The Redemption of Callie & Kayden

been a child.”
    The click of her heels stops. She waits, like she expects me to say something or wants to say something herself, but then the clicking picks up again and soon she’s out in the hall. I let the numbness of the pill slink into my body and drag me into the dark. The last thing I see before I pass out is the most beautiful blue-eyed, brown-haired girl I’ve ever laid eyes on. The only girl who’s ever owned my heart and I hold onto the image with every ounce of strength I have. Otherwise I’d probably lose the will to breathe.
Callie
    “I have a quick question,” I say to Luke. We’re standing in front of the entrance to a small ice rink, getting ready to go ice-skating, something we’ve both never done (which we admit to each other on the car ride over here). It’s not too crowded, but there are a few couples skating and holding hands and a girl getting lessons in the center. “What happened in Professor McGellon’s class?”
    Luke shakes his head as he runs his hand over his shortly shaven brown hair. “Did Seth put you up to that?”
    I bend over to tighten the lace on my skate. “He mentioned on the phone that I should ask you.”
    He rolls his eyes as I stand up. “You really want to know?”
    I hesitate at the note of warning in his tone, but decide to be a bit of a daredevil and nod my head. “Yeah, I do. I guess.”
    “I got caught doing… something in his class.” He ventures out onto the rink and dips the toe of the skate down so the blade cuts the ice. “With a girl.”
    Seth and his need to push me out of my comfort zone. I’m blushing, but I act like it’s just a flush from the frigid temperature, adding a shiver from my body. “By the professor?”
    He progresses forward and his knees wobble as he inches toward the middle of the rink where a girl is spinning in circles with her hands above her head. “No, by Seth.”
    I grip onto the wall and edge out onto the ice, deciding it’s probably best to change the subject before my cheeks ignite. “So this is what people do to cheer themselves up?” With my hands out to my side and my palms flat, I try to keep my balance as I slide my feet across the rink.
    Luke has his hands spanned to the side of himself, and his knees are bent as he skates in a zigzag pattern. “That’s the rumor I was told,” he says and reaches for the wall when he stumbles.
    “By who?” I clutch onto the wall for support as my knees begin to buckle and remain there briefly to let the poor people behind me skate by.
    He grins as his feet make a circular motion against the ice. “By this hot chick I hooked up with the other night. She insisted that we needed to go ice skating.”
    I inhale a deep breath and fight back another blush creeping across my cheeks. “Why didn’t you just bring her here then?”
    He snorts a laugh. “What fun would that be? I like hanging out with you, Callie. It’s relaxing.” He pushes his feet along the ice and attempts to skate backward but trips over his feet and slams into the wall. His hand shoots out and he clutches onto the edge of the plastic section.
    “Are you okay?” I stifle a laugh as his eyes pop wide open.
    “You think that’s funny?” He gets his feet underneath himself and then, with very little coordination, skates toward me with his knees knocking together and his arms flinging to the side of him.
    I stifle a laugh, moving my feet inward and outward, going backward to get away from him. “I thought football players were supposed to be coordinated.”
    His lips curve into a grin and he winks at me. “On grass, Callie. Football player don’t spend much time on ice.”
    “How about a ballet studio,” I tease. “I’ve heard you guys sometimes like to twirl around and point your toes for”—I make air quotes and smile—“athletic purposes.”
    He shakes his head, rolling his tongue into his mouth to force back a grin. “You know, Kayden’s right about you. You can get kind of cocky when you want to.”
    My heart sinks to my stomach and Luke’s face falls. We both stand there, immobile, and my thoughts drift to Kayden.
    I stumble to the gate to sit down on a bench. “I think I need a break. I’m not very good at this,” I say, changing the subject.
    “Me neither.” Luke skates to the exit and his toe clips against the rubber threshold as he follows me off the rink. He takes a seat beside me on the bench and stretches his legs out in front of himself.
    For a while we just