A/N - Ok, I know it might sound a bit silly but I promised myself that if the first chapter just got one review it would be enough to inspire another chapter :) and so here it is – I genuinely hope that more reviews will follow if you find yourself enjoying my writing. Please let me know; feedback always put a smile on my face :)
Added to that, the longer this story progresses, the longer each chapter will get – this one's just stingy because I like how it ends :)
And just so you know, the name is pronounced Cal-Eye-Oh-Pee.
On with the story…
Chapter Two:
There was one absolute, utter, indisputable necessity I felt Theo's and my new home should come equipped with. And for good reason.
Separate bathrooms.
Waking up in the morning – at a bright and early nine o' clock, might I add – was made more than bearable by the sheer fact that I rolled right out of bed, onto the fluffy cream carpet and straight through into my own en suit.
I swear I could hear angels sing.
But their heavenly voices were soon over powered by my I-pod, wired up to the speakers of my vintage stereo, playing the 'mellow 'playlist as loud as could be without being obnoxious. I wasn't worried about waking Theo up.
If the boy can sleep through ten hours of turbulence akin to the political career of Winston Churchill, then he can definitely sleep through a bit of The Police and Pretenders.
Besides, the guest room and study separated our bedrooms.
I wasn't sure what to do with either of those rooms, to be honest – neither were vital to Theo or I, but I figured the guest room could be tidied a bit and set up nicely, just in case it was needed. I wasn't sure who, exactly, would be needing it, but you never know.
As for the study, I figured I could just turn it into a storage room for our books, old vinyl's, CDs and DVDs…probably the old board games we'd brought over with us too. And old photo albums, a place for the unframed moments in time to be at home.
Other than those two rooms, there honestly wasn't much to do. I liked my room – it was the master suit and had a fluffy cream carpet, deep green, silver and white colouring the walls, the latter colours used to edge out the heavy former. My quilts were white with green detailing, my bed was a good King size and my wardrobe was perfect to equip and sector the addiction to clothes and shoes or swore I didn't have.
Don't get me wrong – I'm not a fashion junkie, but I like options, which means variety, which means plenty.
Plenty of options, plenty of variety.
Uggh, I sound like a total addict.
Oh well – I made sure Theo had just as much clothing, even if he didn't wear half of it.
As for the bathroom? Well, just let me tell you this:
Wow.
Tiled in black and white and tapered by royal red, it was the single most sophisticated and fairytale like room I had seen, as sad as that might seem. The bath, which I sunk into delightfully, towered over by jasmine scented bubbles, was huge, deep and claw footed, situated on a small platform in the corner, but not pressed against the wall.
There was a decent sized shower, a basin and toilet – all accessorized with silver and black. Hanging over the basin was a silver sheathed mirror – antique looking and perfectly sized. It was the first thing I bought after putting the deposit down on the house because I could think of nothing more fitting.
And it was one of the few times I was right.
I rinsed off my body, shedding the invisible grime from the airplane I could feel crawling along my skin, washing the same dirt from my hair thoroughly and skimming a razor over my legs, before clambering out of pure heaven and wrapping myself and my hair in a fluffy red towel, stored in the drawers beneath the basin.
God, I loved my new home.
Treading lightly through onto the carpet of my bedroom, the soft fabric between my toes, I grinned and shook my hair out, rubbing out the excess moisture as my favourite Pretenders song came on.
"Don't get me wrong,
If I'm looking kind of dazzled
I see neon lights,
Whenever you walk by"
I couldn't help but dance over to my suitcase, momentarily stationed in front of my wardrobe doorway, vowing to spend the time now to organise, while the mood was upon me.
And so I did; for an hour and ten minutes I coordinated my wardrobe based on clothing type: trousers to the far left, then skirts, dresses, shirts, casual tops, going out tops, professional tops and lazy tops. Jumpers followed, then cardigans, jackets, hoodies and then coats. The miscellaneous items ended up at the far right and, in the draws beneath, my underwear and bikinis were organized. Further down were the shoes.
Ah, my shoes.
I love my shoes.
And it showed by the way I had carefully arranged them by colour and then crossed by most worn. From my designer heals to the almost worn through converse sneakers I adored, everything was settled perfectly.
Vaguely, I wondered how long I would be able to keep it up.
Admittedly, when it came to keeping tidy rooms as they were, I was the teenage boy in the house.
Well, that's embellishing slightly, but you get the point.
My stomach growled – and I mean really growled, as in it might as well have just come right out and said "place food here. Now!" Unfortunately, food was something the fridge and pantry were momentarily lacking in, as well as my tummy.
I shrugged. Oh well; I had to go shopping at some point.
(General Point of View)
Across the street a group had formed, gathered languidly around one boy on a push bike; each of them staring and speculating at both the lack of 'For Sale' sign and new car in the driveway of the old cottage on the edge of First Beach.
It wasn't a bad car either, but the boys were certain that the new occupant was female, based purely on the fact that said vehicle was a dark blue, VW Beatle.
"God, I hope she's hot." The tallest said, running a hand through his shaggy, dark hair and blowing out exasperation, "It's about time we got some new sex in this town."
The boy beside him shoved his shoulder, letting out a disbelieving hiss; "Yeah right, Colin; there's no chance – bets are she's some old croak that never even leaves the house."
