Fic: Times Like These (8/14)
Title: Times Like These
Author: addictt24 (Addictt on fanfiction.net)
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: R to be safe.
Summary: AU-fic. What if Callie and Arizona met in high school? Multi-chaptered.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or anything related to Grey’s Anatomy. That’s courtesy of Shonda Rimes and ABC. This fiction is not meant to make money or to be harmful in any way. It’s just pure for amusement.
Previous chapters: Ch1 - Learning How To Smile, Ch2 - Fascination, Ch3 - Can't You See, Ch4 - Daydreamer, Ch5 - Hometown Glory, Ch6 - Wicked Game. Ch7 - Wanderlust / Don't Ask Me Why.
Author's Note: We're back to regular Sunday updates again, as school has started and unfortunately is taking a lot of time. I'm so grateful for the response I got on the last chapter, you girls seriously rock! ♥ I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a little quircky maybe but I like it. Thanks to lizadizzle for beta'ing like always. :-)
Chapter 8 - Hold On To The World
The past two hours felt like forever. When we first arrived at the hospital, we were sent to the emergency room. Three doctors later, we were headed for Orthopedics. Next up was an x-ray of my foot. About half an hour later some doctor called Livingstone diagnosed me with a double break. Fortunately, no damage to the muscles and tendons. Then they gave me a cast, and I can tell you, that hurts. Even more than the fall itself at the gym earlier that day.
“So, how is your pain now?” Dr. Livingstone asks me as he grabs a chair.
“It’s okay, I guess...” I reply as he sits down.
He takes the chart off the bed and his pen out of his lab coat. “On a scale from 1 to 10?” he asks without looking at me.
“A four, maybe a five,” I say after a few seconds.
“Are you sure you don’t want any pain killers?” Hailey asks me, raising her eyebrows.
“Positive,” I nod and give her a weak smile.
“I’m still going to prescribe you some in case you change your mind,” the elderly doctor tells me. He raises out of his chair and grabs a pair crutches out of the corner of the room. “ I want you to use these the upcoming few weeks. Don’t move around without them, or you might get stuck with that cast longer than planned, okay? Well, make an appointment for over fourteen days, then I’ll check up on you and we might have to change to a lighter type of cast.”
Aria enters the room as dr. Livingstone shakes my hand. “Ms. Robbins, don’t put any pressure on it, so no driving, walking or cheering for that matter,” he sums up and turns around to face as well Aria as Hailey. “Make sure she gets those meds and help her a little with her crutches. Now you girls get out of here,” he comments with a short laugh and he leaves the room.
“I called Mick and he wanted to come right away, but I told him to finish the basketball practise like you told me to. He will be picking you up at my house in an hour or two,” Aria mentions as she walks over to me.
“Thanks for calling,” I say as I try to get off the hospital bed.
“Here, let me help,” Hailey probes and offers her arm. With a little difficulty I stand on my #uncasted# leg a moment later, supported by the two crutches. The cast feels heavy as I try to lift my right leg to move forward.
“This is going to be interesting the next few weeks,” I say laughing as I slowly make my way over to the door.
“I can get you a wheelchair?” Hailey proposes.
“No, it’s fine,” I decline her offer. “I’ve got to practise, right?” I smirk at her. “But thanks for being here and helping out.”
“Of course. If there is anything else I can do, like give you a ride to school or something, just give me a call, okay? I wish I could have prevented this from happening, I knew the girls weren’t focused that much,” she murmurs the last sentence.
“Oh no,” I say quickly with a red color on my cheeks. “This was all my fault. My thoughts were in a completely different place.”
In the mean time we made it to Aria’s car.
“Do you want me to bring you to school or drop you off at your house?” she asks Hailey as she helps me get into the car.
“School is fine, thanks. I still need to clean up a few things,” she replies and shuts the door.
Thirty minutes later I’m sitting on Aria’s couch, my foot still throbbing with pain. I decide to ignore it and put a smile on my face.
“Here you go,” Aria hands me a glass of water. “Do you like anything to eat?”
“Do you have any fruit?” I ask and look over to the kitchen.
“Let me see,” Aria mumbles as she puts down her own drink. “Would you like an apple?” she asks when she’s back in the kitchen.
“Very much, thank you.”
