The Coincidence 07 Seth & Greyson (2 page)

The word
unsafe
sends off warning bells in my head. I remember how safe I felt with my ex-boyfriend Braiden until he snatched it away. I’ve been trying my best to keep going, keep being me, and fight to get the feeling of comfort and security back, but sometimes it gets hard, especially at night when I have to close my eyes and dream.

“Why would you feel unsafe?” I ask, leaning against the street post.

Her jaw clenches. “For a lot of reasons.”

I wonder if those reasons played into her panic when she thought I was asking her out.

I stare down at the bright blue, doodle-covered cast on my arm. “Sometimes, I feel unsafe walking around in my own skin, too, but then I think about how unfair it is for me to pretend to be someone else and honestly, how fucking boring it is not being me.” I flash her a grin.

A soft giggle escapes her lips. She’s so shocked by the sound that I question how long it’s been since she’s laughed.

“You know what?” she asks as we start across the street. “I think you were right about the opposites attract thing. I think…” She considers her words. “I think you could be a good friend for me.”

“Oh, honey, I’m going to be the most amazing friend you’ve ever had,” I say as I hop onto the curb.

“I have to warn you, I haven’t had many friends.” She steps onto the curb with me. “So
Most Amazing Friend
is a pretty easy title to win.”

“Honestly, I haven’t had that many, either,” I tell her as we cross the parking lot. “And I pretty much lost all of them when I…” I glance down at my arm as my thoughts drift back to my past.

“What happened?” she asks, pulling open the door to the café.

“It’s a long, painful story,” I reply as I step inside. The scent of fresh coffee and baked goods fills my nostrils and I breathe it in.

“Mine, too,” she says as we move for the counter. “I mean, the story of why I wear these clothes is.”

I glance up at the menu to figure out what to order, but quickly look back at her when an idea pops into my head.

“How about this,” I say. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

Her head angles to the side as she considers my offer. “It might take some time for me to tell you everything, but if you’re willing to be patient, then you have yourself a deal.”

Patience has never been my strong suit, but I like the idea of having someone to share my story with. I just hope I can trust her.

I stick out my hand and she hesitantly takes it. “All right, Callie. You have yourself a deal. And a brand new best friend.”

Three Months later…

Seth

“God, it’s like spazzville around here today,” I remark to Callie while scrunching my nose at the freshmen scrambling around the campus yard. I wait for her to join in on the fun of mocking our student body, but, as usual, Callie has dazed off. “Are you spacing off on me again?”

She blinks her attention to me and playfully nudges me in the shoulder. “Now don’t be arrogant. Just because we both decided to do the summer semester and we know where everything is, doesn’t make us better than them.”

“Uh, yeah, it kind of does.” I roll my eyes at her absurd logic. “We’re like upper class freshmen.”

She sips her coffee to hide her smile, something only I seem able to bring out. “You know there’s no such thing as an upper class freshman.”

I sigh, running my fingers through my lightly tousled hair. “Yeah, I know, especially for people like you and me. We’re like two black sheep.”

Which might be the truest statement I’ve ever said. Over the last three months, I’ve learned a lot about Callie and just how traumatic her past was. Raped by her older brother’s friend at twelve, Callie has spent the years since then hiding what happened and building a shell around herself, cloaking herself in ugly, baggy clothes and isolating herself from her friends until she had none left. I’ve made it my mission the last few months to push her out of her shell.

Yeah, she’s still a work in progress. I have yet to get her to wear a dress, shorts, or anything remotely tight enough to show off her petite figure. I’m working on it, though.

“There are many more black sheep out there than just you and me,” she disagrees with me, as she typically does. “And I’ve toned it down. I’m even wearing a red t-shirt today, like the list said to do.”

My lips quirk. “Which would look even better if you’d let those pretty locks of yours down, instead of hiding them in that ponytail all the time.”

“One step at a time,” she says. “It was hard enough just letting my hair grow out. It makes me feel weird. Besides, that has yet to be added to the list.”

