The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

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?”
     
    “I saw Seth this morning and he promised me he’d talk you into it,” he says. “And I knew he would.”
     
    “Seth’s kind of turning into a traitor,” I reply, lying back on the bed and staring at the poster on the wall across from me.
     
    “Callie, if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.” He pauses. “But I really want you to.”
     
    I’m still not sure I want to. “Okay, I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”
     
    I hang up and stare out the window at the leaves and dirt splattered against the grass, put there by the wind. How could the direction of my life change so fast? I’m doing things I wouldn’t normally do, trusting people, feeling things, living life. I wonder how long it will last.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 15
     
     
     
    #21 Let Yourself Be Bored
     
     
     
    Callie
     
    It’s been two days since Kayden and Luke dropped me off at my house. Luckily, it was at night, so my mom didn’t run out and embarrass me. I’ve heard from Kayden quite a few times through texting, but we haven’t hung out.
     
    The entire drive home, I had an out-of-body experience. I was riding in the truck with Kayden and Luke and