“Ha-ha, very funny. I was ten! But his hair, you can’t say anything bad about his hair!”
“Uh-huh, I know you have his picture secretly taped inside your diary and you kiss it good night before bed,” I teased her.
“Ugh, I can’t believe you’re still bringing that up. I was ten, and thought that I was supposed to like him since every other girl in class did,” she told me, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Still doesn’t change a thing,” I teased, pulling her hair a little.
She swung to smack my arm, and I dodged it. I started running away from her, not looking back, when all of a sudden I felt a hand on my arm. She tugged on me and I fell down. With her still holding on to me, she followed right after me. We were laughing so hard we barely heard Beck come up, glaring at me as I looked up.
“Cal, are you okay? Ash, what were you doing?” he asked, still looking like he wanted to strangle me. That’s when I noticed that Cal’s button down shirt was now missing a few of the buttons and showing part of her stomach. Cal was extremely modest and when I looked up at her face, it was bright red.
Beck cleared his throat, and knelt down next to her, taking his t-shirt off, and leaving on his long-sleeved one. He handed the shirt over to her and she quickly put it on, the blush covering her face reaching all the way to her hairline.
“She’s fine,” I told him, but he gave me a quick glare and I stopped talking immediately. I had seen this Beck before and he wasn’t someone that I really wanted to cross.
As if she sensed the tension rolling off of him, Cal jumped up and snatched his baseball cap from his head and put it on her head. Beck smirked at her and grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder. He ran off towards the dugout, while she screamed and smacked his back the whole time.
We practiced for another hour. The tension disappeared the minute we picked up the ball and put our gloves on.
After getting the gear packed into our duffel bags, we started walking towards our street.
“I don’t know why we have to go to church tonight. Can’t we just hang out at my house?” Beck complained as we walked.
Beck was never big on going to church. If his parents didn't make him, he probably wouldn't ever go.
“No, we signed up to serve dinner, and they’re counting on us to be there,” Cal told him.
Beck shrugged his shoulders, and ran his hand through his hair. “I just don’t understand why you guys like going,” he replied.
“It's not about liking to go. It is doing what God asks us to do. It's a time for us to get together and fellowship and worship Him. ”
He just nodded in reply, never going into more deep conversations when it came to spiritual things.
I silently set a reminder for myself to pray for Beck and hope one day he would want to go to church with us as much as we wanted him there. We were a team, the three of us.
***
Calla
Now
I STOOD outside my dorm room, feeling like a million butterflies were flying around in my stomach. I had only exchanged a few emails with my roommate, Liza Thomas. All I knew about her was that she was from Fairhope, Alabama, a little town just outside of Mobile. She had an older brother, Erik, who attended here before heading off to law school. She also had a younger sister, Vivi. One of her emails was about how Vivi was following in her footsteps and just made the cheerleading squad at her old high school.
We exchanged pictures and talked about, as she put it, “a color scheme for our dorm room.” I had no idea what she was talking about until she emailed me pictures of a few quilts her mom bought for us.
I was excited at the prospect of having a girl as a friend. I had always had a hard time making friends with the girls from school. I never knew if they really wanted to be friends with me or if they were just using me to get closer to Asher and Beck. And that was the case with the girls that actually talked to me. The other half of the girl population hated me because of the attention that I got from my two best friends.
I opened the door to my dorm and was taken aback by all the pink that seemed to multiply around our room. Pink quilts lay on the two twin beds in the room, with matching pink rugs and pink lamps. Liza and her mom had apparently gone all out decorating for us. They had put a pink and lime green gingham curtain on our window, and on each of our desks there was a white and pink orchid. There was a new flat screen TV with a Blu-ray player sitting on Liza’s dresser. It was obvious money was not an issue for her parents.
As I tried to take it all in, I noticed a girl that could've only been Liza standing at her bed, putting away her clothes. As soon as she heard the door close, she stopped and ran over to me, grabbing me in a tight hug. I was extremely uncomfortable with her hugging me; she was practically a stranger. She finally let go of me after what seemed like forever, and I quickly moved out of arms reach… I was not going to take any more chances of an unexpected hug.
“I’m so excited you’re finally here! My mom and I have been going crazy the last few days getting things ready. Ah, I’m just so glad you’re here!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down.
My nerves kicked up a notch, at the thought of having to live with her. She seemed hyper and very happy… two things that would not be used to describe me. Her brown hair bounced up and down right along with her, and her wide, blue eyes filled with excitement. You’d think it was Santa standing in front of a five-year-old.
“Yeah. Hey,” I replied, trying to recover from the shock that had settled on me over the last few minutes. “Thank you so much for doing all of this. My stuff from home was pretty plain and this is just...” I struggled to find a word that would make me sound enthusiastic.
I looked around the room at the girly curtains, pink quilts and something that looked like a pink bird — oh, it was a feathered pillow — and even though I’d never admit it to anyone, I liked it a little bit.
Liza finally let go of me and beamed. “It’s really no big deal. We love decorating and I’m so glad you like it. I just know we are going to become fast friends.”
Her words sounded so sincere I couldn’t help but feel the same. I was starting to really like her, and I thought that she was someone I could become good friends with.
