She keeps me warm
Chapter 3
Pairing: Arizona/Callie
Summary: Arizona has told herself she is happy being single, that her life with her cat is enough. Can anything or anyone change that?
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. No infringement intended. The storyline and characters has nothing to do with or are reflections of real life; it's for entertainment purposes only
A/N: Hello. Since I've had this story uploaded once before I remember the reactions about the upcoming chapters. So I just want to clarify that; yes it is a story about Arizona AND Callie, you just have to have some patience and trust in me. Nothing worth having comes easy. Hope you enjoy the story, have a lovely day =)
Arizona's pov:
My alarm went off and I grunted as I slammed my phone into the bedside table. I looked outside to see the rain pouring down. Fuck you Monday. Pluto starred at me as she noticed I was awake, she rubbed her soft fur against my arms. At that moment I never wanted to leave the bed. I sat up as I smelled Jo's pumpkin coffee through my door and grunted once again. I never understood how she could drink it. My feet hit the floor and I stumbled over some clothes as I made my way towards the shower, it felt like nothing could wash off my tiredness. The hot water hitting my cold naked skin was the best feeling ever. Well second best. God I need to get laid.
I got dressed and lazily applied some make-up. Pluto followed me to the kitchen, "time to feed my ball of fur". I opened the refrigerator "Is salmon okay?" I asked her and grabbed the tin can. I opened it on the floor and poured it into her bowl and watched her throw herself at it "I thought so"
"Are you talking to your cat again? Don't add that to your online dating profile" Jo yelled from down the hallway.
"You are not funny!" I shouted back looking through the closet to find my jacket. This morning I had to do deal with some paperwork and the afternoon Jo and I had a family portrait scheduled. But before I would do anything I needed to get my much needed dose of caffeine.
Jo came into the kitchen "Neither are you, don't add that either" she giggled and poured herself some coffee "so have you heard from Caaaallie?"
"No. Aria will call this week and we'll see. And why would I hear from Callie?" I leaned down to put on my boots. I regretted telling her anything about my silly crush, because it was not more than just that, a crush. I had told Teddy last night I wanted her to set me up with someone. I needed to remain professional and to do that I needed to have someone else on my mind. I could not keep thinking of this beautiful woman with the golden brown eyes and luscious lips.
"Just keep it in your pants will ya' at least until we get a deposit. We could really use the money" Jo said as Alex wrapped his arms around her from behind and put a quick kiss on her cheek "Lay off of her, it's Monday and she haven't had her coffee yet. Arizona is professional you of all people should know that" Alex said as he pulled Jo back towards their bedroom "bring back a bagel" he yelled as the bedroom door closed behind him.
Fuck you Monday. Everyone is happier than me.
I put down my umbrella to shake off the water and proceeded to enter the warm coffee shop, I inhaled the wonderful coffee fragrance. That is how coffee should smell like. I opened my eyes and to my disappointment it was a skinny guy behind the counter, not Callie. I looked around the shop and she was nowhere to be found. A squeaky voice startled me and my attention was once again on the guy.
"Hello Miss, what do you want this beautiful morning?" he smiled widely. I thought he was too perky, in a fake kind of way. He must be new. I proceeded to make my order and was kind of sad not to see my favorite barista. Once I held the warm cup in my hand I felt much better about walking in the pouring rain. I walked back to the office to take care of some invoices.
I settled down by the computer and stared at the desktop wallpaper, it was a picture that I took while travelling through Europe with my ex a few years earlier. It was a picture of a snow covered Big Ben. We were backpacking for a whole month visiting places like Berlin, London, Paris, Gothenburg, Madrid and many other smaller towns. On a daily basis we met new people at hostels and got invited to people's homes, tagged along with other backpackers that we met along the way and we ended up at a completely different destination than we had originally planned. To experience other cultures and to meet new people constantly was such a privilege and it completed me in a way I had not felt before. This picture was taken just a few hours before she had proposed to me. London was our final city before returning home, we decided to walk around in the snowy town just randomly snapping photos without looking at the results. After a few hours of walking we ended up at a beautiful little cozy restaurant. I finally allowed myself to look at the pictures and I deleted all of them except for this one specific photo.
