asked.
“Nothing,” he said too fast. “I just don't see why you're so embarrassed about the shower cap. It's medical. It's not like you're trying to make a fashion statement.”
I shook my head. “We're getting off topic. I need you to help me with Nick.”
His eyebrows came together. “With Nick?”
Was this really that big of a secret? “I like him,” I hissed, glancing toward the stairs, “and I need you to help get him to like me.”
His jaw went slack. “You want me to what?”
“Don't seem so surprised,” I said, trying not to feel hurt. “Is it so far out there that Nick could like a girl like me?” I said it in a joking tone, but his answer really mattered to me. Carson knew me better than anyone else, and if he thought I wasn’t worthy of Nick, I didn’t have the slightest chance.
“No,” he stuttered, “it's not that at all. It's just the fact that... Nick? Really?”
I glanced toward the stairs again where I could hear him and my brother laughing. They were always having so much fun. And I loved Nick's laugh. It was low and happy. Kind of like Carson's. “What’s wrong with Nick?”
Carson shook his head. “It’s not about Nick. I'm not going to try and get anyone to like you. That's crazy. They should like you on their own.”
Desperation spread through my chest, a feeling I needed to stop being so familiar with. “Please, Carson?”
“No,” he said, resolute. After setting his food on the coffee table, he put his hands on my shoulders. “Look, you don't want to be dating a college guy.”
“Why? I'll be going to college in less than three months.”
“And? You don't want to date college guys then either.”
“You'll be a college guy,” I pointed out, stepping to the table to put down my own food. “Should no one date you?”
He brushed off my comment. “College guys only want one thing, and they know how to get it.”
Cue the world's biggest eye-roll. “Carson, it's not about sex. It's about the fact that I just graduated high school, and I still haven't even had my first kiss yet. The closest I’ve ever gotten was jumping on the bed with you during Seven Minutes of Heaven. Don’t you see how pathetic that is? I've been so busy being the ‘good girl’ that I haven't even had a chance to have an adventure of my own. I've been watching my friends fall in love, get dates, have fun, and what have I done? Played my piccolo in the marching band and hung out in my shower cap.”
Carson frowned, shaking his head. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Callie.” He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair into my shower cap. “Except maybe your taste in movies.”
Heavy feet landed on the stairs, and Joe said, “Agreed. Let’s start the misery.”
Ten
CARSON
Callie picked the movie, and yeah, I actually liked it. But I couldn’t focus on any of it with her question ringing through my ears and Nick sitting feet away from me. From her.
I didn’t have a problem with Nick, per se. He was nice enough. Played video games. But he wrote poetry. And he was so pretentious about it. Like stringing a few words together that didn’t even rhyme all the time somehow made him an artist. And what did he think he was going to do after he graduated college? I hope he had luck rhyming with “do you want fries with that?”
Okay, maybe I was being rude, but seriously. Callie deserved so much better. Someone strong, who could protect her when people said mean things, who’d stick with her no matter what, not just write her a few sappy poems and move on.
But she kept glancing over at him like he’d personally discovered love rhymes with dove. And the worst thing was, it didn’t seem like he cared. Didn’t he realize what a gem he had sitting across from him? Sure, Joe was his friend, but Joe was the most laid-back guy I’d ever met. He probably wouldn’t flip about it.
Definitely not like I was right now.
Callie wasn’t the kind of girl who gave up on what she wanted. Not when she wanted to start fostering dogs, not when she wanted to learn the piccolo after quitting sports, and she wouldn’t break that pattern now.
The problem was, we were about to go to Stanford together, and part of me had always dreamed we’d leave for college as a couple. The timing had always