A few seconds later she drops down beside me on the couch and hands me the apple as well.
“Are you comfortable? The doc said to keep your foot up, so please use the coffee table,” she gestures to the table before us.
“Wouldn’t your parents mind?” I carefully ask.
“No... they’re not the ones cleaning it anyway,” my friend shrugs and grabs the remote from the table.
As I carefully put my foot on the coffee table she switches through a few TV channels, in the end deciding on MTV.
“Gotta tell you, this thing is heavy,” I point towards my cast.
“I guess it’s a good thing we have some leg muscle, huh?” Aria jokes. “On a serious note: where did your mind go all afternoon? Or rather all day... you tend to have this look on your face.” I can feel myself blushing again. “Is it a boy? Oh, you’re blushing!” she shrieks. “It SO is a boy!”
“It’s not a boy,” I tell her truthfully. I know I suck at lying, so I’m glad that can be avoided.
Her nose scrunches up in disappointment. “Really?”
“Really,” I reply and look at the TV screen for a moment.
“Then what is it?” she looks at me with big brown eyes.
“Er... I don’t know,” I shrug, trying to come up with a possible answer. To create a little more time, I take a bit out of my apple and chew on it for a bit. “School, maybe. You know, the future. That kind of stuff. The perils of a senior,” I joke.
“Right,” she smiles back at me, not entirely convinced. “Is it okay that I’m going to take a shower for a sec? Mick won’t be here for another hour and to be honest, I kinda stink,” she scrunches up her nose again. “Hailey had us working hard... Anyway, if you need anything, just holler. Hard,” she remarks and stands up. “My parents won’t be home for a good while anyway. Oh, and feel free to change the channel,” she tosses me the remote.
“Okay,” I say smiling and look at her as she walks out of the room. “Thanks for everything,” I yell after her.
“No probs,” I hear her reply from a distance. I switch between channels for a while until I come across Animal Planet and leave it at that. A little while later I hear the front door opening and my heart skips a beat in the prospect of the gorgeous brunette. Aria said her parents wouldn’t be home until tonight and there is only one other person left in the household with a key. Unless there is some kind of butler that I don’t know about. That actually sounds quite possible, come to think of it. What a silly physical reaction, I think smiling to myself. When she in fact does come into the room, my body responds the same way again.
“Calliope,” I greet her brightly, my eyes leaving the screen permanently.
Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Arizona?” she asks while she drops her bags into a chair. “Where’s er... Aria?”
“Shower,” I nod and take a bite out of my apple to give me something to do other than just stare at her. If no one would stop me, I could look at her all day long. Those gorgeous eyes, her beautiful lips, her caramel skin. Everything about her enchants me.
I can see her eyes wandering to my foot propped up on the table and her pupils grow even wider.
”What happened?” I hear her voice quiver a little as she rushes over to my side. Is that worry I hear reflected in her voice?
“I’m fine,” I reassure her before I answer her question. “I fell down during practise and broke my foot,” I smile at her a little sheepishly.
“You did what?” Her face can be so easy to read sometimes but now there are too many mixed emotions portrayed that I don’t exactly know what is going on.
“Yeah,” I look at my casted foot for a brief moment. I realize the minute I heard the door open the pain faded. It is still there, but my mind is too preoccupied by the other feelings to really notice it.
Her face softens up a little as she looks me in the eye. “Are you okay?”
“I am now,” I reply a little flirtatious and bat my eyelashes at her. Maybe a little over the top, but I can’t help it. Callie’s jaw drops a little and her lips curl into a smile. For a moment we just look at each other like that, keeping the energy between us. Slowly her face turns a darker color and I can’t help but to grin at that.
“How did you fell?” she asks, snapping out of the moment.
Now it is up to me to turn red and I avoid her gaze. “I er... wasn’t paying attention. So what’s new with you?” I try to change the subject.
Luckily, she takes the bait.
“Well, I just had basketball practise, so sorry for my look,” she emphasizes the last word jokingly and gestures to her head, but I can see insecurity reflected in her eyes. Her hair is tied in ponytail, a few loose hairs plastered to hair face. Her cheeks are a still a little red, but I don’t know if that’s from the practise or our moment earlier.
“You look great,” I tell her, flashing her a smile. I really mean it too.
