Between Us

Chapter 17

I sat across from Paris at the cafe that I had embarrassed myself at. I thought I'd never come back there again, but here I was. Then again, I had more important things to worry about than that. Jordan's rejection still tugged at my heart and Caden's change in behaviour confused me.

"Caden's so hard to figure out," I mumbled to myself.

Paris licked away traces of coffee on her coral stained lips. "Caden, huh?"

"Yeah, he acts so strange. One minute he's cold, the next he's hot. I mean...like, you know."

"His childhood was pretty difficult." She shrugged, scratching off black nail polish that was beginning to flake off her index finger. "He's closed off because of it. I don't blame him, you know? His mom still sends him money 'cause they're so rich but he works for fun, anyway."

"He works? Where?"

"Part time at a bar."

There was so much I didn't know about him. He was so rich he didn't even need to work and he had a difficult childhood? How difficult was it? Did I even want to know? Why did I want to know?

"Ugh, stop it, Shyla," I muttered to myself. First it was Jordan, now Caden? No, no. I didn't like Caden in that way at all, but for some reason, I wanted to know more about him. I wanted to know more about the guy that knew so much about fashion and music and was more thoughtful than he let on.

"Is the story something you can tell me about?" I asked, hesitantly.

Paris shook her head, slowly. "That's not really my story to share. I only told you so that you can be a little more lenient on him."

"How do you know this?" I brought the white coffee mug up to my lips, blowing on it before taking a sip. It was incredibly sweet—just the way I liked it. The bitterness hung back in my throat, reminding me not only of the way I felt about Jordan but also of Caden's reaction to what he said the other night.

Like he had said too much.

"I thought I told you?" asked Paris. "We've known each other for a long time. I moved here with my brother to be closer to him."

I choked on the second sip, wiping my upper lip. "Do you like him or something?" I asked, trying not to grin teasingly.

"Pleeeaase, I don't have time for romance. He's more like a brother to me."

I tilted my head. She quickly brought her coffee cup up to her lips, averting her gaze out the window like she wanted to be anywhere but here. Suspicious, but I could work with it. I needed a distraction from my own heartbreak. "Speaking of time...I don't think I've seen you around lately. Other than work, what have you been up to?"

Weirdly enough, she only responded with a vague shrug. "This and that," she said absentmindedly. "Oh, and you don't need to worry about him anymore since you've got Jordan now."

Jordan. If she wanted to change the subject, why Jordan? That name brought a deep pang in my chest that made me want to get up and run to the bathroom. "Did you not know what happened?" I asked, hearing my voice tremble.

Paris furrowed her brows. "What? Did Jordan do something to you?"

"No, nothing like that! Just...he likes Sai. He asked me to hang out with him to get more information about her."

Paris grimaced, placing a delicate hand against her forehead. "What an idiot. I'm so sorry. I didn't know."

"He's not an idiot for liking someone else," I said, trying to laugh at the situation. It came out fake. It was hard because it was still so raw. "I'm the idiot for trying to go to all those lengths for him. That's what hurts the most."

"That was my fault. I suggested you do it. I'm sorry. I really am." She reached out and squeezed my hand that was still wrapped around my coffee mug. I squeezed it back in reassurance. Even if she suggested it, I had made the final decision to act on it.

There was no one to blame but me.

***

"You said Caden played you a song to make you feel better?"

"Yeah," I said, through the phone later that day, "why?"

"You want to come over?" Paris changed the subject and I knitted my brows, completely confused.

"To your house?"

"Where else, silly?" Did I want to go over to their house and risk seeing Jordan? It was the weekend so there was no doubt that he wasn't at work. "Don't worry about you-know-who. We're not staying at mine for long."

In that case..."Can I invite Sai?"

"Go for it!"

The clothes that I had bought still hung in my closet, all alone. I didn't touch it since that day. It reminded me of everything that had gone wrong and I wanted to forget about it more than I wanted to remember it. So I stuck to what I liked before and what I was used to.

I got up early in the morning so I didn't have to face anyone, leaning against one of the trees in the park as I waited for Sai. She came a little while later, but when she did, there was a deep frown on her face. She crossed her arms and bent at the knee a little to peer into my face. The cons of being short meant that everyone literally had to look down at me.

"We don't have to go, you know. Jordan's a—"

"It's fine," I said, forcing myself to smile. I hooked my arm through hers. "I have you with me, don't I? Your face will distract him from me."

"Shut up." The twinkle in Sai's features softened. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be okay, Sai. I'm just not used to rejection, that's all."

We sat down and relaxed a little, watching the empty park become filled with dogs, and then took a detour to get some iced coffee first before heading to Paris' house. I wanted to make sure that I delayed seeing Jordan as much as possible, every step making my stomach flip.

When we got there, though, Paris was standing in Caden's driveway. I froze. Sai was forced to as well because my arm was still looped through hers.

"Is that your neighbour's house?" whispered Sai. "Why're we here?"

I had no clue. My tongue wouldn't form coherent sentences so I couldn't say as much to her, either.

Paris beamed once she spotted us coming in the opposite direction, and waved us over. At least there wasn't Jordan...but why Caden?

"You said Caden comforted you with a song," she answered my thoughts, "so I thought it would be nice if you were able to listen to him actually practice with his band mates."

My chest ached at her thoughtfulness. So that was why. Sai frowned. "You didn't tell me that," she mumbled.

"It all happened so quickly," I told her. I turned to Paris. "Are they practising at Caden's?"

"At Trixie's, so we're gonna have to follow them in our car."

Trixie? Who? I thought. "Are you sure they're okay with us coming?" Sai asked, jutting her hip out. There was a sass to her tone I had never heard her use before.

Paris didn't seem to pick up on it and grinned. "Yeah, 'course! I asked them and they were totally fine with it. In fact, Trixie's been saying she wants an audience to listen to their new song."

There was no time for introductions, however, as the girl with the bob—whom I finally had a name for—the two guys and Caden came out of his house and walked past us, jerking their heads and smiling at us in acknowledgement.

Everyone except Caden, that is.

"Which one's Caden?" Sai leaned in to ask.

"The one in the middle. The only one that didn't even look at us." Which was weird. He seemed perfectly capable of it the other night. Why was he ignoring us?

"No way. The hot one? He's Caden?" I nudged her shoulder while she cackled. "You've got to introduce me."

I didn't know if I could with the way he was acting.