The Resolution of Callie & Kayden(57)

Maybe Jackson was right. Maybe we are headed in the direction of marriage. God, what if we are? Do I want it?

I nod eagerly. ‘I want that, too, more than anything else.’ I pause, ‘But …’

His brows knit, his confidence faltering a bit. ‘But what?’

‘But …’ I hesitate again, nervous to bring it up. ‘But what about the funeral? Are you …? Are you going to go to it?’

‘I’m not sure yet.’ He’s not angry or sad, just confused.

‘Well, either way, I support you.’ I turn my head and delicately kiss his palm. ‘I’m here for you if you want to go and say goodbye. Get some closure, maybe.’

His eyes are soft, his expression full of nothing but love. ‘I know you are.’ It’s within that moment I think I realize that we’re going to be okay. Sure, they’ll probably be bumps down the road for us – there always will be when it comes to life – but he’s finally letting me love him like he deserves and that’s a huge, epic step for us.

Life-changing even.

The rest of the night is relaxing, falling into our routine. We eat. We talk. Then after Kayden falls asleep in bed, I write.

I’m starting to love our routine.

As soon as my fingers hit the keys, they come alive, eager to write and be free.

After the girl saved the boy, they didn’t see each other for many sunrises and sunsets. Not because they chose to, but because they’d gone their separate ways and done their separate things, which is the case most of the time in life.

The girl had moved out of her palace and found a new place to live – a new life for herself where she wasn’t constantly haunted by the memories of the monster. She actually felt happier than she had in a long time, partly because she’s been able to leave her past behind, but also because the night she saved the boy, something changed inside her. She’d stood up to a monster and even though it wasn’t her own, it made her feel braver and less fearful in a world that seemed so scary all the time.

And the boy … well, she didn’t know what had become of the boy, if he’d escaped the monster or not, but she hoped so. Hoped he was moving on like her.

Hoped he found happiness in those sad eyes of his.

It was during a warm fall day that she found out what he’d been doing. Their reuniting was anything but magical, but it was still momentous, a literal crashing-into when they just happened to be in the same place at the same time.

Smack.

They ran into each other head on, the impact intense, but not as intense as seeing each other again.

They were in shock.

Stunned.

Breathless.

But most of all, they were just glad to see each other alive and breathing.

‘Hey,’ the girl said as the wind and leaves danced around them.

‘Hey,’ the boy replied back, looking better than he had before. His eyes, although they still carried sadness, also carried happiness.

Their first words weren’t the best of opening lines, not like in the fairytales the girl had read when she was a princess. Stories that promised fantasies of princes sweeping princesses off their feet, wooing hearts with words and sometimes song.

But that was okay.

She didn’t need wooing.

She didn’t need songs.

Because she wasn’t a princess.

And the boy wasn’t a prince.

She was just a girl.

And he was just a guy.

And this wasn’t a fairytale.

But real life.

And fairytales were overrated anyway.

The rest of their conversation was light, cautious, neither of them comfortable enough to bring up that night. They soon parted ways, with a wave and a smile that carried hope they would soon see each other again.

It was not the end for these two.

There was so much more in store for them.

Now that their monsters were out of their lives.

It didn’t start right away – the relationship between the two of them. They had a class together and their conversations were filled with, ‘Can I borrow a pen?’ and ‘Did you go to my game on Friday?’ and ‘You should really go to my game.’

The girl wanted to say more and so did the guy, but it took some time just to work up the courage to take that extra step.

But finally the time came.

‘So I was thinking,’ the guy said one day when they’d run into each other in the hallway. He was standing up straighter these days, more confident now that he wasn’t being beaten down. ‘That we should go out some time.’

‘Like on a date?’ The girl had never been out on a date and she was confused. Yes, they’d talked a little bit to one another and she couldn’t stop thinking about him – her journal was filled with pages of their average encounters and of course the details of his eyes because those were her favorite part – but other than that, they’d seemed like they were going to be friends, which was way better than not being friends. But now, his expression showed signs of something else, as if he’d been trying to fight it, but had given it up and let it free.