“Thanks,” she says shyly before continuing her story. “Your brother was one of the coaches today, actually.”
Whenever someone mentions Mickey I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, he loves to coach. He actually coached me and Kenny, my younger brother a couple of times.”
“In basketball?” she asks fidgeting on her sweater.
I nod enthusiastically and take the last bite out of my apple.
“So you can play,” she states with a smile on her face.
“I bet I could beat your ass is it wasn’t for this thing,” I can’t help but tease her and I throw her a mischievous look.
At that, she laughs. “We’ll see. You and me, after your foot has healed. It’s a done deal,” she winks at me and makes me blush even more.
We sit in silence for a while and I realize I’m enjoying her company very much. We watch the Animal Planet together but it doesn’t get a hold of my attention much. When I look over at her after a couple of minutes, her face is full of concern. When she caughts me looking at her, she tries to neutral her face again.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her anyway.
She hesitates or a moment and looks into the hall to see if Aria is coming yet. “There is this thing... which I can’t discuss with either Andy or Aria,” she begins telling and a knot begins to form in my stomach. I don’t know if this is a good thing. Unintentional I furrow my eyebrows in concern too.
“You can tell me. Anything,” I look her in the eye, hoping that she’ll trust me.
“Tommy keeps making these comments at me,” she blurts out. “You know, suggestive kind of comments,” she looks down at the floor, a little embarrassed. “He is Andy’s brother and Aria’s crush and I seriously don’t know what to do. I know he’s a player kind of guy but I also know he likes me sister, and I honestly don’t want her to get hurt, you know,” she looks into the hallway again. “I told him to stop, but he’s not really listening,” she looks at me a little desperately and I feel for her. “It’s just bothering me and really uncomfortable.”
I love that she is opening up to me but I hate that she feels so miserable. Now doesn’t only my foot ache, but my hearts aches a little too.
“Oh Calliope,” I softly utter.
She looks at me and I see her trouble reflected in her eyes. “I mean... Is it stupid? Am I overreacting? Do I see things which aren’t there?”
I shake my head and think of something to calm her down. Instinctively I shove over to her on the couch, my foot almost knocking over a glass on the coffee table. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I say soothingly as I fold my arms around her. At first I feel her tense up a little, but a few seconds later she relaxes into my arms. We just sit there for a moment, embracing each other until a familiar voice startles us.
“Calliope? What is going on?” I look up and see Aria staring at us from the doorway. I let Calliope go out of my arms and sit back, looking back and forth between the two sisters. Aria looks a little suspicious but for the greater part mad. I can’t really tell what Callie is thinking, as she stares towards the ground, avoiding her sister’s gaze. It looks like it’s up to me to answer.
“Uhm, nothing,” I shrug. “Calliope was having a bad day, that’s all,” I make up.
Aria walks towards us and a waterfall of words come out of her mouth. Great. Spanish. What a wonderful way of shutting me out.
“¿Eso es la verdad? No trate de robar mis amigos. Usted sabe mejor que eso. ¡Fuera!”
“No es asunto tuyo,” the younger sister replies with her hands raised. Aria looks her into the eye, her lips pursed. Calliope sighs, stands up and walks over to the chair to grab her stuff. “Bye Arizona,” she says looking at me but avoiding her sister. “Thanks for uhm... you know. I’ll talk to you later,” she says and while she utters the last words she looks Aria in the eye. Then she walks out of the room and a moment later I hear her walking up the stairs.
“What was that all about?” I say a little angrily at Aria. I know she has been a great friend so far and she has been wonderful helping me out, but that fight was completely useless.
“Sister stuff,” she shrugs and sits down beside me, where Callie sat a little earlier.
“No, it wasn’t. It was... nonsense,” I reply with the absence of a better word. “It’s not fair that you shut me out like that, using another language to communicate,” I try to keep myself calm.
Aria stares at the wall for a minute before she lets out a sigh. “I know.... I’m sorry,” she says looking me in the eye and I immediately see it’s a genuine apology. “What’s the deal with you and my sister anyway?” she asks raising one eyebrow.
I shift around a little in my seat before answering her question. “There is no ‘deal’. She’s just really nice and fun to be around,” I mention with a smile plastered on my face. And also insanely cute, I add to the list in my mind. “I’m surprised you don’t get along very well.”
