The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

deal.” But yesterday was Christmas, and she forced us to hang out at the house all day. It didn’t go very well and we ended up getting into an argument when she pulled me away and told me she thinks I shouldn’t hang out with Seth anymore.
    “He has quite a mouth on him,” she’d said. “And I don’t like his attitude.”
    “You don’t have to like it, mom,” I’d replied. “But he’s my friend and he’s going to stay my friend.”
    That didn’t go over very well and she started lecturing me about the little girl she lost, the one who didn’t sass off.
    “What are you thinking about?” Seth asks. We’re up in the room above the garage. It’s a fairly nice day, the sunlight spilling all over the snow and ice and melting it. I’ve been analyzing it for a while, watching it reflect against the ice, looking so perfect, yet I know if I step outside, the cold and slipperiness won’t hold up the perfection. “You have this strange look on your face… like you’re thinking about killing someone.”
    I’m standing next to the windowsill kicking a punching bag with my bare foot. My dad hauled it up into the room a few days ago, after my mom gave it to him for Christmas as a way to “get into shape.”
    “I’m just thinking about stuff.”
    He flips a page of the magazine he’s looking through as he lays on his stomach on the bed. “Like what?”
    I shake my head and ram my fist into the bag, barely budging it. Sweat beads down the back of my neck and my ponytail is slipping loose from the elastic. “Nothing. It’s nothing… just the weather.”
    He cocks an eyebrow as he peers up from the magazine. He’s got on a pair of jeans and a striped shirt and this leather string necklace around his neck. “The weather?”
    I shrug, pivot my hip to the side, and then spring my knee up, flattening my foot against the bag one more time. Breathless, I pad over to the bed, the concrete floor cold against my bare feet, and I hurry and hop onto the mattress. “Yeah, sometimes I like to analyze it and what it all might mean in relation to life.”
    He turns a page as he gapes at me. “You’re a very strange girl. You know that?”
    I nod as I tuck my feet underneath the blanket. “I’ve been told that a few times.”
    He sighs and then eyes my outfit. I still have my pajamas on, no makeup, and I smell like sweat. “Are you planning on staying dressed like that all day? I was hoping we’d go out.”
    I lean back against the wall, fanning my hand in front of my face to try and cool off. “To where?”
    “Anywhere but here.”
    “This place is already wearing on you, huh.”
    He shakes his head and starts reading the page in front of him. “No, but this room is and the fact that you keep dazing off into Callie la-la land. You’re bumming me out… You’ve been bumming be out since that day you ran into Kayden at the café.” He peeks up at me through his long black eyelashes. A strand of his hair falls into his eyes, but he doesn’t bother brushing it back. He looks like he’s waiting for me to tell him something.
    “What’s wrong?” I ask, draping my arm across my stomach.
    He scowls at me as he roughly flips another page and he accidentally rips the corner. “You’re keeping something from me that happened at the café… when you ran outside.”
    “No, I’m not,” I lie because I’m afraid to talk about it, afraid of what Seth will tell me it means.
    He points a finger at me with his eyes narrowed. “Don’t you lie to me, Callie. Just tell me you don’t want to tell me. Don’t lie.”
    My face sinks as I frown. “I’m sorry. I just really don’t want to talk about it. It’ll be too hard… to find out what it means… to find out how I feel.”
    He pauses as he assesses me and then his gaze glides to the window where my notebook lays. “Have you written about it?”
    I shake my head and wipe some of the sweat off my face with the back of my hand. “And I don’t want to.”
    “Have you ever written about how you felt that night… about Kayden?”
    “I haven’t,” I tell him. “And like I said, I really don’t want to.”
    He straightens his arms and pushes up from the bed. He kneels and scoots closer to me until he’s by my side. “Maybe you should. Maybe you should write Kayden a letter, telling him how you feel, not just about what happened, but how you feel about him.”
    “Seth, I don’t think I can.” I roll onto my back and stare up at the patches on