A Conspicuous Conspiracy (Ch. 11)
Title: A Conspicuous Conspiracy
Author: clanket
Pairing: Callie/Arizona
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Callie and Arizona are best friends. As they navigate through their final year of high school, will they realize that they're more than just friends?
Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libellous, defamatory, or in any way factual.
A/N: Alex's shoe commentary is dedicated to taintedidealist ;)
Also, thanks for the heated comments - it means I'm keeping you interested!
Ch. 11
Bowling alleys are casual and no outfit will make those hideous shoes look remotely stylish so why bother?
"Ready?" I ask Arizona. She answers in the positive and hops off the bed to text Addison to pick us up.
xxx
"Seriously, could they make these shoes any uglier?" Addie inquires as she finishes lacing up the rented footwear. "It's like they actually tried to make them look as terrible as possible with these clashing two-toned colour schemes. How am I even supposed to find an outfit that remotely matches beige and teal?" she continues irritatedly.
Arizona and I look at each other and smile. Only Addison would actually care to match the shoes she wears for maybe two hours once a month; the rest of us just enjoy the slippery soles on the waxed lanes.
"I dunno, they're not so bad. If you get the right colour combination you could pair them up to a lot of stuff," Alex says as he sits down on a chair next to Arizona to put on his own shoes.
Addison, Arizona and I stop all movement at the same time and turn our eyes toward him. Alex freezes and looks mildly uncomfortable for a moment then adds, "Never mind," and goes back to his laces. Seriously, boys and their thinking they can chime in on fashion topics. Unless it's to tell me how my ass looks or if I'm showing off enough cleavage - which Arizona often helps me out with, actually - in a certain outfit, I don't really trust their judgement.
I look over to Arizona who is laughing silently to herself at Alex's comment. Seriously, this is her best friend? She needs cooler friends; I can only make up for so much.
"Hey, Alex," I call, "weren't you supposed to pick up Jackson?"
"Oh yeah, he couldn't come because he already had plans with Kepner," he grumbles. "He wanted me to let you guys know that he's having a party on Saturday since his parents are going away for the weekend for their anniversary or something."
"Oooh, nice!" Addie chimes. She's definitely a party girl and the booze just gives her an excuse to fling herself at her flavour-of-the-moment. I wonder who that will be this weekend.
"Super," Arizona exclaims at the same time, smiling as thoughts of wine spritzers and slightly inebriated, uninhibited girls must run through her mind. Hey, after nearly half a year I would be a little more than tightly-wound, too. I'm just not so sure how I'm going to cope with seeing Arizona all over some girl now that I can actually be said girl. You know, just as soon as I tell her about my new single status.
We've all migrated to our lane and I punched in our names on the electronic scoreboard, putting myself right after Arizona. This way we'll have the most time to sit and talk between taking our turns. I'm so sneaky when I want to be.
"Alright, Addie, you're up," I announce.
She stands up from her spot next to Alex and makes her way to the row of bowling balls on the ball return turnstile. She grabs an eight-pounder with some difficulty before finally inserting her fingers into the proper holes. Addie is really terrible at bowling. She doesn't even swing the ball right and then releases far too late, causing a loud thud each time as the ball connects with the faux-wooden lane.
Good thing they're built sturdy.
I watch as the bright pink ball slowly rolls down the waxed track, drifts to the right and looks like it's going into the gutter. As it nears the end of its journey, the ball barely hangs in there to knock down the tenth pin.
"Woo!" Arizona whoops from my right and couples it with a few claps.
"Good way to start," I observe with a small teasing smile so that only Arizona can hear me.
"Come on, Calliope, don't be mean," she admonishes and nudges me with her shoulder.
"I'm not, I'm just saying," I defend with a shrug. Arizona rolls her eyes at me and smiles. I can't get enough of that smile. Her dimples will always give her an air of youth and seeing them pop will never get old.
I can't tear my eyes away from her face as she watches Addison finish her frame with bated breath. She's genuinely interested in seeing her friends happy and will gladly root them on, even in something as trivial as a friendly game of ten-pin bowling.
