Curvy Girls Can’t Date Best Friends by Kelsie Stelting

Thirty-Eight

CARSON

The joy ripping through me was powerful, indescribable. Callie had just answered my wildest dreams and made me happier than I’d ever been in my life. It was like all the hard things I’d been through, all the struggles I’d faced, had led me to this very moment when I could call this beautiful, amazing, kind, wonderful girl mine.

And now that I had her, I knew I’d never let myself get so close to that destructive edge of anger again. I never wanted to let her go, because when she was close to me like this, I felt like I could take on the world. Like that rage had been completely shut out, leaving behind only the love I had for her.

Our friends’ cheers broke through my fog, and we both turned toward them, grinning. I kept my arm around her though; I was never letting Callie go.

She giggled and said, “Maybe we should get back?”

“Anything with you is okay with me.”

We walked back toward them, our fingers linked together, and I had never felt more right in my life. Even the sun’s warm rays hitting us seemed to approve.

Franklin ran to us the second we crossed the water’s edge. I held him in one hand, his fur tickling my bare chest, while Callie walked right by my side. Our friends gave us our fair share of teasing, but Beckett gave me a silent smile that said he understood just how much this meant to me. For the rest of the afternoon, Callie and I lounged on the sand while our friends went in and out of the water. It was like after all this time of running from each other, we just needed to be.

As the sun sank low, we all packed up our things and headed back to the car. This time, instead of worrying about her legs or how she looked, Callie leaned into me and rested as Franklin snored in her lap. I was convinced her head belonged on my shoulder almost as much as her lips belonged on mine.

I kissed the crown of her head, right where her forehead met her delicate blond hair, and she smiled up at me.

In that moment, I realized just how much I had to lose. How careful I had to be so I would never repeat the Cook Family Curse. Not on my girl. Not on Callie.

“I love you,” she breathed.

Fear gripped my heart, and I selfishly asked, “No matter what?”

She nodded, full of confidence. Full of love. “No matter what.”

I held her tighter, breathed in her scent that lingered through the saltwater. Each breath seemed to bring me closer to calm, closer to the man I wanted to be.

When we got back to Seaton Bakery, I got in the car with Callie and Franklin. I didn’t know where we were going, but it was just automatic. Now that I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, I wanted it to start right now. No more wasted time.

“Do you want to come to my house?” she asked, biting her lip.

The way her perfect pink lips caught between her teeth nearly undid me. “Yes. A thousand times yes.”

She giggled, a balm to my soul, and put the car in reverse. “That can be arranged. And I’ll ask Mom if we can put my car in the garage. That way your dad won’t see you coming inside or anything.”

A fear I hadn’t even known I’d had was just relieved, and I could breathe even easier. As we got out on the road, I reached for her hand, and she held it tight.

“I can’t even believe this,” she said with a grin.

My smile was just as big as hers. “I can’t either.”

“It’s crazy, right? Like, you’ve seen me in my shower cap. That doesn’t weird you out?”

I gave her a sideways glance. “Please, it’s cute as hell.”

She raised her eyebrows. “And what about my taste in movies? You’re going to be watching bad ones from here on out.”

“You know I secretly like your romcoms.”

She smiled and squeezed my hand. “Then it’s settled. You’re stuck with me.”

“That’s exactly what I want,” I said honestly. But there was still something holding me back, keeping a pit of fear in my chest. I almost didn’t want to ask the question, but I had to, before I got in even deeper than I already was. “What about Nick?”

I held my breath as I waited for her answer. More like I couldn’t breathe because I knew her answer could crush me. But she made me wait. She pressed the garage door opener on her visor, and I realized we were already at her house.

Franklin barked at the door, demanding to be let inside. With the car off, she unbuckled and said, “One second.”

My heart raced as she took the dog to her house and let him in, saying something to whoever was inside. When she got back to the car, she sat down and turned to me, reaching for both my hands. This was it, I thought. The part where she told me it couldn’t happen after all. That this afternoon had been a mistake and she wasn’t feeling the same way as me.

“Do you remember when you started dating Sarah?”

My head pulled back. “Yeah?” But what kind of question was that?

She ran her soft thumb over the back of my hand, and I tried to focus on that, not on the gut-wrenching pain I feared would come next.

“That day in the mall? I was going to tell you how I felt. I had a crush on you, but when you started flirting with her, I kept it to myself.”

We could have spent the last two years dating? “Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked, devastated.

“Because I thought you deserved to be with someone like her,” Callie said. “Someone who felt at home in her own skin, who wouldn’t cause you to get made fun of for dating The Thing or the Loch Ness Monster or whatever mean things people said about me. You deserved a girl good enough for you, and when you went for her, I realized I wasn’t it.”

The pain in her voice took away my own words. I wanted to tell her she was wrong, that no girl in the world could hold a candle to her. Not in the way she looked or in the incredible heart beating in her chest. But Callie continued, “Around the time you guys got serious, Joe brought Nick over, and I just... I think I needed to fall for someone else, so I wouldn’t remember how much I’d fallen for you.”

My jaw twitched as I realized what an idiot I had been. How might things be different if I’d come clean when we were twelve? Fourteen? Sixteen? So many years had slipped by, but I promised myself I wouldn’t do that ever again, not when it came to Callie.

“I’m here for you now,” I promised. “And what I feel for you is realer than anything I ever had with Sarah. I’m in this.”

Her eyes were bright in the garage lights. “Really?”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, answering her in the same way she had answered me earlier. “No more fake dating. What I want with you...it’s everything.” I cupped her cheeks and laced my fingers through her hair. “I want to be here for you in the morning, when your breath smells terrible and you walk around the house half awake, bumping into things. I want to take in every single foster dog with you and kiss away your tears every time you have to say goodbye. I want to see you become a mom and love a child the way they deserve to be loved.” My voice got tight. “And I want to become a better man every day with you by my side, because that’s what you do for me, Callie. You make me the man I want to be.”

