23. Caleb
Caleb
“ D o you have everything packed, Avery?” my mom questions, and since it’s the second time she’s asked this morning, I see my sister roll her eyes.
“Yeah, we’re leaving in just a few,” Avery answers, her eyes pleading with me that this is the truth.
I shoot her a grin, letting her know that I’m ready as soon as she is. I know she’s anxious to get back to L.A. After last night, and my total fuck-up with Casey, I’m tempted to leave town with her.
Leaning down, I give my mom a kiss on the cheek and let her know I’ll see her Sunday for lunch.
She tells me again that she misses me since I’ve moved out, and then I watch as she and Avery give each other an awkward hug.
Good thing my dad is at work. It would only make things more stressful for my sister. She told him goodbye this morning.
Hollis is the last place she wants to be, and I know she only came back here for me.
This town holds a lot of bad memories for her, even more so than it does for me.
The people in this town look at me as the kid who rode a four-wheeler in the Homecoming parade with only a pair of boxers on, drunk as a skunk at sixteen with a certain redhead throwing candy from the back.
They look at Avery completely different, and I know it’s hard for her to be here under their scrutiny despite her tough-as-nails act.
“Let’s blow this town,” she grumbles as we head outside.
Once we get on the road, Avery asks me what I knew she eventually would. She was too quiet during the drive home last night. She allowed me to stew in my bitterness. I let her stew in her loneliness.
“Nothing,” I lie.
“So, that’s the bullshit answer you’re going to give me? I ask you what happened between you and Casey last night, and you say nothing as if I’m supposed to believe that?” she laughs.
“What happened between you and Landon?” I counter, noticing the slight blush to her cheeks before she turns her head.
“Nothing.”
It’s my turn to laugh. My sister is normally brutally honest. Now, she’s close-lipped and flipping me off. It makes me feel good to know that I’m not the only one who fucked up last night, even if I’m not able to leave town to escape from my problems this time.
“You did good last night, though,” she says. “You didn’t fly off the handle or get drunk. That’s an accomplishment, and I hope you see it that way.”
I nod, acknowledging that I do.
It was hard to stand back and watch Casey leave with Derek last night.
I stood there and watched them dance with his lips pressed to her neck.
I watched her gaze up at me as though she wished it were me holding her, and for a moment, I was taken back to a time that I was that guy.
That I was that man who fulfilled everything she needed. Dammit, I want to be that man again.
But she left with him. She didn’t come to me and ask me to take her home. She didn’t tell him what happened between us, and she probably never will.
So, I’ll take Avery to the airport and watch her get on a plane while I stay here in Hollis with my memories. I’m terrified that is all I’ll ever have of Casey. Memories.