During the first hour, we ran warm-up maneuvers, then moved into games until lunch. After that, we broke into smaller groups for more one-on-one time. Ty and I were running soccer drills while Cal joined Nick and a few others for football activities. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t fun, and by dinner, I wasworn-out but in a better mindset.
The counselor tables were sprinkled here and there among the ones filled with kids. Even though Cal and I weren’t near each other when we sat down for pre-packed turkey sandwiches and chips for dinner Saturday night, I kept an eye on him.
When he got up before everyone finished and left the large hall, I darted my gaze toward Ty, who’d also noticed Cal leaving. I raised my brows and jerked my head toward the door with a silent request. Ty nodded, understanding I needed some time with Cal alone, so I slipped out of the noisy room to follow him.
He hadn’t made it far, and I trailed behind him on his way to our cabin. A few seconds after he closed himself inside, I entered the dark room. He hadn’t turned the light on, just stood next to his bed, with his face aimed at the ceiling and shoulders tense.
“Heard about you and Sasha,” I said as an opener to confirm the rumors and the motive behind her bitching. “She, uh, she thinks I’m the reason you two broke up.”
Cal dropped his head, didn’t reply, then shoved his hands into his bag as if he were searching for a way out of this room through it.
I kept racing, headfirst, into this thick atmosphere I didn’t fully understand. “Something about our fight distracting you away from her.”
Impossibly, he tensed further. “Be glad you’re not on any social apps,” he snipped. “She’d probably harass you more.”
And he knew I wasn’t because he must’ve checked.
“You okay?” I asked after a quiet minute.
He whirled to face me. “Why’re you talkin’ to me? This ain’t us.”
I snickered and pushed off the door. “Don’t be an ass. I’m trying to be nice.”
“I’m not an ass,” he snapped. “Look, despite Trent’s useless projects to fix us, you know nothing about me, okay? I’m …” Hetrailed off and blinked before sighing heavily and returning to dig through his bag again. “I’ve got shit going on.”
I took a step closer. “Yeah? So tell me.”
Cal scoffed.
“I’m serious.”
He shook his head.
“Tell me,” I pushed again, hoping I could get him angry. We just worked better like that. As if only a jet fuel explosion could get us where we wanted to be.
Cal stopped rummaging, then exhaled and said, “My parents got divorced last year.”
Not the revelation I’d hoped for.
I waited.Keep going, Cal.Tell me.Tell me everything.
The dam broke.
He spun around, face a mask of anger and hysteria. “They only talk to me when they’re bitching about me or each other,” he fired off, arms waving and jerking. “They want me taking care of everything they don’t. Myself, Cara, errands around the house … Fuck, I’m just one person, and they don’t even care how I’m doing, how I’m coping with it all. I broke up with Sasha, and I can’t talk to them about it, about her. She won’t …”
When he trailed off, my heart sank. Was he about to confess he wanted her back?
“She won’t leave me the fuck alone. Texting me. Calling me. We broke up weeks ago, that night of the party at the Beach. She— I didn’t say anything to anyone about it because she was so pissed at me. I didn’t want the drama, didn’t want her going off, and she did anyway!”
Cal sucked in a deep breath, looking more crazed with every second. “She started harassing Cara. My fuckin’ sister. I blocked her number on Cara’s phone, all her socials, and now she’s coming after you? The fuck? She won’t stop. She—” He interrupted himself again and wheeled around, giving me hisback, while I clung to the ledge with my toes, anxious of what more there could be but ready to pitch forward into his abyss to have it all.
“She what?”
“She hurt me,” he whispered, then choked on a disgusted laugh. “Like injured me, and now I’m afraid of her, of what she might do.”
I jolted back a step, shocked he’d admitted it and ready to run home to kick her ass this very second. How fucking dare she? Standing right in that hallway, accusing me, bullying me, getting in my head, whenshe’dbeen fucking hurting him?
His words stung my heart, but the emotion rolling through me scored my soul. The first breath to settle myself did nothing. The second one brought the room back into focus. I needed to say something, but doubts choked me. Conflicting desires kept me rooted. The need to go to him, to soothe, to kiss it all better, warred with old enemies clutching at my ankles, dragging me down,keepingme down.
