A Promise kept

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Sunday was too quiet.

Linda at church. Tom golfing. Just the hum of the AC.

Phone buzzed. Unknown number.

Hey, it’s Maya from yesterday. Wanna get out of the house? mani pedi + movies?

An hour later Maya pulled up.

Tipping Paint Nails & Spa on Market Street

Pink nails. French tips. They talked about nothing. Senior year. The heat. Being 18 and home for the summer.

The Woodlands Mall

AMC The Woodlands 10

Aurora was looking at the popcorn menu when someone came around the corner fast with a large Coke.

BAM.

Soda everywhere.

"Oh my god I’m so sorry—"

"Sorry, my fault—"

They both looked up.

He was tall. Dark hair. Gray t-shirt. Grinning like this was funny. Probably 19.

"You good?" he asked.

"Yeah. You?" Aurora said, dabbing at his shirt with napkins.

"All good." He held her eye half a second too long, then walked off to get his ticket.

Maya grabbed their tickets for Love in the Time of Traffic. Popcorn. Diet Coke. Nerds.

They sat in the middle row.

10 minutes in, someone sat down to Aurora’s right. She didn’t look until his arm brushed hers.

The guy she bumped into.

He glanced over. Raised an eyebrow like no way. She bit her lip to keep from smiling.

They didn’t talk. Just watched the movie. Both laughing at the wrong parts.

Chili’s at Market Street.

After, Aurora and Maya had Queso and Shirley Temples.

They were walking out when: "Hey?"

That guy. Takeout bag in hand. Hair damp from the theater AC.

He fell into step beside them. "Okay. So we bumped into each other at the movies. Then we sat next to each other. Now this."

He shook his head, smiling. "That’s three times today. It must be fate."

Aurora laughed. She couldn’t help it.

"I’m Aurora," she said. "This is Maya."

"Caleb."

He looked at her. "Can I get your number?

She gave it.

Maya dropped her off. House dark. Linda asleep.

At 9:02pm her phone rang. Unknown number.

"Hey. It’s Caleb. From Chili’s. Did we survive the romcom?"

They talked. For 3 hours.

He’s 19. Just finished freshman year at Lone Star College. Said he’ll transfer to A&M next year. She told him she had just graduated from Beverly Hills High and is starting at UC Davis in the fall.

He has 2 younger brothers. She told him about her mom, dad, and brother back in LA. Her best friend Elena. And why she was in Houston. He runs with his high school buddies. She admitted she barely had anyone here besides Maya and her grandparents.

He had a laugh that made her forget she was supposed to be sad.

At 12:17am: "Okay I should let you sleep. Goodnight Aurora."

"Goodnight."

Aurora set her phone down.

Opened messages.

Still nothing from Ethan.

The quiet hit different now.

She’d said she was going to forget him.

So why did it still feel like that?

She pulled the blanket over her head and cried. Quiet. So Linda wouldn’t hear.

Then she rolled over and tried to sleep.