I shook my head.
“Then don’t get upset over an asshole like me. Besides, you have three new friends. I’m nothing special, anyway...”
“Four,” Hunter yawned, and propped his head up using his fist, his elbow resting on the table. “If you don’t prove to suck.”
Greyson nodded. “So there you have it, short stuff.”
“My name is Callie.”
“Short for?”
“That’s an odd question.”
“I just figured it was a nickname.”
Nobody ever asked me about my name, and I felt a jolt of something I couldn’t quite pin down. Appreciation? I almost shook my head at the thought of being appreciative towards this guy.
“It’s Calliope,” I said eventually, my accent coming out.
“Well Calliope,” he said, mimicking my accent before walking away, “I’ll catch you later.”
~*~
Emma and Greyson were in all of my classes, which wasn’t hard because our age group was rather underrepresented, with only fifteen people. While Emma was ecstatic, Greyson, true to his word, kept to himself except at lunch where he spoke only to his sister and family. He essentially acted like I didn’t exist. Come dinner, I just wanted to go to bed, so I excused myself early and headed to the dorms – I hadn’t actually been there yet although my things had been delivered before my arrival.
I was nervous, but when I got to my room I was thrilled to find out that I didn’t have a roommate. There was a modern looking loft bed that had a double mattress on top, and a couch underneath where my bags had been placed.
I shot a quick goodnight to the group chat I’d been added to, courtesy of Emma, and unpacked my things before heading to the shower. When I was done about ten minutes later, I checked my phone.
Calliope: Night guys! I was tired so I headed off to my room. Can you believe I don’t have a roommate?? Thanks for making me feel welcome. S2g I’m boutta die.
Emma: <3 was A+ getting 2 know u! c u 2mrw (yaasss feeling that no roommate life! Nobody after tenth grade has a roommate)
Lex: Omg it was so nice having another girl around! :3 see you tomorrow. I’m feeling French toast for breakfast!
Lex: Melissa’s feet smell like Cheetos after she runs track -_-
Gage: Dave snores ;-;
Hunter: Guys I’m working late at the bookstore tonight, who wants chocolate bars that expire tomorrow? I mean they’re still good. We have to throw them away anyway lol but I feel kinda bad about it. 50/50 chance you’ll die.
Emma: ME
Hunter: Going once
Emma: I WANT THEM
Hunter: Going twice
Emma: I DO
Greyson has left the chat
Hunter: So, I guess he’s not in the mood for chocolate...
Emma: BITCH, I SAID I’LL TAKE IT
Greyson has been added to this conversation
Greyson: Jesus Christ, Emma, I’m trying to take a nap!
I made a sound of annoyance in the back of my throat and tossed my phone onto the couch. “Stupid tall, angsty jerk.” I stalked over to the light switch and turned it off, then moved to pick up my phone. I had to set an alarm to set.
I quickly pushed my window open to the mesh screen to let in some air, and climbed into bed. When I was finally under the bed covers, I signed blissfully. The sheets and pillowcases smelled freshly laundered, and I was lulled into a deep, dreamless sleep.
~*~
Sometime when I was sleeping, the sky cracked open and a heavy rain began to fall. It was still dark out when I woke, so when I saw a figure in the courtyard it gave me pause. I squinted at them, curious as to why on earth they’d be out in such a downpour, until I realized, with shock, that it was Greyson. He must have been out for a run when it started to rain.
I watched as he spread his arms wide, tilted his head to the sky, and laughed into the night – I couldn’t hear him for the rain even though my screen was open, but his joy was unmistakable.
I don’t know what made me do it; maybe it was because I wanted to know what made him seem so happy, wanted to connect to it in some way, but I pushed open the mesh frame and put my hand out the window, letting the cool water collect in the palm of my hand. I smiled, enjoying the feeling. A long-dormant, half-forgotten memory played somewhere in the back of my mind, and I could smell my dad’s aftershave if I tried hard enough. I could almost hear him laughing with me as we danced in the rain, could almost feel the wet grass under my tiny, bare feet. I could hear Mama telling me that I had magic inside of me, if I looked deep enough. She told me that if I danced in the rain even though Daddy’d left, I’d feel him right beside me, and that he’d know I was thinking of him.
