Cayden's POV

    "Hello?"

    "Hey, Mya."

    "Hey, Cayd. I'm not with Theo if that's why you're calling."

    "It's not, actually," I paused.

    It's been two weeks since the incident happened between Brooke and I at Cayleigh's dental appointment. For one second, one amazing fucking second, I got to feel Brooke's soft, sweet lips on my own. And right when she started to part hers, granting me access into her mouth, Dr. Greene choose that exact same moment to walk into the room. Brooke immediately pulled away from me and turned her body to face Cayleigh in the chair.

    Throughout the entire appointment, she watched Dr. Greene work on Cayleigh's teeth. I swear, she watched her so hard, she could probably fix Cayleigh's teeth herself the next time she has a cavity.

    Even though I should have been giving Cayleigh my undivided attention, I kept catching myself staring at Brooke. I couldn't help it. The way she paid such close attention to my daughter, just made me feel — I don't know — things I've never felt for a woman before.

    When Cayleigh got scared of the cleaning tools and started crying, Brooke rushed over to her and began to gently rub her leg before my brain even had the chance to tell the rest of my body to stand up. Once she was calmed down, Brooke hesitantly walked back to her seat looking just was nervous as my daughter was. It was fucking adorable and took everything in me to not pull her on to my own lap to comfort her.

    As soon as we got to the car, Brooke jumped into the back seat so fast, I barely had my thumb off of the unlock button. She claimed that she really missed Cayleigh and she wanted to sit next to her. But ironically, she didn't miss Cayleigh as much as she let on considering when I offered to take her out to dinner later on that day as a thank you for coming with me, she immediately declined. Not even Cayleigh could guilt her into joining us.

    "Hello? Cayd, you there," Mya called into the phone.

    "Yeah. Sorry. I'm here."

    "So, what can I do for you?"

    "I was actually, umm, wondering if you were w-with Brooke," I asked nervously. So nervously, that apparently now all of a sudden I stutter. Never in my 21 years of living have I ever stuttered, especially when it came to girls.

    "Brooke," she asked, clearly confused. "Um, yeah. Actually, she right h..." I heard a thud.

    Then, a whole lot of whispering came from Mya's side of the line but I couldn't make out what was being said.

    "Hello? Mya? You there?"

    I waited a few seconds and contemplated on hanging up until Mya suddenly appeared back on the phone. "Sorry about that. I just got tackled by a wild animal and accidentally lost my phone for a second."

    What the fuck?

    "A wild animal? What the hell are you talking about, Mya?"

    "Don't worry about it. It seemed to have disappeared. Speaking of disappeared, Brooke just walked out the door. You just missed her."

    Does it look like I was born yesterday? "Really, Mya?"

    "Yeah, she literally just stepped out as soon as I..."

    "Got attacked by that wild animal," I finished for her.

    "Yup," she said popping her 'p'.

    "You wouldn't happen to be lying to me, now would you? Because I would hate to have to tell Cay that you are?"

    "Cayden, I promise, she's literally out of the room right now," she told me.

    Okay, this phone call was getting on my last fucking nerves. "Okay, well, when she gets back tell her to call me."

    "Alright. I will. Bye."

    "Wait. Mya," I shouted into the phone.

    "Yeah?"

    "She's gonna need my number."

    "Okay. I'll give it to her."

    "Mya!"

    "Geez, I'm still here. Stop yelling at me."

    "Tell her I'm gonna be expecting her to call."

    "Okay. Anything else before you break my eardrum with all your screaming?"

    "No. Just make sure you tell her."

    "Yes, master." And she hung up.

    Maybe it wasn't such a great idea to take my frustrations out on Mya. But she couldn't have made it any more obvious that she was lying to me.

    I waited the rest of the night for her phone call. I even tried to busy myself by reading ahead in one of my classes. But this morning, when I woke up slouched over my desk with the biggest backache from hell, guess what happened. I had no fucking missed calls.

• • • • • • • • • •

    After my last practice of the day, I happily made my way to the locker room. My back was still killing me, even after I had the trainers massage it this morning. I stripped down and made my way to the showers. I promise you, there is no greater feeling in the world than taking a cold shower after working your ass off for three hours in the hot ass sun. Even if it's winter.

    After getting out of the shower, I walked back to my locker with a towel wrapped around my waist. I reached for my jeans and pulled out my phone. Still nothing. Well, nothing from Brooke anyways. I put my phone back into my pants pocket and began to put on my clothes.

    Theo walked up behind me and took a seat on the bench, already fully dressed. "So, what movie did Cay pick out for movie night tomorrow," he asked me. "Mya's so stoked that she actually gets to come."

    Every month, we have a movie night. It started when Theo and I were little boys. One of our mom's would take us to the Blockbuster in the shopping center next to my mom's office and rent a movie. Lucky for us, when that Blockbuster closed down, Netflix had just started up so we started streaming movies from there. But around that same time, we were both already interested in girls so it started happening less and less.

