Running Blind

28. Confessions

(Brie)

I’ll save you what it was like; walking into that. I didn’t need eyes to know there were two people making out in there. The unmistakable sucking sound of two smooching people ripping their lips apart reached my ears as I swung open the door.

“Oh,” Shawna gasped. I heard a smile in her voice. “Brianna. How’s it going? I just came by to say hello to Callis...you don’t mind do you? Well, I best be going. Daddy’ll be home soon.”

As she passed, I felt her bare arm brush past me and smelled her buoyant perfume. Was she even wearing a shirt? Oh, gosh. A sick feeling, worse than before, sunk down into the pit of my stomach.

I stood statue like in the doorway as I heard her car door open, close, and then the engine rev to life before screeching down the drive.

I was facing into the bunkhouse, my arms crossed over my chest. Inside, I was shaking uncontrollably. Was that from anger or hurt, I had no idea. I didn’t even know why I was still standing in that doorway because neither of us was moving.

Why had Shawna been there? She had found me kissing Ian (more like Ian kissing me), but she hadn’t seemed angry about it, so why would she tell Callis? I already knew she liked him, I didn’t know she’d push herself on him like this though. Unless she didn’t…

Questions whirled through my mind like a tornado ripping through a city. Was I wrong to have feelings for Callis? Did Callis have feelings for me?

That was it. I was all wrong, all along. I had feelings for Callis, but that didn’t mean he had feelings for me! I was so stupid! So, so stupid!

My face was heating up from my inner stream of thoughts, so I ran a frustrated hand through my hair and turned to go. As I was turning though, Callis called out to me.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think yer goin?” His voice was not kind and gentle as it normally was, but cold and hard.

I spun around, ready to fire the hostility back at him. “Back to the house, where I should’ve stayed.”

“Care to explain yerself?” He asked, more of a demanding tone.

Fury coursed through my veins. The audacity! “ME? Explain myself? I wasn’t the one chewing on...her mouth two minutes ago!”

“No,” He said angrily. And he threw something at me. It hit me in the chest and fell slow enough for me to catch it as it fell. A wave of Ian’s cologne hit me, wafting up from the sweatshirt in my hands. “Explain this.”

Then it hit me. And it hit me like a train. Shawna had come over to tell Callis what she had seen and brought the sweatshirt with her for evidence. I was screwed. What do I say? “Callis I didn’t want it...at first.” That’ll go over well. Because I knew one thing, although at first Ian had pushed me into acting like that, I was guilty of going along with it.

None of this mattered, however, because I was beyond mad at Callis at the moment. “Why should I explain anything to you?” I yelled throwing the sweatshirt right back at him.

“He attacked you last week!”

I felt blood seep from under my fingernails as I clenched my fists tighter. “People make mistakes, Callis. He made a stupid mistake, but I made the decision to give him a second chance--”

“Except me, I don’t deserve second chances,”

“--besides, he actually knows how I feel about things that you wouldn’t care to! You’d rather go off and make out with a girl who’s only goal is to make me look bad!”