he Resolution of Callie & Kayden (The Coincidence, #6)(11)

He puts his hands on his hips and stares me down. ‘You so are.’

I fold my arms and aim a challenging look at him. ‘Am not.’

‘You have to,’ he insists. ‘The concert is tomorrow and I already told Greyson you were coming.’

‘Fine, I’ll ask Kayden,’ I tell him, defeated. ‘But not in some weird, cheesy prom way like people do in high school.’

‘You so are, Callie Lawrence.’ He grabs my arm and jerks me to my feet so hard I stumble. ‘This is something you so need to do.’

I give him the nastiest look ever. I get that he thinks I need to relive my high school days, since they sucked big time, and I want to, but at the same time … ‘I’m afraid I’ll be living in the past if I do it.’


His determination softens, but he still pulls me to the door, throwing my coat at me in the process. ‘Nope. Not at all.’ He opens the door and steers me out into the hallway with him, navigating us around a group of people loitering in the hallways. ‘See, this is you and me walking away from the past and heading to the future.’

‘You’re speaking metaphorically, aren’t you?’ I ask as we reach the elevator and he presses the down button.

‘I had my Philosophy class today,’ he admits as the elevator doors slide open and we step inside. ‘Now, would you pretty please do this with me?’ His finger hovers over the button of the ground floor, waiting for me to agree because in the end, regardless of how pushy he is, he’ll always back down if I ask him to. That’s the thing with Seth and why he’s such a good friend.

‘Oh, fine. Let’s go be cheesy,’ I huff as if I’m aggravated, but in the end we are both smiling. And really, that’s kind of the point of this, of anything, isn’t it?


‘So this is what people do when they ask each other to prom, huh?’ I stare at the front of Kayden’s lofty dorm building as Seth snaps a thin branch from the tree, causing a pile of snow to fall on his head.

Sweeping the snow out of his hair, he nods then he crouches down and draws a heart in the snow. ‘Yes, you have to be creative with these things. In fact, the more creative, the better.’ As he says it, he writes in the snow:

Kayden, will you go to a Halloween concert with me? I would swoon over the moon if you did.

He stands up with a proud expression after he finishes. ‘See, now all you have to do is go get him.’ He drops the branch and dusts snow from his gloves.

‘Swoon over the moon?’ I question and he gives me a what look. I retrieve my gloves from my pocket and slip my fingers inside them. ‘I have a better idea.’ I pick up the branch and brush my hands across the surface of the snow, erasing what he wrote and giggling when he starts to complain. Then I kneel down and write something that’s actually from me.

‘If I’m going to do this, then I should do it,’ I tell him as I trace the tip of the stick across the snow. When I’m done, I stand up and admire my handiwork.

Seth steps beside me and reads what I wrote. ‘Kayden, let me dazzle you at a Halloween concert. P.S. Seth made me do this because he put it on the list.’ He gives me a look. ‘That’s really what you want to write?’

I brush snow out of my hair that’s falling from the trees. ‘Yep, I think it’s perfect.’

He sighs, but he’s smiling, so I know he thinks I’m amusing. ‘Here, let me see your phone.’

I reach into my pocket and give it to him, not really thinking too much about it. ‘Why? Where’s yours?’

He’s chuckling under his breath as he types something. ‘In my pocket.’

‘Then why do you need mine.’

Laughing, he tosses me the phone. ‘Let me know how it goes and if you need a ride later.’ He saunters off toward the parking lot.

‘Seth, what did you do?’ I shout at him, but then shake my head at myself and go into my text messages to see for myself. ‘Hey, lover. Meet me outside your dorm building in ten. I have a naughty little surprise for you,’ I read it aloud, unsure whether to be angry or amused. I decide to go for the latter, since Seth didn’t mean anything by it and Kayden shouldn’t think much of it. At least, I hope he doesn’t … or maybe I do.

Kayden: Hmm … I’m intrigued. I’ll be down in a sec.

Sighing, I put my phone away and wait for him to come out to me. I wonder if he thinks I’m going to bombard him with another question like I did the other day. I am kind of making it a habit. Texting him to meet me out here in the middle of the yard that looks like a winter wonderland.

I should really find another way to do stuff like this.

A couple of minutes later, Kayden walks outside, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat. The wind blows through strands of his brown hair that hangs in his eyes and flips up at his ears. His shoulders are strong, his entire body lean and in shape, but covered in scars, put there by both himself and his father. Still, he’s absolutely gorgeous. I’ve always thought so, even when we were younger. Our parents actually knew each other – small town thing – and had parties a lot that we attended, but Kayden never really noticed me until I stepped in one time right after graduation when his father was in the middle of beating him. It was back when I was still cutting my own hair and wore clothes two sizes too big so I wouldn’t get noticed by anyone.