My friend shrugs and I swear I can see a little regret before she turns her head away.
“Whatever,” she mumbles. For a few minutes we sit together in silence, watching the flickering screen in front of us play different clips. “I’m really sorry about before. I shouldn’t have treated you like that,” she says softly after a while.
“It’s okay. Seriously, I’m very grateful you have taken such good care of me today and frankly any other day so far. You are an amazing friend. You just might want to consider being even a greater sister,” I carefully suggest and touch her shoulder comfortingly.
The latina smiles at me. “I’ll consider that.”
--..--..--..--
No longer than an hour later I’m sitting in Mick’s car, the world around us slowly passing by and the radio playing softly on the background.
“So,” Mickey comments with a smirk on his face. “Did you have a chance to speak with New Girl #2 in there?”
I raise my eyebrows and look at him. “Who?”
“That chick you have the hots for,” he replies and his grin grows wider. I shake my head for a few seconds. I know there is no use in denying with my older brother around. He knows me better than anyone else.
“Still... New Girl #2?” I repeat sarcastically.
“Yeah. Your cheerleader friend is New Girl #1 and her little sister is #2,” he states simply.
“Please tell me you don’t call her that on the team,” I drop my head to my chest, once again shaking it from my left to my right and reversed.
“Ha,” he laughs. “So you did talk to her!”
“Yes,” I reply casually, staring out of the window.
“And?” I can feel his eyes on me, but I keep staring at the passing houses.
“And what?” I pray to God he at least glances at the road a few times while staring.
“Spill the beans, Ari!”
“Fine. I’ll tell you, but you have to keep your eyes on the road,” I give in.
From he corner of my eye I see him focus on the road again as a sign of agreement.
“I really do like her, I think,” I confide in him with a small sigh. “I mean... I can’t stop thinking about her. Literally. It actually is the reason I fell down during practise earlier today; I wasn’t paying attention at all,” I hear my brother chuckle at that. “It isn’t funny!” I playfully punch him against his arm. “Why does this happen to me, Mickey?” I moan with my hands raised in the air.
“It’s not a bad thing, Ari. You’re in love, that’s all,” he says and pats me on the shoulder.
“Eyes on the road!” I quickly warn him.
“Yeah, yeah. Like I ever would do anything to you what could harm you,” he says reassuringly, his eyes glued to the road. “You do that fine by yourself,” he adds with a chuckle.
I stick out my tongue and neither of us says anything for a few minutes.
“Did you ever feel like this?” I ask him as we turn into our street. “That feeling, that when you’re with her, everything is going to be okay? That you physically miss her when she isn’t around you?”
“I had that with Michelle,” he lets out a little sigh.
I nod and immediately regret bringing it up. Up to last year, Michelle lived in this street. Mick had a crush on her for years and finally they got together two years ago. I thought it would be hard for me to share my best friend, but it was surprisingly easy. Other than my parents, I haven’t seen two people that care so deeply for each other than my brother and Michelle. Unfortunately, her mother got a job offered at Harvard and they all had to move. They kept seeing each other for another month or two but it tare Mickey apart, not seeing her. He was even more devastated when she broke up with him, although I was the only one who knew his true feelings.
“Just don’t be afraid to love who you love. No matter what others and in particular colonel Robbins might think,” he utters and I hear the regret in his voice. “If there is the tiniest chance she likes you back, go for it.”
I immediately think of the glances she threw me yesterday and the blush on her cheeks when I come near her.
“And I also gotta say, she ain’t looking too shabby,” he carefully mentions as he parks the car in front of our house with another grin on his face.
I know he’s teasing me but I can’t help but punch him again.“Shut up,” I say with a smile.
“Ahw, look at the crippled cheerleader punching her loving brother,” he says and quickly gets out of the car, missing out on another punch.
Half a minute later he opens my door, the crutches in his other hand. As he helps me get out of the car a song I used to sing in my childhood a lot comes to mind again. When we make our way over to our front door I begin to chant the lyrics.
“Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you blow my mind, hey Mickey... Hey Mickey!”
He starts laughing and as he opens the door he whispers something in my ear. “Just substitute my name with Callie’s and you’ll win her over in no time.”
