by A. R. Breck
"Wow! Gorgeous, Callie!" Mya says, as she steps out in a black, short, long sleeve lace dress that has an open back.
"Meh, I think it's a little too much, to be honest. Yours is perfect though. Looks great with your hair." She seriously looks like a punk rock barbie in that dress.
"Okay, guys. What do you think?" Leah steps out in a tulle, sparkly baby blue dress. It comes up above her knees and is strapless, but it looks breathtaking on her.
"Leah! That is the dress, for sure." I say.
"Mhmm." Mya nods in agreement.
"You think? I hope Sawyer asks me to the dance. Do you think he will like this dress?" She's suddenly wary, tugging on the bottom of her dress.
"He would be an idiot if he didn't like you in that dress." Mya says, and Leah beams in appreciation.
We go and try on a few more dresses, although Leah has agreed to get the first dress, she decides to try on a few more for fun. Mya also tries on a few more, but decides to go with her first choice as well, her black mini dress. On about my fourth dress, I know I found the one.
"Holy. Fuck." Mya says.
"Hot!" Leah agrees.
"You think?" I'm wearing a gold and ivory two-piece dress. The top is lacey with a high neck line, halter top and open back. The bottom piece is tulle and falls above my knees. It flares out a bit, which I feel is totally not my style, but I do have to admit I look killer in this dress.
"Seriously. If you don't get a date to the dance, I will date you. You look smoking." Mya fans herself.
"Oh, shut up." Blushing, I press my palms to my cheeks, feeling the warmth seep into them. I'm not used to receiving so many comments, mostly from girlfriends.
Over the past couple weeks, I have learned that my friends back in California were just that – friends. But on some level, the whole relationship felt fake and plastic. I can tell with Mya and Leah, our friendship is genuine and not based on money, lifestyle, or anything else. It makes me feel good, knowing that I have met people that are sincere, nice, and have my best interests at heart.
"Time to pick out our shoes!" Leah squeal in excitement.
We all purchase our dresses, and then leave the boutique and go in search for a shoe store. Finding a shop right down the street, we go in and find the shoes we want right away – Leah chooses silver high heels with a blue heel, Mya chooses black heels with a shimmer to them, and I find gold heels that also have a shimmer to them, and I absolutely love them.
We each go and pick out some jewelry from the boutique down the street that Marcia owns, the little old lady with the really cool dreamcatchers. Once everything has been purchased, we hit up the pizza place in town.
Getting settled in our booth, I groan, "Oh my God, I am so hungry." Flipping the menu, I immediately find the kind of pizza I want. Both Mya and Leah choose quickly too, and snap their menus shut.
Mya looks up at me, "So, are you ready to start your first day at work tomorrow?"
"Oh shit, I totally forgot." Laughing, I say, "I am ready though. It will feel good to get some extra money in my pockets. And the owners seem nice. The wife, Shaya, looks like some kick ass snowboarder or something." We chat for a while and I learn that Mya and Leah are the only children of their parents, and that they got divorced when they were just toddlers. Both of their parents live in the area, so they switch off staying at their dads house every other weekend.
After eating our late lunch, Leah and Mya drop me back off at Aunt Jenna's.
"Thanks for today, it was fun." Smiling at them, I give them a wave as I get out of the car.
"We need to do this more! We should plan something for next weekend." Leah says.
"I will have to check out my work schedule, but I will let you guys know later this week." I say.
Mya nods. "Have a good night!" Mya says, pulling out of the driveway.
Waving at them one more time, I walk inside the dark house.
Hmm, Aunt Jenna must not be back yet.
I go and take a nice, hot shower and get dressed in my sweats. When I hop into bed, I see my phone blinking with a text.
Holy shit.
Mr. Cooper texted me?
Mr. Cooper: Your tire has been replaced and your car is at home.
Callie: I saw that… thank you. You didn't have to do that. Please let me know how much I owe you.
Mr. Cooper: Don't worry about it. It was nothing.
Callie: I insist. You have helped out way more than I could have asked for this weekend.
Mr. Cooper: No. Have a good rest of your weekend, Callie.
