Page 58 of Unhinged Kallie

CARTER

AUGUST 6

Stuffing a towel in my bag, I looked around the room. Seeing the packed boxes bothered me more than it should. The university wasn’t far, still in the state, but the thought of leaving Kallie behind was tearing my heart out. I put on a good front. I’d been doing it for so long that it was second nature to look into her eyes and lie about where I was going and what I was doing.

It was safer for her to think I was a slut, fucking the entire school, rather than pining over her while I sat in coffee shops and libraries all night studying. But staying away all night or slipping in to watch her sleep was very different than living in a dorm.

“Where are you going,” Kallie asked from right behind me and giggled as I jumped.

“You love doing that to me.”

Her eyes were full of joy and humor today, her cheeks were pink, and she looked amazing.

“Guilty as charged. But you didn’t answer the question.” She pointed to the backpack slung over my shoulder.

“I’m heading to the beach with the baseball team. It’s our last weekend together before heading to different schools.”

“Oh.” Her expression fell. “It’s your birthday. We always do something special on your birthday.”

“I would invite you, but Claire is coming with me,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

Kallie smiled, but the kind of smile that made you want to check her hand for a knife.

“That’s perfectly fine. I’d love to meet Claire. Besides, I can invite Alex or bring Talon to hang out. You’ll never know I’m there.”

This was so not a good idea.

“Happy birthday.” Kallie pulled her hand from behind her back and produced a square package. I picked up the perfectly wrapped box from her hand. It wasn’t heavy and was a little larger than a Rubik’s Cube.

“Do I want to know?”

“Oh, shut up.”

She was beaming, but she didn’t realize that all today did was remind me of our age difference. No matter how many times she tried to tell me our ages didn’t matter. To me, it did. I never wanted her to regret anything that happened between us.

“Just open it.”

“Always so demanding.”

“You like it.”

That was a truth I couldn’t admit. I picked at the edge of the pretty sparkly tape. Where did she even find sparkly tape? Kallie made a snoring sound and let her head fall back and her mouth open.

“So funny.”

“Dude, it’s a gift. Just open it already.”

“Fine.” I dropped my pack on the ground and tore into the gift. I held up the glass case with a baseball inside and almost dropped it as I read the signature. “Oh my god.”

She held out a piece of paper to me. “It’s authentic. This is the certificate for it.”

“This is Mike Trout’s signature,” I said, and Kallie laughed.

“Yes, I know. I bought it.” I was speechless. I couldn’t form words for what this meant to me. He was who I looked up to, who I wanted to become, who I revered and tried to mold my play after. “Do you like it?”

Blinking, I looked into Kallie’s worried eyes, “Yes. This is fucking incredible Trouble.”

Setting the case down on my dresser like it would break and disappear, I turned to Kallie and wrapped her in a hug. She knew me so well. Having her body pressed against mine was dangerous, and my blood pressure spiked with the innocent contact. She looked up at me, and I made the mistake of looking down into her eyes and then lower to her lips. I was in trouble.