And even if I didn’t believe that then, I’d have believed it a few days later. She had a magnetic personality that you couldn’t help but want to be around. I felt a little bad that I had felt awkward the first time we met, because she had been such a great friend to me the first few weeks we’d been at college. When I mentioned that I would need to find a part-time job, she just decided that she would accompany me to every restaurant, coffee shop and store around campus collecting applications with me. I didn’t ask and she didn’t offer. It was a given. She even went as far as letting me borrow her clothes for the interviews. A week after starting the search, I landed one at a little indie bookstore.
The bookstore’s name was Dee’s Small Bookshop the owner’s name, Dinah. She shared the same magnetic personality that Liza had, and I felt relaxed when I was around her.
There was a cash register on the front counter and only six rows full of books. They were all colored in bright paint, the color alone would be ugly, but when put together it worked. The shelves were ceiling-high, and jam-packed. Even though there didn’t seem to be a certain order to things, it surprisingly worked.
There was an old musty smell that came from the worn books; it was a mix of leather and old paper. I found the smell oddly comforting whenever I walked in. It always made me feel at home.
Dinah was a tiny woman with a twenties’ bob as black as the night, piercing blue eyes and high cheekbones. She was in her late fifties, but her spirit seemed to be as young as mine, always humming some melody and wearing bright colors and tons of jewelry.
My job was anything and everything she told me to do; if she wanted me at the till, there I was; if she needed someone to stock the shelves with new releases, I did it. Dinah sort of hovered wherever
I was, which I thought was just her way of making sure I didn’t feel like she’d left me alone, but in all honesty, it was actually relaxing getting lost in those books all by myself, even though I wasn’t very bookish.
“There’s my working girl,” Liza greeted me with an overly chipper voice one Friday after I came from work. Liza was always chipper, and by then I was so used to it, it wasn’t even suspicious. Maybe it should have been because she said, “Guess what! We’re going to a party on Wood Manor tonight!”
I shook my head, because there was no way I was going anywhere but straight to bed tonight.
“Shower, then bed, maybe some TV. I’m exhausted.” I opened a bottle of water from the pink mini-fridge we had in the room and took a gulp. “Plus, you know I don’t do parties.”
Liza didn’t even blink at my words, seemingly prepared for what I was going to say. “I need you to be a good friend now, Calla. There’s a guy and I need my wing … girl? Plus it’s not a party-party… it’s sort of a group of people from his church hanging out.”
“Um, yeah sounds like a party to me. Besides…what guy?” I asked her as I plopped down on my bed. I buried my face into my pillow, with hopes that if I didn’t look at her, I’d be able to stay strong and not give into Liza.
Although, I think usually everyone caved into her. She just had this way to convince you of anything.
“Oh, just someone I met today. He’s so cute and nice,” she said.
“Well, does this someone have a name?” I asked her, I lifted my head and looked towards her.
“Of course, doesn’t everyone? I just never got it,” she said, smiling. “Anywho, he told me about this thing tonight and said we should come.”
“Somehow I doubt he said I should come.” Liza had been bugging me to go to a college party, if only for the experience, ever since that first night we met.
”Wait, hear me out,” she said, putting her palm up to stop me when I started shaking my head. “It’s been over a year. It’s time to move on.”
Oh no. She couldn’t be serious. I’d barely mentioned my life back home to her, and I only did so to fend off her playing matchmaker with me.
“Come on, Calla, it’s been a month since we’ve started college and you haven’t been anywhere but classes, work and here. You need to have more than one friend here. Plus, I need you there to help me figure out if he's interested in me.” Liza said this last part like it was a top secret mission. I knew she would eventually bring up the fact that I hadn’t taken her up on an invitation to get out once.
“I have more than one friend here,” I said defensively.
“Calla, please? I really need you there,” she begged. My resolve to turn her down was quickly crumbling under her puppy-dog eyed stare; she so was playing dirty now. I guessed it was time to get out of my room, as much as I didn’t want to.
“Promise you won’t leave me alone for a second,” I told her.
“I promise not to leave you alone for a second.” She grinned triumphantly. “And you really need to meet some of my friends. All you do is study and sleep.” She gave me a meaningful look and started to shake her hips around like she was dancing.
“Fine, but if I want to leave, no guilt trips whatsoever,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her to show that I was being serious. She completely ignored the message, and grabbing my hand, she pulled me into the bathroom. She took out her enormous makeup bag, curling irons, some stuff in a spray can that I didn’t even want to know what it was used for, and she pointed down to the toilet seat.
I braced myself for what I thought would be a full-out makeover from movies where I turned from an ugly duckling to a swan and realized I was hot.
So naturally, I was surprised when she didn’t even glance my way and started applying makeup on her own face. She must have seen the confusion I felt because she stopped in the middle of putting a second layer of mascara on her right eye and said, “You didn’t think I’d make you wear makeup and a skirt, did you? You mentioned needing a shower, and so I thought we could talk while we both got ready. Although… I do have the cutest outfit, and it would look so good on you. Please wear it!”
