Then, his eyes were back on me as the waitress lost herself in the sea of people flooding the restaurant that evening.
“I know you always thought Blake was a piece of shit,” I said.
He nodded. “He was. Sounds like he still is.”
I snickered and gazed off over Caleb’s shoulder. “He isolated me from everything. From everyone, really. If he didn’t approve of the friendship, I wasn’t allowed to have it. I mean, he didn’t say it in so few words, he just made my life a living nightmare until I eventually stopped talking to everyone.”
“Is that what happened with us?” he asked.
I blinked back the tears that percolated behind my eyes. In my head, I didn’t have a right to cry over what I had done to him.
“Yes,” I said plainly.
Even I heard the anger in the breath he drew through his nose. “Have you eaten yet today?”
“No. You?”
“No.”
He picked up his menu. “Well, the mozzarella cheese sticks sound good. I know it’s probably still technically breakfast for some people, but if they’re going to allow a lunch menu at ten in the morning, why not? Right?”
My gaze gravitated back to his. “Yeah, those sound nice.”
His eyes kept flickering down the menu. “How do you feel about salmon salads?”
I shrugged. “Never had one.”
“All right, and what about a nice steak? With some eggs?”
I sank back into my chair a little bit, making myself get comfortable. “Sounds like a lovely brunch to me.”
He flipped the menu over. “Oh, and we are definitely getting some cinnamon sugar pancakes.”
“Still got that appetite, I see.”
He chuckled. “Hey, what’s the point of training in the gym if you can’t eat whatever the hell you want?”
“You look good, by the way.”
His gaze met mine once more. “So do you.”
“All right,” the waitress said as she sat down our bread and waters, “have you guys had a chance to look at the menu?”
Caleb quickly rattled off what we had agreed on in terms of food before he gathered our menus. The longer we sat there together, the more I saw my Caleb emerging. The Caleb that I remembered from our high school years. Kind. Courteous. Considerate of others. Always willing to lend a hand or an ear. Anything to help someone else out.
I couldn’t help but ask the question that fell from my lips.
“Remember when Percy split his pants at the homecoming dance?”
Caleb barked with laughter. “I didn’t even know I could sew before that night.”
“I still don’t think you could, but he was thankful anyway.”
“Hey, I’d be thankful, too, if someone sewed my bare asshole back into my pants.”
I shook my head as giggles fell from my lips. “What the hell was it with him and going commando?”
“Hey, some lessons are just learned the hard way.”