I watch her hold still, following the ball down the lane with intense blue eyes. I watch as she pulls her arms into her chest, keeping the muscles flexed in anticipation. I watch as her smile widens, surely in the expectation of having the ball knock some pins down.
I hear a few pins clatter at the end of the lane then see Arizona throw her hands into the air excitedly. I can't help but smile myself at the twinkle of true pleasure in her eyes. She's truly beautiful when she's happy.
I shake my head a little to clear my mind and turn my eyes forward. When did I get this sappy? I'm supposed to be the cool one; Addison is the priss, Arizona is the cute one, Alex is the damaged one, Jackson is the pretty one and I'm the cool one! If I weren't in public I'm pretty sure I'd be whining and stomping my feet right about now. Ugh this is so frustrating! Why can't I control my own thoughts?
I used to be in control and calm and collected; now I can't even keep my mind on a simple task for more than two minutes before somehow having it revert back to Arizona in some way. Ridiculous!
Alex has finished his turn and Arizona is now setting herself up for her first shot with the same pink ball Addison was using. She drops it to her right side, fingers gripping it firmly, then takes two steps toward the lane and releases it at just the right time. A little more force and she'd knock down more pins more consistently.
The ball floats right just like Addie's shot but stays about one-third from the edge, effectively clipping the three pins at the top-right of the triangle set-up. She's already tripled Addie's score.
On her next shot, she lines up a little more to the left and ends up knocking down four more pins.
On my way to take my turn, I smile as I pass Arizona and can't help but taunt her a little.
"Let me show you how it's done," I tell her with a wink and she laughs before settling back into the seat in front of the electronic scoreboard she'd previously occupied.
I pick up a ten-pounder and take my place at the third dotted line. I bring the ball up to my chest, ready to take my first step when -
"Heeeey, batter, batter!"
I turn to see Arizona's eyes shining with mischief and her dimples popping in mirth. I smile at her knowingly.
"Calliope, tell me, how many pins do you think you're going to leave standing?"
I shake my head at her and reset myself at the dotted line. I'll get her back later.
After a moment I take three large steps toward the lane and release the ball millimeters from the ground, giving it the impression of hovering down the smooth surface. It floats to the right until it reaches about two-thirds down the lane then veers sharply back toward the middle, hitting between the first and third pins. Strike.
I give Arizona a grin coupled with a raised eyebrow on my way back to my seat. I'm usually decent at bowling but I'm not so sure that was all me. I'm not about to let her know that, though.
"Could you stop having eye sex with her?"
I'm unceremoniously pulled out of our mutual gaze by Addison as she passes by me.
"What?"
"If you don't stop looking at her like that the entire building will know you want in her pants. So either man up and tell her or stop making it so obvious!"
Then she saunters the rest of the way to the top of the lane. Wow, tough love. I make my way back to Arizona's side.
"So how many pins did I leave standing, again?" I ask her cockily as I place my hand on Arizona's left thigh, subconsciously running my thumb along it.
I see Arizona take a sharp breath then slowly let it out, all the while staring at my lips. Her pupils dilate automatically. What is she thinking about right now? God, I would love if she would describe every detail of that thought to me. It's so hot when someone tells you their fantasy.
I let my tongue lightly graze my lips and watch as Arizona's eyes meet mine. She gulps.
"Calliope," she starts breathlessly, "you can't just do that to me," she says as she glances at my hand. "It actually does something for me."
Should I tell her now? Is it really appropriate to do this in front of our best friends and in the middle of a noisy bowling alley?
I lift my hand slightly just for a moment then think better of it and place it back on her leg. I trail it up just a couple of inches to see her reaction. She doesn't move.
"Maybe…" I trail off and clear my throat. "Maybe it does something for me, too?"
It came out as a question. Why can't I be the cool Callie right now? I just need her for, like, thirty seconds!
Arizona squints slightly while she studies my face, her lips slightly parted and forming something resembling a pout.
"Calliope, what are you saying?"