“Well...” I trailed off not really sure what to say. For one I’m not used to the whole female bonding and it was a little weird taking a shower while someone was in the room. I guess this is what I get for not having that many girls for friends.
“Its fine either way,” she said. “You know me better than that! I’m just glad you’re coming with me, you can wear whatever you want.”
“Okay, sure,” I said in a shaky voice, I was feeling a little silly for thinking she would try to change me. After all, it’s just clothes.
Liza walked to her closet and pulled out a pair of white denim shorts, and a sheer green three quarter sleeved shirt.
“I set the clothes on my bed if you want to wear them,” she told me as she walked back into the bathroom, and I leaned my forehead against my dresser while I tried to calm my nerves. I wasn’t used to being in big groups. When I did go out, it was just usually Parker and me. I glanced over at Liza’s bed and noticed a pretty pink maxi dress. It was sleeveless. She had set out a cream button-down sweater to wear over it.
Once I got dressed, I scrunched my hair so it would add a little wave to it. Then finished off my look with some mascara and lipstick.
Liza walked in looking really pretty and when she saw me; she gave me the biggest smile.
“I’m so glad we’re the same size. You look great,” she told me, as she grabbed her purse.
I grabbed my clutch and threw my phone inside.
“Do you think I need a jacket?” I asked her. The temperature had been all over the place the last few days, being fall in Bama you never really knew what to prepare for.
“No I don’t think so. You have the sweater, it should keep you warm enough,” she answered as we headed out the door.
We left the apartment and headed over to the house.
“I mean it Liza, when I want to leave… no guilt trips.”
“Okay, Calla relax, I promise,” she told me again.
The walk took only about ten minutes but it felt like longer. There was a slight breeze tonight, and I wished I had brought a light jacket to wear. I couldn’t stop fidgeting. Those annoying butterflies started back up and I tried to calm myself down. I knew it meant a lot to Liza that I had a good time and I didn’t want to disappoint her.
We came up on a large two-story house; it was grey with a bright yellow door.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked Liza. There wasn’t anyone outside when we approached the house. There was no indication that there were even people inside, it was so quiet.
She just nodded and kept walking up the walkway. As we got to the steps, I could hear loud laughter and a bunch of chatter from the people inside.
As we walked up the steps, I already had a list of believable excuses for leaving early in my head.
“Okay, try to have some fun,” Liza, begged me.
As we entered the house, Everytime by JJ Weeks Band hit my ears and I was surprised at how many people were packed in the house.
I followed Liza towards the kitchen where all the snacks were. Grabbing a coke, I opened it, and bumped into someone as I attempted to take a sip. Trying to get out of the way, I walked to the hallway, assuming Liza was still with me. But as I turned around I couldn't see her. I made my way back to the kitchen, but she was nowhere in sight. I specifically remembered her saying she wouldn’t leave me alone.
Starting to feel a little panicky, I started to walk around the house trying to find her.
I entered the living room; I scanned the room looking for Liza. In the corner, I saw a group of people talking. My breath caught as my eyes instantly focused on a tall guy standing in the group. He had his back to me but my gaze focused on the backwards Braves cap on his head. My heart started pounding out of my chest as I tried to control my breathing. Breathe in. Breathe out. I kept repeating over
and over again in my head.
As if he could sense my gaze on his back, he turned around and familiar hazel eyes immediately locked on to mine. I tried so hard to look away, but the pull was too strong. The whole room slipped away, while we stared at each other, and it was just the two of us.
I tried not to smile, but failed, just the sight of him made my body move on its own accord. I needed to be near him. It had been a year since I last saw him and by the way he was looking at me, with a mixture of relief and despair. I could see on his face that being apart was just as miserable for him as it was for me.
Beck started walking towards me, leaving the dark haired girl he was talking to behind. Stunned at his abrupt departure, she looked to see what took his attention away from her and then narrowed her eyes at me. I almost wanted to laugh because I got this sense of déjà-vu, the way she was trying to assess how much competition I was to her.
I should have turned and walked out of the room the second I realized it was him, because I knew I didn’t deserve the warmth in his eyes, but after a year of not seeing him, I just stood there frozen. I tried taking in every detail of him as if I were seeing him for the first and last time at once. I knew I missed him. I spent practically my whole life with him, but up until this point, I hadn’t realized just how much that was.
He was taller, leaner, yet he still had the same handsome look that he seemed to pull off naturally. He didn’t look like my Beck though; he had been carefree and had a kindness that showed. The guy standing in front of me had a hardened look, tired and too mature for our age.
Beck reached out with his hand to cup my face, almost like he was in some sort of a trance. I instinctively leaned into his touch, instantly feeling the tension drain from my body as his calloused fingers brushed my cheek. And just as he went to pull me into one of his all engulfing hugs, he was suddenly yanked away. He swung around, confusion, and anger etched into the hard lines on his face, but then he stopped short, and his shoulders slumped.
“Stay away from her,” a voice, so like Asher’s, bellowed from behind him. Turning around I saw Sam fist Beck’s shirt and slam him against the wall. All I could do was watch as Beck dropped his arms to his sides, refusing to fight back.
What's Left of Us (The Us Series Book 1) Page 3
