The Resolution of Callie & Kayden (The Coincidence #6)(9)
Author: Jessica Sorensen

‘Okay … thanks for letting me know,’ I say awkwardly as I lock the car door then shut it because it’s too old school for a key fob.

‘Yeah, no problem,’ he replies, sounding uncomfortable himself. I hear someone say something in the background and he quickly says, ‘Oh, and Liz wants to know if you’re bringing anyone here for Thanksgiving with you.’

I want to tell him I haven’t even fully committed to coming yet, but instead say, ‘I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know soon.’

‘Okay, but just so you know, we’d love to have you and Callie here if she can come.’ He sounds like he means it.

Again, I’m a little thrown off by this weird I-care-for-you thing he’s got going. I keep my composure, though, and say goodbye before heading back to work, even though I have ten more minutes of break time. I try not to think about Tyler too much, yet I can’t help it. Because what if he really does know.

Knows where my father is.

Chapter 5

#134 Invite Someone to Prom **coughs** aka Halloween Party.

Callie

‘Really?’ I say to Seth as I read what he just wrote on my whiteboard. Seth and I have been creating this to-do list since the beginning of freshman year when we first became friends. There’s no rule to what goes on there, it just needs to be something we think at least one of us has to try. This whiteboard version actually starts at one hundred since the list got so long we had to transfer some of them onto a piece of paper.

‘Yes, really.’ He taps the marker against number one hundred seventeen. ‘It isn’t any weirder than this one.’

‘Hey, I totally did that the other day.’ I snatch the marker from his hand and draw a line through number one hundred seventeen.

‘You’re so weird,’ he says as I put the cap of the marker back on and toss it aside.

I roll my eyes at him. ‘That’s the pot calling the kettle black.’

‘Totally,’ he agrees, his gaze drifting to the window. ‘So are you ready for this?’

My face bunches up in confusion. ‘Ready for what?’

He taps his finger against the whiteboard right where he just wrote one hundred thirty-four. ‘Duh, what you’re going to do today.’

Shaking my head, I sink down on the bed. ‘I’m not doing that.’

He puts his hands on his hips and stares me down. ‘You so are.’

I fold my arms and aim a challenging look at him. ‘Am not.’

‘You have to,’ he insists. ‘The concert is tomorrow and I already told Greyson you were coming.’

‘Fine, I’ll ask Kayden,’ I tell him, defeated. ‘But not in some weird, cheesy prom way like people do in high school.’

‘You so are, Callie Lawrence.’ He grabs my arm and jerks me to my feet so hard I stumble. ‘This is something you so need to do.’

I give him the nastiest look ever. I get that he thinks I need to relive my high school days, since they sucked big time, and I want to, but at the same time … ‘I’m afraid I’ll be living in the past if I do it.’

His determination softens, but he still pulls me to the door, throwing my coat at me in the process. ‘Nope. Not at all.’ He opens the door and steers me out into the hallway with him, navigating us around a group of people loitering in the hallways. ‘See, this is you and me walking away from the past and heading to the future.’

‘You’re speaking metaphorically, aren’t you?’ I ask as we reach the elevator and he presses the down button.

‘I had my Philosophy class today,’ he admits as the elevator doors slide open and we step inside. ‘Now, would you pretty please do this with me?’ His finger hovers over the button of the ground floor, waiting for me to agree because in the end, regardless of how pushy he is, he’ll always back down if I ask him to. That’s the thing with Seth and why he’s such a good friend.

‘Oh, fine. Let’s go be cheesy,’ I huff as if I’m aggravated, but in the end we are both smiling. And really, that’s kind of the point of this, of anything, isn’t it?

‘So this is what people do when they ask each other to prom, huh?’ I stare at the front of Kayden’s lofty dorm building as Seth snaps a thin branch from the tree, causing a pile of snow to fall on his head.

Sweeping the snow out of his hair, he nods then he crouches down and draws a heart in the snow. ‘Yes, you have to be creative with these things. In fact, the more creative, the better.’ As he says it, he writes in the snow:

Kayden, will you go to a Halloween concert with me? I would swoon over the moon if you did.

He stands up with a proud expression after he finishes. ‘See, now all you have to do is go get him.’ He drops the branch and dusts snow from his gloves.

‘Swoon over the moon?’ I question and he gives me a what look. I retrieve my gloves from my pocket and slip my fingers inside them. ‘I have a better idea.’ I pick up the branch and brush my hands across the surface of the snow, erasing what he wrote and giggling when he starts to complain. Then I kneel down and write something that’s actually from me.

‘If I’m going to do this, then I should do it,’ I tell him as I trace the tip of the stick across the snow. When I’m done, I stand up and admire my handiwork.

Seth steps beside me and reads what I wrote. ‘Kayden, let me dazzle you at a Halloween concert. P.S. Seth made me do this because he put it on the list.’ He gives me a look. ‘That’s really what you want to write?’

I brush snow out of my hair that’s falling from the trees. ‘Yep, I think it’s perfect.’

He sighs, but he’s smiling, so I know he thinks I’m amusing. ‘Here, let me see your phone.’

I reach into my pocket and give it to him, not really thinking too much about it. ‘Why? Where’s yours?’

He’s chuckling under his breath as he types something. ‘In my pocket.’

‘Then why do you need mine.’

Laughing, he tosses me the phone. ‘Let me know how it goes and if you need a ride later.’ He saunters off toward the parking lot.

‘Seth, what did you do?’ I shout at him, but then shake my head at myself and go into my text messages to see for myself. ‘Hey, lover. Meet me outside your dorm building in ten. I have a naughty little surprise for you,’ I read it aloud, unsure whether to be angry or amused. I decide to go for the latter, since Seth didn’t mean anything by it and Kayden shouldn’t think much of it. At least, I hope he doesn’t … or maybe I do.