Callie and Lexi's Kiss List | ✓

3: Callie

After hearing mum call out to me and listening in on all the commotion in the living room, the reality that my sister was now home began to sink in. I hadn't seen her since she last visited about a year and a half ago, and during that last visit I think the only words I uttered to her were "can you pass the salt".

So once the noise had died down and a soft thud of Lexi's door, followed by mum's footsteps down the hallway, sounded in the house, I thought for sure I was safe.

A good half an hour passed without any disruption to me reading my book. It was enough time to get sucked back into the world of magic, oblivious to the happenings around me.

But then a light knock on my door pulled me from the story once more.

Finger slipping in to mark my page, I called out, "What do you want, mum?"

Yet as my door creaked open and her head popped in, my heart sank. Lexi Peterson-Williams, my twin, stood in the doorway looking vastly different to the last time I saw her.

"That's a look," I grumbled, reopening my book to try to emphasise that I didn't want to talk to her.

Yet she either misread my hint or ignored it, stepping into my room and softly closing the door behind her. Then she walked across the room and sat on my bed, right by my stump.

Her gaze was fixated on it for a moment, taking it in like she was trying to gauge whether she could stomach it. But after a couple of moments passed with her looking at my leg and me glancing over the top of my book, studying her, her gaze finally snapped up to mine. And I immediately looked back to my book.

"Vampires, hey?" Lexi asked when I refused to acknowledge her.

"There's more than vampires in the book," I said back, annoyed she somehow got me to talk. But then I kept trying to read the words on my page.

"What else is in it?"

"Why don't you read it yourself?" I muttered.

"Most people don't read anymore, Cal. But they're doing a TV show adaptation of the Magic Mutations Series, I heard, so maybe—"

As she spoke, I dog-eared my page, closed my book, and set it on my nightstand, all the while shifting up to a straighter position. Then I cut her off with, "What do you want Lexi?"

She paused. Then pressed her lips together and looked down to her fingers, picking at a fraying cuticle. "To catch up."

"We don't do that."

"Well I want to start doing that."

"Why?"

"Because, Callie..." She sighed and looked back up at me, a pained expression washing her face. "We used to be really close and I want to be like that again."

"Why?"

"Because we're family."

Rolling my eyes, I reached for my book again.

"Can you just stop being a kid and actually talk to me about this for a second?"

Scoffing at the insult, I tossed my book to my bed and crossed my arms over my chest. "Excuse me?"

"That didn't come out right," she sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Look, I'm sorry I was distant and that I moved away. I admit, what happened to us was my fault. But I promise you I've changed."

"How?" I grumbled, though I'd be lying if I wasn't slightly interested in her attempt to make amends.

"Well... you know why I was distant, right Cal?"