Chapter Two – The List
1528 Words
The morning sun pushed through her curtains, far too bright for how little sleep she’d gotten.
She sat curled up on the couch in her parents’ sunlit living room, scrolling halfheartedly through job listings on her laptop. Receptionist. Line cook. Something part-time at the boutique on Main. It all felt small. Temporary. Like filler jobs in someone else’s story.
The front door opened.
She looked up, startled—still in a hoodie and shorts, hair in a messy bun, laptop slipping from her knees.
Cal stood there in the doorway, casual in jeans and a black tee, coffee in one hand, sunglasses in the other.
“Good morning,” he said, like he did this every day.
Her heart hiccupped. “Um… hi?”
“I knocked. Twice.” He grinned. “Your dad said I could come in.”
“He’s not here.”
“I figured. That’s why I’m here for you.”
She blinked. “For me?”
He walked in like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Grab a jacket.”
“What?”
He raised a brow, playful but firm. “You heard me. Jacket. Shoes. Maybe some sunscreen if you burn easy.”
“I—Cal, it’s barely eight.”
“Perfect time to change your life.”
Emery blinked again, unsure if this was real. “Where are we going?”
He smiled, a little rogue, a little soft. “Wherever you need to start.”
Her mouth opened. Closed.
Then, with a disbelieving laugh and a jolt of adrenaline she hadn’t felt in months, she stood up and grabbed her sneakers.
She thought maybe they were going for a walk. A drive down the coast, at most. But by the time the city limits disappeared behind them and the landscape opened up into endless highway, she realized this was something else entirely.
“Okay,” she said slowly, looking around the sleek, luxurious interior of his car. “Where exactly are we going?”
Cal glanced at her with that same barely-contained energy he’d had since stepping through her parents’ front door. “LA.”
Her heart stuttered. “What?”
“I got a job offer,” he said, eyes back on the road, casual like this wasn’t completely insane. “Good one. The kind that comes with a fat paycheck and an overblown NDA.”
“That’s… great?” she offered weakly, still trying to process.
“I start next week,” he added, then grinned. “But that’s not why I’m taking you.”
“Then why are you?”
He glanced at her again. “Because you’re stuck, Emery. And I know what that looks like.”
She turned to the window, unsure what to say.
“You’ve outgrown that town,” he continued. “It’s sweet, yeah. Safe. But it’s not where you figure out who you are. Not if you want more out of life.”
Her silence stretched. Her heart raced.
“You said you didn’t know where to start,” he added gently. “So start here. With me. Stay at the house. There’s more space than I know what to do with, and honestly? I could use the company.”
“But I don’t have anything,” she whispered. “No clothes. No money. I didn’t even bring my toothbrush.”
He smirked. “I’ve got plenty of toothbrushes.”
She gave him a look.
“And you don’t need to worry about money,” he said. “Or groceries. Or bills. I’ve got it covered.”
“You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack.”
She stared at him, part terrified, part electrified.
This wasn’t what she planned. But maybe that was the point.
The city blurred past her window, washed in the warm glow of early morning. The air smelled faintly of coffee and ocean salt, the indie playlist Cal queued up playing softly in the background. Emery tucked her legs beneath her, unsure if the stir in her chest was panic or anticipation.
“What’s on your mind?” Cal asked, glancing at her with one hand resting casually on the wheel.
She pulled a face. “That obvious?”
“You get this look when your brain’s doing laps.”
She half-smiled. “It’s just… weird. I graduated with a plan that wasn’t even mine. It was his. Now I’m just… floating.”
“Floating’s not bad,” Cal said, reaching into the center console. He pulled out a napkin and a pen. “Let’s fix that. We’re making a list.”
“A list?”
“A bucket list. Ten things you should do now that you’re twenty-two, brilliant, and unchained from mediocre men.”
She laughed, startled. “That’s oddly specific.”
“Trust me, I’ve had this conversation before—with myself.”
He jotted something down. “Number one: make a friend you keep for life.”
Emery raised a brow. “You start off wholesome?”
“It’s all downhill from here,” he promised.
“Great.”
“Two,” he said, “kiss someone you just met.”
“Cal—”
“You said you wanted to feel something, right?”
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t protest.
“Three: get lost in a new city and don’t panic.”
“You say that like I’m not already on the verge of panicking now.”
He grinned. “You’ll be fine. I’ll feed you.”
“Noted.”
“Four: fall wildly, stupidly, head-over-heels in love.”
Her stomach twisted. “That one seems… dangerous.”
“Exactly.”
“Five,” he added with a crooked smile, “have an unforgettable one-night stand—preferably with the lead singer of a band.”
“Cal!”
He only shrugged. “You’re twenty-two, Emery Blake. You’ve got time to settle down. What you don’t have time for is being afraid to live.”
She looked at him, really looked—dark hair, rough stubble, warm eyes that somehow made her feel more steady than nervous.
“And what are you getting out of this?” she asked.
He smirked. “A front-row seat to the making of the real Emery Blake.”
She leaned her head against the window, watching the highway curve ahead. “Okay,” she said quietly. “Number six?”
Emery fiddled with the hem of her sleeve as Cal tapped the pen against the napkin, considering his next move like a man plotting world domination.
“Number six,” he said at last. “Get in a little trouble. The good kind.”
“What’s the good kind?”
“The kind that makes for stories you tell your best friend over drinks… or confess to your therapist ten years later with a smile.”
She laughed, despite herself. “That’s terrifying.”
“You’ll live.”
He scribbled again. “Seven: skinny dip. Ocean, lake, rooftop pool—I don’t care. Just once.”
She flushed. “You’ve definitely done that.”
“Several times. It’s freeing.”
“Of course it is.”
“Eight…” He paused dramatically. “Seduce someone who’s completely wrong for you.”
Her jaw dropped. “You’re impossible.”
“You need chaos before calm,” he said, not missing a beat. “It teaches you what you want. And trust me, Emery Blake, you deserve to know exactly what you want.”
Her cheeks burned, but she stayed quiet. He wasn’t joking. This wasn’t a man tossing reckless dares—this was someone trying to shake the numbness off her life.
“Nine,” he said, eyes flicking to her, “learn how to say no—without apologizing for it.”
That one hit differently. Her breath caught just slightly.
He softened. “I’m serious about that one.”
She nodded, unable to speak for a second.
Then Cal leaned in, smirking again, and jotted down number ten with a flourish. “And last but not least—sleep with someone you swore you’d never touch.”
Her mouth dropped open. “That’s evil.”
“It’s honest,” he said, leaning back, satisfied. “Every woman’s got one—an untouchable, a crush, a fantasy. Usually it’s a bad idea. Sometimes, it’s the best one.”
Her pulse fluttered as his words hung between them.
Cal tossed the napkin into her lap and gave her that movie-star smile—slow, confident, quietly dangerous. “Ten steps to becoming a woman who owns her life.”
She stared at the list, heart hammering, cheeks hot.
This wasn’t just a game to him. He meant it. All of it.
And suddenly, she realized the most terrifying part wasn’t the list. It was the fact that with Cal sitting next to her—grinning like the devil with a halo—she actually believed she could do it.
She just had to let go of her childhood crush first.
Because he wasn’t a dream anymore.
He was real.
And for some reason, he’d chosen her to start again with.
- Writer