I can hear the blood rushing through my body and feel its warming effects on my skin. I can't believe we're having this conversation.
"I'm saying that-"
"Yo, Robbins, it's your turn," Alex bellows. I turn my eyes to his figure on Arizona's right and see Addison smack him hard across the chest.
"What?" he gripes, rubbing his chest. Addison widens her eyes at him and gives one sharp nod in our direction. When he notices that we were in an intimate moment he hangs his head somewhat and gives Addie a sheepish half smile.
Damn it! Is the entire universe against me telling Arizona how I feel this weekend?
Arizona finally turns her head to the pair behind her and smoothly stands up to take her turn again. I let out a long breath. I really need to just man up and tell her straight because I'm going to have a stroke if I don't get this off my chest soon.
"Callie, what just happened before that tactless meathead interrupted you guys? It looked pretty intense! Did you tell her?" I can practically feel the excitement radiate off of Addison's body, which really isn't that impressive if you consider the fact that she's made herself comfortable in the spot Arizona had just vacated and is leaning in so close I could kiss her with minimal effort if I really wanted to.
"No, I was just about to. I had my hand on her leg and I was telling her how I liked it there when that idiot friend of hers started yelling!" I explain as quickly as I can then angrily cross my arms over my chest. I don't care if I'm practically throwing a temper tantrum, I want to tell her and get this over with already!
Addison stands up quickly when she notices that Arizona has finished her frame and takes a seat next to Alex once more. They start talking animatedly in hushed tones. They're not talking about us for sure, no, not at all. How not awkward. Jerks. They could at least give it a minute or two so that it's not so obvious.
I stand up quickly for my second shot at the pins. I can't concentrate this time. It's not like I'm being teased or something; this is me trying to tell my best friend that I want a different kind of relationship with her. Her. A girl. I want to have a romantic relationship with a girl. A girl who has no idea that I see girls in a romantic light, never mind that I have a crush on her!
This is just too frustrating.
Before I know it, I've thrown two balls down the lane - one of which wasn't even mine. I didn't realize until the navy blue came through the ball return turnstile instead of the orange I was expecting.
I throw a somewhat worried glance Addie's way. What am I supposed to do now? I can't just pick up where I left off like its normal conversation but I can't sit somewhere else, either, and ignore what just happened. So I do the only thing I can: I return to my spot next to Arizona. We've barely even started our first game and I've already made this outing exponentially awkward.
Dear universe, could you please let something really weird happen to someone other than me right now?
…no? Alright then, my own weird situation it is.
When I take a seat I give Arizona a tight, marginally awkward smile. In the last ten seconds I haven't been able to come up with any sort of strategy to fix this situation and get it back to normal - forget improving upon it!
So I choose the silent method. I sit next to my best friend without making a sound. I cross my legs under the screen in front of me and self-consciously run my hand up and down my thigh a couple times. It was way better running it along Arizona's thigh.
Addison seems to have crossed into some twilight zone wherein she experiences time at half-speed. That or she's stalling to give us time to talk.
"I'm gonna get a drink. You want anything?" Alex gruffly asks in our vague direction.
"I'm fine, thanks," Arizona replies with a warm smile and I shake my head in the same answer before watching him stalk off toward the bar. His being gone will give us even more time since we'll have to wait for him to come back to take his turn.
Great, where was this consideration last round when I could have used it? I huff at the thought.
Arizona turns to me, a warm smile on her lips. "Calliope, are you alright? You've been acting kind of strange these last few days."
"Yeah, I'm fine," I answer and inhale deeply then release the breath slowly. "I've been feeling kind of strange these last few days."
"Okay," Arizona says, her tone letting me know that she's not sure of herself. "So what's wrong then?"
"Nothing's wrong Arizona. It's just-" I cut myself off. How do I explain this without sounding ridiculous? I rub my face in my hands. It feels good when I'm frustrated.
"Just what?" Arizona prompts, worry slipping into her voice.