That trip was the starting point of me thinking of going into photography professionally. I had taken a photography class at the university and that is where I met my ex, Rebecca. She was the popular and courageous girl that never allowed anyone to be treated differently. She would stand up for them and question all professors if she believed something was not right. I was the shy girl and she took me under her wings and showed me around everywhere and taught me things that had never even crossed my mind. She made me feel like anything was possible. She had signed us up for dance lessons and one time we went parachuting. Every day spent with her was an adventure and I loved every minute of it. I was head over heels in love with her and she felt the same. But in the end she broke my heart and I never fully recovered.
My thoughts got interrupted by the phone buzzing against the table "Hey Teddy"
My friend replied sounding stressed "Hey I'm running incredibly late but I just wanted to let you know that you have a date tonight with Haley, she is a loyal customer of mine"
"Oh you could set it up that quickly? Wow! Where should we meet and at what time?" I asked her; still somewhat unsure if this is what I really wanted.
"I'll text you the details just after this. You have a good one okay"
"You too oh and thank you" I replied to a silent phone, she had already hung up. I knew that she was super stressed lately but so was I. But getting out there again, dating and meeting women was in a weird way such a stress relief for me. Most people stress and get nervous about dates, I on the other hand get excited and happy to meet new people.
I spent the whole morning until lunch dealing with invoices and answering emails. I had never cared for the academic work. I had always pictured photographers always being out snapping pictures, making a difference. A picture speaks more than a thousand words, as people would say. Sadly I had never thought it was true. Pictures in our generations can be fake and tampered with. Photoshop is a disgrace to all of us truly interested in the art of photography. Some might say so am, a disgrace that is. To be selling myself to snap pictures at weddings or family reunions. But I have always believed that no matter what moment you wanna capture, they can all be beautiful in their own way. Bring joy to someone. One thing you always regret or notice too late is to take a moment and take pictures, because as the years pass less and less people are going to show up at those family moments.
Alex helped us to load the car with the equipment and we were on the road for a family portrait gig. Ever since Jo had started working me I had forced her to take a photography class and I had also taught her everything I know. I believed both of us should be able to take good quality pictures that people would want to pay for. For as long as I had known Jo she had never said no to learn something new. Even if she was in charge of advertisement and promoting us, I still wanted us both to be able to take great pictures. It would mean more jobs, no more overbooking.
Before we left Aria called me setting up a meeting on Friday. I was still unsure how I felt about it but decided on that future me could handle it.
"This is your final examination; if you pass you are ready. Do you remember what I have told you? You are in charge of this whole thing. Can you handle that?" I asked my friend.
She looked at me and nodded "Yes I am ready. And you will act as my assistant?"
"Yes, don't worry it will all be okay. I'll be the best assistant you ever had; you just gotta tell me what to do. You got this"
"Thank you, for this opportunity. A regular company would never let me learn this quickly and grow at this rate" Jo said drumming her hand against her knees.
"No need to thank me, I need you. And for us to get bigger we both have to start taking jobs on our own. We start small, I'd let you take the smaller jobs, maybe some ads. You would still need to help me, for example at weddings. Those are a big deal. I need to know you are a people person"
She stared at me in disbelief "You know me better than anymore, you know I'm great with people"
I parked the car and looked at her "I know that only because I am your friend. But today I am your boss, so if you can show me you can be a people person on a professional level as well, then you pass my test. You ready?"
I sat at the table refolding the already folded napkin. I took a sip of the ice glass of water that was brought to me while waiting. I felt excited and I had no clue what the girl Teddy had set me up with looked like. I was mostly excited about finally meeting this mystery woman. As the time passed I almost thought I was stood up, I stared at my watch. I had decided to wear black jeans and a black blazer, not too formal yet not too sexy. I was just about to stand up to go to the rest room as a beautiful woman made her way towards my table, she was wearing a tight, yet classy black dress. She had dark blonde shoulder length messy hair and hazel eyes "Arizona?"
I stood up and accepted her warm hand in mine "Haley? Nice to finally meet you"
We both sat down and stared at each other "So Teddy told me you are a customer of hers, loyal one at that?" I asked taking a much needed sip of my wine.