Author: addictt24 (Addictt on fanfiction.net)
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: R to be safe.
Summary: AU-fic. What if Callie and Arizona met in high school? Multi-chaptered.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or anything related to Grey’s Anatomy. That’s courtesy of Shonda Rimes and ABC. This fiction is not meant to make money or to be harmful in any way. It’s just pure for amusement.
Previous chapters: Ch1 - Learning How To Smile, Ch2 - Fascination, Ch3 - Can't You See, Ch4 - Daydreamer, Ch5 - Hometown Glory, Ch6 - Wicked Game. Ch7 - Wanderlust / Don't Ask Me Why.
Author's Note: We're back to regular Sunday updates again, as school has started and unfortunately is taking a lot of time. I'm so grateful for the response I got on the last chapter, you girls seriously rock! ♥ I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a little quircky maybe but I like it. Thanks to lizadizzle for beta'ing like always. :-)
Chapter 8 - Hold On To The World
The past two hours felt like forever. When we first arrived at the hospital, we were sent to the emergency room. Three doctors later, we were headed for Orthopedics. Next up was an x-ray of my foot. About half an hour later some doctor called Livingstone diagnosed me with a double break. Fortunately, no damage to the muscles and tendons. Then they gave me a cast, and I can tell you, that hurts. Even more than the fall itself at the gym earlier that day.
“So, how is your pain now?” Dr. Livingstone asks me as he grabs a chair.
“It’s okay, I guess...” I reply as he sits down.
He takes the chart off the bed and his pen out of his lab coat. “On a scale from 1 to 10?” he asks without looking at me.
“A four, maybe a five,” I say after a few seconds.
“Are you sure you don’t want any pain killers?” Hailey asks me, raising her eyebrows.
“Positive,” I nod and give her a weak smile.
“I’m still going to prescribe you some in case you change your mind,” the elderly doctor tells me. He raises out of his chair and grabs a pair crutches out of the corner of the room. “ I want you to use these the upcoming few weeks. Don’t move around without them, or you might get stuck with that cast longer than planned, okay? Well, make an appointment for over fourteen days, then I’ll check up on you and we might have to change to a lighter type of cast.”
Aria enters the room as dr. Livingstone shakes my hand. “Ms. Robbins, don’t put any pressure on it, so no driving, walking or cheering for that matter,” he sums up and turns around to face as well Aria as Hailey. “Make sure she gets those meds and help her a little with her crutches. Now you girls get out of here,” he comments with a short laugh and he leaves the room.
“I called Mick and he wanted to come right away, but I told him to finish the basketball practise like you told me to. He will be picking you up at my house in an hour or two,” Aria mentions as she walks over to me.
“Thanks for calling,” I say as I try to get off the hospital bed.
“Here, let me help,” Hailey probes and offers her arm. With a little difficulty I stand on my #uncasted# leg a moment later, supported by the two crutches. The cast feels heavy as I try to lift my right leg to move forward.
“This is going to be interesting the next few weeks,” I say laughing as I slowly make my way over to the door.
“I can get you a wheelchair?” Hailey proposes.
“No, it’s fine,” I decline her offer. “I’ve got to practise, right?” I smirk at her. “But thanks for being here and helping out.”
“Of course. If there is anything else I can do, like give you a ride to school or something, just give me a call, okay? I wish I could have prevented this from happening, I knew the girls weren’t focused that much,” she murmurs the last sentence.
“Oh no,” I say quickly with a red color on my cheeks. “This was all my fault. My thoughts were in a completely different place.”
In the mean time we made it to Aria’s car.
“Do you want me to bring you to school or drop you off at your house?” she asks Hailey as she helps me get into the car.
“School is fine, thanks. I still need to clean up a few things,” she replies and shuts the door.
Thirty minutes later I’m sitting on Aria’s couch, my foot still throbbing with pain. I decide to ignore it and put a smile on my face.
“Here you go,” Aria hands me a glass of water. “Do you like anything to eat?”
“Do you have any fruit?” I ask and look over to the kitchen.
“Let me see,” Aria mumbles as she puts down her own drink. “Would you like an apple?” she asks when she’s back in the kitchen.
“Very much, thank you.”
A few seconds later she drops down beside me on the couch and hands me the apple as well.
