Page 104 of Should the Sky Fall

After the machine comes to life, Cal dries his hands and joins Dawson on the sofa.

“I want to watch the movie,” he blurts out before Dawson can ask like he’d planned to.

Dawson laughs. “Which one?”

“With Tatum.”

Oh dear god.“Cal,” Dawson says with a patient smile. “Ellis was just taking the piss.”

Cal makes a grunting noise. “It’s about amnesia.”

“We can watch50 First Dates,then,” Dawson suggests innocently.

“Next time. I want to watch this first.”

Well, it was worth a try. Dawson finds the movie on Netflix and presses play, hoping Cal will let Ellis’ teasing go.

Two minutes in, it’s clear no such thing will happen.

“You think he’s cute?” Cal asks, glaring at the TV.

Dawson’s gonna kill Ellis and he’ll make it hurt. “Yes, Cal, I think he’s cute,” he says tiredly. “That’s it. That’s all there’s to it. Okay?”

Cal doesn’t talk for a long time. He’s probably sulking, but Dawson would rather take that than the insistent questions. The peace lasts until Tatum’s character takes off his shirt.

“Do you think I should exercise more?” Cal asks, looking down at himself critically.

“With twenty plus stitches in you? No, I don’t think so,” Dawson says, nearly groaning out loud when Cal continues to sulk. Time to pull out the big guns. He can’t take this much longer. He’s never had to deal with a self-conscious Cal. “You’re fine, Cal. And you’re an attractive guy, okay? You don’t have to be ripped like that.”

Cal’s always kept himself in shape, mostly through cardio and bodyweight training instead of heavy lifting. He’s one of those lucky fuckers who have to do very little to stay fit, and that’s why, after weeks of minimal to zero physical activity, he doesn’t look that different to his pre-accident shape. Whatever weight he lost at the hospital, he’s probably gained back in the last three days he has spent with Dawson, eating his food.

“Does it have a happy ending?” Cal asks during the third-act drama when it looks like the characters will never find their way back to each other.

“Yeah, it does.”

When the credits roll, Cal turns to Dawson with a look of betrayal. “You said it had a happy ending.”

“It did.”

“But she never remembered him.”

Oh.

Is that the ending Cal was hoping for? To be honest, Dawson didn’t even think of that. To him, the movie has a happy ending, but he should’ve known that for Cal, who’s literally living the story, it would be different.

“She didn’t have to. She just fell in love with him all over again. And they were happy.”

“Like…a clean slate?”

Dawson smiles. “Yeah, like that.”

“Oh.”

Cal’s expression softens. His gaze travels over Dawson’s face, searching for something. His lips part, as if he’s about to speak. Dawson finds himself breathing quietly, wanting to hear whatever Cal’s about to say, but it never happens. Instead, Cal moves, leaning ever so slightly into Dawson’s space, close enough that Dawson can smell chocolate on his breath. For a moment, he almost wants to…

As if someone yanks him by the collar of his shirt, Dawson draws back, making Cal jump with the sudden movement.

He scrambles to his feet, swaying a little as he tries to shake off the strange haze that just came over him. God, he almost… He wanted to... “I’m gonna go to bed. I—I’m pretty beat.”