“Your eyes bowled me over as soon as I sat down next to you in English class.” Cal was looking at me.
I asked about his brother being at the game subconsciously upset about the fact that Cal met my dad, but I didn’t meet his brother.
He gazed at me for the longest time before he said anything. “I didn’t see him after the game or I would have introduced you,” he clarified. “He and his girlfriend were there together. They don’t miss many of my games so there will be plenty of opportunities for you to meet him, but how did you know about Sam?”
I wasn’t sure what to say? I didn’t want to make Aiden and Luke dislike me more than I thought they already did but I didn’t want to lie to Cal.
“Never mind,” he said. He was moving closer to me. Unnerving me. “Aiden or Luke mentioned him to you. I get it. You don’t want to rat them out.”
I still said nothing. He smiled at me. Then his lips were on mine and any coherent thought went out of my head. We heard the car doors slamming shut in the drive and Cal scooted a little bit away from me, but he still held tight to my hand.
I don’t know what came over me. I wasn’t forward. I reached out and ran my fingers through his dark hair, letting the soft, strands glide through my fingertips. Cal glanced at me; eyes wide with surprise that I had been so bold. This girl was never bold.
He couldn’t say anything because Mom and Dad came through the door talking loudly like they wanted us to know they were home. Just in case. There was no just in case going on in here.
I breathed a heavy sigh and rolled my eyes at Cal. We pretended we had done nothing but watched movies since arriving here an hour earlier. I was tucked into the corner of the sofa, my knees drawn up to my chest. My hand resting in Cal’s on his thigh. Perfectly innocent.
“Hi kids.” Mom used her sweeter than sweet voice. Shit wouldn’t melt on her tongue.
“Hi Mom,” I replied.
“Dad and I are tired so we’re heading off to bed now.”
“Okay, see you in the morning,” I responded trying to keep the irritation out of my tone. “Night Dad.” I knew he was lurking in the hall waiting on Mom.
“Night Abs.”
I knew right where he would be.
Mom left the family room. The lights were turned low. We watched a movie for a while. Then Cal moved closer to me snuggling me with his head on my chest, his legs stretched out in front of him.
I held him for a change. I liked how he smelled. How he felt. His warmth against my own body. He glanced over his shoulder a time or two and caught me checking him out.
“What’s going on Abby?”
“What do you mean?”
“What’s going on inside your head?” He said. “I want to understand you.”
He really didn’t. So many thoughts. Mixed up and confused. Concerned because I didn’t have any experience with boys. I tried explaining to Cal how I felt growing up lost inside my shell afraid of the world. How Ty spoke for me on so many occasions because I was so shy. He turned and was on his side now, facing me.
His face was showing interest. His eyes focused on me. Cal was no longer watching the movie. Neither was I. It wasn’t often that I talked about the past. My past. How afraid I was of life. Of being me.
His hand reached up and caressed my face. “I like you just the way you are,” Cal declared.
I felt comfortable with Cal. He was making me feel that way. So much so that I touched his jaw, rough with whiskers. A lot for a seventeen-year-old. He smiled at me.
“Tell me more about Abby Gardener,” he said.
I snorted. “There isn’t much to tell. I read and I study.”
“I know there is more to you than just that.”
There was. I wrote stories and poems. I put in them the things that I couldn’t always say out loud. The things that I couldn’t tell even Tyson. I told Cal about them though. The poems that weren’t meant for anyone else to read. My private thoughts. My pain.
“What pain Abby?” He asked interrupting me.
“Being Tyson’s twin. Being ignored.” I couldn’t meet Cal’s eyes. “Being plain while he was so popular and beautiful.”