Was it all an Accident? (Excerpts)

The One Where Caleb and Whytnie Kiss (Book One)

[Somewhere Between Part Twenty-Seven and Part Twenty-Eight]

(Whytnie's POV)

Pushing him away from me, my hands start trembling. All I can think about now is the fact that Caleb just kissed me. What the hell was going on? What was he thinking? His face is a mixture of shock, terror, relief, and panic. He keeps looking around, everywhere but at me. I keep thinking about his lips on mine and why it felt so wrong.

            Why now?

            Why ever? Why did he do that?

            “Caleb?” I ask. His eyes meet my own showing how red and watery they looked. He’s afraid of what I have to say. Well, he should be. “What was that?” I point at him. “What just happened?” He shrugs, like he isn’t quite sure of what he’d done. And then he does.

            “Whytnie, I think I’ve fallen for you.” My mouth drops to the floor. He doesn’t even pause. “I have liked you since we first met on the plane ride over here. Honestly, I thought that we were going to get on really well since we hit it off good. I didn’t really plan on Harry interfering… But still!”

            “I’m sorry, what?” Nothing he says even registers. I’m beyond shocked right now. How could things get so far out of hand? What was with that kiss? In the middle of a crowded store? With everyone watching us? What was he thinking?

            “I like you, Whytnie, a lot.”

            “Well, yeah, Caleb, I like you−”

            His face falls. “But not like this.”

            “No,” I answer and sigh. “What did you think would happen? That I’d admit to feeling the same way about you? I told you that you were like a brother to me!” I glance around at all the people trying to pretend they’ve got better things to do than to eavesdrop. My gaze goes back to him, and he looks as if I’d slapped him. I might as well have. Knock some sense back into him, because he has obviously lost his mind. “Caleb?”

            “What?” his tone is cruel now. He looks as if he doesn’t even recognize me anymore. I almost start crying, all my anger immediately going out of me.

            “I don’t know how to respond.” His shrug makes my face fall, because now he’s acting indifferent. Like what I had to say didn’t really matter. He was too unconcerned to care about what happened next. Turning away from me, like it’d kill him to even look at me, I can tell that he’s made up his mind. He’s going to act like it never happened, like I never matter to him at all. The look he has on his face proves it.

            “Just forget I said anything.” He glances down at me like I’m not worth his time, just some tiny annoying insect in the way. That’s probably what hurts the most. And then I’m filled with anger as he walks past me like I was invisible. Like I didn’t matter. Like I wasn’t his best friend anymore. Like he hadn’t even talked to me before. Like we hadn’t spent so much meaningful time together. Like I meant less than dirt to him.

            I watched him go. I watched him walk with a kind of arrogance. I watched him check out some other girl before leaving.

            I didn’t cry, though. I wanted to. But I didn’t. I should’ve. But I didn’t.

            And all of a sudden I was too tired to do anything. If it weren’t for promising to be at some lame party later, I would have gone home to hang around in my sweats and eat ice cream. Even if we weren’t a couple, it stung really bad. It felt like rejection, even if I’m the one who didn’t feel the same way as him.

            Could I blame him?

            Not really.

            What would I have done in his shoes?

            I didn’t know the answer to that, and I didn’t have the time to contemplate anything else when my phone starts ringing.

            Recognizing the ringtone, I answer on the second ring, while heading up to the cash register to pay for the stuff I had in my hands, “Hey, dad.”