by May Sage
After she was done dusting, Cali grabbed the small handbag Lucy had bought her, and walked to the closest library. One of the attendees putting books back on the shelf smiled at her, and greeted her with a little wave. She’d only used that library for the last month, but she'd been there every single day, from morning up until the end of the afternoon, so the woman was a familiar face.
Cali had sat down at one of their computers and enthusiastically browsed through all of the available jobs listed on craigslist and monster, but she soon realized that landing one wasn’t going to be easy. The qualifications required never matched anything she’d done in the past. She started working on her resume, pushing it, adding as much fluff as she could, because quite frankly it was pathetic.
To her shame, Cali had let Bruce force her to quit the part time job she’d had at college, and then, he’d also prevented her from getting another job. He immediately grew defensive about it, accusing her of trying to leave him, which admittedly, was exactly what she’d hoped to do, even before he’d started beating her. But when the accusations were followed by kicks to the stomach, a slap to her face, she'd been too cowardly to pursue the matter. That meant she hadn’t worked at all for the last two years and nine months. Well, she’d cleaned, cooked, taken care of his accounting, sometimes even answered the phone for him, but firstly, his business hadn’t exactly been legal, and she was also pretty sure he wasn't about to give her a reference, so she couldn't list it.
All that meant that the only sort of jobs she could get were waitressing, grocery store cashier, maybe a start-up secretary position - if she was lucky.
She spent the first few hours of the day polishing her resume again, and started applying to the few positions that had come up overnight. Cali stared at an optional entry in the application again. Mobile phone number. Everyone asked for it, and she didn't have one. She bit her lip, knowing she should at least try to purchase a burner phone, if she wanted to have any hope of getting a job at all. Sure, potential employers could contact her via email, but she was confident that not seeing direct contact details would deter some people, if her empty resume didn’t do the trick.
She stretched her stiff back, and got up to pick a book just before five o'clock, as the library was about to close. As she went to check it out, the librarian who always waved her way smiled at her again, somehow making her feel okay about spending eight hours a day in there like a complete bum.
“Working on some homework?” the woman guessed, mistaking her as a student.
Cali wasn't surprised; she looked young, and younger yet as she didn’t have access to any make up. She shook her head, replying, “No, I'm not in college.” She could have left it at that, but she found herself adding, “I dropped out in my senior year.”
The librarian’s smile widened, which made her look downright beautiful. She was cute, rocking the long conservative skirt look, with glasses and a severe hairstyle, but all of a sudden, she looked like she belonged on the cover of a romance book like the one Cali was clutching in her hand. “Yeah more and more people realize that college education doesn't actually mean much these days.”
Callie smiled back, loving the woman for making her feel normal – for once.
But then, the librarian asked, “What do you do?”
Right. Scratch normal; back to being a bum.
“Nothing, right now. That's why I'm here: I'm applying for jobs.”
The woman nodded again, not one iota of judgement in her gaze.
“What sort of job are you looking for?” She asked. “One of my friends is a headhunter, she might be able to hook you up.”
Yeah right. Headhunters where looking for talented, exceptional people.
“Just something basic, a starter position,” she replied awkwardly. “I don’t have much experience.”
“Okay, I’ll ask her to let me know if she has anything like that coming up.”
Cali thanked her, before introducing yourself, “I'm Caliana, by the way. Cali.”
“Vivian,” the woman replied. “Sound like both of our parents had weird taste when itt comes to names. I go by Vee.”
“Well, nice to meet you. I’d better go, let you lock up and all. Catch you again tomorrow!”
Wren
“Hey, I haven't seen you for a while,” the woman purred sounding seductive, sneaking in behind him as he was putting his things away.
Wren turned to Julia Andrews, one of the nurses, who he saw every now and then; her expression, the way she smiled at him, made it clear she was ripe for the picking, eager to get back under him, and all of a sudden, Wren realized how long it had been since he’d had sex. Not just with Julia, but he hadn’t fucked any woman at all in ages. Cali had moved in a month ago, now, and he was pretty certain his last fuck had been at least a couple of weeks before then.
Wren went straight home after work, partially to make sure that Cali was comfortable and feeling at home, partially because he worked like crazy through flu season; his epic immune system had been a blessing and a curse. He hadn’t been sick, which meant that he hadn’t even had one day off in November, picking up the slack from his colleges. With a schedule like that, it made sense to get as much rest as he could, so he hadn’t bothered contacting any of the women he dated.
Alright, if he was completely sincere with himself, he also got home because he loved spending time with Cali. The girl was cool. She liked Star Trek, Star Wars, and when she didn’t put a good movie on, he caught her watching the discovery channel, not the kind of show that made him want to pass his head through a blender.
Six weeks. He hadn’t had sex for six weeks. He didn’t think he’d had so long a hiatus since high school; although then, he'd at least had seen some action with his hand. He couldn’t even remember jacking off.
That couldn’t be healthy. What was worse, if the woman hadn’t come onto him, he might not have noticed. Wren wondered if he needed to make an appointment to see his doctor; Ethan would sort him out if there was anything wrong with him.
