The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

sandwich on the desk.
     
    “Can I make a suggestion?” Seth says, observing Violet’s unmade bed. “Please spray disinfectant everywhere.”
     
    “Suggestion taken.” I grab a plaid shirt and a pair of jeans out of the dresser. “Can you step out so I can change?”
     
    Nodding, he backs out the door. “Hurry up though, I’m starving.”
     
    When he shuts the door, I slip out of my shirt that smells like cotton candy mixed with cigarette smoke. I inhale the scent, remembering how it felt when Kayden kissed me, before I toss the shirt on the bed and insert my arms through the sleeves of a plaid shirt. I pull on a pair of jeans and then grab a brush to put my hair up, but pause, thinking about my fears and how Seth told me this morning that I should tell them to fuck off.
     
    After the incident last night, before I returned to Seth’s room and went back to bed, I promised myself it would never happen again. When I woke up, I felt better.
     
    I slip the elastic out and let my hair hang down to my shoulders. “You can do this,” I mutter, grabbing my bag. “You made out with a guy for God’s sake.”
     
    When I step out the door, there’s a smile on my face, but my happiness vanishes when I see Seth talking to Luke, and neither of them look happy.  Luke is wearing black jeans and a black fitted t-shirt. It’s a lot of black, but it works for him
     
    When Seth catches my eyes, his expression is filled with sympathy and pity.
     
    My eyebrows furrow as I stroll up to them. “What’s wrong?”
     
    Luke has a guilty look on his face as he turns around. “Hey, Callie, what’s up?”
     
    I fiddle with the strands of my hair, tucking them behind my ear. “Nothing much. Seth and I are just heading out to get some breakfast.”
     
    “Yeah, we were just talking about that.” Luke hurries backwards down the hall, like he’s desperate to get away from me. “I was asking Seth if I could borrow his car, but I’ll just find someone else.”
     
    “Why? Where’s your truck?” I ask, and his shoulders stiffen as he pauses in the center of the hall.
     
    “Kayden took it somewhere.” He waves at me, before spinning on his heels and hurrying off. “I’ll catch up with you two later.” He disappears between a group of cheerleaders, dressed in their uniforms.
     
    I turn to Seth, confused. “What was that about?”
     
    He stares at me contemplatively, then sighs and loops his arm through mine. “We need to talk.”
     
    We step out into the crisp autumn air and beneath the cloudy sky. The liveliness of the campus yard surges around us and yellow and orange leaves skitter across the dying grass.
     
    “Are you going to tell me why you’re looking at me like you’re about to tell me my dog died?” I wonder as we step off the curb of the sidewalk and down onto the asphalt of the parking lot.
     
    He looks left and right, before we hurry over to his car. “I have something to tell you and I don’t know how you’re going to take it.” He frees my arm and we part ways, going to opposite sides of the car.
     
    When we get in and shut the doors, he turns the key in the ignition and pauses as he scrolls through his playlists on an iPod.  “Kayden borrowed Luke’s truck.” A song pops on as he places the iPod back into the stand on the dashboard.  “To go back home for a few days.”
     
    I fasten the seatbelt over my shoulder. “Okay, why are you acting weird?”
     
    He shoves the shifter into reverse and looks over his shoulder as he backs out of the parking space. “Well, because he didn’t say anything to you.” He straightens the wheel and merges the car out onto the road. “Wait a minute. Did he tell you?”
     
    “No, but why would he? We barely know each other.”
     
    “Callie, you made out with him last night and let him feel your boob.”
     
    “Hey, I told you that in confidence.”
     
    He raises his fingers up from the wheel. “Relax, I’m just pointing out that that was a big step for you—an important step. You wouldn’t just do it with any guy.”
     
    “I like Kayden,” I admit. “But it doesn’t mean he has to tell me everything he does. I’m not his girlfriend.”
     
    “So what?” Seth turns down the volume of the stereo. “He should have said something instead of just taking off. He knew you’d probably want to see him. You know his darkest secret, Callie, which is the hardest part about getting to know someone.”
     
    He’s quoting his Psych