Page 56 of Caleb
“With alcohol.”
With you.
“I guess.” I look away. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to say. But yeah, I’ve been drinking more than I should.”
“You know we can always talk about—things.” She places her hand on my arm to get my attention. It’s so hot that I can feel her body heat through my jacket.
“You’re too kind. But you shouldn’t worry about it. About me,” I say. “I’m fine. You’re the one burning up with a fever right now.”
“I’m fine.”
“If we’re both fine, then that settles it.”
She lets out a heavy breath through her mouth.
“You’re so stubborn,” she dares to say.
“You didnotjust say that.” I gape at her. “The most stubborn girl in this and every universe.”
“Don’t make me laugh!” she complains, easing out of a chuckle. “I’m worried and annoyed and trying to make a point here.”
“Which is?”
“I’m here for you.”
My chest warms, and my throat goes dry. I wish I could pull her closer to me and rest my chin on the top of her head and just stay like that until we either arrive or I’m burnt alive with her feverish skin.
“I’m here for you too,” I say, taking a few seconds too long to reply. I was stuck there for a minute, just daydreaming. “I know you have your own stuff to process too, and—”
“Please don’t make this about me,” she says, her head shaking in quick, sharp movements. She covers my ear with her hand and leans in again to whisper. “Or I’ll tell my dad you’ve been drinking.”
She grins and wiggles her eyebrows.
“You could always do that the moment you get sick of me, you know?” I chuckle and pray to God she never does.
“That’s nice.”
“What is?”
“Having something that I can threaten you with.” She shoots me a conspiratorial smirk. “You know, leverage.”
Snorting, I drag a hand through my hair and roll my eyes, pretending annoyance.
“Just kidding,” she drawls.
“Sure, sure.” This girl’s got more power over me than she knows.
“You know I would never. We’re a team.”
“I guess we are.”
We stay in comfortable silence for a couple of minutes, but I feel like she’s not done because she won’t stop wringing her fingers on her lap.
“A life for a life,” Red whispers.
Listening to those words out loud again after such a long time makes me panic.
“I’ve thought about that phrase more than I care to admit,” she says. “Yon would’ve wanted you to live your life, Caleb. So stop trying to drown yourself in your guilt.”