“Are you comfortable? The doc said to keep your foot up, so please use the coffee table,” she gestures to the table before us.
“Wouldn’t your parents mind?” I carefully ask.
“No... they’re not the ones cleaning it anyway,” my friend shrugs and grabs the remote from the table.
As I carefully put my foot on the coffee table she switches through a few TV channels, in the end deciding on MTV.
“Gotta tell you, this thing is heavy,” I point towards my cast.
“I guess it’s a good thing we have some leg muscle, huh?” Aria jokes. “On a serious note: where did your mind go all afternoon? Or rather all day... you tend to have this look on your face.” I can feel myself blushing again. “Is it a boy? Oh, you’re blushing!” she shrieks. “It SO is a boy!”
“It’s not a boy,” I tell her truthfully. I know I suck at lying, so I’m glad that can be avoided.
Her nose scrunches up in disappointment. “Really?”
“Really,” I reply and look at the TV screen for a moment.
“Then what is it?” she looks at me with big brown eyes.
“Er... I don’t know,” I shrug, trying to come up with a possible answer. To create a little more time, I take a bit out of my apple and chew on it for a bit. “School, maybe. You know, the future. That kind of stuff. The perils of a senior,” I joke.
“Right,” she smiles back at me, not entirely convinced. “Is it okay that I’m going to take a shower for a sec? Mick won’t be here for another hour and to be honest, I kinda stink,” she scrunches up her nose again. “Hailey had us working hard... Anyway, if you need anything, just holler. Hard,” she remarks and stands up. “My parents won’t be home for a good while anyway. Oh, and feel free to change the channel,” she tosses me the remote.
“Okay,” I say smiling and look at her as she walks out of the room. “Thanks for everything,” I yell after her.
“No probs,” I hear her reply from a distance. I switch between channels for a while until I come across Animal Planet and leave it at that. A little while later I hear the front door opening and my heart skips a beat in the prospect of the gorgeous brunette. Aria said her parents wouldn’t be home until tonight and there is only one other person left in the household with a key. Unless there is some kind of butler that I don’t know about. That actually sounds quite possible, come to think of it. What a silly physical reaction, I think smiling to myself. When she in fact does come into the room, my body responds the same way again.
“Calliope,” I greet her brightly, my eyes leaving the screen permanently.
Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Arizona?” she asks while she drops her bags into a chair. “Where’s er... Aria?”
“Shower,” I nod and take a bite out of my apple to give me something to do other than just stare at her. If no one would stop me, I could look at her all day long. Those gorgeous eyes, her beautiful lips, her caramel skin. Everything about her enchants me.
I can see her eyes wandering to my foot propped up on the table and her pupils grow even wider.
”What happened?” I hear her voice quiver a little as she rushes over to my side. Is that worry I hear reflected in her voice?
“I’m fine,” I reassure her before I answer her question. “I fell down during practise and broke my foot,” I smile at her a little sheepishly.
“You did what?” Her face can be so easy to read sometimes but now there are too many mixed emotions portrayed that I don’t exactly know what is going on.
“Yeah,” I look at my casted foot for a brief moment. I realize the minute I heard the door open the pain faded. It is still there, but my mind is too preoccupied by the other feelings to really notice it.
Her face softens up a little as she looks me in the eye. “Are you okay?”
“I am now,” I reply a little flirtatious and bat my eyelashes at her. Maybe a little over the top, but I can’t help it. Callie’s jaw drops a little and her lips curl into a smile. For a moment we just look at each other like that, keeping the energy between us. Slowly her face turns a darker color and I can’t help but to grin at that.
“How did you fell?” she asks, snapping out of the moment.
Now it is up to me to turn red and I avoid her gaze. “I er... wasn’t paying attention. So what’s new with you?” I try to change the subject.
Luckily, she takes the bait.
“Well, I just had basketball practise, so sorry for my look,” she emphasizes the last word jokingly and gestures to her head, but I can see insecurity reflected in her eyes. Her hair is tied in ponytail, a few loose hairs plastered to hair face. Her cheeks are a still a little red, but I don’t know if that’s from the practise or our moment earlier.
“You look great,” I tell her, flashing her a smile. I really mean it too.
“Thanks,” she says shyly before continuing her story. “Your brother was one of the coaches today, actually.”
