"Oh hey Caleb."

"Hi Mrs Radcliffe, Mum said you had something to give her?"

Caleb didn't normally run errands for his Mum but this time he made an exception. He also pretended he hadn't seen the little smirk that his mother had shot at him when he'd agreed the minute the name Radcliffe had come up. He'd like to think he wasn't as obvious with his crush as everyone said he was but there was no getting round it, Noelle gave him butterflies, as emasculating as calling them butterflies might be.

It was only when he came home to no one staying up all night drinking themselves into a stupor, he realised that Noelle's return meant more for him than he realised. Evelyn Danvers was lonely and bitter but now that her friend, Liesl Radcliffe aka Noelle's mother, was back in town she was getting better. Last night he'd only seen her drink two glasses of scotch and she'd actually gone to sleep on her own without Caleb having to help her to her room. That had been rare even before his father had willed his powers over to him and consequently died.

"Oh yes, the guest list for the fundraiser next weekend and the brownie recipe, I'll just go get it for you." She said and stopped at the base of the stair case before turning back to him with a smile. "Could you do me a favour?" Noelle's father who was just making his way down the staircase stopped and looked at the proceedings.

"Yeah, sure."

"Well I have the guest list in my office but the brownie recipe is with Noelle and she's still sleeping, would you mind waking her up and asking her for it."

"No problem Mrs Radcliffe." He turned to look at Mr Radcliffe but instead of the overprotective Dad look he was expecting he got a wide smile instead.

"Her bedroom is the second door to the left, thanks hon." She said and went off to her office while Caleb took the stairs two at a time and soon came to a door with a sign that said "Do not Enter (unless you come bearing junk food)" and knocked once before entering.

He didn't really know what to expect when he went in there, the only girl's rooms he'd ever been in had been dorms and they hadn't really been allowed to do much with them, they were always the same drab brown shade only made marginally better by the bright poster s that usually covered every surface. Noelle's room was immaculate, a pale peach on all walls except one that was ivory and had a giant bookcase mounted all around the headboard of the bed leaning against it and dark furniture with one full length mirror at one end of the room. An easel was tucked into one of the corners and one of the closet doors was open with a fuzzy sweater's arm sticking out of it but the sight that caught his attention the most was of her tiny self sprawled out on the bed with one bare foot hanging over one side while a giant dog curled up next to her on the other. As he approached the dog looked up and vaguely he remembered the tiny puppy that Noelle said her Dad got her to make her feel better about moving. She'd named him Kitten having just learnt of a concept called irony and made Caleb hold the tiny body of the German shepherd puppy. That same German shepherd puppy was now a behemoth staring at him from his perch on his owner's bed.

Caleb moved to the dog's side first and when he finally had Kitten familiar enough with him to let him scratch him behind the ears he approached Noelle. Kitten got off the bed and ran off presumably to the kitchen as the smell of bacon filled the house and soon he was left there alone with a sleeping Noelle.

It was like something out of a fairytale, he thought to himself. Like Snow White or Sleeping beauty. Not that he was going to take liberties with her but that he was there to wake her up from deep slumber.

She didn't sleep like a princess though. The second Kitten had left her side, she had begun tossing and was now frowning in her sleep. He shook himself out of his creepy thoughts and reached out a hand to her shoulder.

"Noelle, wake up." He whispered simultaneously shaking her. She opened her eyes looked at him with a frown and whined turning away from him and going to sleep. He leaned in to tell her to get up only to have the wind taken out of his lungs as the pretty foot he'd been admiring seconds ago flew into his midsection punched him in his stomach hard before settling back in its original place as the owner cuddled into a pillow, frown gone.

She woke up a few seconds later whether it was the combined effect of being slightly awake due to his shaking her earlier or because she wasn't used to sleeping without a warm dog in her bed he didn't know but when she did finally come to, it was to a wheezing Caleb who was trying to catch his breath.

"What the-Oh no did you try to wake me up? Did I hit you?! Oh my God I'm so so sorry!" She was fully awake now and tumbled out of the bed to settle down on her knees next to him one arm thrown over his shoulder while the other rested lightly on the arm he was clutching to his stomach.

"I'm fine." He said raspily and cleared his throat before repeating his words. "I'm fine."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry, I tend to kick out in my sleep when people try to wake me up that's why no one tries to wake me up, I really am sorry!"

"It's fine, just a little bruise, no harm done." She looked mortified but all he could think of was how she had yet to pull away from the little side hug she'd engulfed him in. "Really, don't worry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine really, the boys have roughed me up worse than this." That was a lie, the boys tended to use their powers when they were roughing it out not their fists. It ended with headaches not what felt to be bruised ribs.

He didn't mean to sound crude but the very warm body of the girl he'd wanted for close to twelve years now was pressed up against him and it would really be in her best interest if she moved away. Especially considering that her Dad was right downstairs, the same Dad that had grinned at the prospect of Caleb waking her up even though she'd made it quite clear that no one one ever did. He should have seen it coming really, no man was going to let a hormonal teenage boy into his daughter's room willingly.

"So you kick people in your sleep huh?"

She apparently decided he sounded all better again because her arms dropped from around him (much to his disappointment) and pulled her knees up and sat down on the floor across from him.

"Only on weekends, on weekdays I wake up at four in the morning without an alarm."

"Four?!"

"Yep, I kind of have to, cycling to school takes some time considering how far away we are from Spenser and how bad some of the roads are. Plus the drama club has early meetings."

"You could just cycle to my home and I could give you a lift, I have early morning swim practice."

"You really wouldn't mind giving me a ride?"

He wanted to laugh. It was only the tip of the iceberg, there were so many things he wanted to give her like kisses and orgasms and chocolate. But for now he'd settle for giving her a ride to school.

"Yeah sure."

"Cool, so why are you in my room?"

"Oh your Mum said you have the brownie recipe?"

"Ah, for the carnival, they're setting up a baked foods stall."She got up before sticking out a hand to help him up pulling him up within a second and having him question her strength. "It's some weird thing with the Junior League or something like that, each Mom is contributing a recipe. I helped my Mom test this one out."

"And by test you mean?"

"Ate lots and lots of brownies! And stayed up all night because of the sugar high." She beamed and it took all of his strength to not just pull her into a hug and never let go.

"I'm glad I'm sitting this one out."

"You're not coming to the carnival?!" She asked and he was pleased to see her disappointed.

"I will I just won't be volunteering to help. Last time I got stuck manning the kissing booth." Caleb said making a face. That had been a bad time, one woman (who was incidentally older than his mother) had stuck her tongue down his throat and he'd ended up with mono. Not fun.

"So you won't mind giving me a lift to the carnival?" She said hopefully, pouting and Caleb had issues breathing.

"N-no, I don't mind."

He was stuttering. Why was he stuttering? Really he made himself look idiotic enough in front of her without stuttering.

She beamed. "Excellent, it's a date!"

Great, now his heart was stuttering.