"Yes I love fresh flowers. I moved to the area about 4 months ago and I was looking for a florist and "Teddy's" felt like a great and intimate shop, so I entered it. She makes the most gorgeous arrangements and turned out she was equally great as well" she smiled as a waiter handed her a menu "what is your story with Teddy?" she asked while giving herself some time to decide.
I looked at her reading the menu and I caught myself staring at her lips. She was no Callie, but she sure was sexy. She looked up from menu at gazed into my eyes still waiting for my response.
I answered awkwardly "Uhh I met Teddy in High school and we have been friends ever since" I smiled
"Oh that is so sweet, long lasting friendships" she waved at the waiter and looked at me while biting her lower lip. "What do you want?"
We hit it off really well, she was charming and entertaining. We spent the first half hour telling each other stories about ourselves. I sat there and listened to her go on about her years in college and she seemed to be outgoing and sociable even back then. She reminded me of someone I would rather forget.
"I have a degree in physical education and work as a gym teacher in a High school in the city. My friends always joke about me being the perfect "lesbian gym-teacher stereotype" she giggled.
I joined her laughing and just then I saw her adorable dimples "What about your family? Got any siblings?" I asked.
"Yes I come from a big family, I have 4 siblings" she said staring into her drink and I could tell it was more to the story. "My brother George was killed in action about 3 years ago"
I took her hand "Oh I'm so sorry to hear that" feeling bad for even bringing it up when it was going so well. A tear got loose and rolled over her cheek slowly and she quickly wiped it away.
She squeezed my fingers and smiled "It is okay, you didn't know. Plus I don't mind talking about him just sometimes your emotions takes over you know?"
"I know. Both my brother and father are in the military. My father is retired now but my brother is still out and fighting. Every day you live in fear that something could have happened. But I could not even begin to understand how you feel"
I was still holding her hand and her beautiful smile lit her face "We seem to have more and more in common"
The waiter brought us our food and it kind of distracted us from the dark thoughts and we went back to talking about ourselves in between chewing and laughing.
We chatted for another hour while having our desserts and we asked for the check. Since we both had been drinking and we lived in the area we decided to walk home. It was a cold night but if felt romantic walking next to her through the park. She was wearing less than I and I could tell she was cold. I removed my scarf and held it in front of her "take it, you are freezing"
She stopped and stared at me "Then what about you?"
I wrapped it around her neck and smiled "I'll be okay. My place is closer than yours"
She accepted it and smiled back at me. "Thank you"
"I have always been into music, singing or playing the guitar. It's like my own therapy. It's a part of me" she said "what about you?"
"I see photography as my hobby that turned into something professional. If just me and a camera, hours could pass by without me realizing. If not photography then I guess jogging is a way for me to de-stress and find some inner peace"
"We should go for a jog sometime, if you are up for it" she winked and pulled my arm to cross the street. She moved too quickly and I almost stumbled on the sidewalk.
"Sure if you teach me how to play some chords" I said while catching my breath. "Okay deal!" she shouted a few steps ahead of me. We stopped in front of my apartment and her eyes were shimmering underneath the streetlight and her nose and cheeks had turned red because of the cold. She's cute.
"Thank you for a lovely evening. I can't remember the last time I has such a great time" she said showing off her dimples once again.
"Me neither. It was a memorable night" I smiled back at her as her cold hands grabbed mine "I don't wanna be too forward. But there is this concert tomorrow, would you want to go?" she asked me gazing into my eyes.
"I would love to" I replied softly. She leaned in and her warm soft lips pecked my cheek.
She began to remove the scarf and I stopped her "No you keep it, I'll get it back another time"
She smiled "I'll call you tomorrow"
I smiled back and nodded "Okay" and I turned around to go back up to the apartment. I stopped as I grabbed the doorknob to watch her walk away. I have had the loveliest evening and a second date tomorrow. I could not believe it.
I went into my bedroom and was greeted by a lovesick Pluto. Once I had washed off the makeup and brushed my teeth I lied down on the bed. Pluto was curled up in a ball next to me and all I could hear in my quiet room was her purring. I could not wait for tomorrow and meet Haley again. She did not give me the same kind of monster butterflies Callie did but at least I knew that this girl wanted to spend more time with me and I had to give her a chance. It does not have to lead anywhere other than having fun. Maybe Mondays aren't that bad after all.
