mostly, I felt fat. “Can we just get out of here?”
He held me to his chest and hugged me tight. “Of course.”
Sixteen
CARSON
Shopping with Callie had made me feel like my regular self. Until those two jerks decided to pick on her. And for what reason? She weighed more than their blow-up dolls at home? The same kind of rage I’d felt with my dad had started welling inside of me, but I willed it down. I could control it around Callie—I had to.
I took her to Waldo’s Diner to have her favorite—fries and a strawberry milkshake—but I could tell she was still down. But maybe that had to do with my news as well. We were only a few days into our last summer before college, and it was off to a dismal start.
“Can you quit looking at me like I’m a sad puppy?” she asked.
I set down my hamburger. “Can you stop looking like one?”
She managed half a smile before it faltered, and she shoved her milkshake away. “It’s been four years since I got psoriasis, and I swear every time someone picks on me, I feel like I’m fourteen years old again.”
My mind flashed back to seeing her on the court, the anger that had rushed through me when everyone chanted at her, calling her The Thing. Maybe the Cook Family Curse had always made me an angry person, and I just couldn’t see it. But then again, the anger toward the people who hurt Callie seemed to be justified. She was the nicest person ever, and for people to humiliate her like that because of a skin condition she had no control over or because of her weight? It was despicable.
Callie had changed that day at the game. She’d gone from the competitive, vivacious person I knew to someone who was afraid to put herself out there in any capacity. Even in band she wore a uniform that covered everything, and she never took a solo if she could help it. Becoming friends with the other curvaceous girls in our class had been a godsend for her.
Now that she had a good set of girlfriends, I had to find a way to push her toward a better guy as well. Someone who wouldn’t feel such a massive, uncontrollable surge of anger at a moment’s notice. Someone whose hands weren’t capable of doing what I’d contemplated the night before.
Someone like Nick.
She shook her head. “I can’t believe I didn't say anything to those guys. I should have stood up for myself.”
“Why are you mad at yourself?” I asked, bringing myself back to our conversation. “Those guys were being jerks.”
“I’m not fourteen anymore. I’m about to go to college. I should be able to stand up for myself. You’re not always going to be around to save me.”
The ache in my chest grew bigger. For her and for me. Because her words were completely true. “Those guys should have known better.”
“But they didn't,” she argued, pushing her fries away too. “And why would they? No one wants to date me. It's not like I have guys lining up.”
I hated it when she talked like this. No matter how much her friends adored her, no matter how stunning she was with her blonde hair and Barbie-doll eyes, she couldn’t see herself as she was. “Callie, you’re beautiful.”
She raised her eyebrows at me and muttered, “You have to say that. You’re basically my brother.”
An exasperated sigh escaped my lips. “I’d say it no matter what. Besides, it’s not up to you to make other people see your worth.”
She swirled her straw in her melting milkshake. “Yeah, but no one does.”
I reached across the table and stilled her hand. “I do.”
“I do too,” rattled an older voice from behind me.
Chester was sitting in his usual booth, and his hearing aids must have been working because he’d overheard our conversation. I said over my shoulder, “Thanks for the backup, Chester.”
With a smile in his voice, he said, “If I was sixty years younger, I’d be first in line.”
“I’d be first to say yes.” Callie laughed, and the tinkling sound made my chest feel lighter.
But why was I suddenly jealous of an old man? Under my breath, I muttered, “Should I give you two some privacy?”
Callie reached across the table and hit my arm.
“Ouch.” I pretended to be wounded, rubbing my shoulder. But then something clicked. When I had pretended to be Callie’s boyfriend earlier, those guys had completely changed their tune. I could