Chapter 144

Chapter 144: The Distance

For the first week, Ashton always found time to talk with Caleb. Partly because he himself was yet to go back to school. With Caleb getting busier in his college and Ashton getting back to the school things became slightly less complicated.

They each had less time, but worse was their free time were not always the ones that synced thus effectively decreasing their time together. They still connected, having at least one chat daily. Within another week, hourly conversations were reduced to a catch up of a few minutes. Fortunately enough, either of them were busy enough as to not feel bothered by this yet.

Caleb had plans to go home for the weekend, but somehow the coach of the team asked for extra hours for practice since last year the group performed terribly. Being new, he had no choice but to comply or else he would get on the wrong side of the coach. That impression would be a long lasting one.

On the other hand, Ashton was excited to see Caleb until he heard the news. He tried his best to not to let it get to him, and pretended that everything was alright.

Another week passed away just like that and once more Caleb failed to get a weekend off. At this point it wasn’t just Ashton on whom it was starting to take a toll, it was Caleb as well. Finally when after two booked weekends he got a weekend he was beyond relieved to go back to Crescent Point.

He was busy packing for his stuff when his roommate entered the room and collapsed from exhaustion. “I hate this,” he mumbled.

“You okay”? Out of courtesy Caleb asked.

.....

Warren went on to ramble how he got into an unprecedented argument with the professor and now he had more homework than anyone else, not to mention it seemed he screwed up his upcoming grades. Caleb listened for the first half but ignored most of the ramble that went on for at least 20 minutes, with occasional breaks and sudden bouts of frustration.

When it seemed Warren had finally calmed down he finally noticed the packed suitcase of Caleb, “Man, you are so lucky. You get to go home”

“My house is an entire day car ride away.” Caleb scoffed. “How the hell is that lucky”?

“Wait? Why are you going back then”? Warren frowned. “Don’t you need to be back on monday”?

“Not really. I do have some classes, but no practice. I am okay to ditch them”. Caleb shrugged.

“Wow”. Warren sighed.”You really miss home, huh”?

“A little bit”, Caleb agreed.

Since they were done for the day they both went to eat out. Over the course of last month these two have gotten really close. Caleb had some trouble adjusting to the messy roommate at first, but over time he managed to convince Warren to clean up once in a while.

Even Warren helped him once in a while and cleaned the entire room and stuff when Caleb was out. Truthfully speaking, Caleb was quite satisfied with the roommate he had. Sure, he studied a lot which sometimes made it difficult to sleep but otherwise he was a nice guy.

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During this time they also got to share stories about their home. Turns out, Warren has four brothers and sisters and thus comes from a huge family. He has two big step sisters, while one younger half brother. In fact, his sisters are quite known for their accomplishments in their respective fields, which kind of put a pressure on Warren to perform well in his academics. Caleb couldn’t exactly relate to this, but he did feel bad for the poor guy. One doesn’t have to be a werewolf to get involved into useless troubles.

On their way back, Caleb couldn’t help but be excited to return as soon as the sun rose. He planned on leaving as early as possible so that he could reach early. The enthusiasm was quite evident on his face and his actions and thus did not go unnoticed, which obviously welcomed teasing from Warren’s side, “Can’t wait to see your boyfriend, huh”?

Caleb tried to brush it off, but he didn’t fool anyone. This was the first time since the day Warren met Ashton that he brought him up, “By the way, how did you meet that guy”?

Caleb told his story. He missed out the details that had anything to do with being a wolf, which turned his story a little bland. Nevertheless he tried his best to convey his depth of feelings. He just finished him telling him about the advice of Karolyn when he halted abruptly.

Warren noticed the abrupt freeze in Caleb’s stature and asked him, “You okay”?

“No” Caleb breathed out. He couldn’t tell Warren exactly what was wrong with him, but he needed to get out of this situation right away.

“Come on, let’s get you back”, Warren insisted. They were close to their room so it didn’t take them much longer to reach. Once Caleb found a comfortable position to lay down he heard Ashton’s voice in his head. Ashton didn’t ask him how he felt or tried to talk to him as if ‘it will be okay’ and stuff like that. He simply sang Caleb the lullaby that he once did when he couldn’t keep him company.

At that moment he realised Ashton was already in his head from the moment he hit his heat. It was wonderfully painful to have him around despite not having him around. Ashton’s soothing voice calmed him down and distracted him from the pain.

Meanwhile his roommate who wasn’t sure what to do tried to call 911. Once Caleb realised what was up he shouted at Warren, “NO! Don’t you dare”!

Warren was taken aback by the sudden outburst momentarily, but he retaliated nonetheless, “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t need a doctor! I will be fine”! Caleb snarled.

“This is not fine! You clearly need help” Warren protested. “What if this is serious? I do not want my roommate to die out here when I am around to call an ambulance”!

“Look, this has happened to me before, alright?” He tried to reason with Warren. “I appreciate your help, but all I need is a little bit of rest and I will be fine. Trust me”! Through his pain he tried to convince his roommate.

Warren hung up the phone but still seemed reluctant as if he was ready to call them back up any minute. He wondered if it was okay to take his word for it or something. Unsure of what to do, he left the apartment.

Caleb was relieved when he did, because he needed to shout in his pain. He wished that there was some kind of way Warren won’t be back until his heat was over, but he knew that was far fetched given it was his room too. It wasn’t fair for Caleb to ask him to stay out without proper explanation.

After around 20 minutes his roommate showed up with a care package of some sorts. Warren handed it to him and said, “Look I don’t know what’s going on, but I got you this. Take it if you run a fever”. He handed it to him before he went to lie on his bed.

Caleb knew very well that these regular medicines won’t work on him. Their quantity was too low to make any effect. Of course, he could take more than one pill, but he had no idea exactly how much more he needed to take to make any difference. It was better not to experiment with it right now.

The next morning when Caleb woke up his entire bed was soaked in sweat and his body was running a high fever. For the past few months he had his mate nearby everytime he went into heat, and he was there for whatever he needed him to do.

He missed his mate most of the time, but somehow he missed him even more this time. It wasn’t just the sex though, he missed the warmth and comfort of having his mate by his side as well. Somehow he felt on an emotional overdrive this time. Caleb was so excited that he would get to see his mate finally after a whole month, but the damn heat had to hit him at the wrong time.

Warren who made sure to check on Caleb the next morning was getting more worried about him by the minute. He hoped his roommate would be better by now, but to his eyes it only seemed worse. Just to convince Warren, Caleb even chugged down a pill to convince Warren to let him be, but this time he was adamant. “That’s it, I am calling a doctor”.

Warren stormed out of the room, and as much as Caleb would love to run out and stop him he didn’t have the strength anymore. He wasn’t sure how a human doctor would react to his heat so he simply closed his eyes and waited for the doctor to show up.

The next time the doorknob clunked, he heard Warren say, “Look who is here”.

Caleb sighed with frustration when he heard a very familiar voice say, “Caleb”.