We peer around at the crowd and then Callie giggles as she stares at a booth that is set up with display cases that hold sunglasses. “Or we could dress it up and put a Wanted: In need of a home sign in its hand and leave it somewhere for someone to pick up.”
I poke my finger at the teddy bears eye and it falls out. “I actually like that idea and the sunglasses can hide the fact that it just lost an eye.”
“Oh, can we buy it a tiara?” Seth asks, glancing around excitedly. “Please let me put one on its head. It can cover up its missing ear.”
“Okay, you go get a tiara and I’ll go get it some sunglasses.” She lugs the bear up in her arms as Seth takes off toward a red and white tent that’s set up at the end.
I fidget with the bear’s good ear as Callie pushes her way through the crowd, practically using the bear as a shield. “It’s a sad looking thing, isn’t it?”
She stops at the sunglass booth and drops the bear to the ground. “I like it. I just don’t think my roommate would like it.” She cocks her head at the bear. “When I was younger, I would have kept it in a heartbeat. In fact, I had a whole collection of them.”
I arch an eyebrow at her. “You collected broken, smelly carnival bears?”
She laughs and I love that it was me that made her do it this time, not Seth. “No, but I had a collection of broken stuffed animals. Like a cat with no whiskers and a puppy with no nose.”
“What did you do?” I joke. “Torture them and tug off their limbs?”
She places her palms on the table that holds a display case full of glasses. “No, I just never wanted to throw them away. Even if they were broken, I still loved them.” She peers down into the case, completely oblivious to how much her words mean to me.
Slowly, I place my hand on the table and inch it toward hers, finally covering it with mine. Her chest rises and falls as she pretends that nothing’s going on and I trace my finger along the folds of her hand, my eyelids starting to shut.
“Which ones were you looking at?” An older woman with beads on her wrists and a long flowing skirt waltzes up to us.
I jerk my hand away and let it fall to my side as I lean over Callie’s shoulder to look through the glass. “Which ones were you thinking?”
She slants her head to the side and her hair touches my cheek. “How about the sparkly blue pair that are shaped like stars.”
“Sounds good to me.” I barely pay attention to what she’s saying, because I’m smelling her hair like a fucking weirdo.
What the hell is wrong with me? Strange feelings clench at my chest, ones I was taught to shut off. It’s literally hurting me, like a knife to the chest, and all I want to do is fucking leave and go turn it off the only way I know how.
***
“Are we already moving on from the Wicked Witch of the West?” Luke asks as I circle around the ticket booth, searching the grass for the glasses Callie accidentally dropped somewhere.
“We?” I stand up straight. “I didn’t realize it was something we were doing together and I’m not trying to do anything with Callie. We’re just friends.”
He flicks the button on his lighter with his thumb, ignoring my comment. “You know, if you want, I can get her in a situation with you where you’ll have your chance to do whatever you want with her.”
“You know I just broke up with Daisy, right?”
He rolls his eyes. “And you seem so sad about it.”
I find the glasses near the trashcan and pick them up, plucking off the grass stuck in the cracks of the frames. “I’m not sure I want to do anything with Callie.”
He pulls his unlit cigarette out of his mouth and stares at it. “I can’t remember where I left my pack.” He pats his pockets and then turns in a circle, looking at the ground.
Luke has this thing with losing stuff, especially his cigarettes. Nicotine is his sedative and without it, he flips out. “Where the fuck did I…” he trails off walking backwards toward a bench and sighs as he scoops up the pack. He tucks it into his pocket and shuts his eyes, like he thought he just lost an arm. “We could do a challenge.”
I open and close the ends on the glasses. “We haven’t done that since sophomore year.”
“When you started dating Daisy,” he points out. “Man, I miss those days.”
I stare off at the rides whipping around in various directions. “Yeah, I don’t think I can trick Callie into going under the bleachers with me. It’d feel wrong.”
Luke thrums his fingers on the side of his leg to the beat of the rock song playing nearby as his gaze roams to the jungle gym ride in the corner. It’s dark inside and no one’s standing at the gate. “Hang on. I got an idea.”
“Care to share the details of your idea?” I ask. “I don’t want to walk into this blind.”
“Think challenge to the max.” He walks backwards across the dry grass toward the exit gates. “I’ll be back in five minutes. All you need to do is follow my lead and, as a thank you, you can let me drive that motorcycle you don’t let anyone touch when we go home for Thanksgiving.”
“No fucking—”
He disappears out the gates, waving me off. Shaking my head, I return back to Callie and her bear, feeling guilty. But deep down, I know I’m going to go through with Luke’s plan, because I want to, more than anything at the moment.
Callie
As Seth puts the finishing touches on the bear, Luke comes strolling up with an unlit cigarette between his lips. He has a jacket on with the hood pulled over his head and the front pocket is bulky.
