The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

embarrassing,” she says with a timid smile. She reaches for the box of half-eaten chocolates and starts to set them aside.
    I grab her arm and stop her, glancing at each piece that has a bite taken out of it. “Okay, I have to ask. Did you eat an entire piece or just taste them all?”
    She sighs and throws the box next to her lamp and then presses her body down on my chest, with her chin above my heart. “I don’t like any of the flavors except for the strawberry.”
    “I guess that works then.” I grin at her. “Who gave them to you, though, by the way? It’s making me look bad.”
    Her eyes glimmer with a slight bit of haughtiness that comes out only on extremely rare occasions. “What if I said it was some guy? Would you be jealous?”
    “Yes,” I say truthfully. “In fact, I think I’d have to kick some ass.”
    “No kicking ass.”
    “All right, but only because you said so.”
    She smiles and then her tongue slips out of her mouth to wet her lips. “Greyson gave them to me last night.”
    I stare at her luscious lips, shimmering from the afterglow of her tongue and so they’re fucking enticing it’s driving my body crazy. “Seth’s Greyson?”
    She nods. “The three of us went out last night. He’s really nice.”
    I frown, remembering why I came here in the first place. “I actually just ran into Seth.”
    “Where?” she asks. “I thought he had a date.”
    Sighing, I reach for the paper on the nightstand. Unrolling it, I hand it to her. There must be a very close resemblance because she knows right away who he is.
    “Where did you get this?” she asks, sitting up and reading the paper.
    I push up and sit in front of her, crossing my legs. “Seth came running into the library today like a lunatic with it. I guess he was pretty easy to find, which makes me wonder if my mom or dad ever really went looking for him.”
    She bites her lip as she meticulously studies the paper. “It says he lives in Virginia.”
    I nod, tracing the whitish scars on my wrist. They’re fading rapidly, but they are still there as little reminders of everything that happened. “I know.”
    “That’s far.”
    “I know.”
    She lowers the paper onto her lap and studies me for a moment. “Are you going to try to get ahold of him?”
    I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, thinking about the past. I’d never had a stellar relationship with Dylan, and besides, he ran away and never tried to get ahold of me. “What if he doesn’t want me to get ahold of him? I mean, there’s a reason I haven’t talked to or seen him in years. And it looks like he has a family and everything. At least that’s what the article says.”
    Callie’s silent for a while and then she reaches her hand over and fixes her finger underneath my chin, titling my chin up so I’m looking at her. “But what if… what if he does want to see you? What if he was just staying away from your parents and the house? Or what if he tried to get ahold of you and your parents wouldn’t let him?”
    I remember when Dylan left the house. He’d just graduated and gave up a football scholarship, partially to spite my dad and partially because he didn’t want to play football. My dad was fucking pissed and had told him to never come back.
Ever
.
    “Yeah, maybe.” I’m still not fully convinced, but if I were to talk to my therapist right now, he’d say that I was doubting myself more than Dylan. He says that a lot. He says I have low self-esteem. It makes me feel weak and like a fucking pussy and kind of proves his point.
    “I’ll call him for you,” Callie says, scooting closer on her knees toward me. “If you want me to.”
    I spread my fingers on top of her legs and frown at her. “You’d do that for me? Call a complete stranger?”
    “I’d do anything for you.” She positions her hands on top of mine. “Because I love you.”
    “I know you would,” I reply, both hating and loving that she said she loves me. I still haven’t said it to her yet. I don’t know why. I’ve tried a thousand fucking times, but I can’t get the words to come out of my mouth. She never says anything about it either, which makes me feel like an even shittier person. She’s so happy having it one-sided. “I should be the one to call him.”
    Her shoulders elevate with her eagerness. “So you’re going to call then?”
    I nod, deciding to take a leap of faith and see what happens. “Yeah, I’ll call him tonight after I’m done with