I set my phone down without replying, too tired to deal with him. He keeps pulling me in, seemingly interested in me, and then backs off and acts like I'm some pesky kid.
Like – what the hell? I feel like I'm losing my mind with all the back and forth.
I'm done with his bullshit. I turn on my playlist for Imogen Heap, flipping onto my side and am asleep within seconds.
TEN
The rest of the weekend passes quickly. I spent time with Aunt Jenna and finished up my homework. It was relaxing, and honestly just what I needed after the shit show from Friday.
And now it's Monday, and I was halfway determined to call in sick for the day. But, that would only prolong the inevitable – seeing Mr. Cooper.
So, here I am.
"Hey, girl." Mya comes up behind me at my locker as I grab my things for first period, poking me in my side and making me jump a foot in the air.
"Agh! Don't do that." I scowl at her.
Mya laughs, "Wow. You are ticklish. Definitely know how to get to you when you piss me off." She makes pincher fingers at me and pretends to come at me again.
I shut my locker and turn to her. "Seriously, do not tickle me." Slapping her hands away, I say, "Where is Leah?" Looking around for her, I can't find her anywhere.
Mya chuckles, "Oh, she met up with Sawyer this morning at his locker. I swear I'm going to punch her in the face if I keep hearing about Sawyer. Sawyer, Sawyer, Sawyer. That's all I heard about all weekend!" She throws her hands up in the air exaggeratedly.
"Oh, I'm sure it wasn't that bad. She didn't seem to talk too much about him on Saturday. Well… wait. Actually, she did kind of talk about him a lot." Cringing, I try to give her a sympathetic smile.
"What's wrong with your face? Do you need to go shit or something?" Mya takes a step back from me.
Rolling my eyes, I tell her, "Dude, oh my God. Shut up." Laughing, I turn away from her and start walking to first period.
Cackling behind me, she huffs, "Wait up!"
I slow my pace a bit and wait for her to catch up to me, then continue on until we get to class. Mr. Lennington is already taking out our lesson for the day, so we quietly go to our chair and pull out our homework from over the weekend. Leah decides to make an entrance right as the bell rings, looking flushed and swoony. I hear Mya sighing behind me, which only makes me chuckle.
We work hard through first period, and for once Mr. Lennington actually seems to be in a decent mood. Thank God. I wouldn't have been able to deal with him barking orders at us all hour.
As soon as first period is over, we book it out of the classroom and rush to my locker. Mya keeps looking back towards Mr. Lennington's classroom with the most confused look on her face. "Did you guys notice the difference in Mr. Lennington? What the fuck was that? I'm legitimately kind of worried right now. Do you think he is okay?"
I start cracking up. Seriously? She is worried about someone being kind? This girl is something else. "No. I'm sure he's fine. Maybe he took that stick out of his ass."
Leah slaps my arm, "Callie! My God." She starts rolling her eyes, but stops herself at the last second, and straightens up, running her fingers through her hair over and over again.
Mya groans behind me, "Leah, can you seriously be any more obvious?"
I shut my locker door and turn around, seeing Sawyer walking up to Leah with a smirk on his face. I instantly start laughing. "Oh, come on, Mya. It's kind of cute.
Look at them, they're in insta-love."
"Hey, Leah. Hi Mya, Callie." He gives us a small wave and looks over to Leah again, stars in his eyes, "Can I walk you to class, Leah?"
"Yes! I mean - yeah, sure. I'll catch you guys later, okay?" Leah says, walking off and barely sparring us a glance.
"Okay, maybe it is a bit much." I say with a grimace.
"You think?" She rolls her eyes. "I've got to go. Find me at lunch, we need to make homecoming plans!" Giving me a smoochy face, she speeds off down the hallway.
I start heading towards second period until it hits me where I’m actually going, and I stop right in my tracks. The person behind me to bumps right into me. "Jeez, watch where the hell you're going!" He huffs.
I turn back towards him with a sneer and a mumbled, "Fuck off."
