manner. Dealing with Jamie right now however was like trying to read a book and understand it when someone ripped out all the pages then stuck them back in again at random. There were obviously things he did get. He just didn't know how they all fit together. Like at all. He wound up sighing and leaning back against the wall, eyeing her with an unreadable look in his eyes. He waited, to see if she'd add anything to what she'd said already or...what.

Jamie crossed her arms over her stomach, not quite able to meet his eyes. "I told you I had issues," she said quietly. "This? This crazy incomprehensible crap I'm spewing now? Maybe I didn't know this is what I'd come up with, but I knew there'd be something." Just like her mother, chasing away the good ones with complete insanity. This was why she didn't date, damnit. "I want you like I've never wanted anyone or anything else in my life, and that terrifies me, but the thought of slowing down or stopping completely? Just as bad. Worse, even."

Awesome. So she was a head case who had no idea what she wanted. Perfect. "That obviously seems to upset you, though." Caleb said uncomfortably, still not sure what to do here. He needed a manual. Step by step instructions that were spelled the fuck out for him. He rubbed at the bridge of his nose, and tried to get past the ever growing brainache. "What do you want?"

"For this conversation to have never happened," Jamie replied without hesitation. Because it was true; that was what she wanted right now. Things hadn't gotten better by talking about this. She felt worse, actually, and she was sure Caleb wasn't pleased. She eyed him warily, half expecting him to bolt out the door, even without his shirt on. Want to end things yet?

That's helpful. Caleb thought dryly. "That doesn't really tell me anything." he said, attempting to keep hold of some semblance of calm. At least it was working out for him. "What do you want? What do you want from me?" he asked. Is sex it? Are you just using me for that? How fucked up would that be? Almost feels like it right now, though. It really almost does.

She frowned at him, more than a little confused at the question. What did she want from him? What kind of question was that? "I just want you to be yourself, that's all. I like you, Caleb. The whole package. Even most of the arguments." Not this one, though. Oh, hell no. This argument she hated. "We're... equals. Most of the time, at least." Jamie tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, gaze drifting to her bedroom wall. It was safer to look at. "What else would I want from you?" she asked him, the confusion creeping into her voice.

"I don't know, I'm just trying to figure out what you want here. You're upset about what happened, but you don't actually want to stop it, and you're going around in circles. I have no idea what to do, so I really need help on this one. I have absolutely no clue what you really want. This doesn't exactly seem like something that'll go away in a little while and isn't a big deal, y'know?" Caleb asked. He hoped to whatever nameless deity might be watching out of sick amusement that that made sense to her, because he had no idea how else to say it.

Jamie took a deep breath and sat back down on the bed. "I want us to give this a try. This dating thing. That's what I want. If the way I acted last night didn't bother you... did it bother you?" she questioned, uncertainly. "Maybe I was just caught up in the moment, and I'm having a girly panic attack about it all now. But I don't want to fuck everything with us up over something that might just be a fluke." God, there had been a veritable land mine of girly relationship words she'd only just barely managed to keep out of those few sentences. Hopefully he wouldn't spaz over the ones that had slipped past her mental 'what the fuck!? don't say that!' guard.

Caleb indeed was sort of mentally flailing at what she'd said. Welcome to hell, it looks suspiciously like the rest of the world, only infinitely more complicated than normal. That had to be what hell really was. Normal life, only everything was far more complicated than it needed to be. Yep. That was it. Where you could really almost see things working out and being just fine, but there was all this little bullshit in the way that ruined it just enough. "Did it bother me?" he repeated the question. Wow, wasn't that the most loaded question he'd ever heard in his life? "I don't know, depends on your definition. I think things moved too fast. But I think we covered that with the 'carried away' part of the equation." he answered, voice quiet, and there wasn't an edge to it, thankfully.

She groaned a little at that, putting her head in her hands. Yes, it had bothered him; yes, she was a hobag. Wonderful. Maybe there was something she could take to shut off her hormones. They had aphrodisiacs. She'd just have to find an anaphrodisiac and turn it all off.

After a moment of silence and inner-angsting, she looked up at him. "So, what now? Are we still dating, or do you want to run away screaming now? I won't hold it against you, because this morning has made no fucking sense."

Caleb shot her a look at the groan. "What? Do you want me to lie or something? I said before it wasn't the end of the world, just that I thought it went a little fast," he said, positive she'd turned that into something worse in her head. He went on, however, with the rest of it. "I'm wondering if I'm this bad for you already, if maybe I shouldn't leave before I make everything all the worse. Seems to me like I haven't even been in your life like that for twelve hours and you're already freaking out hardcore about yourself and everything to do with us. I don't want to do that to you. I said before that I don't want to hurt you. Rather looks like I've managed that already," he said uncomfortably, looking pretty damn miserable. "What do you think?"

"This isn't your fault, Caleb," Jamie insisted. "And leaving isn't allowed, unless you hate me. It's a rule, damnit! And if it wasn't last night, it is starting now." Finally, something she could get mad over! "None of this is your fault, so stop blaming yourself!"

