“Is he going to leave?”
My eye twitches. “Lincoln doesn’t exactly have opportunities for actors, Gav. He’ll leave eventually.”
He doesn’t say anything with words, but his solemn head bob makes my frown deepen. Why is he being so weird about it? Corbin won’t live out his dream if he stays here.
I elbow his arm. “What?”
He shakes his head and opens the glass door for me that’s littered with tobacco ads and two-for-one specials on soda. When I step through, I wait for him to say something. He doesn’t meet my eyes as he walks over to the counter and orders our usual pepperoni pizza.
Guiding me over to where the big bottles of soda rest on the shelf, he grabs a Dr. Pepper and then gestures toward the candy section with his chin. “Nothing, Kin. Just grab your candy so you can’t say I don’t love you.”
After he pays for everything, we sit at a table in back and wait for the pizza. “What are you thinking?”
He sighs and stretches his long legs out, ripping apart one of the napkins from the dispenser. “If you’re just friends, it won’t matter, but you’ve never had a guy friend before. You talk about him all the time. Corbin this and Corbin that. If he’s going to leave…” His shoulders lift, then he looks up at me through thick lashes that he got from Mom. “Don’t look at me like that. I just don’t want to see you get hurt. By anyone other than me.”
“I’m not staying here forever either,” I point out, unsure of what else to say. He’s insisting that more is going on with Corbin than there is. It’ll be Christmas soon, which means the annoying cocky boy I was tasked to show around has been here for almost four months. It’s true that we’re always together, but nothing has ever happened that would warrant his suspicion about us being more than friends.
“But you’re also not going to follow him around if he ever makes it,” he counters, sitting forward and dragging his feet under his chair. “I just want you to see that your friendship with him may be great now, but it’s not forever.”
Now I roll my eyes at the thought of him trying to be all brotherly and protective. “I love you, Gavin, but there’s nothing to warn me about. Corbin and I are just friends. I won’t get hurt. One day, we’ll both make lives for ourselves outside of Lincoln.”
“And you’ll be fine with that?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
His silence is deafening.
The conversation dies into nothing but the sound of the woman making our pizza and the door opening with customers coming in to pay for gas and grab snacks.
I watch the stoplight flicker from yellow to red, and the cars turning despite the sign hanging on the line that tells them no turning right. Nothing ever stops anyone around here, and that gives me hope that everything will be okay.
Corbin will become a famous actor.
I’ll become a famous writer.
We’ll be happy.
On Christmas Eve, the giddiness of the following day takes hold of the town. The glittery decorations hanging from the streetlights make the walk from the Tryon more festive along with the carolers singing in the square. Everyone is always happier this time of year, playing nice with their neighbors and smiling more. I never understood, but I like it.
I’m halfway down Main Street bundled in three different layers when headlights get nearer from behind me. The crunching snow under slowing tires has me turning to see a white Jeep pulling over to the shoulder of the road.
“Seriously?” Corbin says.
“Hey.”
He rolls his eyes. “Get in.”
Too cold to argue, I quickly make my way around the front of the Jeep and climb into the passenger seat. The cab is toasty warm, so I put my hands in front of the vents and sigh in relief.
His scolding comes as expected. “I told you to call me when you clocked out.”
I lean back in the seat. “You told me you were helping your mother run some last-minute errands when we texted on my break. I figured you were busy.”
He hesitates before sighing, still not putting the car in drive. “Dad came home early and helped her instead. I was waiting for you to call me.”
Corbin’s relationship with his father still confuses me, but it’s not a topic he likes talking about. Mr. Callum seems nice enough, but Corbin has mentioned that he has anger issues caused by an accident he was in a few years ago that makes him hard to be near for long periods of time. Never knowing what to say, I just let him change the subject when it comes up.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, resting my hands on my lap.
He shrugs and reaches for something in the back seat. When he produces a green and red wrapped present with a huge silver bow on it, a huge smile spreads on my face.
“Dad won’t let me come see you tomorrow. Said I’d be bugging your family.” He sets the gift on my lap. “But I wanted you to have your gift. Even wrapped it myself.”
He says the last part so proudly, I can’t help but laugh and poke at the bow. “The color matches your eyes.”
“That’s what Mom said.”
I bite my lip. “Can I open it now?”
He taps the steering wheel. “Yeah, as long as your parents won’t think you got kidnapped and call the cops.”
I scoff and tear at the wrapping. “They know where to look first. I mean, if I’m not with you then there’s definitely another strange man lurking outside of dark restaurants waiting for me. Sounds familiar…”
He flicks my arm. “Still not funny.”
I stick my tongue out. “It is.”
Once I finally get the wrapping off, keeping the bow intact so I can keep it, I stare down at the padded burgundy notebook in front of me. In golden script lettering, it says most of all, let love guide your life.
Running my fingers over the magnetic latch that keeps it closed, I flick it open and study the pretty cream pages with inspirational quotes on the top of each one.
“Corbin,” I whisper.
“It’s silly, but I figured you could use something new to write in,” he tells me quickly.
Instead of answering, I lean forward and give his cheek a quick peck. When I settle back in my seat, I hug the notebook to my chest. “This is perfect. Thank you.”
His lips part but nothing escapes them.
I reach into my pocket and pull out a piece of paper. My cheeks warm as I pass it to him, partially wishing I tried harder at finding something for him for the holiday.
He slowly takes it and glances down at the advertisement listed. “I found this when I was reading the paper. I know, I know. The paper is really lame, but if I hadn’t been reading it, I wouldn’t have seen the ad. You’d be perfect for what they’re looking for.”
The capital region tends to film a lot of commercials and made for TV movies. Although not many are well-known, locals are cast to involve the community. Corbin already spends a lot of time in the area because he takes acting classes there.
“It’s a movie casting call,” he says slowly, meeting my eyes after scanning the ad again. “Is this real?”
“Yes.” I grin. “And you have an audition, so you better be on your A game because they’re expecting the best.”