"Cal, where are you gonna go? What are you gonna do?" Roger asked looking down at her as she packed her bag.
"I don't know. Maybe I'll stop at home for a few days to see my parents and then see what I wanna do next." Callie told him quietly folding her clothes and putting them into her bag.
"I thought this was your home. We've been taking care of each other for the past 5 years. I thought we've been doing pretty good up until now." he argued looking over at her.
"We have Roger, but that's the thing. I've been taken care of my whole life. I have to learn how to take care of myself." she argued looking up at him.
"We've been taking care of each other Cal. At least that's the way I see it."
"Roger, we both know that you've been taking care of me a lot more than I've taken care of you. I need to find myself. Someone who isn't attached to you." she looked up at him.
"Is it something I did? Whatever it is, I'm sorry. I'll do anything to fix it. Anything." he begged looking over at her.
"Roger, it's nothing you did. I just realized that I'm 22 years old and I've always had you in my life. There is not one memory I have from my childhood that doesn't have you in it. I need to find out who I am. I need to do something for me and being your groupie is not something I see myself doing for the rest of my life." she told him holding back tears.
"Cal, you're not just my groupie. You're the love of my life. You're my muse. You're my purpose in this world. My destiny." he said looking over at her as tears fell from his eyes.
"I know Roger and that's the problem. We've been in each other's lives for as long as we can remember. We don't know who we are without each other there. I mean, you have your music, which you're really great at. Now I need to find out who I am outside of being your girl. Don't you understand that?" she yelled at him so she wouldn't cry.
"Are you ever coming back?" he asked wiping his eyes.
"Yes, of course I'm coming back. You're my destiny Roger. I'm not leaving you. But I need to be by myself for a little while. Just to find out who I am." she said looking up at him trying not to cry.
"You're my girl Cal. You've always been my girl." he told her feigning a smile.
"I know Roger, but I need to be more before I can marry you. I don't want to grow to resent you because I had the chance to be anything more than your girl." she told him taking his hands in hers.
"I love you Cal. I don't want to lose you." he said holding her face in his hands like he's done a million times before.
" I love you too. I've always loved you. I just need to do this. I can't be the best woman for you if I can't be the best woman for myself. Please understand." she asked looking into his green eyes.
"I don't understand Cal, but I don't have a choice, huh?" he asked looking down into her bright blue eyes.
"I'm sorry Roger. Um... I gotta go. I'll call you, OK?" she said breaking away from him before closing her bag and putting it over her shoulder.
"I'm gonna miss you Callie. Just remember that this is always your home, OK? I'll be here waiting for you." he said looking down at her.
"I know Roger. You've always been there. My whole life." she smiled looking up at him.
"I love you so much Callie." he whispered holding back tears.
"I love you more than you know Roger." she said turning quickly so he didn't see her start to cry. She had known Roger literally her whole life. His life was hers. They lived around the corner from one another in Scarsdale and their parents were very close. They were raised together. They were best friends. When they turned 12, he started developing feelings for her. By age 14 he had fallen in love with her. He finally worked up the nerve to ask her out right after their junior year started. They were 16. His father had gotten transferred to Milwaukee at the same time. He tried living with his friend Tom Collins and his parents, but his parents wanted to move him to Milwaukee at the end of the summer. Away from his girlfriend. Before the school year started, Roger and Callie ran away. They moved to New York City. Roger wanted to be a rock star and she wanted to be with Roger. They left in the middle of the night and never looked back. That was 5 years ago. Now they were 22 years old and Callie felt like she never did anything for herself. Roger said he understood, but he loved her so much he didn't want to let her go. He always knew he wanted to be with her and was scared that this was gonna be the last time he ever saw her.
As Callie stared up at the loft in the building on 11th Street between Avenues A & B, tears streamed down her face. She was scared to death, but knew she had to do this. She didn't want to resent Roger for the rest of her life for her not knowing who she was. She took one last look at the loft before turning around and heading uptown to the train station.
10 years earlier
"Come on Roger. Dance with me." a 12 year old Callie smiled taking Rogers hand, dragging him onto the dance floor at their first middle school dance.
"Um... I don't know. I don't know how to dance." he said looking down at her.
"Oh come on. It's easy. Just follow me, OK?" she smiled looking up at him as she started dancing.
"You're too good. I um... I can't dance with you. I'll look like a dork." he told her leaving the dance floor.