“Sorry,” he found himself saying, “I'm pretty busy.”
No, dammit. What was it with his stupid mouth? That wasn't a normal, logical answer. He should have said, “hell to the yes, let’s do it, right now, in the dispensary room, in the changing rooms, anywhere.”
There was something wrong with him, there must be.
Julia took his rejection better than him, shrugging it off, when Wren felt like he should be getting tested for life-threatening diseases. To his confusion, he really wasn’t in the mood for jumping the sexy nurse although he knew exactly what sort of curves she packed under the ugly scrubs.
What the hell was happening to him? “Hey Richards?”
He turned to Arianna, sighing in anticipation of her next words. His boss wanted him to stay late, again. Oh, and probably also cancel his days off. Again.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve extended your days off; you get six days rather than three. All paid. Enjoy yourself. You deserve it.”
Wren stared in shock, wondering if he’d landed in another dimension, as the severe woman retreated. Then, before she changed her mind, he ran all the way to the lockers, grabbed his things and got out of there without bothering to get changed. Knowing no taxi would take him in his state, he took the subways, getting more and more excited as the minutes passed. His fatigue had been obliterated; he was really off work for a few days. Hell, he was actually getting a vacation.
The plan was simple. He was going to sleep for two days straight, then, eat all the things, and possibly get drunk, too. Damn, how long had it been since he’d been able to act like a normal twenty-nine-year-old.
Wren froze, correcting himself. Thirty. They were in December now, so he’d turned thirty a couple of days ago. Dammit, he’d missed his own fucking birthday.
He shook his head in disbelief. He’d never made a big thing out of his birthdays – no one had celebrated them growing up, but throughout college, his friends Finn and Anna had mad
e him enjoy them, so he generally spent the evening with them. Not this time; he didn’t really care, but that said just how crazy busy he’d been recently.
He got his phone out and, sure enough, there had been a dozen of missed phone calls, and some texts threatening his balls if he didn’t answer. Ah hell. He was going to have to deal with Anna later.
On his walk from the station to his home, he called Finn, catching up quickly.
“Ladies and gentlemen, look who’s alive after all,” the smartass said, making his roll his eyes.
It wasn’t the first or last time that he’d disappeared for a while.
“Lucky you called. Anna was one ignored text away from barging into your place in the middle of the night.”
Wren winced, imagining the woman doing just that.
“Thanks for stopping her, man. I don’t live alone anymore, that wouldn’t have flown well.”
“Oh? And I assumed you were busy working. If you’re getting pussy instead, all is forgiven my friend.”
Wren chuckled, “No, I’m not. Didn’t your brother tell you? I live with one of his acquaintances. She’s…” He hesitated, not sure how to proceed. “She’s cool.”
Lame, but accurate.
“Awesome. Maybe we could catch up tonight, meet this cool friend of yours, and celebrate your birthday. I can call Anna…”
“No. Tonight… I’m busy.” Damn his mouth again; it spoke without any volition on his part.
“Doing something cool?” Finn retorted.
“Go fuck yourself, Johnson,” he laughed, hanging up as his friend started something that sounded like I take that as a yes.
But truth was, he had every intention of doing something cool.
Cali had cooked for him every single day during the longest month of his professional career so far; he might have died of starvation otherwise. The least he could do was take her out for dinner on his night off.
That sounded like a good enough reason, and he wasn’t going to analyze his impulse further.
Cali
Standing in front of the handsome building she now called home, Cali felt a little weird because it really was just that: home, although she’d only lived there for a month now. It was somewhere safe, somewhere she was looking forward to getting back to when she was out, somewhere she could relax. She’d taken that sort of feeling for granted in her youth but the last few years had made it completely foreign. The place she’d lived had been her prison; when she got to go out – which was extremely rare – she dreaded going back, feeling anxiety in the pit of her stomach.
She was so blessed. If it hadn't been for sheer luck, she would either have been at Bruce's house, under lock and key, or at the hospital; best case scenario, she would have somehow escaped and made it to a shelter. Instead, thanks to a complete stranger who hadn't felt like ignoring the sound of her screams, she lived in an Upper East Side townhouse.
In all honesty, the house wasn't her taste, too showie, too impersonal. She was certain that Wren had hired an interior designer to come up with to the decor, because the house really wasn’t what she would have pegged as his type either.
She’d been standing in front of the door, fetching her keys from her handbag, when a hand landed on her shoulder, and Cali immediately shivered, and jumped back, preparing to run; but when she turned to make a dash for it, she realized it was only Lucy.
The gorgeous redhead who had saved in the middle of the worst beating Bruce had ever given her, just over four weeks ago, seemed contrite, rather than surprised at Cali’s irrational reaction; like she understood it. After a few seconds, she was kind enough to prevent herself from commenting about it at all, pretending that she hadn’t freaked out at a simple touch.
How embarrassing.
“Hey,” Lucy said, forcing a smile. “I was wondering how you were doing, and I couldn't reach you on the home phone number you gave me.”
“Sorry,” Cali apologized, wincing, “I'm rarely at home during the day; I'm trying to find a job.”
