The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden (32 page)

Her shoulders shift upward as she shrugs again and stares at the ground. “It’s kind of inevitable. People will be there and a lot of people you hang out with don’t like me.”

I secure my finger under her chin and incline her head up, looking into her sad blue eyes. “You’re referring to Daisy?”

“Daisy, her friends, everyone we went to school with,” she says miserably. “But it doesn’t matter. I just don’t feel like going home.”

She swipes her card through the lock and I open the door to her building. The warm air encircles us as we walk down the unoccupied hallway. “Then, what are you going to do? Stay here by yourself?”

“I’m a big girl,” she says as we get onto the elevators and then shakes her head when I begin to smile. “I don’t mean in the literal sense.”

The elevator rises up and I stay quiet as I try to figure out a way to persuade her into going with me. When we reach her bedroom door, I begin to panic. The thought of leaving her here by herself is ripping at my heart.

“Okay, I’m going to be completely honest here.” I take a deep breath, because what I’m about to say is very real and more honest than I’ve ever been. “I don’t want to be away from you for that long.”

She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth and bites on it. “I’m sure you’ll be okay.” She extends her hand toward the lock and punches the code. She starts to turn the knob, but I catch her wrist.

“No, I won’t,” I assure her with an unsteady voice. “I’m becoming attached to our little talks and… and you’re the only one that really knows everything about me.”

Her shoulders sink as she looks at me with empathy. “I’ll have to talk to my mom first and ask her a few things. I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

I release her and step back, feeling somewhat better. “Promise me you’ll really think about it.”

She nods, twisting the doorknob. “I promise.”

She takes a step inside, but I can’t let her go yet. My fingers snag her sleeve and I pull her back out into the hall.

“What are you—”

Before either of us can protest, I seal my lips to hers, stealing our breaths away. My hand touches her face and I hold her cheek in my palm while my other hand presses against her lower back, arching her body against mine. I slip my tongue into her mouth, just a quick kiss, but it conveys all the hunger I feel inside. Our legs give out and my hand snaps out, bracing us against the wall before we fall to the floor. She lets out a soft moan and I pull away, knowing if I go any farther it’s going to be that much harder to let her go.

She blinks her eyes wildly as I back down the hall with a grin on my face. “And remember, you promised.”

With a dazed look in her eyes, she walks inside her room, and tosses her notebook onto her bed, before shutting the door.

***

“Do you have your old year book with you?” I ask Luke when I enter our room.

“I think so,” he says, looking away from the television for a split second. He’s playing a racing game, totally zoned out as his fingers hammer at the control buttons. “Why?”

“Can I look at it for a second?” I grab a can of soda out of the mini fridge.

He points at the closet door, his eyes returning to the screen. “I think it’s in my trunk in there.”

Setting the can down on the foot of my bed, I go into the closet. Unlatching the locks of the trunk, I raise the lid and search through the books until I find it tucked in the side. I fan through the pages until I get to the “L” section and find “Callie Lawrence.”

The girl in the picture is not the Callie I know. Her hair is to her chin and choppy, like she cut it herself. She has on a baggy jacket that hides her slim shoulders and heavy black eyeliner that swallows her beautiful blue eyes. The same sadness is there, though; haunting her.

I scan some more pages for her, but it’s like she barely existed. I get to my feet, put the book back, and shut the trunk, wondering what it would have been like if we had been friends in high school. For some reason, I think that maybe things would have been a little easier and the pressure on my shoulders would have been a little bit more bearable.

Callie

Seth wakes me up the next morning by nudging me a ton of times in the ribs. He has iced lattes in his hands, his blond hair is a little messy, and a he has a determined look on his face.

“I had this dream,” he starts, lowering himself onto the edge of my bed. “That you may need to talk to me. In fact, I have this really bad feeling that you’ve been keeping something from me.”

He’s right. I haven’t told him how I broke down in front of Kayden. He’s been really happy lately, going on dates with Greyson, and I didn’t want to ruin his mood with my dark thoughts.

I sit up and take the iced coffee, nearly downing it in just a few sips. “I thought you were heading home this morning?”

He nods, sipping on his straw. “I am, but I’m giving Greyson a ride, so I have to leave a little bit late.”

I guide my legs to my chest and rest my chin on my knee. “Is he going home with you?”

He shakes his head with a look of astonishment on his face “No way. Could you imagine if I brought a guy home to meet my mom? Besides, I barely know him.”

I elevate my chin away from my knee and chew on my straw. “But how long do you have to know someone before it means something?”

He sits down on my bed and rests his arms on my knees. “That’s for the people who are in the situation to decide, which brings me to part of the reason I stopped by.”

I fake a pout. “It wasn’t to say good-bye to your best friend?”

“That’s part of the reason,” he says in a serious tone. “The other reason is that I ran into Kayden this morning. Now, typically we have quick little chats about really stupid stuff, but today, he kept asking me about you. He wanted to know if I knew what you were doing for Thanksgiving and if I’d checked on you lately. Now would you like to tell me anything?”