    Until, not so many years later when Cayleigh became interested in watching movies.

    Since moving to Dale Valley, only Theo, Cayleigh and I would participate in Movie Night. Then Jake eventually got invited. And now, even though Mya and Theo has been together a few months shy of a year, Mya finally gets the privilege of joining our event. And before you ask, yes, it does have everything to do with the guilt that I have for being a jackass to her last night on the phone.

    I've been wondering all day if she told Theo about the phone call. I know if someone ever treated Cayleigh the way I acted towards Mya last night, I would definitely feel some type of way.

    It's getting to the point where I might even tell him myself. Not because I'm scared of him, I just ran out of excuses as to why I start dodging and blocking every time he moves his arms. And let me just tell you, Theo is one of those people who talk with their hands. You know, like when someone tells a story and they start moving their arms around to make a dramatic point. That's Theo, right there. Don't even get me started on when he starts jumping up and down when he's excited or slaps people on the back when he finds something hilarious.

    "Not sure, bro," I answered. "She didn't decide yet."

    "Oh, cool. Mya's coming tomorrow," Jake asked while walking up to us.

    "Yup. Cayd finally sent out her initiation into the club."

    "Alright, well Imma head out. See you guys at morning practice," Jake told us as he shook both of our hands.

    "Hey, bring some of that crunchy stuff you put in your popcorn the last time," Theo shouted to Jake right before he exited from our row of lockers.

    "It's called kakimochi or mochi crunch," Jake said. "I'm all out. But I'll see if Brooke got some."

    I snapped my head in his direction at the sound of her name. "When are you gonna ask her?" Both Theo and Jake looked at me with a confused look on their face. Not that I blamed them. Never have I ever showed any interest in seeing a girl for anything other than a hookup. "What? I liked that crunchy thing, too," I said trying to cover how desperate I was for this girl.

    "I'll ask her when I get to the diner. We're meeting up for burgers."

    What the fuck did Jake just say? Because it sounded a lot like the girl who let me kiss her at my daughter's appointment is meeting up with one of my closest friends for dinner. The very same girl who has been dodging me harder than I dodge my one night stands the morning after.

    "Bro, you should invite B, too. Cay loves her," Theo told me pushing my shoulder, harder than necessary might I add. See what I mean? But since he just had a great idea in how I can get a chance to talk to Brooke, I'll let it slide.

    "'Kay. Ask her if she's up for tomorrow night."

    "Shoots. See you guys," Jake said leaving the locker room.

• • • • • • • • • •

    After having dinner with my parents and taking Cayleigh home, I finally finished getting her ready for bed. It was a couple minutes past 8:00 pm and she said that she wasn't not tired yet, so I decided to read her a story. "Can you read the book that I borrowed from school, daddy?"

    "Sure, baby. Go ahead and get it," I answered.

    She rushed out of bed and into her closet to get her bag. She grabbed the book out and got back into bed. The book was Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. When I was finished reading her the book, she was still wide awake. "Why aren't you tired? Did Grampy give you candy again," I joked with her.

    "No. I'm just so excited for tomorrow at night time."

    "For tomorrow at night time? What's tomorrow at night time?"

    She pushed the blanket off of her and quickly stood up on her bed. "Hello, daddy. TOMORROW IS MOVIE NIGHT!"

    "Oh, that's right. I thought we were canceling it since you don't know what we're gonna watch."

    "No, no, no. I'll have it all figured out by tomorrow, daddy. I promise. I promise."

    "Okay, because I would hate to have to tell Uncle Thee, Jakey, and Papaya that we can't have it anymore."

"No, don't tell them that. I'll know tomorrow. I promise."

    "Alright. Why don't you sleep on it and maybe you'll know when you get up tomorrow," I told her as I picked her up and gently laid her back under her covers.

    "Hey, daddy. Can I invite someone to movie night, too?"

    "Depends. Who is it," I asked. Cayleigh has a lot of friends but never has she asked for one of them to come over. She's had a lot of play dates, too, at her friends' houses, though. Never have any of them happened at ours. Probably because her friends parents all know that I'm raising her by myself after knocking her biological mother up when we were both only 16.

    "Miss Brooke," she whispered. I rubbed her head. I wonder if Brooke has been giving her the cold shoulder at school, too. I mean, why else would she be so embarrassed to say her name out loud?

    I rubbed her head and kissed her temple. "Hold that thought."

    I grabbed my phone out from my pocket and texted Jake.

Cayden
Yo! Did you ask Brooke about
tomorrow night?

Jake
Yupz. She sed she got a bag
she culd give us.

     Seriously, Jake. I don't give a damn about the fucking snacks!

Jake
Bt she can't make it.
Says she's got a shit load of hw.

Cayden
Tell her Cay really wants her
to come.

    After impatiently waiting the longest minute or two of my life, he finally replied with just four simple words that instantly brightened my mood.

Jake
She sed she's down.