Tears slipped over her cheeks, and I wiped them away with my thumbs.

“Do you want that?” I breathed.

She nodded. “More than anything.”

I pulled her into my chest, holding on to her for dear life, because she was my life. She was my everything.

“I love you,” I whispered.

My phone went off with a text message alert, and Callie smiled at me tearfully. “Let’s go inside?”

I nodded, and as I got out of the car, I checked my message.

Gemma: Come get me please.

Gemma: Hurry.

My heart sprang into action almost as fast as my legs. “Callie, get the car ready in the driveway.”

“What—?” She stalled by the door to their house, but I didn’t have time to wait. “Gemma’s in trouble.” I started running out of the driveway toward my house, toward the place I never wanted to return.

My footsteps echoed on the pavement, pounding just as loudly as my heart. I sprinted to the front door and ripped it open, but Gemma was already on her way out. The crash of something being thrown hit my ears harder than any of my opponents ever had on the football field.

I took Gemma’s shoulders firmly in my hands and pulled her away from the porch, asking, “What happened, Gemma?” My voice was forceful, but I needed to know. “Do I need to call the cops?”

“No,” she sobbed, her voice shaky.

“Then what is it?”

Another crash sounded, closer this time, and she shuddered. Her lips trembled. “I’ll tell you when we get to the hotel. Let’s get out of here.”

My eyes swung around, looking for any hint of our lowlife father. I didn’t see him coming toward us. Yet.

“Let’s go,” she said.

“Get in Callie’s car,” I ordered, trying to take deep breaths. To shove down the rage spitting acid in my stomach and fire in my veins.

Callie had backed her car out of the garage, and it sat running in the driveway. She had the driver’s side window open, watching us carefully. When it became clear Gemma was rooted to the spot, I put my arm around her shoulders and marched her to the passenger side, opening the door and helping her get in.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and folded over, sobbing. I knelt and ran my hand over her hair, trying to comfort her and failing miserably. My compassion for her warred with my anger at my father. How could he dismantle my strong, beautiful sister into this crying, broken heap?

“What happened?” I asked again.

She sat up, fruitlessly wiping at her nose. “He said all the things I worried were true about myself.” Her sniffles started again, and she took a shaky, forceful breath, rolling her eyes. “All I care about is work, I’m worthless just like Mom, I’ll never find anyone who loves me, we turned our mother against him, on and on. I just came here to help!”

“And you stuck around?” I immediately knew it was the wrong thing to ask, but how had Dad managed to get in so many blows without her leaving? Without her walking away like she finally had?

“You don’t get it,” she cried. “He’s my dad. One of the only two people on this earth who should be programmed to love me, and he doesn’t. What’s wrong with me?”

Callie met my eyes over Gemma’s sobbing form. I held my sister tighter to my chest. “Nothing is wrong with you.” Time for Gemma to listen to her own words. “You are strong and kind and driven. His behavior has nothing to do with you. Remember?”

She looked up at me with wide green eyes, and like a punch to the gut, I saw the bruise forming on her cheek.

“He hit you?” I hissed.

She took my hands in hers, squeezing too tight. “Thank you for coming to get me. I know I don’t deserve to count on you, but I do.”

A rush of rage threatened to consume me, but I clenched my jaw and forced a breathe through my nose. I had to be strong for Gemma. For Callie.

“Carson!” Callie screamed, but not fast enough.

Rough hands grabbed my shirt and shoulder and ripped me away from my sister. My father had me on the ground, punching me in the gut, in the side, anywhere he could get his hands.

“Get away from my daughter!” he slurred. “Get out of my life!”

I quickly rolled away and sprang to my feet. I had a fraction of a second before he came at me again, tackling me back to the hard cement. He pinned me down, his elbow pressing into my throat, and I scrabbled at his arm before bucking my hips to throw him off.

This time, I was on top, and I wasn’t going down again. I crushed his windpipe just as he’d done mine, but he didn’t have the strength to push me off.

“Carson,” he wheezed, but I only pressed harder. This man needed to get out of my sister’s life. Out of this world.

A hand tugged at my shoulders. “Carson! You’re killing him!” Gemma screamed.

The first thought in my mind was good.

“Carson!” she screamed.

But I didn’t let go. “If you ever touch my sister again, I’ll kill you.”

His eyes drifted shut, and I backed away, my chest heaving from the force of my breath. Gemma knelt next to our dad, shaking his shoulders, feeling for his pulse, shouting his name, despite his chest rising and falling.

“Carson,” Callie breathed. Her eyes were wide, and they flitted from me to my father. There was something in her gaze I’d never wanted to see. Fear.

“Callie.” I stepped closer to her, but she backed away.

My heart froze. No. No. This couldn’t be happening. I stepped toward her again, and she stumbled backward.

Her actions said everything her lack of words didn’t. She saw me as the monster I feared I was, and that was worse than heartbreak. Worse than living my life in the friend zone.

She didn’t want anything to do with me. And I couldn’t blame her. Neither did I.

Gemma could call a cab, Callie could drive her, but the best thing for all of them was that I ran. As fast and as far as I possibly could.

I took off in a sprint, losing my sandals somewhere along the way, and I kept running until my lungs burned and my feet seared with pain and I couldn’t physically go any farther. And then I collapsed into a heap on the sidewalk, lying back, not worried about someone coming by or a car hopping the curb and flattening me. I had no idea where I was, but it didn’t matter, because no matter how far I ran, I’d never get away from the Cook Family Curse. I’d never escape myself.