Bad Love Lingers (Book Three)

Chapter Eight

                                                                                            Isabel

            I managed to avoid Callen for the rest of the week at school. It wasn’t that hard, considering for two of the three days, he was a no-show. They even had to have a fill-in for the second day of defense class. Don’t get me wrong, I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to face Callen after what happened between us earlier this week, but I was a little worried about him. That was until he showed up to school on Friday, not even once looking in my direction. “It is better this way,” I told myself over and over again, trying to believe it.

            By the time that I got home from school Friday, my dad had already taken off for his business trip. Things were quiet around the house all day Friday, and before I knew it, Saturday had come.

            “You promised!” Justin stomped around in my room. It was noon, and all I wanted to do was work on an essay due for my English class by next week. “Dad might not be here, but mom is, and I am sure she would be thrilled to learn what you have been doing behind her back. You know that even if she agrees with you, she will still tell dad.”

            Justin has been bothering me about going to the skate park as I promised him for keeping his mouth shut about this whole defense class situation. I agreed that Olivia and I would take him once a week, on the weekend, to the skate park for a few hours. That is the last thing that I wanted to do with my Saturday, though.

            “Fine, you little brat!” I grabbed my phone, quickly dialing Olivia’s number. She picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Olivia. Remember me talking to you about the thing for Justin? Well, he is actually cashing that in and wants us to take him today.”

            “Sure, not a problem. I can bring Rex along too. He can keep Justin busy while we have some girl time.”

            I was a little speechless. I half expected Olivia to leave me out to dry, saying that she already made plans. Weird. “Okay, we will be ready in thirty minutes.”

            “I’ll beep the horn when I pull up.”

            We ended the call, and I turned to Justin. “Go get your skateboard. Olivia will be here with Rex in about thirty minutes.”

            Justin gave me a victorious smile before walking towards his room. I made it a point to call mom and let her know where we would be for the day. She couldn’t be more surprised that I was taking my little brother out without being told to do it. Little did she know that the little brat had something against me, and I had no choice.

            Thirty minutes flew by, and Olivia had picked us up right on time. We went to the skate park that was a short drive from our house. It was right at one in the afternoon when we got there, and it was already swarming with people of all different ages. Rex and Justin took off over to a section for kids more their age while Olivia and I sat down on one of the benches close enough to keep an eye on the boys.

            “Have you spoken to Callen at all?”

            “No. Why would I, Olivia? There could never be anything more between us than what he wants between my legs. Boys may be a great distraction for you, but I’m not ready to give it up to the first guy that asks for it. I want to save myself for someone that respects me. If I have to wait years for something like then, fine.”

            Olivia rolled her eyes at me, then poked me in the side, making me jump. “Isabel, you are so lame sometimes. You don’t have to sleep with Mr. New Guy for there to be something. He likes you for who you are. When you find something like that, it is worth seeing if it could go further.”

            “Callen only wants s*x, Olivia. Do you not remember the fact that he tried to drag me into the gymnasium bathrooms?”

            “He probably had no idea that you were a virgin. Can you blame him? You are hot, Isabel. Callen is new, so that means he doesn’t know anything about you or who your dad is. You should give him another chance?”

            I scoffed at her remark. “Give him another chance? There was no chance given, to begin with. Besides, he has done nothing but ignore me. He was out all week, and then when he returned on Friday, he wouldn’t even so much as bother looking at me.”

            Olivia shrugged her shoulders. “Maybe he was embarrassed about how he acted. Did you ever take that into consideration?’

            No, I didn’t because I couldn’t see Callen as a guy that gets easily embarrassed a whole lot. He always seemed pretty calm and relaxed to me. I’m sure that he had been in far more embarrassing situations than that one. “This conversation is over. I don’t want to talk about Callen anymore.” 

            I turned to Olivia, and she was staring straight in front of her with the biggest grin on her face. “Well, that might be a little difficult considering he is walking over here right now.”

            When I turned my head to look, Callen was already standing in front of me. My mouth dropped wide open, shock running through me. “Hey, Isabel. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

            My mouth opened to say something, but I drew a complete blank. Callen didn’t seem like the skater boy type. I guess that he seems like a lot of things that he turned out to be. It really showed me that I didn’t know a thing about him, but curiously I wanted to.

            “We brought our little brothers out to skate for a while,” Olivia responded for me. She smiled at me as I gripped her hand in mine. “I was just about to step away for a second to check on them. Why don’t you take my seat?” 

            I shook my head no at her, but she got up anyway and took off toward the boys, winking at me from afar. Olivia was going to hear it later for doing this to me. How could she be so callous after the talk we just had?