I'm suddenly struck with unease in my stomach and exhaustion pounding at my temples. As tempting as it would be to just say screw this and skip class, I know Aunt Jenna would not appreciate getting a call from Mrs. Roule or the Principal about me skipping.
I hesitantly walk into second period and glance over at Mr. Cooper's desk, seeing that it's empty. My shoulders instantly drop in relief. I’m hoping to spend as little time as possible with him today. I rush to my seat, pulling my stuff out and pretending to act busy.
I'm unfortunately one of those embarrassing people that pretends to be on a phone call or texting when walking past me so I don't get bothered.
Suddenly, I feel his presence enter the class room. Looking up out of the corner of my eye, I catch his gaze searing into mine. Dropping my head again, I resume my pretend work and hear him sigh from the other side of the room.
I then feel another presence from above me and look up, seeing an apologetic Brock glancing down at me. He is most definitely the second-most person that I do not want to see today. "Callie, can we talk?"
"Not now, Brock. I'm busy." I mumble, getting back to doodling.
"You don't look too busy. Please? I'm sorry, Callie." He pleads.
"Brock. Not now." I whisper, not wanting to draw attention to us.
"Is there a problem here?" Too late. I look up and see Mr. Cooper glaring down at us, or more specifically, glaring down at Brock. He looks like he wants to rip Brock limb from limb, if the baring of his teeth is anything to go by.
Sighing and giving me one more glance, Brock walks over to his desk and plops down into it, looking like a chastised toddler. Mr. Cooper goes up and starts today's lesson, and way too often I can feel his heavy stare falling over me.
He looks like he wants to say something, but I don't think my heart can handle much more of his rejection. He will probably say that he knows we can't be together, I'm too young for him, I can't say anything to anyone, what we did was wrong, whatever.
What if it felt right, though? What if when we were together, it was almost like that missing piece was finally found? It felt like my soul bound with his during our time together, there is no doubt about that.
I’m just not sure if he felt the same.
As soon as the second period bell rings, I am up and out the door before Mr. Cooper or Brock has a chance to say anything to me. I hear Brock shuffling with his stuff behind me trying to catch up, but I am too quick as I hurry out of the classroom, speed into the bathroom and finally, finally, as I lock the bathroom stall, am I finally able to breathe for the first time in over an hour.
* * * *
The rest of the day passed without any more run ins with Brock or Mr. Cooper.
At lunch, the three of us made plans for homecoming. Leah and Mya wanted me to go to their house this time to get ready, so the plan is to go to their house after school to get ready for the game, and then go back to their house quickly to get ready for the dance before it starts. It sounds chaotic, but they seem to have the times down to the second, so I mostly just ended up agreeing and nodding my head yes, knowing that I don't have much of a choice in the matter anyway.
Apparently, Sawyer asked Leah to the dance, so she was practically bouncing in her seat for most of the lunch period.
I've just arrived at work about thirty minutes ago and the girl training me today, Elaine, seems pretty cool. She is tall, skinny, with bright, red curly hair. She's beautiful, and she is apparently wicked smart too. She told me she is going to school to be a biologist.
Since Shaya showed me around the last time I was here, Elaine didn't need to do much of that today, so we got right to work on learning the different drinks and other menu items. Within the hour, I have pretty much got everything drink down and Elaine and I seem to have a system already.
A few hours in and I am in the middle of making a drink for a customer when I hear, "I was hoping that I could talk to Callie for a few minutes?" I whip my head around at the sound of Brock's voice so quick that I spill the cup I'm pouring, making me wince.
Looking at Elaine, she says, "Go take your fifteen, I can finish this up. You're doing really well." She gives me a warm smile and mouths he's hot.
I roll my eyes and go to rinse my hands of the spilled coffee. Walking around the counter, I gesture with Brock to follow me to a table over in the far corner where no one is sitting. The moment we sit down, Brock reaches forward and grabs my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry for showing up like this, I just couldn't sit around without talking to you anymore. I feel terrible." He runs his hands through his hair, making it a crazy, blonde mess.
I cross my arms across my chest and lean back in my chair, not certain I can forgive him yet for his stupidity. "You did make things pretty shitty on Friday night."
