Cataclysm (Sequel to Wanderlust) (Kellic)

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - I'll Take You There

When we get back to our table, our food hasn't arrived and probably won't for a little while yet, so we decide to quickly head over to the bar to take a selfie and get our second one over with. I'm still fairly shaken from my brief encounter with Craig, and Kellin certainly isn't in the best mood, either, but we've reached an agreement that the sooner we finish this mission, the better.

"He's not at his table anymore," Kellin whispers to me on our way over to the bar, referring to Craig. "Maybe he left."

I sigh, running stressed fingers through my hair and leaning up against the bar. "God, I hope so. Just seeing him gets me all fucked up. Gives me major creeps."

Kellin positions himself across from me, seeming to measure me, analyze me. "You don't want anything to do with him," he says slowly, "right?"

"No shit," I reply, biting my lip. I can see why this would shock him a bit, though; I left him for Craig. Or, rather, I left him because Craig had me wrapped too tightly around his abusive fingers.

"I'm afraid of him," I admit without thinking it through. "I'm afraid of the power he had over me. I don't want to go back to being weak and used, and I'm afraid that if I stay around him too long, somehow he'll reel me back in."

"And you don't want that," Kellin finishes, lightly raising an eyebrow at me.

I shake my head, forcing the old memories to stay locked away in a dark corner of my brain. I can't afford to have them resurface. "Hell no. That's the last thing I want. I was miserable in that relationship. Even after I left you."

After a short pause, Kellin says, sounding a lot wiser than anybody gives him credit for, "Well, I mean, here's why: you didn't leave me because you were looking for something better. You left me because you wanted me to have something better. And you didn't think you could give that to me in the situation you were in."

He says it so simply but so eloquently, and I find myself, as I often do, in awe of him. It's strange how almost understanding he seems. Maybe he really was serious when he said he wasn't mad at me over our breakup. Even so, though, he still hasn't been particularly sweet to me (not that I expect him to be). Whether he's mad at me over all that or not, it's clear that our relationship isn't completely smooth yet; in fact, it's far from it. But we might be getting somewhere.

Kellin clears his throat then, when neither or us say anything else on the subject. "So. While we're standing here when we probably aren't supposed to be. Selfie?"

I nod, casually waving my hand as he pulls his phone out. "Yeah, yeah, we better do that."

It's just about as awkward as the last one, but we pretend like we're having a blast together, Kellin tagging me in the picture and adding a standard caption: Road trip diaries pt 3, Perch selfies pt 2. At the bar. Very NOT drunk.

I take a quick glance around at the bar—not really looking for anything in particular, really; just a casual glance—when I see Craig again, and my heart does the same fearful jump in my chest that it does every time I see him, my body tensing up automatically. He's hanging out right at the bar, a few stools down, chatting amiably with the bartender with that confident smirk that sends chills down my spine. It plays out like a train wreck: I want so badly to look away from him, can't bear the sight of him, but my gaze is helplessly stuck on him.

"What—shit," Kellin says, immediately catching on to my sudden change in demeanor and the direction that I'm staring. Without warning, he takes me by the hand and leads me away from the bar area, quickly pulling me back outside to our table even though the view scares him. "I'm not sure if he saw us or not," he tells me as I'm recovering from another Craig sighting. "But our food should be here pretty soon, so we can take our third selfie and eat and get the hell out."