Escaping the Current

3. Cleopatra's Night Out

Kaden's room had dark, earthy colors, with pops of color here and there. The walls were a deep grey color. His bed, a lighter shade with a sea of varied pink pillows. A full-length mirror stood next to his bed with a white boa hanging on it. He had two desks parallel to one another. One by the door, which served as a hair station. Maintaining the long locks of his curly hair was hard since he decided to grow it out a few years ago. He didn't mind the daily regimen. His mom would help every now and then. That gave them a chance to talk, which he would always enjoy because she was at the hospital most of the time or thinking about her patients when she was home. But when Kaden would ask her for help with his hair, she would jump at the opportunity because caring for hair was a religion to her. She would grin and giggle whenever mentioning an old family haircare tip. He loved seeing the joy in her eyes and the golden smile that he adopted from her.

On the opposite side of the room, Kaden's other desk stood. The desk had been covered with dozens of shells he and Austin found at the beach over the years. Each shell had been found at a specific part of a conversation that they had on the beach, which Kaden could recall easily when he held each shell in his hands.

That desk, which sat next to the window, had been his favorite area of his room. He would often sit on his chair and look out the window and see small hints of the beach far in the horizon. He'd sit there for hours with a book in hand and coffee in the other. At times, he would climb out of his window just after midnight and sit on the roof to watch the stars while listening to music. That night was the one of those nights.

He laid on his back, gazing into the night sky. So many things ran through his mind. He thought about trying to let Austin go. Was he even capable of doing that? For the longest time, Austin was constantly on his mind. From his gorgeous smile to how he would sometimes crinkle his nose when he was concentrating on something. Kaden didn't think he could get over Austin. But he knew he had to at least try.

Kaden's phone buzzed.

'Hi,' he answered.

'Hey, Kaden,' the familiar voice said. 'It's Megan.'

'Oh. Hey, Megan.'

'I got your number from Austin. I wanted to know if you are still coming to my party on Friday?'

'I don't think so, Megan,' Kaden said, playing a scene in his mind of how the night would go. He knew he wasn't going to be up with any of it.

'Kaden, you have to come,' Megan begged. 'Please.'

'I don't know,' Kaden uttered.

'Will you come if I told you a special guest of mine is expecting you to be there?'

'Special guest?' Kaden questioned sitting up. 'Who?'

'I can't say who it is but he's very excited to see you. And he said you'll feel the same when you see him.'

Kaden frowned and crinkled his nose before he gave in and said, 'Okay.'

'I promise you won't regret it,' Megan reassured him.

'Alright, Megan.'

'Great. I'll let him know that you're coming,' Megan celebrated. 'Oh, and don't forget to dress up as yourself, from your past life. Okay?'

'Sure.'

'Great. Bye, Kaden.' Megan uttered.

'Bye, Megan.'

That may have been the weirdest and most mysterious phone call Kaden had ever received. He wasn't proper friends with Megan, so it was weird that she'd make a personal call to him to make sure he'd be at her party, not to mention persuading him to come by using a mystery guest as bait.