Chapter 2

Drew walks into the training center to get a work out in before heading home to Ayr for a couple weeks. Letting out a heavy breath, he turns the corner to make his way toward the ring. Once he reaches the room, he sees that the lone ring is already occupied. Instead of walking away, however, Drew makes his way closer to watch for a few minutes. It's when he's beside the ring he realizes just who is in the ring, Callie.

Letting out a soft sigh, Drew sets his bag down. He may as well watch for a few minutes. He's never seen the woman wrestle before, so now is as good a time as any. Drew watches as Callie and another woman go back and forth with several hits. To say he's surprised by the aggression Callie is showing would be an understatement, especially after hearing how she didn't like to be in front of crowds.

"She's good, isn't she?" Pete asks stepping up next to Drew.

Drew looks at him and nods. "I wasn't expecting this," he answers.

"Not many do."

"I don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Her."

Pete chuckles. "Give her time. You'll slowly start to understand."

"I don't know how. Who's the other girl?"

"Her name is Becca. She's a friend of Callie's. Don't be expecting to see her anywhere but here. All she does is practice with Callie."

Drew looks over when Callie jumps down from the ring. He wishes he could take back what he had done. But it's not like it was all that horrible. Maybe he needs to force Callie to talk to him. Get her to understand that he wasn't laughing at her. And maybe understand what's going on with her.

"You looked good," Drew says.

Callie looks at him. "Thank you," she replies softly.

Drew looks at Becca. "Hi, I'm Drew Galloway."

"Becca MacMurray."

Drew watches as Becca looks over at Callie. Pete hands Callie a bottle of water before climbing into the ring.

"Are you coming?" Pete asks looking down at Drew.

"If you think you can take me old man," Drew replies before climbing into the ring.

Callie and Becca step away from the ring. Callie can't help but want to watch this man wrestle. Why she's so drawn to him, she'll never know. But the fact of the matter is she is drawn to him. Becca elbows her lightly.

"He's cute," she says softly.

Callie just nods. What can she say? There is no way she can disagree with Becca because she had thought that from the first time she saw Drew. If only he wouldn't have been so rude to her at the meeting. What right does he have to judge her? He knows nothing about her. Maybe if he did, he would understand why she feels the way she does.

It's a short time later when Pete throws a towel at Callie. Callie looks up at him and raises an eyebrow.

"Are you getting back in?" Pete asks.

"Why?"

"Because I'm your trainer and I'm allowed to ask questions like that."

Callie grins. "No, I think I'm done for the day."

"Okay then."

"We'll see you later. I think we'll go get showered and leave now."

"I'll see you in the morning."

Callie and Becca walk out of the room and make their way toward the locker room.

"Hey, wait," Drew says catching up as they reach the door.

Callie turns and looks up at the man. What could he possibly want?

"Are you busy tonight?" Drew asks.

"No," Becca answers before Callie has a chance to.

"No," Callie says softly knowing she can't say anything else now.

"What do you say we go out for some dinner? Just me and you? Please."

"Of course she will," Becca says quickly.

"Becca," Callie mutters. Looking up at Drew, Callie lets out a soft breath. "I don't really think that's such a good idea."

"Why?" Drew asks.

"Drew…"

"You just said you weren't busy, right?"

"Right, but…"

"And you eat, right?"

"Yes, but…"

"So what's the problem?"

"Drew…"

"There's a little diner down the road from where I stay. It's a nice place."

Callie stares up at Drew and sighs softly. "Okay, but I will just meet you there."

Drew nods. "Okay."

******

Drew walks into the diner and sees Callie sitting at a table by the window. He makes his way over, sitting down across from her. "Sorry I'm late," he says when Callie looks at him.

"It's okay," Callie says. "I got here early any way. I wanted to make sure I could find the place. Still learning Tampa."

"How long have you been here?"

"I've in Tampa for a month. I was in Chicago before that for almost six months."

"And before that?"

"Home in Ayr."

Drew nods as the server walks over. He takes the menu from the middle aged woman and smiles.

"Can I get you something to drink?" the woman asks.

"Iced Tea."

"All right. I'll be right back with that."

Drew flips his menu open and looks over the specials. He knows that Callie is watching him, but doesn't look at her. "Do you know what you're getting?"

"Yes," Callie answers. "I decided soon after I looked."

Drew nods as he sets his menu down. "Thank you for coming."

"Well, Becca didn't exactly let me have a reason not to come."

"I'm not a bad guy Callie."

"Well, you have a funny way of showing that."

Drew sighs. He can't argue with that. It's not like him to jump to a quick judgment about someone. So why he did with Callie baffles him. Letting out a soft breath, Drew leans back in his seat.

A short time later, they're both eating quietly. Callie isn't sure what to say to Drew and isn't sure why Drew asked her to come. He seems like he's actually a nice person, someone Callie would normally be friends with. She just hates the way they started out. Maybe she needs to step back and get over the misjudgment. Everyone makes mistakes and it's not like this was a horrible mistake.

"How's your sandwich?" Drew asks.

"It's great," Callie answers. "I'll have to remember this place so I can come more often."

Drew smiles at her. "I bet you're wondering why I asked you here."

"I have been wondering that, yes."

"I had no right to judge you. And I mean it when I say I wasn't laughing at you. The situation just puzzles me."

"And I understand that. I know what it sounds like when I tell you that Callie doesn't like the attention but Caledonia does."

"I don't understand that, but that doesn't mean it's not there. Care to explain what you mean by that?"

"I'm a very shy person. I always have been. Becca was always the one that was bubbly with everything. I was the one who would be off to the side hoping that people wouldn't notice me. So me, as Callie, didn't want to attention."

"I guess that makes a little sense. But what about Caledonia?"

"Becca and I decided to go start training to be wrestlers when we were eighteen. I told her she was nuts and neither of us would make it."

"Had you ever wrestled before that?"

"Kind of. But nothing major and only in my back yard. So we do this and as I figured, I was so terrified to do anything. The guy that was working with me pulled me to the side to just talk. He told me if I really wanted to do this I needed to break out of my shell."

"So out comes Caledonia."

"Out comes Caledonia. After I started training I realized that this is what I want to do. So I knew I had to change something. So I created Caledonia. When I step out into the ring, it's like I'm a completely different person. That probably sounds crazy."

"No, actually it makes a lot of sense. I guess if I would have heard that before it would have made things different. I'm sorry I did judge you before I knew the problem."

"Things happen."

"So how'd you come up with the name Caledonia?"

"I don't know actually. It's just a name I put out there right away." Callie shrugs. "I think it's worked."

"When are you starting?"

"Next week."

"And I'll miss it."

"Where will you be?"

"I'm going home to Ayr for a couple weeks."

Callie smiles at Drew. "Home is always good."

Drew nods. "Definitely is. Haven't been there in a while so I thought it was about time I go."

"When do you go?"

"Tomorrow morning. Mum wanted me home today but I told her that wasn't happening."

Callie laughs softly. Maybe she'd been wrong about Drew. He's definitely not the jerk he had made himself seem like. In fact he's the exact opposite, like Callie could see deep down. Too bad he's going to gone for a while now. Hopefully they can get to know each other better when he gets back. Only time will tell that.