Sell Your Soul

The next morning, George knocked on the door and came into the living room. He saw Cali just sitting there on the couch, staring at the blank tv. He looked between the tv and her, and he sighed. He flopped down next to her, but she barely looked away.

"Trying to read your future?" he said.

"No, I already can see that," Cali mumbled.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go to breakfast with me and Jorel and Dillon," George said.

Cali shrugged and replied, "Where to?"

"Where do you wanna go?"

"Don't care."

"Of course you don't. How about IHOP, then? Pancakes are the shit."

Cali smiled and stood up. "You sure know how to cheer a girl up, Georgey."

"I hope that wasn't sarcasm."

Cali shook her head. George stood up off the couch and hugged her. Jay came in, pulling his hat onto his head, and he put his arms around both George and Cali. Dillon did the same, but after a moment, Dillon put his head up.

"Why are we doing this again?" he asked.

"Shut up, Dill, you're ruining the moment," Jay laughed.

George picked up his keys from the table and said, "Don't worry- it was ruined the minute he got in the room."

Dillon rolled his eyes. "Let's just go before I eat Cali, here."

"Ugh, you could at least wait until we're outta the room," George groaned, walking away.

"Can we not make plans to do sexual things to me?" Cali suggested. She followed George out to his car, and it wasn't long before Jay and Dillon hopped in the back seat.

The people at IHOP were all staring as Cali, George, Dillon, and Jay came in. Even the host was leery about seating them. Cali zipped up Matt's sweatshirt even further to hide her tattoo, and she grimaced as an old couple gave her a disapproving look. George nudged her with his elbow when they sat down, and she looked up at him.

"Don't worry about them," George whispered. "They've just never seen a group of good-looking folks such as ourselves."

"You mean ourselves," Dillon said. "You not included, George."

George rolled his eyes and took a long drink of water. Cali sighed and slumped down in the booth. She looked at her phone and noticed a message from Matt.

Almost done at dealer's. Be home soon. Car's all fixed :D

Cali smiled and replied: Crash our IHOP party. Me Dill Jay n J3T.

They were halfway through eating when Matt slid into the booth next to Cali. He shook his curls out and stole a bite of sausage from her plate. She smiled at him, but George smacked him on the back of the head, and he choked. Cali giggled, but she stopped by putting another bite of pancakes in her mouth. By the end of the meal, she had almost forgotten her woes. Almost, but not quite.
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Cali and Jay burst through the door, laughing hysterically about Dillon trying to hit on the IHOP waitress, but Dillon followed them, less than enthused. Matt and George were nearly as amused as Cali and Jay, but the room grew awkwardly silent as they saw Charlie standing at the bottom of the stairs. Jay pulled Dillon out of the room by his elbow, and George attempted to usher Matt out as well.

But Matt refused to move. Charlie, his eyes sunken and his face pale, looked away when he saw Cali and Matt looking at him. Cali's heart sank as he turned and went back up the stairs with his bottle of Jack Daniels. Matt gently touched her arm, but she felt the tears coming again.

She slowly made her way back to the living room, where she sat down and stared back at the blank tv.