Callie didn't get nervous for dates. Dates were a regular occurrence for her. Her dating life read like a who's who of high society.
It's not that she liked dating, in fact she rather hated it. It was always awkward trying to get to know someone new. That whole, I'm only here with you because we have a mutual friend, I don't want to be a hermit, I date because I need to be, was the only reason she even went on dates. Besides if she didn't, she might never meet anyone, ever.
But tonight she was nervous. She had several conversations with the blonde leading up to this point, mostly via text. Arizona had seemed apprehensive about the whole thing, which Callie really didn't understand. There was something there between the two of them, something she couldn't explain. It was a feeling, unlike any other feeling she's had before. And it was only a date. It's not like Callie was going to ask her to marry her.
She couldn't think that way though, because she was also very excited. One on one time with Arizona couldn't be bad. Those beautiful blue eyes housed so much wonder; there was a story in them, Callie could read it like a book. She only hoped she could learn some of that story tonight.
She finished adding her wine colored Yves Saint Laurent lipstick to her lips before dropping the gold tube into her purse. She gave her face a once over making sure her smokey eyeshadow was painted evenly on each lid, and her eyeliner matched as evenly as it could. "That'll do." She said to herself in the mirror before turning away and walking back to her room.
She wore a simple black Vera wang cocktail dress. The dress could be described as the text book definition of "little black dress". It sat well above the knee, showing off her toned legs, and it fell off the shoulder exposing a generous amount of skin. She paired it with her favorite suede, blue, six inch heels from Christian Louboutin. Sure they added a ton of height to her already tall frame, but she loved these shoes. "Designer most likely to wear other designer's clothes." A magazine once wrote about her. How true that was.
She was meeting Arizona at the bar. Another reason she knew the blonde was completely worried about this date they were going on. Callie wanted to do it right. She was going to have Mark drive her to pick up Arizona, and then they'd make the way to the bar together. But Arizona had refused, insisting she'd just meet her there. She wasn't going to push it. So she'd have Mark drop her off there, and she'd meet the beautiful blonde whom she couldn't shake from her thoughts.
"I'm ready." Callie said walking out of her room, to a waiting Mark.
He stood diligently by the elevator doors, the place he always stood when he knew he had to drive Callie somewhere. It wasn't that Callie demanded it, in fact she was really pleasant and mostly easy to work for. But he took pride in his job, and he did it right.
"Looking good, Cal." He smiled with a nod. It wasn't rare for him to compliment his boss, he did it often. It was friendly banter that they had developed over time, some would see it as unprofessional, but that didn't matter to the two friends.
"Marcus Sloan, the sweet talker." Callie smiled. "Thank you." She added genuinely, as she nervously fidgeted with the blue Chanel clutch she had to match her shoes.
"Stop fidgeting." He said pressing the elevator door buttons for the ground level. "You look beautiful, she'll love it." He smiled.
"I hope so." Callie sighed as her black elevator door slowly slid open, revealing the waiting cart. "She seemed pretty nervous about going on a date with me. And not in the nervous like I'm nervous right at this moment, but in the nervous like she didn't want to go out on a date with me, but then she said yes, and then didn't want to be rude and back out of the date kind of nervous." Callie rambled nervously.
Mark couldn't help he small smirk that played over his lips. It was reflexive and instinctive. Callie very rarely got nervous like this, but when she did, she would ramble and ramble... Sometimes until someone stilled her.
"And what if this whole thing was in my head? What if I just made this whole mutual attraction thing up? I mean she's beautiful. You saw her! God Mark! What was I thinking?" She continued on as the elevator continued to crawl downward.
"Cal!" He said grabbing his friend by the shoulders and squaring her to him. "Relax! You are an amazing woman. You are beautiful inside and out, and if Arizona doesn't see that... Well... Then it's her loss." Mark said locking his blue eyes with her brown.
"Thanks Mark." Callie smiled, taking in a deep breath through her nose and exhaling from her mouth. "You're right, you're right. I'm hot. I'm a catch." She said smiling.
"That's right! So go out, have fun, and if it's nothing it's nothing. But I saw the way she looked at you..." He smiled. "She couldn't keep her eyes off of you."
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Arizona nervously tapped and the wooden surface of the crowded bar top. Her eyes would scan the crowd every so often looking for her date... No, not date, the woman she was meeting tonight. It just so happened this woman was probably the most breathtaking woman she had ever seen in her life. But she couldn't allow her walls to crumble just because said woman was beautiful... And had a smile to die for.
"No, no Arizona." She mentally chastised herself. She took a deep breath and lifted her glass of white wine to her lips, taking a generous sip. "You have the rules for a reason, you'll just have to lay it all out for her tonight, and she'll either be ok with it or she won't." She thought setting the glass down.