"Like Old Girl Macrull?" The one on the bike intervened, letting out a low whistle, "Now having two of them would be scary." He shuddered theatrically, "Almost as frightening as your mom, Brady."
The boy on the bike laughed loudly as he received a push from the other who had spoken before, Brady, who retorted easily, "'Your mom' jokes, Tyler: really? That's real witty of you. Ever thought of going into stand up comedy?"
"Nah…" Replied Tyler, ruffling his short curls easily, not quite used to the new near buzz cut he was sporting, "Nothing's ever gonna be as funny as Dan's face is, so what's the point in competing?"
The last boy, just as tall, built and dark as the rest, simply raised a dark, thick brow, his angular face serious in its impasse. When he spoke, his voice was deep, bottomless almost and the only feature that gave away any form of emotion was the twinkle in his eyes; "If you're going to philosophise about not doing something you can't find a point in Tyler, then when, prey tell, are you going to stop talking?"
Brady and Collin each showed their appreciation through laughing boisterously, slapping Tyler on the back as he narrowed his eyes in indignation. Seeing the look, Collin commented, "Hey, no need to get your panties in a twist, Ty – if you can't take it then don't give it. Simple as."
The group lulled into a momentary silence as the chuckles subsided, and as a gush of wind whispered passed them, rustling the leaves slightly, the sun peaked through from behind the clouds ever so slightly. Collin took it as a sign; a good omen. "Ten bucks says she's hot."
Smirking, Brady and Tyler shot each other a look and decided unanimously their decision, Tyler vocalising it; "You're so on. La Push isn't that lucky."
"You getting in on this, Dan?" Collin asked, shoving his hands in the front of his jean pockets and flicking the fringe out of his eyes; he really needed a hair cut and wondered idly if Emily would be able to spare the time later.
Dan simply shot them a dismissive look and raised both eyebrows, as though to say, 'don't look at me, mate; you're on your own.'
"Aww, come on Dan, it's just a bit of fun." Tyler nudged, his eyes glinting, "Ever heard of it?"
"Ever hear of a muzzle?" Came the subdued reply, and as Tyler made to reply, Brady and Collin 'shushed!' loudly, flapping their arms indelicately.
The white-washed front door had opened.
For a moment, they all held their breaths, watching from the entrance of the forest walkway as the door was teasingly held open by a dainty hand, their vision good enough to note that she was young, but not given enough indication to tell just how attractive she was.
And then Calliope Isolde Summer Sanford stepped out into the open, her dark curls bouncing and pale golden skin aglow, wrapped in dark jeans, heeled boots and a casual black sweater, making her way to the Beatle.
The boys stood stock still for a moment, stunned into oblivion; even Collin hadn't been expecting that. Hoping, yes; but not expecting. So it was startling when he suddenly, and no so subtly, let out a brilliant cheer and demanded loudly that the other boys cough it up.
Hearing this exchange, and clueless about it, Calliope looked up from the drivers seat door, in which she had just turned the key, saw the four boys looking in her direction and smiled, waving cheerfully as she stepped inside the car and revved the engine.
Brady and Tyler, stunned, looked to one another, to the car driving away, and back to each other before pulling out crumpled notes from their denim pockets.
As he handed it over willingly to his best friend, Brady said in a husky tone, "I have never been happier about losing money to you."
Collin wanted to laugh, but only managed a nod and reflected carefully on what he had just witnessed and the stirring feeling he got in his gut from it. The girl – or should he say woman – had certainly made an impression on them all but, above her looks, all Collin could focus on was that strange feeling.
The wind blew again as he tried to shake it off, rolling his shoulders and flicking the hair from his eyes. But something was different – tasted different, sounded different. Felt different.
And then he realised.
The air had moved his hair the opposite way, giving him goose-bumps along the skin of his bronze arms.
The change, the strange, almost warm, welcome feeling, wasn't just in his head, or his gut.
It was in the wind.
(Normal Point of View)
Now, I will be the first to admit that my sense of direction really isn't up to par with a geographers, or a map-reader's, or a hiker, or – well – a four year old, for that matter, but even I found the grocery store easy to locate.
It was, literally, just five minutes down the road - if that - and I suddenly felt incredibly lazy for using my little Chug-a-Boom car at all for the journey, only placating myself by arguing that, first off, I had no idea it would be so damn close and, second of all, that I still needed to pick up petrol.
Therefore, two birds with one stone.
Everything works out in the end.
I grabbed a trolley quickly, figuring that since I needed pretty much everything in order to fill the cupboards at home a basket would be slightly insufficient, and smiled as a gush of warm air greeted me when I walked through the automatic doors.
It may sound strange, but I'm not too keen on automatic doors – purely for the fact that I'm terrified that they'll just decide to not open for me one day. And considering my usual run of luck, it wouldn't shock me.
But so far La Push seemed to take to me as much as I did to it, for which I was grateful.
I'd had enough bad luck to last me a lifetime, I thought, strolling along the fruit and vegetables aisle, maybe I'd filled my quota finally. At least, that is, until out of nowhere, a hard, unidentified object connected with my head.
Me and my big mouth.
Here we go guys!
Calliope has been spotted; Collin's spidey senses are tingling; and we introduced a few La Push characters.
Of course, the most important one comes in the chapter, so review and tune in!
SeedsAndMisdeeds :)