Splinters: Part One

Part One | 20

Chapter 20

Collie at Dinner

I anxiously waited for the beep to stop.

It had been four days since I last saw Collie. She texted me here and there and it made me a little worried. Her texts had been one word replies and I decided to take the hint and not bother her, but it had been a while and I missed her.

"Hello?"

I sighed in relief. "Hey. You sound better."

"I'm so much better!" she exclaimed.

The other line sounded crowded. She definitely wasn't home.

"Where are you?"

"I'm at the mall."

I frowned. "The mall?"

"Yeah. My sister decided to take me shopping."

I froze. She had a sister? And why was she shopping? It's a school night.

I was annoyed now. "So you're, like, completely not sick anymore."

"Kind of, yeah."

I walked to my bed and played with a thread that was falling from the top cover. "Well, um, are you busy?"

"No, it's okay."

I suddenly felt embarrassed. I wanted her to want to talk to me, too, not just me. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah! What's up?"

I smiled. Even though I'd wished she'd let me know she was feeling better, I was glad she was willing to spare some time to talk to me nonetheless, especially if she's shopping with her sister. "Well, my family kind of wants to meet you and I was hoping we could talk about i-"

"Wait, what? Your family's already met me."

"Hardly," I scoffed. "They don't know the real you. They just know your name and... all that stuff with Ursanne."

She was quiet for a second. "I don't know, Brayden. That kind of freaks me out."

"You'd just be over for dinner."

"I thought they hated me."

"They don't. They just hate what you did."

Collie didn't say anything and for a second, I felt like I had said something wrong. It was the truth, wasn't it? And it wasn't rude. Not really.

"So what exactly did they have in mind?" she finally asked, almost sounding scared.

"Um, just dinner I think."

"When?"

"Whenever you could."

"It's Thursday."

"So Saturday? If you can?"

She seemed to be contemplating. "Um..."

Even though I didn't want this to happen, I wanted it to be over with. Knowing Melissa, she'd want it done sooner than later.

"Please, Collie?"

She sighed. I could imagine her propping a hand on her hip. "Okay."

I grinned. "Really?"

"It's the least I could do. I mean, I don't want your family to hate me anymore. It's about time they've truly met me."

I let a deep breath of relief. "They'll love you."