We've Met Before

36 - We'll Never Meet Again

KAIA

    Life's never been easy, and there's not a piece of me that believes it's going to get any easier. Maybe that's never been the point though. I struggled so long to keep myself from not drowning, when I simply could've learned to float. I've tussled in the water and broken every sliver of hope when I could've believed in my ability to swim.

     I've never been weak, I've never been invisible. I nearly just wanted to be. I wanted to avoid any and all problems in my life, to turn a blind eye and pretend as if none of it ever existed. I wanted to pretend like those Saturday mornings took up the last decade of my life.

     Not now. I don't want that now.

    I have problems. Cade has problems. My mom has problems, but I refuse to slip into her denial.

    I won't stuff my nose with coke, or drown my issues in whiskey. I'll stare at them head on.

     Jane and Jennifer both sit in my room, the three of us in silence as I finish straightening what's left of my hair.

     Jane clears her throat. "It's so weird being inside Cade Steele's house. Remember about your crush on him Jennifer?" Jane gives a teasing smile to Jennifer. Jennifer shifts uncomfortably in her spot on the carpet.

    "I did not. It was just cool to have him at our party, you know. Who doesn't want the school's quarterback at their party?"

    Her defensive tone throws both Jane and I off. I give her a nervous side glance, realizing that Jennifer truly hasn't let go of anything. I'm one-hundred percent sure that Jane forced her to be here, and that if it were for Jennifer, she'd give me to boot as soon as she could.

     "You guys should go put your dresses on, it's almost seven," I say, patting my hands down on my white towel.

They nod and slip to the bathroom. I trail my eyes down my own dress, seeing the fabric lay carefully on Cade's desk chair. It almost looks too pretty for me to wear. It belong somewhere in a museum; labeled "momentous occasions."

I take it and drop my towel to the floor, placing it on my body and straightening out the straps and flattening it out against my skin. It looks the same way it did in the store, but it feels far more different then it did then.

The door creaks open and I turn around, imagining Jane or Jennifer slipping through. Instead, Cade's blue eyes meet mine.

He immediately smiles, his cheeks reaching his eyes before his hands reach mine.

"You look stunning. I always imagined you this radiant, but somehow you managed to out-do my imagination."

My stomach does flips. I look down and try to hide the smile on my face. "Yea, whatever."

Cade drapes his arm around me, pulling me into his side as he inches the both of us to the mirror. "Whatever."

He stares into the mirror, lowering his hand from around my shoulders to around my waist. He looks tall next to me, regal in the black suit he's wearing. His hair is neatly slicked back, and he's wearing a small ring on his pinky finger I've never seen before.

I don't ask.

I like the way he looks beside me. I like the way he feels beside me. The entire world could be taken by storm and I'd be in the eye.

    "How do you feel, Sunshine?" The question is quiet, but the loudest thing I've heard from Cade since I've known him.

     I smile, trying my best to not let him know how uneasy I feel. "I feel fine. Just a lot, you know?"