"Hi, I'm sorry I'm late." That familiar voice came in to Arizona's ear. She felt a shiver run down her spine as the heat of Callie's breath washed over her ear. "Jeez, this place is crowded." She laughed running her hand along the small of Arizona's back.
"Callie." Arizona smiled. "Wow you look...wow." Arizona said looking her up and down, feeling slightly dizzy at the sight. Not that Callie didn't always look good, but something was different tonight. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was the atmosphere, but Arizona thought she might just lose balance from the sheer sight of someone.
"Same." Callie smirked arching her perfectly shaped eyebrow. Her eyes very forwardly raked in the blondes form, as brown eyes traveled downward. "You look beautiful, Arizona."
Arizona's hair was pin straight, and her makeup was done subtly just to highlight her beautiful features. The purple dress she was wearing hugged her soft curves in the most delicious manner. The shoes she was wearing did everything to accent her ass and shapely, legs that were on full display, due to the short nature of her dress. Callie was in trouble.
"Let's um..." Callie started clearing her throat. "Let's go sit, I reserved a table." She said taking the lead allowing Arizona to watch the purposeful sway in her hips, which didn't go unnoticed, or unappreciated by the blonde.
"Thank god, because that bar was crowded." Arizona said fixated on the site in front of her.
"Hello ladies. What can I get for you?" A thin lanky brunette in a Japanese style dress asked as Arizona and Callie took their seats.
"I'll have a dirty martini please, extra olives, and Arizona will have..." Callie asked trailing off and waiting for the blonde to pick up.
"I'll have a glass of your house white wine." She smiled.
"Those will be right out." The waitress said leaving the two women alone.
"So, you come here often?" Arizona smirked, with a small laugh.
Callie threw her head back slightly at the blondes attempt to flirt, and let out a deep laugh. "I've been here a time or two." She smiled. "So how's school? You're almost finished right?"
"Last semester." Arizona said nodding her head. "I actually should have been done three years ago, but I ended up backpacking around Europe with my girlfriend at the time." Stupid Lauren, who's one of the reasons these rules are in place. Actually, probably the main reason. Arizona stopped to clear her head. She wasn't going to let her jumbled thoughts ruin tonight. Because she was going to lay it out, her truth, and hopefully Callie would be on board.
"Was it fun?" Callie asked, genuinely interested.
"Ladies." The waitress said setting down the drinks to their respective owners.
"Put it on this and keep it open. Thank you." Callie slickly pulled out her credit card and handed It over, never taking her eyes off of her new favorite sight, she had to say. Arizona was mesmerizing. She could get lost in those blue eyes forever if she wasn't careful.
Arizona nodded in thanks to the waitress before finishing her story. She couldn't tell Callie the truth. Not even Teddy knew the truth. She'd just tell Callie what she told everyone...
"Yes, it was fun. We had meant to only stay for a few months, but we both fell in love with it. We put in for some work visas, got approved, and ended up living in Spain for three years." Arizona smiled as she brought the cool white liquid to her mouth.
"Wow, that's impressive." Callie said eyes wide. "¿Por lo tanto, usted habla español, entonces?" (So, you speak Spanish then?) Callie asked perfectly, and sexily.
"Muy pocito." Arizona answered with a grin. "I worked in a very touristy area." She shrugged. "The shop owners hired me because they needed someone to speak English for their customers, and up until I came in, they had no one to do so. I only learned what I had to." She smiled. "But I love the language."
"I speak fluently." Callie said, taking a sip of the cloudy liquid from her glass. "My parents insisted. I actually didn't even learn to speak English until I started pre-k." Callie shrugged. "But wow, what a story. I sometimes wish I would have done something like that. I went straight from high school, to college, to business. I never took a breather, I just worked..." She sighed as she played with the bottom of the martini glass.
"I'm graduating a lot later in life then I would have liked to." Arizona shrugged looking into those brown eyes she swore could read her soul. "But I'm glad I did what I did. I have the rest of my life to work. And Spain was.. It was magical." Arizona smiled, pushing the images of Lauren out of her head, if she took Lauren out of the memories all together it really was an amazing place to be. She got slightly lost in remembering the white sand beaches, and the laid back atmosphere. It was completely different then the in your face, hustle and bustle of New York City.
"I can imagine. I traveled in the summers during high school, with my family, when time would allow." Callie sighed. "But even then there wasn't much time. My parents were very busy people. They still are. Still, traveling was something..." She started "no, it is something I enjoy doing." She corrected herself.
"My dad is a Marine. He's retired now, so I know about travel. Guess that's where I get my willingness to explore from." Arizona giggled.