Aw, the infamous list, one of my most brilliant drunken plans. After a night of one too many shots of vodka, we confessed our darkest secrets and then I decided that we should make a list of things we’re most afraid to do. Over the last couple of months, we’ve been gradually working to cross items off.

“Well, it needs to be. In fact, I’m doing it when I get back to my room. Plus, you’re still wearing that God-awful hoodie,” I say, tugging on the bottom of her ratty grey jacket. “I thought we talked about that hideous thing. That you’re beautiful and you don’t need to cover up. Besides, it’s like eighty degrees outside.”

She wraps the jacket around herself. “Subject change, please.”

I swing my arm around her and sigh, but give her exactly what she asks. “Fine, but one day we’re going to talk about a complete makeover, which I will supervise.”

She sighs heavily. “We’ll see.”

Her Debby Downer attitude is ruining my mood. As her best friend, it’s my job to cheer her up. 

I slam to a halt and whirl around in front of her. “I just have to say one more thing.” I place a finger to the corner of her eye. “I like the maroon eyeliner much better than the excessive black.”

“I have your approval on that.” She presses her hand dramatically to her heart, a gesture she picked up from me. “I’m so relieved. It’s been weighing on my mind since this morning.”

I roll my eyes as I smile. “You’re doing good in every department, I just wish you’d wear a dress or shorts or something for once and show off those legs of yours.”

Her expression instantly sinks. “Seth, you know why… I mean, you know… I can’t…”

“I know. I’m just trying to be encouraging.”

“I know you are and that’s why I love you.”

I want to hug her for saying that. It’s been a long time since anyone has said that they loved me. Even my mother has taken to a formal, “I’m glad you’re okay. Talk to you later. Bye,” whenever we talk on the phone. 

“You’re so much happier than when I first met you.” I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I wish you could be this way around everyone, Callie. That you would stop hiding from everyone. It’s sad no one gets to see how great you are.”

“And vice-versa,” she says, understanding me better than anyone ever has.

Attempting to lighten the mood, I smirk and ask, “What do you think? Should we hit up one of the tours and make fun of the tour guide?”

“You know the way to my heart.”

We stroll up the sidewalk under the shade of the trees and make our way to the entrance. Everyone is in a state of panic, trying to figure out where to go. I watch the scatterbrained people, fully entertained as they trip over their own feet and grow frustrated when they take the wrong way.

Through my twisted internal laughter, one guy in particular catches my attention. He’s standing in the stairway with a middle-aged woman and man who I’m guessing are his parents. A tad on the tall side, he’s wearing black jeans and a grey, long-sleeved shirt, an outfit that screams dark and edgy, which is a bit of a contrast to my blunt and bold. Still, he’s hot as hell with the most gorgeous eyes I’ve ever seen and sandy blonde hair that looks absolutely touchable. A rush of terrifying excitement ripples through my body. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this attracted to someone. This guy has my adrenaline pumping to the point where I’m actually starting to sweat.

Callie says something beside me and I nod, even though I have honest to God no idea what she said. My eyes are locked on the guy as he leans in and gives his mother a hug before moving to his father. When he turns away, his eyes catch mine from across the crowd. I should probably look away. I don’t know him and have no clue as to his sexual orientation, so openly gawking definitely
isn’t
me being careful. But his lips tug to a half-smile and I’m pulled in.

Just. Like. That.

“Holy sexiness,” I mutter under my breath.

“Heads up,” someone yells from close by.

I jerk my attention back to Callie just in time to see a solid guy with brown hair slam right into her.

“Holy shit.” I slap my hand over my mouth as my tiny Callie falls flat on her back.

Not only does she look hurt, but I can tell the contact is sending her into a panic.

“Get off of me,” she yells as she wiggles to get out from under him. “Get off of me now!”

I bend over to help her up, but the guy quickly pushes off her and Callie scrambles to stand up.

“I’m so sorry,” the guy says, looking genuinely apologetic. “I didn’t see you there.”

