east of eden

daddy's boy

callum

elizabeth's arm was linked in mine as the two of us walked to her house after an afternoon of studying in the park. i began thinking about how the conversations we were having regarding psychology and our best case study: colin.

"colin wasn't home all night. boy, dad's going to kill him," i said, leading elizabeth to giggle.

"you know what girls at school call him?"

"no, what?" i mumbled, my voice low as we began passing a large row of shrubbery.

"the prowler, please don't tell him that," pleaded elizabeth.

"all right, i won't," i promised, passing a figure hidden in the shrubbery. it was no other than colin, keeping true to his pale and unkempt appearance.

"hey colin," i greeted, forcing him to emerge from the bushes.

"hey big head," he returned, his voice barely above mumble level. his dark brown hair was a disheveled mess and he had defined dark circles under his eyes.

"hi colin," said elizabeth, her entire manner sugary sweet. colin ignored her and walked past us in the same direction, his head down.

"excuse me for talking," retorted elizabeth.

"you know, you'll have to face dad sometime," i reminded, causing him to pick up his pace and begin running towards our house.

"ah, fuck off, cal," he snarled, basically a blur.

i continued walking with elizabeth until we reached her house, conveniently located about ten minutes from mine. she pecked my cheek and waved me off as she unlocked her front door and walked in. i continued walking until i reached my house, waltzing right in since the door was unlocked. i jogged the stairs straight up to my room and i slung my stuff on the floor, plopping myself down on my bed.

something was different about me but i couldn't figure it out. i knew that i still loved elizabeth but not in the same way. we were growing up, quite quickly too. we couldn't stay young and carefree forever, but i still hoped we could make time stand still for a while, like an image frozen in amber. everything with elizabeth had been off lately, from the way she touched me to the way she looked at me. i swear, if i could've sensed the moment where everything began to change between us, i would've made sure to combat it with everything i had.

"cal?" said an unseen voice: colin. he walked into my room and sat on the floor, criss cross applesauce style. in response, i sat up, just to create the illusion of listening.

"yeah."

"what do you do when you like a girl but you don't know if she even remotely cares for you?" asked colin, his dark blue eyes seeming to pierce my soul. i exhaled deeply and crossed my arms across my chest. i'd never had severe girl troubles before since i usually cracked a smile at all of them.

"smile at her, ask her to dinner, and give her a puppy," i suggested halfheartedly.

"when, in human history, has any of that bullshit worked?" raged colin, taking off his sweater and picking one of mine up from off the floor. the white dress shirt under his sweater was stained with what seemed to be sweat, but it obviously didn't bother him.