Page 11 of Fighting Our Forever

Chapter Eight

Paul

Callie really tried her best to win, and she would have too if she and Ryan weren’t so busy throwing insults at each other to notice I was winning.

“Okay, Paul, who won?” Ryan smirks, staring down at Callie like he’s expecting it to be him.

She waits, arms crossed, smiling right back at him. “There’s no way it could be you. You’ll be buying me a burger in about…” She looks down at her watchless wrist, “Oh I don’t know, twenty minutes.”

Facing off they look at me and wait for me to announce the winner. “You both lost.”

“What?!?” They shout. I laugh and pass Ryan the paper I kept score on, but before he can grab it, Callie snatches it and stares down at the paper.

“I don’t believe it. I always win. This is my game!” She screeches.

“I know a way to make it up to you. Want to go to Sal’s so we can throw fries at the winner?” Ryan suggests, holding out his arm for her to take.

She looks up at him and smiles. Handing me back the score sheet she loops her arm through his, and they walk to the truck. When he opens the door to the front seat, she looks at him and then me. Her wheels are turning, she’s thinking this through. She takes Ryan’s hand and lets him help her up into the truck where she scoots to the middle, so I can sit beside her.

When I get in, I see she hasn’t buckled up yet, so I grab the seat belt and fasten her in.

“Thank you, Paul.”

“You’re more than welcome Precious.”

She settles in next to me, and I’m happy she’s finally feeling comfortable around us. I knew this was going to be hard, but it doesn’t make the constant rebuffs any easier.

Once we’re on the road, driving to Sal’s, she starts the conversation which surprises me. “So what does the winner want?”

“I’m getting my usual, the Cowboy Burger.”

“Oh, I’ve been thinking about trying that one. It looks so good.”

“You can try a bite of mine if you want.”

“I just might take you up on that offer.” She says smiling.

When we get there, she takes my hand and lets me help her out of the truck. She doesn’t even mind when I put my arm around her and pull her close. I’m so used to her ignoring us that the simplest reactions out of her are endearing.

The hostess, a girl in her teens, looks at us for a second before asking “Will there be four of you?”

Callie stiffens in my arms. When she starts to pull away, I pull her in closer. Uh uh, I just got her in my arms, she’s not getting away that fast.

“Only three,” I tell the hostess. She shrugs it off and grabs menus, leading us to a booth.

Callie sits down, and I sit beside her with Ryan across from us.

“Your waiter is Tim. He’ll be with you shortly.” She says before turning and walking away.

We all sit in silence for a couple minutes until I can’t take the awkward silence any longer. “What’s wrong? Is it what she said?” I ask, needing her to go back to the carefree girl she was when we walked into Sal’s. The one who was letting us in, one bad joke at a time.

Callie squirms in her seats staring down at the napkin she has slowly ripped to shreds. When she looks up, it’s as if I can feel the waves of sadness seeping out of her. I already know what she’s going to say before she says it. “This was fun you guys, but we’re fooling ourselves thinking we could have what Olivia, Logan, and Garret do.”

“Callie we won’t ever have what they have.”

When she goes still beside me, I glare at my best friend. He’s already fucking this up, and it’s our first date. I try and think of a way out of this conversation to salvage what I can of the night.

“I mean I love the guy and everything, but I have no interest in what he’s got going on down there.”

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