The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

way in fucking hell I’m sharing with you.”
    I walk inside and the door swings shut behind me. “I’m fine with sleeping on the couch.” As much as I would love to share a bed with Callie, hold her, spend the night with her, it’s probably better if I don’t, because I’m unsure how close I want to get to her yet.
    “Good, because I hate sleeping on the couch.” He heads across the kitchen to the hallway with his bag slung over his shoulder and I’m left standing alone. There are a few barstools around a small island and a sitting window that shows the view of the beach. I take a seat on a stool and pull one of my legs up, resting my arm on top of my knee. I remember when I was little the ocean was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen. I was fascinated by the way the waves rolled up and washed away the sand, leaving their imprint on the world. Sometimes I would stand right at the edge and let it crash against my feet as I considered taking one more step and my feet would eventually move forward. One more step and it’d take me away—
    “Kayden.” Callie’s voice rises over my shoulder. I hear her walk closer to me and feel the warmth of her body when she’s right behind me. “Are you okay?” She places a hand on my shoulder and there’s a tremor in her fingers.
    I remember the first time I kissed her, up in that playground carnival ride, on the bridge, pressed up against the net. She trembled under my touch and I loved every second of it, yet hated it because it made me feel things I wasn’t ready for.
    “I’m fine.” I plaster a fake smile on my face and turn around. “I was just thinking.” I reach up and move her hand off my shoulder, slipping my fingers through hers as I get to my feet.
    “About what?” she wonders with a tilt of her head and strands of her brown hair fall into her eyes. “About what happened last night… with…” She struggles to say his name and I quickly let her off the hook to remove the pain in her eyes.
    “No, not that.” I sweep her hair back with my free hand and then let it drift down to her cheek and I enjoy the feel of skin. “The last time I was by the ocean.”
    She lays her hand over mine as it lingers on her cheek. “How old were you?”
    “Twelve.” My mind flashes back to the feeling of the ocean and the power of the violent waves. I shake the feeling from my head. “You know what? I don’t really want to talk about it.” My hand drops from her face and I bring her hand down with mine. “What do you want to do today?” It seems like such a stupid question when we have so much shit hanging in the air.
    But she just smiles as she swings our arms and plays along with me, giving me what I need. “We should probably go shopping so you won’t have to wear the same clothes the entire time.”
    “Shopping, huh?” I arch an eyebrow and sigh. “All right, let’s go shopping.”
Callie
    What an insanely ordinary thing to do, I think as we walk up the busy street fenced by buildings and neon-colored shops and a mob of people who are dressed in beachwear. I feel overdressed in my fitted blue shirt and skinny jeans. My Converses are not made for a sidewalk that has sand in it and I keep wishing I’d brought my sandals the way Seth had suggested when we were packing.
    I thought it was an absurd thing to say, but now looking at the sand everywhere, I do want to sink my toes into it. I’m staring at my feet as I walk and dodge from left to right through the crowd. I’m never comfortable in crowds because I always wind up getting touched, no matter how hard I try not to be. But as I keep getting prodded in the shoulder by men and women I realize my internal cringing instinct has diminished over time.
    “I told you,” Seth whispers in my ear.
    I blink up at him and he has a huge smile on his face. His eyes are hidden behind silver sunglasses and he has on a thin red T-shirt, jeans, and sandals. “Told me what?”
    “That you’d regret not wearing sandals.” He sticks his arm out for me to take and I loop it through mine, like we are two ordinary people taking a nice stroll down the sidewalk. Only we’re not and I’m reminded of that when he opens his mouth again.
    “Do you… do you want to talk about it?” he asks as we pass by a store displaying a collection of sunglasses in the window.
    I shake my head, taking in the stores beside me, trying not to think about how I felt seeing Caleb again, the things he said to me, or the