She didn't elaborate, not wanting to explain that she didn't have a computer, because she knew what Lucy would say. She would have offered to lend her her own, or even to buy her one, which was out of the freaking question. She already owed the woman way too much.
“Of course, you are,” she said. “So, you want me to see if there’s an opening at Harris Toys?”
Cali fervently shook her head, knowing she had zero skills that could possibly be useful to that prestigious company.
“No, I have something lined up, I think,” she lied.
Lying hadn’t come easy to her in the past, but over the last three years, she’d learned to be better at it, because certain lies could spare her a punch or two.
“Awesome,” Lucy replied with a humongous smile. “Hey, I'm going to hang out with my friend Piper today – nothing fancy, we just eat a pizza at a kid friendly restaurant or something. Wanna come?”
Cali wanted to say no; she had taken some money with her when she’d left Bruce’s, but as it was his cash, she hated using it, knowing that what she’d done was nothing short of stealing. But she did use it to feed herself, or when she really needed to. Unfortunately, whatever way she thought of it, she couldn’t qualify pizza as an emergency. Her stomach rumbled, heartily disagreeing, but she ignored it. She couldn't afford to go out, but she bit her lip, not wanting to sound ungrateful, because she owed everything to Lucy.
The woman must have correctly guessed her dilemma, because she said, “Dinner’s on me.” Before Lucy could refuse, she added, “And if you really insist, we’ll add it to your tab.”
The woman already knew her pretty well; she didn’t take handouts easily, because the last time she had, she’d accepted to stay rent free with her boyfriend, after her parent’s death. Within six months, she’d paid for it by becoming a punching bag. Never again. She wanted to stand on her own two feet, dammit.
But on the other hand, the woman was offering pizza.
“Okay, but I'll pay you back.”
Piper was a nice woman, but it was Maya, her five-year-old daughter, that Cali fell in love with. The child greeted her with an, “I’m Maya, and I'm not allowed to ask about the bruise on your forehead, because you'll be upset if I you do, but honestly, you shouldn't be, because you look pretty. I can't really see it anyway, was it all blue before? Mine gets purple and then yellow when I fall off my bike. Did you fall off your bike?”
Piper was burying her head in her hands, and Lucy did her best to prevent herself from laughing. The straightforward little thing had somehow removed all awkwardness Cali might have felt.
Truthfully the bruise on her forehead was barely visibly anymore, but at first, she’d been nervous about it, stressing out about anyone asking. No one had; Wren had looked at it numerous times, eyes narrowed, taking it in, but he’d said nothing.
“Right, so this is my daughter and I’m sorry. Consider this a blanket apology for everything she’ll say today.”
The child stuck her tongue out at Piper, before asking, “Mama, there’s a girl who can’t play skee-ball, can I go show her how it’s done?”
“Please. Just try to avoid telling her how much she sucks, honey.”
“Well, duh. Girls are sensitive and all. I’ll pretend I just wanna join in.”
On that note, the child went on her way. Jesus. The kid was going to rule the world someday.
The two women caught up – they obviously knew each other well – but they both did their best to include Cali, who would have honestly preferred if she’d been left alone.
“So, Cali, what sort of jobs are you looking for?” Piper asked, “there might be an opening where I'm working right now, if my boss continues to be an ass.”
Lucy rolled her eyes and stage-whispered, “No way is she ever going to resign. She says that every week, but she bails every time I ask if she’d let me hook her up at Harris Toys.”
“We can't work together, and you know it,” Piper retorted, before turnin
g her attention back to Cali. “I hear you're staying with a guy, right? How is it? Living with my ex-husband wasn't a walk in the park.”
“It's okay,” Cali replied with a shrug. Then, she couldn’t help but to defend Wren a little, although Piper had hardly criticized him. “He isn't that untidy. I barely have anything to do, and I get to stay in a very nice place. Wren doesn’t spend a lot of time at home either, but when he does, he’s always really nice.”
Her cheeks were burning; dammit. She felt the gaze of the two women on her, scrutinizing her.
“Right,” Lucy smirked, drawing out the words as far as it would go. “So, you have a crush on your roommate.”
“No way, no how. I do not have a crush on Wren,” Cali protested, far too vehemently.
In all honesty, until then, she would actually have believed those words, but now they came out of her mouth, she took them for what they were: a blatant lie.
How strange. She’d been certain that after her nightmare with Bruce, she was completely done with men. In fact, she said that to herself at least once a day, every time something went wrong: at least, I don’t have a man in my life…
But now? Now she was forced to admit the fact that she kind of did have one – a very attractive, attentive one.
Cali found herself fascinated by her nails as Lucy and Piper stared at her some more.
“Wine anyone?” Lucy said all of a sudden, breaking the awkward silence.
The two women left the subject alone afterwards, as they got to know each other, but three hours later, when Lucy’s taxi dropped her off in front of Wren’s building, Cali still hadn’t shaken the new revelation.
She really had a thing for Wren.
How inconvenient. She opened the door and walked in, glad to have a few hours to deal with the newfound piece of information before he got home, but the lights were all on when she entered the usually dark, quiet house.
