The Calm in the Storm // caden conrique

eight

•Berlin• 

I walk home from school by myself. I thought Caden would walk with me but that idea was stupid. He was walking Hazel home. I should've expected that. When I get to my house, I look over to the Conrique's. Dylan was doing flips in the front yard, something we used to do together.  I lift my hand to wave at her, almost forgetting why we stopped talking. She doesn't even notice me, so I just push the door open and go to my room. My mom was at the clinic and would be for the next few hours and my dad was God knows where. 

In the middle of my Chemistry homework, which I had only gotten one problem done before getting distracted by the show I was watching on Netflix, there's a knock on the front door. I tread down the stairs and make my way to the door, pulling it open. Caden stands on the doorstep.

"Sorry it took me so long, Hazel asked me to stay for a little," he informs me, even though it was quite obvious from the hickey on his neck. I want to scream at him for the mark. How could he let someone else do that to his body? 

"It's whatever." I brush it off like I'm not hurt in the slightest, hoping my act was believable. 

"Can I come in?" He asks. I nod and open the door wide enough for him to come him. We both make our way into the kitchen.

"Do you, um, want something to drink?" I ask. I hate how awkward it is between us. Soulmates or not we've known each other for years. I mean, sure, we never really talked. But there was never this much tension. It was never this hard to be in the same room as him. 

"A glass of water is fine," He says back. I could tell he didn't like the tension either, we were both just sitting there, awkwardly, trying to fill the awkward silence but only being able to create more. I grab a glass out of the cupboard and fill it with tap water. I then place it on the table in front of Caden.

"So what did you want to talk about?' I question, looking at the tabletop so that I wouldn't have to look at him. 

"I don't want to talk about it yet," He says. This makes me nervous. Why would he ask to come over and talk and then not want to talk? 

"Alright, well do you want to do?" I ask, trying to do something so we wouldn't have to sit in silence the whole time. Caden just shrugs. 

"Do you want to play Mario Kart?" I question, looking over to my living room. He shrugs and nods, grabbing his glass of water and following me into the living room. I connect the Nintendo Switch to the TV using an HDMI cord, and turn the TV on with the remote. I hand Caden the green remote and I take the blue one. We play for nearly 2 hours. Only interrupted when my mom comes home. 

"Hi Mrs Scott," Caden says as he throws a red shell at the person in front of him, which happened to be me. 

"Oh, you suck!" I exclaim as he passes me. He ends up winning the race and I come in 2nd. 

"No, you suck," He laughs. We end up sitting there for nearly 20 minutes laughing our asses off. 

"This was fun," I say as I hold my hand on my stomach which hurt from all the laughing. Caden nods, looking at me. I look back at him, our eyes meeting. And not soon after, his lips are on mine.

I've read about first kisses. I've read that when you first kiss your soulmate it's like fireworks exploding in your stomach. Like all of the planets align to put you two in that position. And that's exactly how it felt. But there was another emotion mixed in it as well. Guilt. Because Caden has a girlfriend. And now I was a home wrecker.