"I know, fuck!" He leans forward on the table on his elbows and puts his face in his hands. Lifting his face up, he reaches for both of my hands this time. "Callie, I'm sorry for Friday. I know I acted like a jackass. If you want me to be honest, I drank too much because I was nervous. I really like you. I know you're new here, but I feel like we kinda hit it off right away. After the first couple drinks I felt like I was finally loosening up and not acting like such a meat head, and I just kept drinking. I honestly don't drink that much, that's why I passed out after I told you that I would be right back. Seriously Callie, I'm really fucking sorry." He looks at me pleadingly, his eyes begging for forgiveness and oozing sincerity.
It's hard not to instantly fall into the depth of his blue eyes. They look so warm and inviting, and I find myself falling captive to his words. "Okay, Brock. I forgive you. Don't think that you can pull that shit on me again though." I make sure my voice is stern and that this is his last warning.
He shoulders drop about six inches, clearly relieved. "I promise. I promise I won't do anything like that again."
We chat for a few minutes about meeting up at the skatepark to hangout later in the week, until I look at the clock an see its time to get back to work. "Well, I better get to it. Just shoot me a text later, we can make some plans."
"Uh, Callie? There is something else that I wanted to ask you." He's rubbing the back of his neck and looking nervous, putting me instantly on edge.
"Oookay...? What is it?" Nerves and a little bit of dread start swirling around in the pit of my stomach. I seriously hope he is not about to ask me on a date.
"I was wondering... would you maybe want to go to homecoming with me?" He looks a mixture of nerves and excitement, like he's completely unsure of himself. This does not look like the easygoing Brock that I know. He must really be shitting himself over this.
"Yeah... okay. I guess that would be cool. As friends though... right?" Suddenly, I'm unsure if I should be agreeing to this. He clearly has deeper feelings for me than I do for him. I don't want to lead him on when I'm already falling for my history teacher.
He looks a bit crestfallen. "Yeah...as friends." He acts like he is about to leave then turns back around. "As friends... for now. Don't think I'm going to let that slide forever. I like you, Callie. In time I will get you to like me back." He winks at me and then heads out the door before I can respond back to him, throwing a
peace sign over his shoulder.
Chuckling, I turn back around and head back behind the counter to a smirking Elaine. "What was that about? He's hot as hell. When I was in high school I would have had the major swoons over that guy."
"You already are swooning, Elaine. His name is Brock."
"Is he your boyfriend?" She asks.
My mind immediately drifts to Mr. Cooper. Internally swatting those thoughts away, I say, "No. He's not, actually. I think he wants to be but..." Shrugging, I let the sentence hang and turn around, wiping down the already clean counter just to give myself something to do.
"But what?"
"But... I don't really feel that way about him. I don't know. He is hot, trust me, I can see that clear as day. We were partying on Friday and he was flirting with me non-stop, and I just... I couldn't see myself going anywhere with him." I shrug again.
"The only way that you would not be interested in that species of nearly perfect man is because you have your heart already set on someone else." Bingo, I think to myself. "Well?"
"I mean. Yeah, kinda. But we're not serious. And to be honest I don't even know if we are anything. I just - I just know that he's what I want right now, he's all I see."
"Wow. Deep, girl. You really love him then?"
My eyebrows fly up to my hairline. "Love? Who said anything about love?" I laugh, but it sounds off pitch and super awkward.
"From the look in your eyes and the tone of your voice - it's a dead giveaway. Trust me girl, I've been there. You are in love." She singsongs.
Rolling my eyes, I say, "You aren't going to let this go, are you?"
"You bet your sweet, California ass I'm not." She gives me an evil smirk, which makes me laugh as we both get back to work.
The rest of the evening goes smoothly. Elaine teaches me how to close down the shop, and by the time I get home, Aunt Jenna is already in bed sleeping. I slap myself together a PB&J and chow it down while standing at the counter. Grabbing a bottle of water, I walk into my bathroom and take a quick shower to rinse off the smell of coffee grounds. As much as I love drinking it, having the smell linger on me all day is a bit overwhelming.
