Chapter Text
"Caleb! Where the hell is my favorite swimsuit?"
Your angry scream could be heard from halfway down the block. If this were a tv show it would pan to a flock of birds hurriedly scattering from a tree. Caleb heard your cry, it was impossible to ignore it, and peaked his head into your doorway.
"What swimsuit, pips? you mean these fancy colored strings?"
His tone was teasing, per usual. He knew what he was doing, trying to get you riled up and irritated. Today, you weren't having it. No time for slice of life comedy when you have a beach to see!
"I told you before, stop going through my drawers, it's creepy as hell!"
You strode towards him, quickly snatching the bikini that was dangling from his fingers. His shenanigans were getting more and more annoying each day. At first it started out as a little harmless name calling. You never really minded being called pipsqueak as long as a short joke didn't followed after it. His antics escalated over the years. Slowly turning into dirty jokes about how flat chested you were, which obviously ceased when you actually grew out of your training bra, but that just gave him more reasons to tease you.
"I can't believe you plan on wearing this to the beach. It's scandalous!"
Caleb threw his hand to his forehead, pulling out every ounce of dramatic acting skills to look betrayed and heartbroken.
"You're so insufferable. Can you like- leave?"
You moved your hands to your hips, striking the infamous "get the hell out of my room" pose. It clearly wasn't effective enough when you had to resort to physically shoving him out of the way of the door, which slammed in his face the second it could fully close.
"Fine, fine. but I'm coming with you~"
His muffled voice carried through the door, but you had no intention of entertaining him at the moment. You slipped out of your t-shirt and sweatshorts, turning to glance at yourself in the mirror. after turning 16 you actually started to appreciate how your body looked. Having curves in all the right places and putting a cork into the "you're built like a little kid" comments from Caleb. After pulling on what he referred to as 'strings', you struck a pose for a photo. You loved to take selfies, especially right now when you could admire how utterly adorable you looked in the frilly, pink swimsuit.
"Caleb, are you there?" You called out, having calmed down a little from his earlier pestering. "Are you seriously planning on coming with me?"
"Of course, someone has to stop every guy from asking for your number."
The doorknob turned and Caleb stuck his head back into the room. He never cared much for privacy and he probably doesn't even know what the word boundaries means. It took a long time to get used to, but seeing as you had no reaction to his sudden invasion, you had become desensitized to it.
"And what if I wanted guys to talk to me?" You crossed your arms over your chest, which Caleb had already noticed looked amazing in a bikini. "And don't act so shameless, I can clearly see you staring."
He obviously didn't care that you had caught him checking you out and instead of getting flustered, like a normal person, he stepped further into the room.
"When did you buy this swimsuit? Was it with Jessica and Andrea last weekend?"
His perceptiveness would have been alarming if it wasn't a usual occurrence for him to know your exact location at any given time.
"Yeah, it was." Your tone turned slightly defensive at his approach. "Is there a problem or something?"
"I don't think your friends are a good influence on you, pipsqueak." His use of your nickname eased you just a bit, but maybe that's why he used it to begin with. "I just want the best for you."
His soft voice and caring words lead to a lack of a response from you. He did this often, sugarcoated his jealousy to make it sound like he was just looking out for you. But if we're being completely honest here, you kind of enjoyed it. Having someone get jealous over a simple thing like this makes you feel important, and after another moment of silence and a soft sigh to keep up appearances, you gave in.
"Alright, can you be ready to go soon?"
"Of course." He retreated from your room, a toothy grin plastered on his face. "Give me five minutes."
You watched him leave, the room falling silent with only the faint sound of Caleb's footsteps in the hallway. Things went exactly how he had planned, hadn't they. After all these years of living under the same roof and you still can't tell when he's influencing your decisions. Is this some kind of manipulation tactic? No, it can't be, Caleb isn't that kind of person.