I let out one more long breath. "It's just that even though we spend nearly all of our free time together and even though we've spent these past two days barely out of each other's presences I feel like I haven't actually talked to you in forever!" I turn to look at her. I can feel tears welling up in my eyes from the sheer frustration of this situation and my own ineptitude at expressing myself.
Arizona's brows furrow in compassion and curiosity.
"Well what do you want to talk about?"
"And I feel like every time I do try to talk to you the entire world is against me. Something always happens, Arizona, something always happens and I can't talk to you the way I want to talk to you and I can't tell you what I want you to know," I continue despite her question.
"Calliope, what do you want me to know? I'm here right now and we are talking right now. So tell me what it is. I am listening whether the world wants me to or not," she says with a smile and puts a comforting hand between my shoulder blades. She means it, really means it. She's making time for me and she actually cares about what's making me act like a fool in the middle of a bowling alley, Alex still waiting on the longest drink order of life and Addison conveniently AWOL.
"I want you to know," I clear my throat and start over. "I want you to know that before, just now," I say and nod my head toward her lap then wait for confirmation that she understands. When she gives a slight nod I continue.
"Before, it wasn't just you it was affecting."
Arizona is studying my face like a hawk studies its prey. I shiver under her penetrating gaze.
"And earlier, at the house…well, you weren't the only one I was teasing." I can't keep eye contact with her. What if I just freaked her out? What if she thinks I'm terrible for not having told her sooner? What if she thinks I can't be her soul mate anymore? I couldn't take her walking out of my life.
"Calliope."
I hear her but I can't bear to see disappointment in her eyes.
"Calliope, look at me," she says sternly. When I don't she reaches out with her right hand and gently cups my cheek. After a moment she puts a little pressure on it. She's going to make me look her in the face whether I want to or not. So I comply.
I turn my eyes to her face but instead of disappointment and judgement I find a kind smile and friendly eyes. I let out a breath I've clearly been holding because my next intake feels almost sweet.
"Okay, so now I know," she says. My heart drops a little. Is that it?
"Now I know and we've started to talk about it." So that's not it?
"So we can keep talking about this later, alright? But right now we're in a bowling alley with our other two best friends and I'm pretty sure Alex is watching us, trying to figure out if he can come back yet, and if Addison actually needed to be in the bathroom for this long then that's a bigger problem than her lack of bowling skills," she says with a small giggle.
She leans forward and slowly rubs her nose against mine the way she did this morning, guiding my face to hers with her hand, while at the same time moving her other hand from my back to place it over mine and almost timidly pulling it away from my body. She rests her forehead against mine and gently guides our hands back to her left thigh; the action that set this whole thing off in the first place.
A wide smile spreads across my face and I give her one last Eskimo kiss before pulling away. That went a lot better than I could have ever expected.
Arizona keeps her hand on mine; her fingers nestled in the groove between my thumb and forefinger, her own thumb running softly along my knuckles and occasionally circling one of them. After a moment's pause she looks past me and waves at an awkwardly hovering Alex to come back. When he does, his arms are full of a pitcher of coke, a basket of fries and cheese sticks.
"The pizza should be ready in a few," he mumbles and both Arizona's and my own eyebrows shoot up.
"Alex, did you just keep ordering as an excuse to stay over there?" Arizona asks amusedly.
Alex doesn't respond; he's not the mushy type. He just meets Arizona's gaze for a split second and barely grins while giving a shrug. He's a pretty good guy, even if he's more than a little rough around the edges.
"Thank you," Arizona whispers to him.
"Alright, so my turn?" he says, changing the subject. We nod at him while I steal a few fries. I bite off the ends sticking out of my fingers and silently offer the rest to Arizona who looks at me with a smile that's almost pitiful before letting out a soft chuckle with a light shake of her head. She's obviously entertained by me. What'd I do?
I furrow my brows at her in question, mouth now full with the rest of the greasy treats from my fingers.
Arizona shakes her head again and quietly responds, "Don't worry about it," while giving my hand a squeeze. I smile at her. I can't believe I'm sitting in a bowling alley with my hand on her leg with hers affectionately holding and rubbing mine. It's almost like a cheesy first date. Oh, cheese!
