The Coffee Shop Ch. 08

Caleb pulled out Dany's chair first before Peyton, winking at her when he took his own seat. The maitre d' practically beamed a smile at Caleb for his obvious manners and it took Caleb's foot on hers to keep Peyton from laughing outright.

"Sake, wine, or cocktails this evening? I could recommend something if you are unsure..."

The rest of the night went this way. Clearly the maitre d' wasn't the maitre d' at all, but a very efficient man named Edward on the waiting staff who had taken over for the maitre d' as it was the other man's night off. He recommended a lot of things, which Dany was more than happy to try, and Peyton and Caleb were more than happy to play along. Edward really liked their table, probably because he knew he was going to be packing a generous tip at the end.

Unsurprisingly, Edward didn't question Caleb's age when he poured the wine or the sake. The waiter had made it pretty clear that he was interested in garnering Caleb's after-hour attention and went the entire dinner doing everything he could to catch Caleb's eye. If Peyton hadn't been so loose from the wine, she might've been offended by how openly Edward made his advances.

Many wine glasses, starters, sushi selections, specialty rolls and entrees later; the group called for the bill and stumbled to the valet. Caleb took the keys, which was probably best, and after Peyton input the information back to her house into the Lexus' GPS system, the three of them headed back to Ogden Drive.

Peyton rested her hand on Caleb's knee, as Caleb swore he needed both hands to drive, smiling to herself as she hummed to nonsensical tune that Dany had started up sometime during dinner. Peyton glanced into the backseat and smiled at Dany, who was currently passed out across the trash of her backseat, snoring.

When they arrived at the house, Caleb carried a still passed out Dany to the spare bedroom, setting aspirin, a glass of water and the small bathroom trash can out beside the bed for when she woke up.

Peyton smiled sleepily at him when he came back into her bedroom. "You are such a sweetheart," she told him, holding out her arms for him to join her on the bed. "Not many people would've done that. Shoot -- I wouldn't have done that, and I'm her bestie."

Caleb took off Peyton's shoes with a smile before letting his eyes linger on hers. "She's your friend. If you were a little more sober, you would've done the same thing," he chuckled as he shucked off his shoes and crawled up into bed beside her.

Peyton greedily snuck into his embrace, her eyes heavy with sleep and wine and unseeing of the smile on Caleb's face. "I'm glad you're here with me," Peyton mumbled into his sweater. "It feels right."

Caleb didn't respond, just held her closer. His embrace was the last thing she remembered before she drifted off to sleep.