Whenever someone mentions Mickey I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, he loves to coach. He actually coached me and Kenny, my younger brother a couple of times.”
“In basketball?” she asks fidgeting on her sweater.
I nod enthusiastically and take the last bite out of my apple.
“So you can play,” she states with a smile on her face.
“I bet I could beat your ass is it wasn’t for this thing,” I can’t help but tease her and I throw her a mischievous look.
At that, she laughs. “We’ll see. You and me, after your foot has healed. It’s a done deal,” she winks at me and makes me blush even more.
We sit in silence for a while and I realize I’m enjoying her company very much. We watch the Animal Planet together but it doesn’t get a hold of my attention much. When I look over at her after a couple of minutes, her face is full of concern. When she caughts me looking at her, she tries to neutral her face again.
“What’s wrong?” I ask her anyway.
She hesitates or a moment and looks into the hall to see if Aria is coming yet. “There is this thing... which I can’t discuss with either Andy or Aria,” she begins telling and a knot begins to form in my stomach. I don’t know if this is a good thing. Unintentional I furrow my eyebrows in concern too.
“You can tell me. Anything,” I look her in the eye, hoping that she’ll trust me.
“Tommy keeps making these comments at me,” she blurts out. “You know, suggestive kind of comments,” she looks down at the floor, a little embarrassed. “He is Andy’s brother and Aria’s crush and I seriously don’t know what to do. I know he’s a player kind of guy but I also know he likes me sister, and I honestly don’t want her to get hurt, you know,” she looks into the hallway again. “I told him to stop, but he’s not really listening,” she looks at me a little desperately and I feel for her. “It’s just bothering me and really uncomfortable.”
I love that she is opening up to me but I hate that she feels so miserable. Now doesn’t only my foot ache, but my hearts aches a little too.
“Oh Calliope,” I softly utter.
She looks at me and I see her trouble reflected in her eyes. “I mean... Is it stupid? Am I overreacting? Do I see things which aren’t there?”
I shake my head and think of something to calm her down. Instinctively I shove over to her on the couch, my foot almost knocking over a glass on the coffee table. “It’s okay, it’s okay,” I say soothingly as I fold my arms around her. At first I feel her tense up a little, but a few seconds later she relaxes into my arms. We just sit there for a moment, embracing each other until a familiar voice startles us.
“Calliope? What is going on?” I look up and see Aria staring at us from the doorway. I let Calliope go out of my arms and sit back, looking back and forth between the two sisters. Aria looks a little suspicious but for the greater part mad. I can’t really tell what Callie is thinking, as she stares towards the ground, avoiding her sister’s gaze. It looks like it’s up to me to answer.
“Uhm, nothing,” I shrug. “Calliope was having a bad day, that’s all,” I make up.
Aria walks towards us and a waterfall of words come out of her mouth. Great. Spanish. What a wonderful way of shutting me out.
“¿Eso es la verdad? No trate de robar mis amigos. Usted sabe mejor que eso. ¡Fuera!”
“No es asunto tuyo,” the younger sister replies with her hands raised. Aria looks her into the eye, her lips pursed. Calliope sighs, stands up and walks over to the chair to grab her stuff. “Bye Arizona,” she says looking at me but avoiding her sister. “Thanks for uhm... you know. I’ll talk to you later,” she says and while she utters the last words she looks Aria in the eye. Then she walks out of the room and a moment later I hear her walking up the stairs.
“What was that all about?” I say a little angrily at Aria. I know she has been a great friend so far and she has been wonderful helping me out, but that fight was completely useless.
“Sister stuff,” she shrugs and sits down beside me, where Callie sat a little earlier.
“No, it wasn’t. It was... nonsense,” I reply with the absence of a better word. “It’s not fair that you shut me out like that, using another language to communicate,” I try to keep myself calm.
Aria stares at the wall for a minute before she lets out a sigh. “I know.... I’m sorry,” she says looking me in the eye and I immediately see it’s a genuine apology. “What’s the deal with you and my sister anyway?” she asks raising one eyebrow.
I shift around a little in my seat before answering her question. “There is no ‘deal’. She’s just really nice and fun to be around,” I mention with a smile plastered on my face. And also insanely cute, I add to the list in my mind. “I’m surprised you don’t get along very well.”
