The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

but they are bound together by the painful memories crushing my heart.
     
    “Okay, I got us a table, but it’s not at the bar.” Seth strolls up and drapes his arm around my shoulder. “What’s up? You look sick.”
     
    I blink several times and then force a smile. “I’m just tired.”
     
    He knows I’m lying, but won’t bring it up in front of Kayden or Luke. “Then we should probably get you back early.”
     
    The hostess ushers us to our table and leaves the menus for us to look over, along with four glasses of ice water, flaunting Seth a grin before she heads back to the front. My vision is clouded by dark thoughts I’ve tried not to think about in a while, and I can’t see a single word on the list. I press the palms of my hands to my eyes and blink.
     
    “I think I need to admit something,” Kayden announces. When I glance up at him, a slow grin turns up at his lips. “I don’t like Sushi. In fact, it kind of creeps me out.”
     
    “Me too,” I agree with a timid smile. “It’s weird that it’s not cooked.”
     
    “She’s never had it,” Seth divulges, turning the page of his menu. “So technically, she can’t put in her opinion.”
     
    “I think she can offer her opinion.” From beneath the table, Kayden’s knee brushes mine, whether accidental or not, I’m unsure. It sends a hot flow of heat up my body that makes my stomach somersault. “It seems like a valuable opinion.”
     
    I don’t know how to take his compliment, so I keep my lips fastened.
     
    “I’m not saying it’s not valuable,” Seth explains. “Only that she may like it if she tried it. A code that I live by.”
     
    I’m sipping my water and I snort a laugh, choking on a piece of ice.  “Oh my God.”
     
    Seth pats my back with his hand. “Are you going to make it?”
     
    I nod, pressing my palm to my chest. “Yeah, no more jokes while I’m drinking, though, okay?”
     
    “It’s what I live by.” There’s a sparkle in his eyes as he grins devilishly at me. “But I’ll tone it down.”
     
    “Shit, I left my phone in the car,” Luke slaps his hand on top of the table and our water glasses shake. “I’ll be right back.” He gets up from the booth, strolls down the aisle, and exits out the front doors.
     
    We return to our menus when Seth jumps up from the booth. “I locked the car. He can’t even get inside it.” He rushes off toward the door, taking his keys out of his pocket.
     
    “Luke actually went to smoke,” Kayden tells me, spinning the saltshaker between the palms of his hands. “He just doesn’t like to admit it to people he doesn’t know. He’s weird about it.”
     
    I bob my head up and down, not looking at him. “So did Seth, probably. He usually does it in the car, but he was being polite.”
     
    “He could have.” Kayden laughs and it lights up his eyes. “Luke’s been smoking in my car since we were sixteen.”
     
    Unable to help myself, I smile at the idea as I fiddle with the edge of a napkin.
     
    “What’s so funny?” Kayden folds his arms on top of the table and the bottom of his sleeves rise up. Tiny white lines cover the back of his wrists and he swiftly jerks his sleeves down to hide them. “Come on, share whatever’s making you smile like that.”
     
    “It’s nothing.” I raise my gaze back to him. “I was just thinking about what my dad would have said if he ever found out his running back was a smoker.”
     
    “I think he knew he was.” Kayden leans over the table, moving closer to me. “He always seemed to know everything that we did wrong, but never said it.”
     
    “Yeah, maybe he did, I guess. He did catch my brother smoking once and grounded him for a very long time.” Why am I talking to him like this? It’s not like me. I tip my chin down and concentrate on the list of appetizers.
     
    “Callie, I’m sorry,” he says abruptly, flattening his palm on the table as he glides it toward mine.  As his fingers brush my knuckles, I nearly choke to death.
     
    “For what?” I sound strangled.
     
    “For not saying thank you… for that night.” He covers his big hand on top of mine.
     
    For a second, I like how his warmth feels, but then I’m thrown back to the place locked inside my mind, trapped and powerless.
     
    “It’s okay.” I yank my hand away and hide it under the table. My pulse races as I stare at the menu. “You were having a rough night.”
     
    He doesn’t say anything as he moves his hand