I realized, as I got older and was able to examine the memory, that she was just trying to comfort me and that she was probably high as all hell, but the memory was enough to make me miss her terribly. She was a great mother, before Daddy broke her heart.
So, when Greyson’s eyes met mine, I smiled at him, and instead of scowling at me like he’d done all day, he grinned. For one perfect moment, I felt connected to something so much bigger than myself.
For one moment, I felt that maybe, Mama wasn’t so crazy after all. Maybe I did have magic inside of me.
~*~
Greyson was back to his normal self by breakfast, nursing a cup of coffee and picking at his bagel, staying quiet. He looked antsy, as if he’d rather be back outside in the rain. I wanted to ask him about what I’d seen but I had no idea how to bring it up without sounding weird. What if it had all been a dream? I mean I’d gone back to sleep afterwards...
Emma was telling me about some new movie that had just come out on Netflix, and Lex was braiding Hunter’s long hair as he napped with his head on her shoulder, the two of them looking like gods – elegant and golden skinned, with lashes so thick their eyes looked as if they were rimmed with kohl. Gage was busy typing something up on his laptop, probably doing homework that he hadn’t finished the night before – if the purple under his eyes was any indication.
“So, you wanna come over to my room to watch it tonight after class?” Emma asked, hopeful. “Everybody’s gonna be there...”
“By everybody, she means us,” Gage mumbled, looking up from his work for a moment. “You should come, newbie.”
I glanced at Greyson for a moment, wondering if he was going to be there. As if he knew what I was thinking, he shook his head at me. “I’ll be busy tonight, so you won’t be seeing me. Try not to be disappointed, I know you love me so after how nicely I treated you yesterday.” I recognized an apology when I saw one, even one as flimsy as this one was.
I rolled my eyes. “Well don’t beat yourself up over it,” I said, my tone hopefully indicating that he was forgiven. “What are your plans for the night, then?”
He smirked. “I think you can guess, short stuff. Fun fact, I like it best when it rains.” Dipping his fingers in his sister’s water glass to wet them, he proceeded to flick me with some water.
I pictured the grin on Greyson’s face as he let the rain wash him clean earlier this morning during his run, as if he were being born again. I couldn’t help the smile that made its way to my lips. I knew that the rain would go well into the evening, if not the next day. “Yeah, I can probably guess.”
He’d be out running.
I didn’t care that everybody was giving us curious looks, wondering what we were talking about, because the way he was looking at me, as if I was a puzzle he wanted to solve, had me so tied up in knots that I nearly knocked over my cup of coffee.
“Don’t get flustered now, short stuff,” Greyson said, still smirking. “People might actually think you like me or something.”
I blinked. “I don’t hate you or anything....”
Greyson chuckled. “Well that’s certainly good to know.”
Emma rolled her eyes and smacked her brother on the arm. “Stop flirting with my new friend. It’s gross.”
His face turned ab
out fifty shades of red. “I am not flirting. You’ll know when I’m flirting.”
I laughed – Fifty Shades of Grey had taken on a whole new meaning to me in that moment.
To me, Emma said, “He likes to run in the rain. It’s his schtick – wait why are you laughing?”
I told her my joke.
Greyson looked like he wanted to punch me in the face.
~*~
When classes were through, Emma, Lex and I took our dinner to go and headed to the dorms, where Gage and Hunter had agreed to meet us. Coincidentally, Emma’s room was only two doors down from mine, and Lex’s was three doors down, so I was pretty happy to find out that at least a few of my new friends would never be too far away if I was lonely.
I wasn’t used to this. It was all sort of overwhelming.
True to their words, the boys were waiting outside Emma’s door. Hunter was holding a brown paper bag that said Marcy’s Baked Goods, and he instantly became my favourite person for the night.