My friend shrugs and I swear I can see a little regret before she turns her head away.
“Whatever,” she mumbles. For a few minutes we sit together in silence, watching the flickering screen in front of us play different clips. “I’m really sorry about before. I shouldn’t have treated you like that,” she says softly after a while.
“It’s okay. Seriously, I’m very grateful you have taken such good care of me today and frankly any other day so far. You are an amazing friend. You just might want to consider being even a greater sister,” I carefully suggest and touch her shoulder comfortingly.
The latina smiles at me. “I’ll consider that.”
--..--..--..--
No longer than an hour later I’m sitting in Mick’s car, the world around us slowly passing by and the radio playing softly on the background.
“So,” Mickey comments with a smirk on his face. “Did you have a chance to speak with New Girl #2 in there?”
I raise my eyebrows and look at him. “Who?”
“That chick you have the hots for,” he replies and his grin grows wider. I shake my head for a few seconds. I know there is no use in denying with my older brother around. He knows me better than anyone else.
“Still... New Girl #2?” I repeat sarcastically.
“Yeah. Your cheerleader friend is New Girl #1 and her little sister is #2,” he states simply.
“Please tell me you don’t call her that on the team,” I drop my head to my chest, once again shaking it from my left to my right and reversed.
“Ha,” he laughs. “So you did talk to her!”
“Yes,” I reply casually, staring out of the window.
“And?” I can feel his eyes on me, but I keep staring at the passing houses.
“And what?” I pray to God he at least glances at the road a few times while staring.
“Spill the beans, Ari!”
“Fine. I’ll tell you, but you have to keep your eyes on the road,” I give in.
From he corner of my eye I see him focus on the road again as a sign of agreement.
“I really do like her, I think,” I confide in him with a small sigh. “I mean... I can’t stop thinking about her. Literally. It actually is the reason I fell down during practise earlier today; I wasn’t paying attention at all,” I hear my brother chuckle at that. “It isn’t funny!” I playfully punch him against his arm. “Why does this happen to me, Mickey?” I moan with my hands raised in the air.
“It’s not a bad thing, Ari. You’re in love, that’s all,” he says and pats me on the shoulder.
“Eyes on the road!” I quickly warn him.
“Yeah, yeah. Like I ever would do anything to you what could harm you,” he says reassuringly, his eyes glued to the road. “You do that fine by yourself,” he adds with a chuckle.
I stick out my tongue and neither of us says anything for a few minutes.
“Did you ever feel like this?” I ask him as we turn into our street. “That feeling, that when you’re with her, everything is going to be okay? That you physically miss her when she isn’t around you?”
“I had that with Michelle,” he lets out a little sigh.
I nod and immediately regret bringing it up. Up to last year, Michelle lived in this street. Mick had a crush on her for years and finally they got together two years ago. I thought it would be hard for me to share my best friend, but it was surprisingly easy. Other than my parents, I haven’t seen two people that care so deeply for each other than my brother and Michelle. Unfortunately, her mother got a job offered at Harvard and they all had to move. They kept seeing each other for another month or two but it tare Mickey apart, not seeing her. He was even more devastated when she broke up with him, although I was the only one who knew his true feelings.
“Just don’t be afraid to love who you love. No matter what others and in particular colonel Robbins might think,” he utters and I hear the regret in his voice. “If there is the tiniest chance she likes you back, go for it.”
I immediately think of the glances she threw me yesterday and the blush on her cheeks when I come near her.
“And I also gotta say, she ain’t looking too shabby,” he carefully mentions as he parks the car in front of our house with another grin on his face.
I know he’s teasing me but I can’t help but punch him again.“Shut up,” I say with a smile.
“Ahw, look at the crippled cheerleader punching her loving brother,” he says and quickly gets out of the car, missing out on another punch.
Half a minute later he opens my door, the crutches in his other hand. As he helps me get out of the car a song I used to sing in my childhood a lot comes to mind again. When we make our way over to our front door I begin to chant the lyrics.
“Oh Mickey you’re so fine, you blow my mind, hey Mickey... Hey Mickey!”
He starts laughing and as he opens the door he whispers something in my ear. “Just substitute my name with Callie’s and you’ll win her over in no time.”