    "Good news, Princess. Looks like Miss Brooke will be able to join us for movie night tomorrow," I told Cayleigh.

    "Yes," she responded pumping her fist in the air. "I think I should go to sleep so I can think of a very great movie." She sat up and kissed me on the cheek. "Love you, daddy. Good night." She laid back down and tightly squeezed her eyes. A few minutes later she was out like a light.

• • • • • • • • • •

    Jake and Brooke was supposed to be here when Theo and Mya showed up ten minutes ago. And they're still not here. The annoying part is, Mya said they left the dorms five minutes before her and Theo. They should have been here already. The campus is only 15 minutes away from my house.

    Why'd she have to catch a ride with Jake anyways? It makes no sense for Jake to have to pick her up when Theo already had to go to their dorm to pick up Mya.

    The more I thought about her and Jake the more I felt like she was playing us both. I mean, why else would she let me kiss her and a few weeks later go out to dinner with Jake? What other logical conclusion is there?

    After what felt like hours, but was only just another five minutes, the doorbell rang. I walked to the door and pulled it open. "Thank fucking God, man. I have to piss so badly," Jake said right before running pass me to the bathroom.

    "My gosh, B," Mya told Brooke as she walked in through the door. "What took you guys so long? You guys were supposed to be here 15 minutes ago." She sounded almost as irritated as I was but obviously not for the same reason. Maybe she was just excited that she was able to finally join us and Brooke and Jake being late just made things get off on a bad start.

    "Sorry, we had to turn back around. I forgot to get the snacks," she answered the question on everyone's mind.

    "You could have called me. It's not like I don't know where your snack container is," Mya responded.

    "Sorry. I-" Brooke started.

    "Miss Brooke, you're finally here," Cayleigh shouted from the stairs. She ran up to Brooke as soon as her foot hit the last step and jumped into her arms. "Do you like my house?"

    "I do. It's very lovely. Kinda like you," she told Cayleigh while tapping her nose. Thankfully, Brooke didn't bring up the fact that she's already been here before. "I'm gonna grab a bowl or something to put these snacks in. Then we can start the movie when Jake comes out of the bathroom."

    "Okay," Cayleigh said then ran and jumped onto Theo's lap.

    Once Cayleigh had both Theo and Mya occupied, I walked into the kitchen. Brooke was reaching up for a plastic Tupperware container. Even though she was already on her tiptoes, she still had no chance at reaching it. I moved up behind her, placing one of my hands on her lower back, on purpose of course, and reached over her body to grab the container for her.

    "Thanks," she said as she grabbed the item out of my hand and turned around to leave. All while avoiding eye contact with me.

    Quickly, I grabbed ahold of her wrist and tugged her back to me. I must have caught her off guard because she ended up dropping the container. I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her up against my body. "Why are you avoiding me," I asked her.

    "I'm not," she replied.

    "Wrong answer. Try again," I said sternly.

    She angrily squinted her eyes at me and pushed out of my hold. "Don't talk to me like that. I'm not a child."

    "Then act like an adult and tell me why you're avoiding me. Tell me why haven't you been showing up to the dining hall for lunch. Tell me why didn't you fucking call me back."

    "First of all," she started as she angrily pushed me back, away from her. "Just because I don't want to answer your question, that doesn't make me any less of any adult than if I did answer it. But if it'll help you sleep better at night, I will. Answer one: I've been busy. Answer two: I never eat lunch at the dining hall because at that time I'm usually on my way to work. Especially since your little girl asked me to come in before she goes down for a nap. The only reason I was there that one day was because I called in sick. Answer three: I don't have your number. Now, you act like a fucking adult and stop throwing a tantrum just because things aren't going your way."

    She turned around and began to walk away from me again but I, once more, grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to stand in front of me. "Stop doing that," she said.

    "We're not done talking."

    "Well, I am." She turned and walked towards the living room, this time keeping her arms out of my reach.

    Just as she was about to walk out of the kitchen I spoke. "You know Brooke, I took you for a lot of things. But a slut was never one of them."

    I know, I know. It was a fucked up thing to say. But sometimes when I'm mad, my mouth ends up moving a lot faster than my brain does.

    That stopped her dead in her tracks. She slowly turned around and by slowly, I mean at a snail's speed. "What did you just call me?"

    Finally, my brain caught up with my big ass mouth. "Oh fuck! Brooke, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I swear, I didn't mean to call you that. I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry," I pleaded to her.

    "Oh, so you just subconsciously think I'm a slut." There I go again. Hi, foot. Meet mouth. "You know what. Fuck you, Cayden."

    Just as she was about to walk out of the kitchen, Jake walked in staring at me like he was seconds away from murdering me. Without even looking up at him, she placed her hand on his chest while shaking her head. "Don't. Just get me the hell out of here."

    As they walked out of my view, with Jake's arm around her shoulder and both of her hands wiping at her face, something just dawned on me. I just ruined movie night.