“What the hell is that thing?” He squints down at the cardboard sign in the bear’s hand. There’s a glittery tiara on its head, sunglasses covering the eyes, and a string of beads around its neck. He reads the sign aloud, “Will be ridiculously cute in exchange for a loving home, food, water, and a little cuddle time.” He flicks the ear with his fingers. “What the fuck is this?”
I laugh, biting down on the top of the pen. “We made it so it would get adopted and so none of us has to take it home.”
Luke glances at Kayden, who shrugs. “I thought it was kind of funny. And be thankful. For a while, Callie was trying to get me to take it home.”
Luke scrunches his forehead, takes the cigarette out of his mouth, and sticks it into the bear’s mouth. “There, that’s much better.”
Kayden rolls his eyes at him and stuffs his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “So what’s next on the list? And I’m speaking figuratively, not about your actual list.”
I look over my shoulder at the rides twirling, twisting, and sparkling against the night. “We could ride some more rides, I guess.”
“I actually have a better idea.” Luke strolls off without finishing his thought and the three of us trade glances before hurrying after him. He marches toward a jungle gym made up of ropes, ramps, netting, and bars. There are three levels and a short gate borders the bottom. I think the point of the ride is to get to the top and then down to the bottom again.
“I don’t think it’s open,” I say as Luke reaches for the latch on the gate.
With his hand in his pocket, he checks over his shoulder and then nudges the gate open with his foot. “Oh look at that. It is now.” He walks inside and signals us to follow. “Come on. It’s nothing but a giant playground. Besides, we’re celebrating.”
“Celebrating what?” Seth and I ask at the same time.
He grins and then glances at Kayden. “The end of the Wicked Witch.” He starts humming a tune from the Wizard of Oz as he backs toward the curtain entrance of the ride.
I step in first, since I’ve been on such a roll lately. “Who’s the Wicked Witch?”
“I think I’ll let him explain it to you.” Luke looks at Kayden before ducking through the curtain into the entrance of the ride.
I glance over my shoulder at Kayden. “What’s he talking about?”
Kayden shrugs as he closes the gate. “Luke’s excited that Daisy and I broke up.”
“Oh
.” I try not to smile and finally have to bite down on my bottom lip, hard. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He reaches his arm over my shoulder and draws back the curtain for me. “It really isn’t that big of a deal.”
It seems like it should be. They’ve been dating forever, but he appears really content.
I lower my head and step into the ride, holding my breath as the curtains brush against the top of my hair. It’s nearly pitch black and the sounds of screams and soft music envelop around me.
“Where are you?” I hiss with my hands out in front of me, my elbows locked. “Hello?”
A lighter flickers and then Luke’s face appears above the flame. “There we go.”
Seth strolls up next to me, just a shadow in the dark, and thrums his fingers together in front of him. “Oh, are we going to do a séance?”
Luke looks at Seth like he’s nuts as Kayden moves up on the other side of me. I’m very aware of his nearness and the smell of his cologne. It makes me nervous, yet excited at the endless possibilities.
“So, what’s the ingenious plan?” Kayden asks, his breath flowing across the back of my head. “Are we going to trash the place?”
“We’re going to—” The lighter falls from Luke’s hand and darkness takes over. “Ah, fuck! That’s hot.”
Seconds tick by and then Seth turns on the screen of his cell phone, which casts a blue glow over our faces. Luke nods as he picks up his lighter and drops it into the pocket of the hoodie, taking out his own cell phone to use for a light. He dips his hand into his other pocket and draws out a bottle filled with a golden liquid.
“Tequila? Where the hell did you get that?” Kayden’s fingers brush the lower section of my back, and I stifle a gasp clawing at my throat.
“I bought it off one of the Carnies.” He unscrews the cap and sniffs the inside of the bottle, pulling a thoughtful face. “Alright, who’s ready to get this party started?’
Seth’s gaze skims over the three of us. “What kind of party are we talking about? Because honestly, I was trying to work something back at the ticket booth, but got a little distracted by the bear.”
“Really,” I ask excitedly and he nods with pressing eyes.
I want to hug him, but I’ll save it for later when he can give me the details. Seth hasn’t dated anyone since Braiden and I hope he’s ready to finally move on.
Luke takes a swig from the bottle and his shoulders twitch as he swallows it. “I want to do a challenge.”
“No challenges tonight,” Kayden grimaces, but there’s a hint of amusement in his voice. “We have practice early in the morning and challenges always end in pain.”
My head snaps toward him. “Pain?”
“Good God,” Seth says with a dramatic sigh. “Please explain what this challenge thing is.”
“It’s a long story.” Kayden waves us off with his hand and faces Luke. “Just know that you don’t want to do it.”
