Page 65 of Tracing Holland

“Fine, I guess.Trying to sort it all out in my head.”

I nod.“It’s a lot to deal with.”

He sighs.“Yeah.It is.Distract me,” he directs to Callie who rolls her eyes with a smile at his teasing.

“Uh huh.What’ll it be, your majesty?A song?A dance?”

He shrugs.“How about both?”

“Right.Like I’m going to sing for Luke Craven, Casey Barrett, and Holland Drake.”

“You have a nice voice!It’s very sweet,” Casey says, and she only grunts.

“Whatever.”

“Have you heard her sing?”he asks me, and I cross my arms.

“Actually, no.Really, Callie?Another secret you’ve kept from me?”

“Ugh, he’s lying!I don’t sing.”

“You sing in the shower all the time,” Casey argues.

Her eyes widen in disbelief as she turns a death stare on him.“How about we not talk about my shower habits in front of our friends?”

“What?”he returns defensively.“Who doesn’t sing in the shower?It’s not like I’m talking about shaving your legs or something.”

“Casey!”she cries, smacking him.

“What?What did I do?”

Holland and I exchange an amused look as they argue, and she takes the opportunity to motion toward them with her eyes.I return the look with a shrug, still not convinced it’s a good idea to say anything, even though this is probably the best opportunity we’ll have on this trip.

I’m still hesitant about it all, and my stomach drops when I turn back to Callie and Casey to find them staring at us.They must have caught our silent exchange, and I’m afraid I actually cringe.

“What was that?”Callie asks, leaning forward with an obvious glint in her eyes.

“What was what?”I ask.

“That!”she cries, motioning between Holland and me.“You just had a moment.”

“A moment?”I scoff.“What are you talking about?”

She leans back and crosses her arms, glaring at us.“Come on.We’re not stupid.Something is going on between you two.”

“Why?Because we exchanged a look?”

“Um, no, because you’ve been exchanging lots of looks.”

“We’ve become close,” Holland explains, and I cast her a quick glance.I don’t know if it was the right thing to say, but it’s way better than whatever was about to come out of my mouth.

“Close?How close?”Callie asks, clearly getting excited.

I take a deep breath as the two women exchange knowing grins, and Callie claps in excitement when Holland shrugs.

“I knew it!I knew it!Didn’t I call that?”she cries, shaking Casey’s arm.

Casey rolls his eyes.“She did.”

---