No Ordinary Exchange

and this, kids, is conflict resolution

As you may know if you have seen US news, Hurricane Laura hit Louisiana as a Category 4 this past week, tied for the worst storm to hit the state in history. My family and I are safe, as we were east of the worst of the hurricane, only receiving tropical storm level winds/rain and several tornado warnings with only one or two touching down. But Lake Charles and much of southwest LA is absolutely devastated; both the high winds and storm surge (which was thankfully less than expected) have destroyed these areas, and to make it worse, they are battling a chemical fire in Lake Charles as well. So many people no longer have homes to return to, and there will undoubtedly be increasing covid-19 outbreaks after this because of how many were forced to evacuate before the storm. If you can, please consider donating to hurricane relief efforts for LA and TX. This has been a very hard week, especially combined with having to start college on top of the covid-19 pandemic. I hope you all are well, and I apologize that this chapter is on the shorter side. Stay safe, and thank you for reading.

xXxXxXx

"So."

"So."

"We... need to talk."

Callum nodded. "We do."

And then neither of them spoke. Because that would mean admitting things were bad, which was a reality difficult for both of them to face. At least, it seemed so to Callum.

Dear God, this was awkward. At least they'd acknowledged communication was needed to resolve their argument, but follow-up and a healthy discussion were generally required for communication to be considered effective and successful. Sitting in silence was a far cry from success.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea," Rayla suddenly said, standing up from the table and starting to grab her booksack off the back of her chair. "I should just leave before -"

"No!" Callum exclaimed, practically bolting to his feet as he threw out a hand to stop her. "No," he repeated, trying to level his tone and sound less... er, panicked and desperate. "It's - It's really important that we talk about what happened. We can't go back. It's not... easy, obviously, to just - just fix it, but... we can do this." They had to fix things. He refused to let failure be an option.

Rayla still seemed hesitant, but she nodded, hanging her bag back over her chair before sitting.

Yet again, they ended up in a silent stalemate, staring awkwardly at nothing and everything while waiting for the other to speak.

Callum tried to organize his thoughts. He wanted to apologize for his overreaction when he found out she was still going to football practice despite her injury. He also wanted to explain that he'd just been worried about her and that he didn't want her to exacerbate the sprain, especially because she was preparing so intensely for the big game against Neolandia, which was why he'd been so insistent in the first place that she stop going to practice until she was healed. His reaction was rooted in concern. That didn't excuse his anger, of course, but at least it could explain it. He also needed to apologize for not respecting her decision - he didn't have to agree with her going to football practice, but nonetheless it was her choice, not his, and he should have accepted that instead of snapping at her.

Still, maybe the first thing he needed to apologize for was not showing her his piece for the fall art showcase. The piece he was actually yet to submit because he felt so guilty about having not shown it to her when he'd promised he would. The guilt was eating him alive.

It seemed like a million different possibilities of where to begin his apology were flying around his head, yet all were flying too quickly for him to jump up and grab one out of the air.