The Queue [c. hood]

22 // 4:02 p.m.

Calum and Caro sat on the bench for a while, as Caro spoke a little more about her past. Calum did his best to show Caro support as she recounted the memories. He held onto her hand tightly, and at times using his other hand to cover their intertwined hands.

"I really enjoyed talking to you about this, even if it did make me nervous. Thank you." Caro tells him, as they walk back towards the queue. She smiles when she looks down at their hands, gently swinging as they walk.

"Caro, thank you. You didn't have to tell me any of that, but you trusted me enough to. You're so strong. I don't know, you just kind of amaze me." He nervously speaks, fidgeting with her fingers.

"Thanks, Calum." She weakly smiles, not knowing what else to say to him.

All they can both focus on as they arrive back to the queue is their friends staring not just at them, but their interlocked hands. Caro reluctantly lets go, since they both need to sit back in their spots in the queue.

"How are you?" Teagan asks as soon as Caro is comfortable.

Caro smiles, "I'm okay, really."

"It went okay?"

She nods, "I didn't even cry or anything. I'm kinda proud of myself."

"Caro! I'm proud of you!" Teagan exclaims.

"So am I! Come here!" Deana adds, right after Teagan.

The three girls group hug and Caro sniffles, overwhelmed with emotions.

"What's wrong?" Teagan asks, the two girls quickly pulling away from their best friend that's now crying.

Caro giggles, though tears are still in her eyes, "I just feel like so much has happened today somehow."

Deana shrugs, "One of us usually has some sort of crisis while in the queue. It happened to be you this time."

"So, like, am I allowed to change the topic to you and Calum holding hands?" Teagan asks, her voice barely audible since she doesn't want anybody to hear.

Caro nervously smiles, looking down at her hands that are now fidgeting with her shoelaces. They were obviously going to mention it, and she knew that. She felt so overwhelmed by it all, to the point she had no words to explain it.

"That shit was cute, Caro." Dee adds, make Caro's smile grow wider.

"Yeah, it kinda was, wasn't it?" Caro mutters, a little embarrassed. She kind of hated how everybody was witnessing her and Calum. She just knew his friends were talking about her the way her friends are talking about him. She did not want anybody acknowledging her existence right now.

"I can tell you're overthinking." Teagan says, and Caro finally looks up at her friends.

"Yeah. How is this happening? This can't be normal. I can't believe I'm doing this."

Part of her brain was screaming at her to stop thinking and just go with it. That part of her brain was saying this is fine and that she shouldn't care. The other part was telling her she was insane, and that this would never work out. Her and Calum wouldn't be speaking after this show, and she should get out now.

"You can't believe you're doing what?" Teagan asks.

"Falling for a man I met eight hours ago. God, keep up." Caro whispers to her best friends.

"Listen, we understand it's not necessarily something that happens usually, but how often are you forced to sit next to a guy and spend all day talking to him? You've learned a lot about each other. Fuck, think about what you just told him!" Deana replies, just wanting Caro to understand that this is all fine.

"I just don't want to end up hurt." Caro mumbles, pulling her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs. "This isn't like when I go flirt with guys for fun for drinks or something."

Ever since her ex, Caro built up a lot of walls, not ever even opening up to even the possibility of something happening with a guy. After him, it just seemed like all these men were immature and didn't understand her. She built her walls up higher and higher each time she would flirt with a guy, there always seemed to be an issue. She had no idea how Calum was able to knock them down so quickly.