Sunstorm

Part 1

Callie thumbed the splintering edge of the table as Mrs. Cadette pulled the casserole from the oven.

"Are you sure you don't need any help, Mrs. C?" she asked again, straightening her silverware.

"I'm all good, Callie," Mrs. Cadette said. "Why don't you go see if Aidan's awake?"

"Okay," Callie released a half laugh, half cry as she stood and stiffly trudged up the stairs.

Aidan's room was the first door on the right. Callie gripped the railing, her heart pounding as she climbed the creaking stairs. Between the narrow staircase and the mere inches between Aidan's door and her face, it seemed the walls were slowly pressing together, yearning to trap Callie in their drywall dungeon. Callie breathed in roughly. She waited outside the door for about a minute before turning around and retreating to her place at the table.

"Aidan's still sleeping," she said to Mrs. Cadette.

Mrs. Cadette laughed. "Honestly. She'd spend all day sleeping if not for hunger, I tell you."

Callie laughed politely, trying to still her shaking knees.

"D'you want cheese on your casserole, dear?"

"No, thank you," Callie said.

She wasn't hungry, not really. Any feeling of hunger she normally would have had was quelled by sitting in Aidan's kitchen, at Aidan's kitchen table, exchanging pleasantries with Aidan's mother. It would be over soon, at least. This was the last time she'd be obliged to be here, the last day she would have to leave the sinking feeling in her stomach to rot.

Aidan begrudgingly opened her eyes, sunlight from the uncovered windows invading her senses. The humid air nearly suffocated Aidan as she rose from beneath the covers. Her body was sticky with sweat, and her fingers slipped on the chord as she turned on the fan, nearly tripping over Callie's stuff on the floor. Aidan's mother had made such a fuss about that the first night. Couldn't she have given Callie the bed and slept on the floor instead? Couldn't they have at least shared the bed? How could Aidan be such a selfish host?

Left in a stack in the middle of the room were neatly-folded dark blue sheets and a pillow without a case. Aidan let out a long sigh. It hadn't been her fault in the slightest. She'd offered the bed, she had. Well, she'd done the best she could, what with embarrassment strangling her like a noose around her neck. Aidan hadn't been able to even make a sound, let alone talk, and Callie had wordlessly made her bed on the floor. Aidan exhaled harshly through her nose, running a hand through her tousled hair as she went to make herself presentable.

Callie was nodding and smiling, barely hearing Mrs. Cadette's story when Aidan tumbled down the stairs. Mrs. Cadette shook her head.

"Second time this month," she mumbled. "Aidan, honey, are you okay?"

"Fine," Aidan groaned, taking a seat at the table.

Callie avoided her eye for as long as she could, sneaking glances here and there, but she could still feel Aidan looking at her. It was as if their eyes were playing tag.

"You're in my seat," Aidan whispered without looking up.

"I- I didn't-" Callie fumbled.

Mrs. Cadette went on and on about some pest in her garden, oblivious to the brewing tensions in front of her.

"What, did you forget?"

Callie exhaled, bringing herself to look at Aidan's stained red face, her dark brown hair hanging over her eyes.

"How could I have?" she whispered back.

Aidan stood abruptly, taking her plate of untouched pasta to the sink. Her scowl stretched all the way down to her jaw. Her face was on fire, her hands unsteady as she scrubbed the plate, tried to make it sparkle again, but this sauce stain just wouldn't fucking come off-