I turn around to the table piled with food and grab a mozzarella stick and bite half of that, too. I love indulging in crappy food when we go out since my mom is all about the healthy organic stuff at home. She's awesome, but she takes the whole nature-loving thing a little too far sometimes.
I quickly offer the second half of the fried cheese to Arizona who nods and opens her mouth, waiting for me to feed it to her. I hold the morsel up to her lips expecting her to gingerly take it from my digits with her teeth but she surprises me yet again. Instead of the friendly acceptance, she locks her eyes onto mine and slowly leans toward the proffered food, letting it slide past her teeth until the tips of my fingers are in her mouth. As she slowly closes her mouth, her tongue dashes forward to barely tickle my fingertips. Then just as quickly as she had done it, Arizona pulls her head back.
I'm left shell-shocked. That really just happened, right? Damn it, she's so sexy and she hardly even has to try! If that didn't just happen then: 1) my mind really needs to stop playing tricks on me, 2) I'm not sure any sort of alone time tonight will put out the heat rising between my legs and, 3) I should really gather my jaw up off the floor sometime soon.
What I wouldn't give to have her against me again, to have my hand on her waist, fingers moving to dip under her waistband. To have my mouth on her neck as she rolls her hips back into me. Jesus, this is not helping!
I keep staring at Arizona with my eyes wide, mouth agape, mind running wild. She slowly lifts one eyebrow and smirks at me before sliding my hand off of her leg and back onto mine then standing up.
She walks over to the bowling balls and I realize it's her turn again.
Now who's teasing?
"Well?" Addie asks urgently as she sidles up next to me.
"Hang on."
I stand up and quietly make my way behind Arizona. She's just lining up her shot at the marked line. I see her swing her arm forward slightly to build up momentum then take a step toward the lane and wind up.
I quickly close the remainder of the gap between us and grab the pink ball in mid-swing.
"Eep!"
Arizona squeals in surprise as she spins around to see what's just happened, throwing her right hand over her heaving chest.
Addison, Alex and I burst out laughing at her reaction. I'm laughing so hard that I've doubled over, trying with all my might to keep from dropping the ball, eyes having started to tear. I can hear Addie howling behind me and Alex snickering away more quietly, probably trying to get away without being noticed by Arizona.
Arizona, who has come out of her dazed fear only to level a scowl my way, arms firmly crossed upon her chest. Oh man, that was totally worth whatever I might have to pay in retaliation.
"Arizona," I say breathlessly, "Arizona, that was great! You should have seen yourself! I can't believe you squealed like a little girl!" I finish, wiping my eyes.
"Seriously awesome," I repeat as I offer her the ball I had snatched, still chuckling. "Come on, it was funny."
"That wasn't very nice Calliope," she says, not budging at all on the scowl or even moving to take the ball.
"Oh really?" I ask then move closer to her so that the only distance between us is the pink sphere. "Because I think that what you did back there wasn't very nice," I chide playfully with raised eyebrows, begging her to challenge me.
A huge grin breaks out across her face and unleashes those magical dimples, erasing all evidence of the previous grimace. That's much better. I smile at her.
"Maybe you're right," she shrugs, trying at nonchalance but I know her too well. The way she breaks eye contact just as she finishes her sentence is a dead giveaway that she knew exactly what she was doing when she practically sucked on my fingers.
Arizona finally takes the bowling ball from my hands and realigns her shot. Just when she's about to take her first stride she stutter-steps and looks over her shoulder to make sure no one is standing right behind her.
We laugh at her again from our seats and watch as the third time really is the charm for Arizona.
For the remainder of the evening Arizona and I kept some sort of physical contact. Most of the time we just resumed our positions next to each other with my hand on her leg but she would occasionally run her palm over my bare arm as we talked. One time I didn't reach out for her leg, just in case she felt like I was smothering her but she immediately grabbed my fingers and brought them back into her lap, smiling as she did so.
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