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There’s another scar on his cheek and a bandage on his wrist along with an array of rubber bands His body looks solid, but his expression looks breakable and fragile

"Callie," he says, looking stunned and a little upset to seefalls down his arm and hits the floor

"Hi" It see I could ever say, but it’s the first word to pop into my head

The corners of his lips start to turn up, but then it vanishes and I question if I ever really saw it "You shouldn’t be here," he says

My heart tightens, twines into knots, binding so tightly it begins to wilt into pieces I don’t knohat to do or say so I tell hi, walking past lance Then I’m alone, unable to move or breathe All I can think is that this is the end of it The end toin the middle of the room for an eternity, Seth finally walks in He approaches lance down atto scratch him

"Hey" He stuffs his hands into his pockets and takes cautious steps until he’s right in front of et that breakfast? The first set of pancakes is on me"

I love that he doesn’t ask what happened If I had to speak I’d probably cruet stuck in the dirty cracks of the floor I nod and he swings his arether

The restaurant is crowded and filled with the voices of people enjoying their breakfast with their families Dishes clank in the kitchen and the air smells like coffee and waffles Luke came with us, but he’s been distracted by one of the waitress behind the counter pretty h the door I wonder if he did it on purpose, to distract himself from what happened at the clinic Luke actually tried to chase Kayden down after he ran out of the roo upset, but he never said what happened

"You knohat I just realized?" Seth points a syrupy fork at me as he chews a mouthful of pancakes "This needs to be added to our list"

I glance down at the barely touched stack of pancakes on the plate in front of me "What? Eat pancakes?"

His neck e mouthful of pancakes down "No, eat a lot of pancakes"

I pick up the bottle of strawberry syrup that’s in the tray at the end of the table I press my thumb down on the handle, tip the bottle, and douse the pancakes with red syrup "That doesn’t seeh for the list"

Seth stabs his fork into his pancakes as he shakes his head

"No way Everyone in the world should sit down and stuff themselves with pancakes at least one time in their life" He shoves a bite into his mouth and then closes his eyes and inhales deeply

"Especially ones this dah flees fro happy It’s the first tiasm?" I ask

He nods his head and ss his food with a forceful gulp

"The gasms of champions"

"Champions of what?"

"Life"

I can’t stop s as I shovel up a forkful of pancakes and stuff theht, we can add it to the list and then cross it off because we’re doing it right now"

He grins frorabs a napkin froers circle the glass of milk in front of him and he wraps his lips around the straw and takes a sip He sets the glass doipes his mouth off with the sleeve of his shirt, and then leans back in the booth and drapes his arms over the back of the seat He watches me eat with an anxious expression on his face

I cram my mouth with pancakes and then look up at him

"What?"

His shouldersif you wanted to talk about what happened"

I extend my hand toward the butter in the middle of the table beside a plate full of toast and a bowl full of jarab the knife and slide it through the butter, getting a thin slice on the blade "Nothing I just messed up That’s all"

"You looked like you were going to cry," he says "And Kayden, well, he looked upset when he walked out I mean, he practically ran away from me when I said hi"

I smear the butter all over the pancakes and it makes a mess with the syrup "I just didn’t approach him like a skittish cat I threw the road trip idea out there way too quickly and he freaked out At least I think that’s what happened"

"So he just decided to go home to his mother and father"

Seth lowers his hands down from the back of the booth and rests his elbows on top of the table "Why would he do that?"