"That was a beautiful sound." Callie thought with a sigh. She bit her bottom lip and looked at the blue eyes across from her. She couldn't help but wonder what secrets were hiding in the blue depths. There was something intriguing about Miss Arizona Robbins, and hopefully she would find out what it was.
"What?" Arizona asked, snapping Callie out of her thoughts.
"What, what?" Callie asked sheepishly.
"You were staring." Arizona laughed, although she has actually been staring too. She just didn't get caught.
"I'm sorry." Callie said as a slight blush worked its way up Carmel skin. "I just... You're quite amazing you know that?" She smiled.
"I am?" Arizona asked feeling her heart skip a beat. It had been a while since anyone called her amazing, and the way Callie said it was just... She said it like she really believed that.
"Mmhmm" Callie said taking a sip of her drink. "You really are. Look how much you've done in your short life." She smiled.
"Please. This coming from you." Arizona scoffed rolling her eyes. "Look how much you've accomplished. It's insane. I mean you're brilliant there's no doubt about it, but wow. It's just... You saying that. Thank you." Arizona sighed out.
"I mean it. Don't ever let anyone tell you anything different." Callie winked.
Then suddenly the room felt like it was closing in on Arizona. She was breaking rule number one. No dating. She could already feel herself getting emotionally attached to Callie, and that just wasn't ok. Not now, probably not ever. Because Arizona had nothing of herself left to give.
Lauren ruined her. She literally took everything Arizona had left to give after her previous relationships. Even those other three had chipped a little piece of who she was off. But, Lauren was the final nail in the coffin. She was the one who made Arizona stop believing in love, she made her stop believing in a lot of things.
"Callie... I... I need to tell you, I don't do this." Arizona sighed shaking her head. Why did she have to do this? Why couldn't she just be a regular person and date the woman in front of her, because Callie was clearly amazing. Why couldn't she keep her mouth shut? She hated that she was this way, but she had to be. She had to keep herself protected.
Callie furrowed her brows as she regarded the blonde across from her. "Do what?" She questioned, clearly confused.
"Date. I don't date." Arizona admitted in one quick breath. She had to stop this before it started, and Callie was an amazing woman, it wasn't fair to string her along.
"Oh." Callie said feeling her heart sinking into her stomach. She knew Arizona was too good to be true. This is why she hated dating.
"Look, it's not you. I just, I don't date. You're great Callie. Really you're amazing and I like spending time with you but... I don't..." Arizona defended, in a slight ramble.
"Date. I get it." Callie said nodding her head before she downed the rest of her drink.
"I... I'd like to be friends, or something..." Arizona said feeling her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Because she would like to be friends, but even more than that she wanted to be friends with benefits.
It had been a while since she had been with a woman, she needed her itch to be scratched, and she couldn't even begin to think of any other woman doing that for her but Callie. But, how did she approach this subject? How did she say she wanted friendship and sex from the hot Latina?
All the others were women she met in class, or someone she met out at the bar that night. They never went on any dates, and it was pretty easy to make it clear what she wanted right from the beginning.
Callie was different, because Arizona had never met someone so amazingly beautiful and smart. She was already thinking things she hadn't thought about in over a year. She saw dates with this woman, but it just couldn't happen. She had to remain strong.
"It's ok Arizona." Callie laughed a humorless laugh. "I read the signs wrong, I get it." She said rolling her eyes. How could she misjudge the situation so badly?
"No!" Arizona snapped almost too loudly. She even startled herself with the amount of desperation she heard in her voice. "You didn't read the signs wrong, Callie." Arizona admitted as the let he hand rest on an olive forearm.
And there it was, that spark, that crazy electric current that seemed to shoot through her body any time she touched the Latina. She tried to deny it, she tried to fight it, she had even tried to ignore it, but this.. This right here was living proof. What was that? She had never felt that way before. It was a rush, and it was also very, very scary.
"I made you feel like you had to come on this date. For what it's worth, I'm sorry." Callie said feeling her heart sink into her stomach. "I had fun tonight. You are beautiful, and you really are amazing Arizona. I meant that." She said waving the waitress over.
"Wait!" Arizona jumped. She never reacted this way, in fact she was the one who usually left when anything started to resemble a date. And now she found herself not letting Callie leave. Why did she always mess things up?
"Arizona really, don't feel bad." Callie laughed. "We can stay friends sure. That's fine." Callie nodded. Even though she wasn't sure she only wanted to stay friends, because she wanted more, but clearly Arizona didn't.
She wanted date nights and sleep overs. She wanted walks down Broadway, after they saw a musical together. She wanted morning strolls through Central Park. But she'd settle for friends, although she wasn't sure how long that could last.
