“Do you want my pretzels?” I hold my small package of pretzels around the man next to me and wait for Callum to accept or reject my offer. I tell myself that it means something if he does or does not. It’s going to clue me in to… something.
Callum’s eyes travel from me to the man between us. The man pushes up on his glasses and swivels from Callum to me.
“You should keep them. I don’t want you to get hungry.”
I’m not sure what that tells me…
“I’ll take them,” the man says.
With a furrowed brow from Callum, the stranger turns to me. “I mean, if you don’t want them.”
Transparent—my non-existent, invisible Rosalie says in my ear.
“Um…” I set my pretzels on the man’s tray and peek around him. “I was thinking,” I say to Callum.
He leans forward, his head turned to me, but he’s struggling to keep his gaze off the blockade between us.
I swallow. “About?—”
Our pretzel friend lifts the bag of snacks to shake the rest of the crumbs into his mouth. I find myself playing a very weird game of peekaboo. I move my head, dodging Pretzel Man’s shake, to see Callum better.
“About—about the other.” I peek beneath the man’s raised arm. “The other night.”
“Sir,” Callum says, motioning his hand downward. “Please. I think you got everything out of the bag. Maybe you could give us a second?”
“Where do you want me to go?” he asks, his voice rising. It’s a fair question. There’s not a lot of space in coach.
“Just—arms down, if that’s okay?”
Pretzel Man huffs a frustrated blow but keeps his hands and my empty pretzel bag in his lap.
“The other night?” Callum says in a voice that makes me wonder for a minute if I imagined the best kiss of my life. Did it actually happen? Sure, I have P&P just about memorized, but I don’t remember seeing the end. Did I space out and imagine the entire thing?
No. I am not crazy. At least I’m not completely crazy and I did not imagine that kiss.
“You kissed me,” I say.
To which Callum responds, “You kissed me first.”
Okay—definitely didn’t imagine it.
I rest my arm overtop of Pretzel Man’s and lean a little closer to Callum. “If we are going all the way back to the beginning, then you kissed me first.”
“Do I know you from somewhere?” our divider friend says.
I sigh but keep my eyes on Callum. I am being transparent and I’m getting answers. “He plays soccer for the Reno-Tesoro Red Tails.”
“No.” Pretzel Man peers at me. “You. I know you from somewhere.”
I look away from Callum to the man between us. “Excuse me?”
“I’m Alec,” he says.
“Um, hi, Alec. I was trying to?—"
“You’re on the internet a lot.”
“Me?” I slap a hand to my chest and flutter my eyes in a long blink. “Awesome,” I say. He’s seen Paul’s reel. I’ve been avoiding all things social media since my ol’ buddy Paul and I became live-action stars.