"You're not gonna look like a dork. I'll show you what to do, just please dance with me." she begged chasing after him.
"I um.. I don't want to." he said looking down at her.
"Come on Roger, everyone's dancing but you. Even Collins." she smiled looking up at him.
"So dance with Collins. I'm going outside." he said looking down at her before leaving the gym.
"Roger, wait." she called out rushing after him. It was hard in her shoes though. It was the first pair of shoes she ever owned with heels and she wasn't used to them.
"Go back inside and have fun Callie. I don't wanna ruin your good time." he said without turning around to face her.
"Roger, come on. This is a dance. It's supposed to be fun and you're being a party pooper." she said following him.
"Don't you mean dance pooper?" he asked opening the door.
"There's no such word as dance pooper Roger." she laughed looking up at him.
"Well... I don't dance. I don't even know how my parents talked me into this." he said sitting on the steps of the school.
"Because it's supposed to be fun and you never leave your room these days. All you do is play that stupid guitar you got for your birthday." she said sitting next to him, careful not to get her new dress dirty.
"I like my guitar. My teacher said I'm getting better at playing it." he said looking over at her.
"Well, you don't come out and hang out with me, Ruth, Nicky, Mark or Collins anymore. We miss hanging out with you. I miss you." she said folding her arms because she was cold.
"Why don't you go inside? You're cold." he told her taking his jacket off for her.
"No, I'm OK. I want to stay out here with you." she smiled as he draped the jacket over her shoulders.
"You're not OK. You wanna have fun and dance, but you're freezing out here listening to me bitch about how bored I am." he said with his arm around her shoulders to warm her up.
"Roger, I just wanted to hang out with you. I miss you." she said looking up into his green eyes. She had looked into his eyes a million times before, but this time she felt different. She got a funny feeling in her stomach and her fingers and toes started to tingle.
"Um... if I go inside, will you go in too?" he asked quickly taking his arm out from around her.
"Um... yeah. Let's go inside. I won't make you dance, I promise." she agreed looking away from him.
"OK. Let's go." he smiled getting up holding his hand out to help her up. She looked so pretty in her pink dress. Her hair was up and curled in banana curls. Her bangs were curled under and she was wearing clear lip gloss.
"Thanks." she smiled looking up at him as he opened the door for her and they entered the gym.
"Dude, where did you go? You're missing all the fun." Collins asked looking up at him as they came back in.
"I um.. I just um... needed some air." Roger answered nervously.
"How come you're not dancing? Man, this boy/ girl dance stuff is fun." Collins smiled looking over at him.
"Yeah, I'm um... I'm not the dancing kind." he said watching Callie run over to Ruth and start dancing.
"Do you have a thing for Callie?" Collins asked noticing Roger staring at Callie.
"No. We're just friends." Roger told him defensively.
"Yeah right, friends. Friends don't look at each other like that." he smiled looking over at him.
"Would you quit it? I don't like her like that." Roger lied walking away to get a soda.
"Fine, but I think she likes you too. You should have heard how excited she was that you were coming to the dance. She made her mom take her out to buy a new dress and shoes and even begged her to let her wear make up." he smiled looking over at him.
"So. I don't care." he told him drinking his soda still watching Callie.
"If you say so Roger." Collins conceded standing next to him as they watched Callie have fun dancing to the music.
"Roger, what's the matter? Didn't you have fun at the dance?" Mrs. Davis asked looking over at Roger as he entered the house.
"Yeah, it was um... it was OK." he mumbled going up to his room.
"Was Callie there?" she asked following him to his room.
"Yeah, she was there. She tried getting me to dance, but I told her I don't dance." he said looking down at the guitar.
"OK, well I'm glad you had fun. Don't stay up too late, OK? No strumming on your guitar. It's too late." she said looking over at him before leaving the room.
"Um... mom. Thanks for making me go. It was pretty cool." he smiled looking up at her.
"No problem sweetie. Good night." she smiled before closing the door and going back downstairs.
When Roger snapped out of his thoughts, he looked around the loft, not knowing what to do. He had never been there without Callie before. He went over to the cabinet and took out all the pictures he had of her. Many were from when they were children. At each other's birthday parties, school, and summer camp. Him and Callie were inseparable. He didn't know what he was gonna do without her. He went into his room and started playing his guitar.