            “So, since you are here, I wanted to say I was sorry for the other day. I acted like a complete asshole to you. You are probably thinking all kinds of things about me right now. I wanted to let you know that I don’t think you are easy or anything. Sometimes I do and say stupid s**t when I’m caught up in the moment. The kiss we shared caught me a little off guard. I never expected to feel so alive when our lips touched.” My cheeks heated the second he mentioned the kiss that I tried so hard to forget. “I would like to make it up to you if you would let me. Do you have a date for the dance on Monday?” 

            So, they ended up canceling the dance for Friday for unknown reasons but moved it to Monday instead. No one was excited about it, but no one complained either because at least we got to have our dance still. I lifted my head slightly, turning it toward Callen and staring into his grey eyes. “I’m sorry, but I already have a date.”

            Callen clenched his jaw and balled his fists. “Oh, yeah, of course, you do. Um, I guess I will leave you alone.”

            I reached out for his hand before he disappeared. “I didn’t mean a guy date, Callen,” I explained though I don’t know why I felt the need. “Olivia and I promised we would go together.” I let a small chuckle escape through my lips. “She felt bad for me and ask that I go with her. Dances are really my thing, but she is my best friend. I couldn’t tell her no.”

            His shoulders relaxed when I told him about going with Olivia. Callen let out a small sigh and seemed to breathe steadily again. “Oh, well, I can understand that. If I show up, will you save a dance for me?”

            “Why? Not to be insensitive, but I don’t seem much like your type. If you are looking for a girl that will show you a good time between the sheet, then I’m not going to be that girl. You will be wasting your time.”

            Callen let out a slight growl then placed his hands on my hips, pulling me closer. “I don’t see you as a s*x prize, Isabel. You are incredibly beautiful, smart, captivating, and you interest me because you are different. My interest in you has nothing to do with s*x. I know that probably means very little considering the way that I acted in the gym earlier this week, but it is true. Give me a chance to show you what I see when I look at you,” he whispered in my ear right before kissing me on the cheek.

            I closed my eyes and opened them to see him smiling at me. “Fine, give me your phone.” He reached into his back pocket, retrieving his phone and placing it in my palm. Within a minute, I had programmed my number into his phone, then handed it back to him. “Don’t make me regret giving you my number, and yes, I will save a dance for you.”

            He picked me up, happily spinning me around in his arms while everyone stared at us like a couple of lunatics. When he sat me back down on my feet, I couldn’t help what I did next. I pushed forward until our lips were brushing against each other. I could feel his hot, minty breath on mine. His heart was thumping against my palm placed on his chest, and mine was dancing right along. “Isabel,” he muttered as he slipped his hand across my cheek and pushed me into his lips. When he pulled away, we were both breathless. “That was unexpected.”

            Callen’s hand fell back to my hip, and our bodies were pressed so close that he was making me dizzy. Just then, we heard a little voice clearing their throat next to us. I turned to see Justin, Rex, and Olivia all staring at us in disbelief. There was going to have to be a lot more bargaining happening with Justin to keep this one a secret. 

            “Sorry. Callen, this is my little brother Justin, his best friend Rex, and you have already met Olivia.”

            He bent down to Justin’s height with his arm resting on his knee. “Nice skateboard you got there. Is that an Element?” Justin nodded yes. “Did you know that Johnny Schillereff founded that brand skateboard in 1992 and has been the most popular used skateboard since? It is definitely a nice board to keep with as you grow. Are you any good?”

            “Eh,” Justin responded, shrugging his shoulders. “I just started skating a few months ago, but I hope that one day I can be as good as Tony Hawk or Rodney Mullen.”

            Callen’s eyes grew wide as he gave Justin a shocked smile. “Yeah, you must be pretty into it if you know who those big shot skateboarders are. I’ll tell you what, if your sister keeps bringing you around here, I will show you some pointers. I started skateboarding when I was five, on and off. I’m no Tony or Rodney, but I can keep my feet on the board.”

            “That would be great,” I said, placing my hand on his muscled arm. Maybe this would be enough to convince Justin not to blab to mom and dad about Callen. “Well, we should probably go. I will see you at school on Monday.”

            We said our goodbyes, and before I ever made it to Olivia’s car, I got a text message come through from Callen.

            I hope that I didn’t get you in too much trouble with your little brother. Let me know when you make it home safe, Isabel. And I forgot to tell you how beautiful you look today. I can’t wait to see you in a dress for the dance, and I will be looking forward to that dance.