I frown. “Do I have to?”

He nods, placing the plastic cup on the ground beside his feet. “Did something happen between you two?”

I dither. “Maybe.”

He waits patiently for me to explain. Sighing, I finally spill it out to him leaving out a few of the more intense details but giving him enough that he gets the gist of it.

“You told him?” he says, his brown eyes huge. “Like told him, told him? Why did you not tell me this earlier? That is the kind of info that should be divulged to me as soon as it happens.”

“Because you were happy and because I don’t even know how I feel about it. I mean, I told him by accident.” I throw the blankets off me and scoot over to the edge of the bed, swinging my feet to the floor. “During a freak out moment on my part.”

“Because he was touching you?”

“No, that wasn’t it. I liked that he was touching me, he just said something that reminded me of… it.”

He stirs his straw around in his drink. “Kayden was okay with you? He didn’t hurt you or make you feel like shit after you told him?”

“He seemed okay.” I grab my drink and the condensation dampens my skin. “But he could have been doing it because he felt sorry for me.”

Seth thrums his fingers on his knee. “Or because he understands what it’s like to have someone hurt him.”

I wipe my wet hand on the front of my pants. “That might be, but I don’t want him to have to deal with my problems. He has so many of his own.”

“Or maybe, it’s that he scares you because he makes you feel things your uncertain about.” He points out.

“Are you Psych 101ing me again?” I ask, getting to my feet.

He shrugs. “Maybe, but the thing is I think he really cares for you. You should have heard him that day when you were in the library and I called you so he could find out where you were. He was really worried about you.”

I grab a rubber band from the box on top of my dresser and fasten it around my hair, leaving pieces out around the front of my face. “Probably because I ran out on him after I…” I trail off.

“Had an orgasm?” he finishes. “Orgasm. Orgasm. Orgasm. It’s not a bad word, Callie.”

“I know that.” I finish off the last of my drink, sucking the whip cream off the straw before tossing the empty cup into the garbage.

“Okay, then.” He stands up, smoothing out the wrinkles on his skinny jeans. “Here’s what I suggest. You should go home for Thanksgiving. Ride with Kayden and Luke, go back and have some fun. Don’t sit around here by yourself. It makes me nervous.”

“I want to go with them,” I admit. “But what if
he’s
there?”

He hands me my phone. “Call your mom and find out.”

I snatch my phone from him. “I’ll send a text.”

Me: Who all is going to be staying at our house for Thanksgiving?

Mom: No one so far. Your brother said he wasn’t coming back and Grandma and Grandpa canceled. Please tell me you’re coming home sweetie.

I hesitate and let out a frustrated grunt.

Me: I’ll come home, but I need to see if I can catch a ride still.

Mom: Dad can come get you if you need him to.

Me: I might be able to ride home with someone.

Mom: Who?

Me: Someone

Mom: Callie Lawrence, what are you keeping from me? Is it someone I know?”

Me: I don’t know.

Mom: Callie, just tell me. Please. I’ll bake you your favorite pie.

Me: Gotta pack. C u soon.

“Wow,” Seth mutters as he reads the text from over my shoulder, blowing his coffee breath on me. “She’s super obsessed.”

“She’s not use to me having friends.” I change my ringer to vibrate and put my phone into my back pocket. “She probably knows it’s someone from back home.”

A conniving grin expands across his face as he taps his fingers together. “What do you think she’ll do when she finds out who it is?”

I shrug, grabbing a bag from under my bed, and then dramatically wave my hands in front of me.  “Freak out. Jump up and down and go, ‘Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"

He giggles. “But you’re going?”

I nod with my heart squeezing inside my chest. “Yeah, I’m going. Just as long as Kayden will give me a ride.”

He covers his mouth with his hand to muffle his laughter. “I bet he would love to give you a ride.”

I press my lips together, holding back a smile. Pretend all I want, the idea makes my body tingle. I begin putting my clothes in a bag, ignoring his remark.

“Do me a favor.” He steps in front of me and looks me in the eye with a stern expression. “Let him get close to you if he wants to, okay? In fact, you can cross off number thirty-four on the list.”

I fold up my jacket and set it in the bag. “That’s let
someone
get close to you and I already have—you.”

“Well, I’m crossing it off and putting Kayden’s name up there.” He backs for the door, pausing before he walks out. “Call me every day so I don’t worry.”

“Yes, sir,” I say firmly with a salute and he laughs. “And vice versa.”

Once he’s gone, I finish packing and sink down onto the bed to dial Kayden’s number.

“Hey,” he answers and something thumps in the background.

“Hey... are you getting ready to head back home?”

“Yeah, we’re carrying our stuff out to the truck right now. I was actually just getting ready to come over to your dorm.”

“Why?”

He chuckles into the phone. “To make sure you were getting packed to go back home.”

I peel away at my thumbnail. “Who said I was going?”