“Took you three long enough,” Hunter said with a yawn. “I wanna get in some prime-time napping while you guys watch the stupid movie.”
Lex rolled her eyes at her brother and grabbed the bag from his hand. “You get my favourite?”
Emma pushed the boys aside and unlocked her door, then we all followed her in. Her room was exactly like mine, down to the type of bed she had, and yet completely different. The girl must have had a million stuffed animals! They were on the shelves, on the bed, on the couch. She even had them on her desk. The walls were covered in decals of realistic looking trees, making it look like she lived in the middle of an enchanted forest. On the wall across from her bed/couch there was a huge television that must have cost a fortune – but then again, her parents were in the military, so I guessed they’d probably have paid for it.
“Well, this is where the magic happens,” Emma said, flopping down onto the couch. “Make yourself comfortable! I have a mini fridge under the desk and it’s full of soda.”
I sat down beside her, feeling a bit awkward. “You really made this place feel like home.”
Lex grabbed some cokes from the mini fridge and then placed them on the table in front of the couch. I grabbed one gratefully. “Thanks.”
Gage got to work setting up his laptop so it connected with the TV, and Hunter climbed the ladder to the bed so he could stretch out. “I pay for Netflix; why didn’t I get to choose the movie?”
Emma ignored him and answered me instead. “Well, after four years I kind of had to, you know? Plus, it’s my first year having no roommate so I really wanted to make it count. Greyson’s the only one of us who hasn’t bothered to decorate his room. He’s a bit of an odd duck.” She adds, as a joke, “If he didn’t like animals so much, I’d think he was straight up serial killer material. The guy barely smiles. I’m his twin, but I never know what he’s thinking.”
“Mine and Melissa’s room is wicked,” Lex added to the conversation. “We moved the couch to one side of the room and shoved our bunk bed to the other and put our yoga mats in the middle so we can do our morning work out. It’s awesome. I have crystal lamps on every surface on my side of the room; you’re gonna love it. You know, quack science says they’re great for getting rid of negative energy? I just think they’re kinda neat.”
“You assume she wants to see your room, dumbass,” Hunter said from his spot above us.
Lex flipped him off. “I know she does,” she tossed back at him, voice full of barbed wire. And to me, she said, “Right Callie?”
I smiled, a warm feeling blossoming in my chest. It was looking like I had legitimate friends, ones that I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to after just a few months. I could afford to get to know these people, become invested in them without worrying about being shoved back into government custody, or seeing Danica, my social worker who really didn’t give a shit about the kids she oversaw.
I nodded. “I’d be super down to see your room, Lex. Are you at least friends with Melissa?”
Lex stuck her tongue out at her brother, and then turned to me. “I wouldn’t say we’re friends even though we’re into a lot of the same stuff and get along okay. She has her own crowd of people that she likes to hang out with and they don’t really like me so...we don’t interact outside of our room to be honest. It’s whatever, cause next year I’ll have my own room and we won’t have to interact at all.” She looked sad, though and I wondered if she didn’t wish Melissa and her could be more than just roommates with similar interests.
“You wanna teach me some yoga?” I asked, and she beamed, fist-pumping excitedly. “Aw, hella! A new convert!”
Gage sat down next to Lex when he was finished setting up the movie, his freckled cheeks turning bright red when she wrapped an arm around him.
“All set Ronald?” she drawled.
“Y-yep,” he managed to respond, shooting up from his seat. “All set. I’m gonna get the donuts. Anybody want something while I’m up?”
“I’ll have fries with that,” Lex said, before winking at him. The poor guy nearly toppled over.
“You’re cruel,” whispered Emma as she leaned over me to smack Lex on the arm.
Lex looked perplexed. “What? I can’t tease Gage anymore? It’s our thing. I call him Ronald, he calls me a chimney...”
Emma shook her head. She lowered her voice, “You’re so dense.”
Lex blinked for a few seconds, absorbing this information. I stayed quiet, feeling awkward. If they were all cousins, then how could Gage have a crush on Lex, though? Were they really all related by blood?
