Mannequins | completed

Fourteen

CAREY BERTELSON WAS EVIDENTLY much more amicable response-wise compared to Finn Iman. While Finn Iman had been plain rude and standoffish when he responded to my message on Facebook, Carey was all smiles and rainbows. She replied with a simple Sure, love! I'll tell you when I'm free, and a few days later she messaged me again, asking if meeting up on Friday at her office, located in the building where Flavor and Flames was in, would be good.

I checked my agenda and thank God I was free on Friday. Callum, however, had other plans. This is how it went:

I was at work, organizing a set of clothes that Felicity apparently designed for the summer season, when my phone beeped signaling a notification. Usually, I would ignore my phone when I worked but this notification felt unusually important; I felt as if I really had to check it, and so I did.

The notification turned out to be a notification a Facebook message, and the message I got was from Carey Bertelson. Instantly, I called Callum, who was using his phone at the counter, to come over to where I was to see the message. Lazily, he got up from his seat and came in my direction.

"What is it, Lynn?" Callum questioned, looking at me curiously.

I held my phone up, showing Carey's response, so Callum could see her response. "She agreed to meet up on Friday," I explained to Callum. "Seems like a really nice woman." I was speaking with vague sentences, with words that could only be understood by me and Callum. This was because Felicity was literally a room away from us. She was in her office, which unfortunately had thin walls so there was a chance that she could hear us.

"Friday?" Callum echoed. He let out a long sigh. "I can't come. I already have plans organized on Friday."

"Plans? Like what?" I said. Then I realized how nosey I sounded like. I was inquiring way too inquisitively into Callum's private affairs. I shouldn't even ask him that question—I was his friend, not his mother. "I'm sorry, it's none of my business. I don't mean to pry—"

Callum shook his head, cutting me off. "Don't fret. You're not prying," he assured me. "I actually have a date planned. I would cancel the date, but I really like this girl, you know?"

A date? I mused. I knew it was offensive to think, but sometimes I felt like Callum had no social life—that the only thing he did was work and obsess over the massacre. That being said, it was quite a surprise that he had a date planned and moreover had a social life. Although if I thought about it more, it was more of the other way around. I had no social life and I was the one who basically only worked and obsessed over the massacre.

"I get it. I know how it feels to really like someone. Is there any chance I know this girl?"

"Hmm, I don't know. But you might, Calinton's a small town where almost everyone knows each other."

"What's her name?" I asked, and then I realized I was being nosy once again. "Damn it. I'm sorry for prying again."

Callum waved me off. "Like I said, don't fret about it. Anyway, her name's Carlie. Carlie Winston. Does her name ring a bell?"

My eyes widened and I was pretty sure my jaw dropped. "Carlie? Seriously? She's my best friend!" I exclaimed. "She never mentioned you, though. Where did you guys meet?"

"What a coincidence." Callum chuckled. "We met last week at this program for undergraduate aspiring doctors and we were seated next to each other during the talk."

Oh, right. Callum wanted to be a doctor, and so did Carlie. Callum was family-oriented and Carlie was basically devoted to anyone she loved. Thinking about it, Carlie and Callum made a pretty good match. They had a lot of things in common, so their personalities didn't appear to clash too much.