"I don't hate you," Caleb said quietly, frowning and looking away. "Well, if I wasn't around, you wouldn't be having all of this shit." It's like you got around me and went insane in .2 seconds. I don't know how I pulled that off, but that's got to be a record of some description. "And by the way you don't get to start throwing logic at me when you're not making the slightest bit of sense yourself. Start making sense, and you'll be able to all you want." He sighed, and dragged his fingers through his hair.

She made a face at him. "If you weren't around, I'd be alone," Jamie pointed out. "I would have stayed home last night and cleaned the bathroom." Shit, she still needed to do that, actually. "And I would have vacuumed. Which is better, in your opinion?" Hell, she didn't even have one there. On the one hand, she'd actually had a decently good time at Journey's. On the other hand? The house didn't clean itself.

That at least brought him back into thinking about why they'd been there in the first place. Because she needed this sort of thing. He just was no longer positive he was the guy. He really wanted to rewind a few hours and go back to non-crazy-girl-Jamie. That would be perfect. He watched her, and sighed a little. "No," he answered. "That wouldn't be better at all," he conceded. "I just wished I understood what was going on, what the problem was, and what to do about it to help. But you've kind of left me with no options here. I'm really, really confused as to what to do now." Honesty, it so far had caused him grief. Hopefully it wouldn't this time.

Sigh. Like she understood what was going on, either... ugh. "Why don't we just give it a few days?" Jamie suggested. "And see if I'm still acting like an insane person then? I don't know what to do, either" if there was anything that could be done, "so maybe waiting is the only option?" Or breaking up. That was an option, too. Of course, she'd just showed him how insane she could be, so he might be suddenly terrified of him getting stabbed to death in his sleep if he tried that one.

Being stabbed to death in his sleep wasn't what crossed his mind. It was more her shutting herself away entirely and not letting anyone in ever again. "Okay, a few days." Caleb agreed, because that he could do. He didn't sound or look like it was a difficult decision, and it wasn't. That was okay. He could deal with that no problem. Hopefully things would even out or something. He only had one reservation. "...promise me you're not going to just hide shit." he said, eyeing her again. "You tried to hide this, and I don't want you feeling like you're just going to sweep everything else under the rug because this didn't go over real well. You keep talking about equality. Don't hide things if you plan on sticking with that notion."

Again, she made a face at him. Damn him to hell, he was getting too good at reading her! "Fine. I promise I won't hide things. But I will wait a few more hours before I tell you about them," Jamie said, relenting just a little. "For all we know, I might be sane again by lunch time, and then we've argued for nothing."

He really really didn't believe that. If for no other reason than she'd decided sometime between last night and this morning that what they'd done together made her a whore. Which was pretty fucking heavy, all things considered. Not quite the silly notion whim thing. "Okay then." he said. "We'll try things out for a few days, see what's going to go on, and go from there. Til then, I do actually have to get in to the store. You could come by later...there were those books I was telling you about. You're still invited."

Jamie smiled wanly, feeling somewhat better as she rose to her feet. "Caleb, honey, you could have run out of the house screaming your head off and I would have gone anyways. You're stuck with me in your corner for the rest of your life, which means I'm going to need lots of books on this stuff." She headed out of her room, hurried to the laundry room and snatched his (thankfully dry, clean and non-wrinkled) shirt from the machine before returning to her room. The whole way, she was wondering just how crazy that had sounded. Because wasn't it? Crazy? Stalkerish? Hm... "Here you go. All clean."

He took his shirt and pulled it on, never more grateful for a shirt in his entire life. He felt so much better just from that. It made him feel less like a freak show or exposed. "Than you." he murmured. "I'll see you at the shop later then." he added, thinking he might be able to grab a quick shower back home before he went in. Dorian had said he didn't have to be there exactly on time. So that worked. He could do that, check on Ten if she was home...then figure out what the hell the store was about. And possibly grind his wheels endlessly on what the living fuck had happened this morning.

She nodded agreeably, walking with him to the front door. "I'll be by sometime this afternoon for sure. You want me to bring you food?" Jamie questioned, raising her eyebrows a little and ignoring the fact that this was all coming off as really wifey behavior. She couldn't help it; feeding people was in her blood, damnit.

"Um...sure?" Caleb suggested, slightly thrown by that as he got his shoes on. "Yeah. If it's not trouble or something." he amended. Yeah, talk about twilight zone for him. He had noooo ideaaa how to deal here. So...smile and nod!

She eyed him thoughtfully. "Babe, you're going to have to get used to it. I'm going to be feeding you at every possible opportunity from here on out. It's a thing of mine," Jamie explained with a little smile. Yeah, babying him (or planning to baby him) made her feel lots better about the world. Besides, Caleb needed some spoiling anyways.

She opened the door for him and leaned up to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Bye, honey. Have a good day at work, and don't forget to pick up some milk on your way home," Jamie said cheerfully. Only the tiny smirk playing on her lips and the wicked, amused gleam in her eye betrayed the fact that yes, she was in fact joking.

Caleb looked quite like a rabbit in the headlights for a moment, blinking at her. "Don't do that!!" he said, shaking his head. "I'll see you later. He made a face at her, then bounded out the door, pausing to give her a little half wave before he took off for home.