“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
He held his hand out.
“I want to.”
I took it.
And that was the moment everything changed.
We walked onto the dance floor.
People stared.
I could feel their eyes.
But Caleb didn’t seem to care.
The music started.
I barely moved.
He laughed.
“You’re nervous.”
“A little.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone is looking.”
He glanced around.
“They’re always looking.”
That made me laugh.
Then he said something I’ll never forget.
“Let them.”
So I did.
I stopped thinking about them.
We danced.
We talked.
We laughed.
At some point, he asked about my future.
I told him I wanted to study psychology.
He told me he wanted to play football in college.
We talked about our families.
Our favorite movies.
The stupidest things we’d ever done.
It felt normal.
Wonderful.
Almost too wonderful.
At one point, I asked him,
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
He stopped.
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean.”
He looked at my face.
Not away from it.
At it.
“I know what happened to you.”
I felt uncomfortable.
He immediately said,
“I’m not saying that because of your scars.”
“Then why?”
He was quiet.