“We’re totally not really related,” Emma explained, having noticed my confusion. “Think of us as this school’s version of the Cullens – we said we’re related so that nobody asks us any questions. I mean, five kids show up all together, out of nowhere? Weird! So, we’re cousins.”
I didn’t bother to point out that the Cullens were vampires, and that they weren’t.
Gage placed the bag of donuts on the table and sat back down. “You guys talking about me?” he said, laughing awkwardly. “What’d I do?”
“Nothing,” Emma said too quickly.
The movie started playing then, and everyone grew silent, except for Hunter who’d started snoring quietly. The film had me so caught up that it was only when the credits started rolling that I realized I was the only one left awake.
I snickered when I noticed that Lex and Gage seemed pretty cozy, and it turned into full on laughter when I saw that Emma had fallen asleep with a donut in her hand and jelly on her face. I plucked the donut away from her and placed it on the table.
“Good movie, right? Though I only caught the end of it.” Hunter’s voice startled me, causing my heart to jump as if I’d seen a ghost.
He snorted. “You alright?”
“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” I admitted, breathless but with a smile on my face. “Didn’t know anybody else was awake.”
“Night is about the only time I am awake,” he said. “You going back to your room?”
I stood and brushed some crumbs off of my pants. “Yeah.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m glad you came tonight. You’re alright, Calla lily.”
I smiled at the nick name. “You’re alright too, Hunter.”
He appraised me, and then grinned. “Hey,” he said, his hazel eyes full of mischief. “Do you wanna draw on Gage’s face with a sharpie?”
I woke up in the middle of chaos. The rain drops might as well have been razor blades for how much they hurt my sensitive skin, and I was absolutely soaked through to the bone. I looked around, not completely recognizing my surroundings, my mind still blurry from sleep, as I wondered how I ended up here. The moon was nowhere to be seen.
I realized then, that I was in the courtyard where I’d seen Greyson before. Did I walk here in my sleep?
“Calliope?” a warm hand landed on my shoulder, and I jumped at the contact, turning around in shock.
It was Greyso
n, dirty-blond hair plastered to his head, no shirt on, and looking like he belonged out here. “Christ, what are you doing out in the rain? You’re lucky I saw you from my window.”
It beat me. I didn’t know how to answer him.
“You’re freezing,” he murmured, rubbing his warm hands up and down my arms to bring the life back into my me. “What were you thinking, short stuff?” his voice was gruff, worried. “You’re gonna get sick. Your lips are turning blue. How long have you been out here for?”
I shook my head, unable to explain. Tears stung my eyes and my throat burned. I felt like a block of ice.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Greyson said, tucking me against his broad chest, his voice gentle. “Let’s get you inside.”
He took my hand and led me toward the girls’ side of the dorm. “You’re a few rooms down from Emma, right?”
A nod. “My door’s unlocked.”
He looked about ready to chastise me, but he took a deep breath and let it out in an annoyed huff. “Okay, we’ll talk about the importance of locking your door another day.”
“I’m pretty sure I was walking in my sleep, you utter jackass!”
“Well, what about now. Can you walk?”
“Yes.” I wasn’t actually sure if I could, but the stubborn part of me wanted to prove that I could walk without his help. I tried to walk in the direction of the dorms, but my legs felt like they were made of jelly. I would have hit the ground hard if Greyson hadn’t caught me and picked me up, bridal style.
“Whoa there,” he murmured as he adjusted his hold on me. “Short stuff, no need to fall for me,” he said, and I cracked a small smile, despite myself.
“Shut up.”
“No, seriously,” he said, enjoying himself way too much at my expense. “I have a question.”
I groaned. “I’m sure you do.”
“See, I heard you’re going on a trip next fall...”
I let out a choked laugh. “Really? Try something more original next time.”
He started walking towards the building, and I hid my face against his chest, feeling a tad motion sick.
“We’re almost there,” Greyson soothed. “Don’t worry.”
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