“You’re just pissed off because you lost last time,” Luke says in a taunting tone. “Besides, I bet Callie would totally be into it. She seems tough for a tiny girl.”
“Hey,” I start to protest as Luke takes another mouthful. “I’m not that tiny.”
Kayden pinches my side and I flinch. “Actually, you are really tiny, but it’s cute.”
I cross my arms over my chest and inhale quietly, uncertain how to respond.
“Relax, Callie,” Kayden says, looking a little remorseful. “Now, if you want to do the challenge we can, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I’ve never been much of a curious person. I just did what I had to and stuck to myself, at least since my twelfth birthday, but curiosity sparkles inside me.
“I am kind of curious to see what your challenges are,” I say and Kayden seems extremely pleased, the corners of his lips quirking as he struggles not to smile, even though he’d just been protesting it.
Luke takes another mouthful of tequila and wipes his lips with his arm as he passes the bottle to Kayden. “Usually we set up an obstacle course, like running and jumping and shit.” He gestures his hand at the net above us. “But we got a prebuilt one right here.”
“So what? You just race?” I ask as Kayden hands Seth the bottle, moving his arm around my back. “And what does the winner get?”
Seth tips his head back and takes a long, loud gulp. “Damn that’s good.”
“The satisfaction of winning.” Kayden exchanges a look with Luke.
Luke stares up at the top. “I say first one to the top and back is the winner.”
“I say that this time the winner owes the other one a favor.” Kayden steps around me and steers me to the side by the shoulders. “Like letting the other one borrow their truck whenever they want.”
“That’s fine,” Luke retorts. “Just as long as when I win, I get to ride that motorcycle, that hasn’t left your garage, when we go home for Thanksgiving.”
“That’s my brother’s,” Kayden states with a noticeable rise in the pitch of his voice.
“You drove it once before,” Luke protests.
“And I got in deep shit for doing so.” His breathing is ragged and tension swirls in the air.
He lets out a breath as Luke takes another drink with a challenge in his eyes. I’ve heard the term “too much testosterone,” but never witnessed it until now.
“Fine, you got a deal.” Kayden jerks the bottle from Luke’s hand and throws his head back, pouring in a mouth full of tequila. “But I’m not letting you win.”
“Yeah, we’ll see.” Luke steals the bottle back and wraps his lips around the top, knocking back a shot.
“You know what?” Seth shuffles toward the exit, staring at his phone. “I think I’m going to go find the person I was talking to.”
“No way.” Kayden steps toward him. “You got to stay down here and call the winner.”
Seth waves his hand at him, brushing him off. “Nah, Callie can do it.”
Kayden shakes his head. “Callie’s in the challenge, remember?”
I cringe, wondering what I’ve gotten myself into. “Maybe I should just stay here.”
Kayden lowers his face toward mine and strands of his brown hair tickle my forehead. “I thought you were going to prove to us you weren’t little?”
I glance up at the nets and ropes with doubt. “How am I supposed to do that? I see no possible way of me winning anything against you two.”
He positions his fist in front of his chest with a wicked glint in his emerald eyes. “With your awesome kick boxing skills.”
Luke snorts a laugh as he spills some tequila onto the ground. “What?”
Kayden lowers his fist, biting on his lip, with a look in his eyes that’s very overpowering. “What do you say? Can you handle it?”
I nod, even though I don’t think I can. “Alright, so I just try to beat you guys to the top?”
Kayden rubs his jawline. “Absolutely.”
I follow them to the bottom step as they line up with their hands out to the side of them and their feet positioned to run. I feel short and small standing between them.
Seth stands near the curtains, checking the clock on his screen. “Do you want me to just say go?”
Kayden nods, without taking his eyes off the tunnel in front of us. “Yep, whenever. We’re ready to go.”
Seth glances at his clock again and then sighs. “On your mark, get set, go!”
I skitter to the side as Luke shoves Kayden and then runs down the tunnel. Kayden recovers and dodges back onto the steps, sprinting down and disappearing into the darkness. I glance at Seth and he gestures for me to get my butt moving.
I walk quickly, ducking my head, and listening to the sounds of their footsteps that are already above me. Huddling over, I exit out of the tunnel and onto a wooden stairway. I step up, getting a little uneasy at how dark it is, but when I approach the next level the glow from the rides flow inside.
I hear the sound of Kayden’s voice as he s
houts something and I pick up my pace toward a bridge. It has netted sides and a rope for a railing. There are boards that pave the way to the other side and the floor sways underneath my feet as I step onto it. It’s gone quiet and my adrenaline soars.
“Okay, why did I agree to this?” I mutter to myself. Then answer my own question. “Because Kayden looked at you with those sexy eyes.” I step forward with my palms flat against the net to secure my balance.
“Callie,” Kayden suddenly whispers. “What are you doing?”
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden Page 15