The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

her lifeline.
    All of a sudden I know I can’t do anything to him, because it’ll hurt her more than it’ll probably hurt Caleb. So I back away and climb into the truck, holding onto her to keep myself from falling into the darkness.
    * * *
    No one speaks for most of the drive. It’s like we’re all too afraid to be the first voice heard and too afraid of what might come out of our mouths. Callie has her head resting on my shoulder and she keeps running her finger along the inside of my wrist. I know she can feel the healing scars on my skin and it makes me uneasy, but I don’t pull back. If she needs to touch me, then she can touch me.
    Her phone keeps going off, playing Blue October’s “Hate Me,” but she keeps silencing it.
    “It’ll be okay,” she whispers, and then minutes later she drifts asleep, practically balling herself onto my lap because there’s barely any room to move with four people squished in the single cab. But it is what it is and we don’t need any more.
    Luke drives for half the night, determined to get there as quickly as possible. I offer to drive a few times, but he declines each time. The radio is blasting a little Chevelle and the clouds fade the closer we get to the ocean and the stars dot the sky. I wonder if it’s possible to fix myself and turn into someone else. Someone I’ve never known. Someone who doesn’t cut themself, who doesn’t want to feel pain over emotion, someone who can be worthy to hold her like I am right now.
    I glance down at Callie in my arms. Her hair is hanging in her face and she’s hitched her leg over mine. One of her hands is on my lap and she holds the other one against her chest. I know I need to tell her everything but I’m not sure how she’ll handle it. She’s barely said her own secrets aloud, which is why I took matters into my own hands, why I beat up Caleb, and why I was willing to beat him up again in the snap of a finger.
    And I don’t regret what I did.
    I never will.
    * * *
    “Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty.” Something heavy slams into the side of my head. I jolt awake, flinging my arms in the air. The sunlight strikes my eyes and I blink several times against the brightness. Luke is standing to the side of me with the door open and a shit-eating grin on his face. “Shit, I thought you were never going to wake up.”
    I glance to my side at the bag he must have thrown at me and then at the sand stretching out in front of me that connects with the ocean. The backdrop of the bright blue sky mirrors the water and blinds the hell out of my eyes. I’ve been to the beach before, during the few times my mother and father decided we needed to try and be a family. It always ended shitty, with someone getting pissed off, and the trip would get cut short.
    “How long have we been here?” I yawn and I set my feet to the ground and climb out and stretch my arms above my head.
    Luke leans into the cab, grabs the duffel bag, and slams the door shut, swinging the keys around on his finger. “Like ten minutes. Callie told me to let you sleep, but I didn’t see the fun in that.”
    I’m glad that he’s being an ass and not treating me like a suicidal freak. “Well, thanks, I guess.”
    He lifts his eyebrows as he heads for the front of the truck. “No problem.”
    The beach house belongs to Luke’s father—I know that much. What I’ve never got was how his father could afford it, and yet he couldn’t afford to pay for Luke’s tuition for school, among other things. I asked him about it once and all Luke did was shrug. He doesn’t like to talk about his dad, even before his parents’ got divorced. I’ve met him only once, when I was six, right when Luke and I became friends. He seemed a little off, like he didn’t know what to do with himself or Luke. A week after I met him, he packed his stuff and left. Luke’s probably visited him, like, ten times since then and each time he comes back, he never talks about his trip. And I never ask.
    The wooden porch bounces slightly as I walk on it, heading toward the side door of the house. The screen is shut, but the door behind it is agape, so the warm air can flow in. I hear the waves of the ocean rolling against the sand and music playing from inside that mixes with the sound of Callie’s laughter.
    “Warning,” Luke says as he pulls open the screen door. “Seth has already claimed one of the two rooms that has a bed. Callie says she’ll bunk up with him, but there’s no