"Callie... I... I..." Arizona stammered.
"Yes miss?" The waitress asked instantly showing up to the table.
"Please close up the tab. Add both drinks on that card though." Callie smiled at the confused waitress.
"Sure thing Ms. Torres. I'll be right back with that." She said scurrying off.
"I didn't want to call it a night. This isn't what I meant to happen." Arizona frustratedly sighed.
"Well you said friends right?" Callie forced a smile.
"Yeah." Arizona said as that sinking feeling made its presence loud and clear. At least it wasn't goodbye, but it wasn't exactly what she wanted either. And she wasn't a shy person, no she was confident and sexy. Arizona could have any woman she wanted, and she wanted Callie so she was going to take a risk.
"There you go Ms. Torres. Have a nice night." The server nodded before once again running off.
"Calliope..." Arizona said noticing the name on the credit card. It wasn't that she meant to look, it just kind of happened. She was nervous, and she was looking for words to form, and then the black Amex credit card was placed in front of her.
"What?" Callie asked surprised, her wide brown eyes shooting up to blue.
"Your name... It's Calliope." Arizona smiled, she couldn't help it.
"Ugh... Curse my parents." Callie groaned grabbing the credit card and shoving it in her purse.
"Why do you say that? It's a beautiful name. It fits the woman who it belongs to." Arizona tilted her head to one side as she waited for her answer.
"Grow up with that name." Callie sighed flatly.
"I grew up with the name Arizona." She quickly added.
"Fair point, well made." Callie smirked despite herself.
"Is that like the greek muse?" Arizona asked thinking about it.
"Yes... My parents were and still are Greek mythology nerds." Callie answered. "My sister is named Aria. I think I got the short end of the stick."
"Well I like it. I think you should use it. It's a beautiful name for a beautiful woman. Just like the original Calliope was." Arizona said honestly.
"You can't say things like that, and then not want to date me. It's just not fair." Callie tried to tease, but realized too late, she wasn't teasing she was serious.
"I like you, and I do think you're beautiful, and I have another proposition for you." Arizona said downing the rest of her wine and feeling brave.
"Ok?" Callie asked confused, but intrigued.
"I don't date. I know, I've said this, but it doesn't mean I don't do other things... You're a beautiful woman, and I think we could have fun together." Arizona said boldly.
"Uh- huh?" She was still clearly confused as to where Arizona was going with this.
"Maybe we can just hook up, you know? I mean like a friends with benefits type thing. What do you say?" Arizona asked with her charming dimpled smile. That was brash, even for her. And still that was only step one in her less than ordinary world, because she still had another secret up her sleeve.
It wasn't like she was into anything completely kinky. It started after Lauren cheated on her, broke her heart, and her spirit. She left Arizona a hollow shell. Arizona did what she had to. And she needed to be in control at all times... Her little secret helped her maintain control in all facets of life.
Still she would introduce that part slowly. Never right away. But she liked tying her partners up, and having her way with them. She liked having that control over them. Being able to control their pleasure, or their pain. Most people don't even realize there's a small line between pain and pleasure. Especially if it's done right. She wanted to show Callie, the pleasure of it all.
She could imagine Her in that position. Arms bound above her head, while she kissed and sucked at that amazing olive skin, which she could only imagine tasted like heaven. Maybe run a crop down...
"I say, you're very ballsy." Callie answered, wide eyed, bringing Arizona out of her thoughts. But her lips were slowly tugging into a smile. "Friends with benefits." She thought out loud... She'd done this before, twice. Once ended terribly, and the other she was still friends with to this day. In fact they got coffee together last weekend.
"If you don't want to say yes tonight, I understand. I kind of dropped a bomb on you..." Arizona started to talk.
"I think..." Callie interrupted Arizona. "I think we can do that." Callie smirked, a very sexy smirk. Because she wanted to be friends with Arizona if she couldn't date her. And now this added sex into the mix. Sex she most desperately needed because she was in the biggest dry spell of her life. And Arizona was as cute as she was sexy. A rare, and dangerous combination. Callie wanted her...
She could remain friends with Arizona. She could ignore that warm feeling she got whenever the blonde walked in a room. She could disregard the electric current that shot through her body anytime they touched. She could do this, and she would. Friends with benefits...
"So, your place or mine?" Arizona said, reaching out her hand for Callie to hold.
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A/N: so this got posted a day early because I have to go out of town tomorrow. And have meetings all day (next post will be Thursday)
Again, the support has been overwhelming in such a good way! Thank you all so much!
To my beta ineedyourgrace as always thank you for your patience! My grammar is horrible and she makes it bearable for all of you!
Hang on kids, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!
xoxo