The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden(52)

I slip my wallet out of my back pocket, while Luke ambles off toward the rides, lighting up a cigarette.

“You do realize he’s the quarterback, right?” Callie says to Seth as they walk behind me and it makes me smile for some stupid reason. “He practices hitting a target every day.”

“So what?” Seth argues. “I’m still calling his bull shit. These games are unwinnable.”

Callie stands to the side of me as I hand the guy in the booth some money in exchange for five darts. He lays them down on the counter and backs into the corner, returning his attention to his dinner.

I pick one up, raise it over my shoulder, and squint at a balloon. Callie crosses her arms, studying me, and I lower the dart, but keep my eyes on the balloon. “Are you trying to make me nervous?”

“No, why? Am I?” she asks uneasily.

“Kind of,” I admit, looking at her. “I can feel your intense gaze burning through the side of my head.”

“Sorry, I’ll stop,” she sputters and begins to turn away.

I catch the bottom of her white t-shirt and my knuckles graze her soft skin. “No, keep looking at me like that. It makes it more challenging.”

She glances down at my hand and then her gaze glides up me. “Okay.”

I tear my eyes off her, lift the dart back up as she focuses on me, and fling it at a red balloon on the top row. It pops and Callie flinches. “One down, four to go.” I grin at her, but note that she’s growing nervous.

I pick up another dart and throw it, then repeat the same move. Each one pops a balloon and when I’m done, the top row is nothing but deflated pieces of latex. The guy behind the counter comes over with a frown on his face.

“Congratulations,” he says in a monotone voice and points his finger at a row of teddy bears dangling from the ceiling. “You get your choose from one of those lovely prizes up there.”

I glance at Callie who’s staring at the balloons with a frown on her lips. “I said if I won, it was for you.”

Callie sighs, her shoulders slumping as she fixes her eyes up at the bears. “They seem so big. I think my roommate would be pissed if I brought it back to our tiny room.”

“We have to take the prize,” Seth says with a serious expression on his face as he puts his hands on the counter and tilts his head up to look at all the prizes. “You don’t turn down a top shelf prize.”

She dithers, twisting the end of her ponytail around her finger. “Okay, I’ll take the pink one with the torn ear.”

The guy behind the counter scratches his neck. “Are you being serious?”

Her face is stoic. “Absolutely. I never kid about teddy bears.”

Seth and I laugh at her and the guy pierces us with a look, before he marches over to the wall and grabs a metal pole. Pointing it up to the tent ceiling, he unhooks the bear Callie selected. Then he takes it off the end and tosses it on the counter before he stomps away, muttering, “I need a f*cking smoke break.”

Callie picks up the bear, which is half the size of her, and assesses it with distaste. “I still don’t think I should bring it back to the dorm.” She glances up at me. “Maybe you should take it with you. You did win it.”

I shake my head. “There is no way I’m going to drag a giant, deformed, pink bear across campus and take it to my room.”

“Okay, maybe we could give it to a little kid,” she suggests, flicking her fingers at the bear’s nose and making a face. “They’d probably love to have it.”

We peer around at the crowd and then Callie giggles as she stares at a booth that is set up with display cases that hold sunglasses. “Or we could dress it up and put a Wanted: In need of a home sign in its hand and leave it somewhere for someone to pick up.”

I poke my finger at the teddy bears eye and it falls out. “I actually like that idea and the sunglasses can hide the fact that it just lost an eye.”

“Oh, can we buy it a tiara?” Seth asks, glancing around excitedly. “Please let me put one on its head. It can cover up its missing ear.”

“Okay, you go get a tiara and I’ll go get it some sunglasses.” She lugs the bear up in her arms as Seth takes off toward a red and white tent that’s set up at the end.

I fidget with the bear’s good ear as Callie pushes her way through the crowd, practically using the bear as a shield. “It’s a sad looking thing, isn’t it?”