Callie blinks, clearly in a state of shock. “Kayden?”

My eyes snap wide. “Holy shit.”

The infamous Kayden Owens, a guy from Callie’s hometown. Callie stepped in to help Kayden one night right before she came to Laramie, stopping his father from beating the shit out of him. That story made me love her even more, and I secretly wished that she had lived in Mapleville so she could have done the same thing for me.

She abruptly snatches hold of my hand, dragging me toward the entrance, and I suddenly remember Mr. Sexy Eyes. My gaze darts to the stairway, but my mood plummets when I can’t find him anywhere.

Callie grips onto me as she steers us inside, letting go as she leans against the wall, struggling to regain her composure.  “That was Kayden Owens,” she says between deep breaths.

My eyes wander back towards the grassy courtyard, where Kayden stands talking to a hot guy who looks like he’s got his panties in a bunch. “
The
Kayden Owens. The one you saved, right?”

“I didn’t save him.” She bites on her thumbnail. “I just interrupted something.”

“Something that was about to get ugly.”

“Anyone would’ve done the same.” She tries to walk off, but I grab her elbow and pull her back.

She’s not getting away that easy. She needs to understand exactly how amazing she is.

“No, a lot of people would’ve walked by,” I tell her. “It’s a common fact that a lot of people will turn their heads in the other direction. I know this from experience.”

My heart tightens in my chest and for a faltering moment, I’m back in the dirt with fists and feet flying at me. The air smells like hate and in the center of the violence, my body aches.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” she says softly.

“Don’t be sorry, Callie. You have your own sad story.”

Offering me a sympathetic smile, we start down the hallway toward a line forming in front of a table stacked with neon pink flyers and pamphlets and plates full of baked goods.

“He didn’t even recognize you.” I shove my way through the crowd to the front of the line and snatch up a pink flyer, along with two cookies. Sugar cookies. My fave.

“He barely acknowledged me, ever.” She shakes her head when I offer her a cookie.

“Well, he should recognize you now.” I nibble on a stale cookie.  “You did save his ass from getting beat.”

“It’s not that big a deal,” she says, shrugging me off. “Now, can we please change the subject to something else?”

It’s the second time she’s asked me that today, and I decide it’s probably time to give her a break.

Finishing off the rest of the cookie, I link arms with her and spin around, stopping abruptly when I slam into someone so hard it knocks the wind from me.

“Jesus.” I step back, scowling overdramatically.

When I see who I ran into, though, annoyance turns to
holy shit my skin is on fire.
Because Mr. Sexy Eyes in all is hotness is standing in front of me, rubbing his forehead.

“Sorry about that,” I quickly apologize, quickly checking him out. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“It’s okay. It was kind of my fault… I wasn’t watching where I was going, either.” He lowers his hand to his side and his gaze flicks between Callie and me, slowly calculating something before offering a lopsided smile.

I return his smile, but can’t think of anything to say. It’s been so long since I’ve flirted that even thinking about doing so sends me back to that night. I can almost feel the grit of the dirt in my mouth, can almost taste the foul tang of blood.

Choosing a course that’s completely out of character for me, I seal my lips shut and walk around him.

“Dude, we both must be cursed today,” Callie says as we push our way through the mob.

“Cursed?” I ask, still slightly distracted over what happened with the sexy stranger. I already wish I could have a do-over, go back and say something. It’s been way, way too long since I flirted and I really do miss it.

“Yeah, with running into people.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” I barely comprehend what she said, my thoughts instead swirling over the guy, who he is, whether he’s a freshman, if he’s thinking about me like I’m completely obsessing over him.

I think about him a lot through freshman orientation, but unfortunately don’t see him again. Maybe it’s for the best. I’m still a little iffy on whether I’m ready to try dating again. Plus, I don’t know if this guy is available or even interested. He looked like he was interested, but I don’t know for sure.

Besides, the cast only came off weeks ago and the wounds and scars are still as fresh as the memory behind them.