4. Casey
Casey
I fiddle with the radio, unable to find a song I want to hear. What I want to hear is an explanation of how in the world Caleb didn’t snap on me. How he let me say those things and appear unaffected. It only fueled my anger.
“What was that all about?” Derek asks, taking my hand and resting it on the console.
“What was what?” I ask, my tone harsh.
I know exactly what he’s referring to. I was trying to get a rise out of Caleb. It was rude and childish. And it didn’t work.
“Casey, that man is part of your past. Perhaps you should leave him there,” he says, glancing over at me. “What I mean is, I want you to move in with me.”
“Move in with you?”
“It makes sense. You spend more of your time in Redbud than Hollis. When you finish school, your best chance at a career is in Redbud or Dallas. We both know Hollis doesn’t have anything to offer.”
I love Hollis, though. I love waitressing at Jack’s, being close to my friends. But with Caleb back, that changes things.
“Can I think about it?”
“Of course,” he replies, raising my hand to his lips and pressing a gentle kiss to it.
We ride in silence, me mulling over Caleb’s behavior and Derek’s proposition. If I move to Redbud, I’d have to quit working at Jack’s. That might not be a bad thing, considering Caleb is back in town and will no doubt be eating there every day.
When we broke up, it was pure torture seeing him every day. He was a constant reminder of what we’d lost. Years we spent together, years that I thought would become something more. Then, all that was shattered.
Tori Sims. Even thinking her name makes my blood boil. She was my arch-nemesis in high school, always going after Caleb. He never gave in. Until one night, he did. He swears it meant nothing and was only oral, but she claims a different story.
I was done. Especially since I was…
“Did you hear me?” Derek cuts into my thoughts. “Are you hungry? You didn’t eat much at Jack’s.”
“No, I’m…I’m good.”
“Okay, I’m going to stop and fuel up, then we’ll head home.”
I nod as he whips his car up to the gas pump. While he pumps gas, I call Jade. My head is reeling from Caleb being in back in town. She’s my best friend. My go-to person.
“Are you back to normal now?” Jade answers. “Cause you know you had morphed into bitch mode for a little while there.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“I’m serious, Case. You worried me. I thought you were over Caleb.”
“Do not go there, Jade. I’ve been over him for a while now.”
“That was easier when he was gone, wasn’t it?
” she asks. “I was the same way about Brady. It’s easy to move on from someone when they aren’t around.
Then he came back, and well, you know how that went.
Caleb is back and it seems like he’s changed.
At least he was sober and not the drunken mess he was before he left. ”
There wasn’t a day that went by when he wasn’t drinking. Didn’t matter if he had to be at work. He’d become a complete alcholic, slurring words and all. It was painful to see him like that, knowing I played my part in his self-destruction. I was hurting, too. I just didn’t drink my pain away.
“You think that was the real him? Because I don’t.”
“And if it was?”
“It changes nothing,” I answer. “Listen, Derek is about to get back in. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. Things will work out, Case. You and Caleb just have to find a new normal.”
Yeah, a new normal. Normal to me is fucking and fighting with Caleb.
I may be with Derek now, but it doesn’t erase the memories I have of Caleb.
Memories of him have been imprinted in my brain for over half of my life.
From that first day I met him when my family moved here in the fifth grade. He’s always been there.
Brady and Caleb came riding down my street on their bikes, saw me and stopped.
They just made themselves at home, rummaging through my boxes and helping my family carry stuff in.
We were only ten, but even then, I felt a strong pull toward Caleb.
We were all friends from that day forward until he fucked Tori.
He can put on a show all he wants. I know the real him. That’s not who I saw tonight.