So this is a muuuuuuch longer chapter than last week to keep you going.
Unfortunatly, due to exams (and a wee case of writers block) I'm going to only be updating every wednesday from now on, starting next week.
Meanwhile, I've been so grateful for your follows and reviews, so keep them coming!
I own nothing!
Chapter 7
"You won't believe this Calliope." Arizona pecked Callie on the cheek and sat down to have some breakfast. It had been a couple of days since the party but she was still beside herself that she could just walk up to Callie and kiss her.
"What is it?" Callie asked as Arizona tucked into her eggs and bacon. Callie was drinking her morning coffee in the dining room so she could eat with Arizona. She waited with a newspaper for the blonde to join her.
"I'm auditioning for a movie all day today." Arizona smirked.
"A movie? In Seattle?" Callie put down her coffee and waited for the blonde to finish her mouthful.
"Well," Arizona swallowed, "there are a few production companies in Seattle, and the guy I'm meeting today is making a feature length film for some indie festival in a few months."
"What's his name?"
"I think its like...Jason or something..." Arizona tried to remember that name as she shovelled bacon into her mouth, "Jackshun! Hish namesh jackshun."
Callie laughed, "Finish you mouthful Arizona."
Arizona swallowed again and stuck out her tongue. "Jackson, his name is Jackson Avery."
Callie stuck out her tongue and drank some more of her coffee. "So what's the part?"
"I'm not sure yet, it's a blind audition, I dont even know the project title." Arizona said nervously as she piled the majority of her breakfast into her mouth at once, at Callie's bemused look, she stated, "and the cab's gonna be here in five minutes."
Callie had a troubled expression, "so if the audition is all day, when will I next see you?"
Arizona thought for a moment, "ermm you could come and watch the show again tonight, if you wanted to."
"Sure, I'd like to actually follow the plot of this thing." Callie nodded in agreement.
Arizona looked up from shovelling mountains of eggs into her mouth "You said that you like it!"
"Arizona, I liked you...your performance was a little too distracting for me to get anything else" she blushed.
"Awww" she giggled at the confession, "meet me outside the theatre at 8."
"Why dont I pick you up from your audition and we can go together?" Callie asked.
"Only if you dont mind, Calliope." she said, checking her watch. "Oh, crap the cab!" Arizona stood up and poured an entire glass of orange juice down her throat. As she turned to leave, Arizona felt a warm hand on her arm.
"Forgetting something?" a smooth voice teased. Arizona spun around to see Callie standing directly behind her; she instantly leaned in to kiss the innkeeper, who moaned into her lips. Arizona pulled her closer, forgetting herself. Just as she was about to open her mouth, she felt Callie pull away, "you're going to be late" she teased in a sing-song voice.
Arizona sighed heavily, she was no worked up and flustered, "the things you do to me Calliope." she muttered.
Callie winked before sitting back at the table and returning to her newspaper. "Good luck!" she called as Arizona left the dining room and entered the main lobby.
"Hi Arizona!" a cheerful Meredith Grey called from the receptionists' desk.
"Hey Mer!" she waved, "how's it going?"
"Pretty good," Meredith grinned, placing a hand on her stomach, "I'm finding out the sex today."
"That's amazing!" Arizona beamed, "you'll let me know?"
"Of course." Arizona waved goodbye to Meredith and ran outside to find her cab.
She opened the car door and got inside.
Callie watched Arizona open her car door and wordlessly sit beside her and stare straight forward. The blonde's eyes were red and puffy, she had obviously been crying.
"Everything...ok?"
Arizona continued to stare out of the windshield, she didn't move, but her smile broke and tears began to stream down her face.
"Arizona oh my god are you ok?" Callie quickly leaned over and held her face, "dont cry sweetie, talk to me."
Callie turned Arizona face towards her own and wiped the tears. Arizona sat limply, "I didn't get the part."
"Really? They told you that?"
Arizona shook her head, "not outright. But they hated me Calliope, they kept groaning and rolling their eyes, I had to step outside towards the end so I wouldn't lose it."
"so...then we move onto the next one Arizona, this isn't the end of the world."
"No, Calliope, you don't understand." she turned towards her shaking her head, "I thought that it was my best audition yet, but I still won't get the part." Arizona removed Calllie's hands from her face and went to put on her seatbelt. "what do I do when my best isn't good enough?"
Callie didn't know what to say, she had asked herself that same question many times. "You...you carry on. You carry on going and you reach places you'd never even thought of reaching." she wiped some of the tears as they slid down her cheek, "you didn't get the job today, but there will be more. Life throws you shit sometimes, we've both had our fair share of it," she took Arizona's hand, "but I still live in hope that things get better," she placed a small kiss on her knuckle, "I know they do."
The actress gave her a small smile, "thank you, Calliope. I'm so lucky to have you."
"I know." Callie grinned and took hold of the steering wheel. She pulled out of the parking lot and drove towards the theatre. They sat in comfortable silence whilst Arizona fiddled with the radio. When they approached the theatre, Arizona's phone began to ring.
"It's Alex," she mumbled when she saw the caller ID. Callie parked the car and watch the actress as she put the phone to her ear. "Hello? yes...what happened? Oh my god! She can't just...ok well what are we going to do?...but what about...oh I see...ok...what did Owen say?...Really? Wow...I know...okay I'm just here know I'll see you in a second." Arizona hit the 'end call' button and took a deep breath.
"What's up?" Callie asked with concern.
Arizona looked between Callie and her phone. "Izzie left."
"she left?" Callie asked.
"I can't believe her. she is the woman who claimed that I would abandon them, but now she's gone and quit. She got the job that I almost auditioned for a week back...when you came to pick me up." she explained, "They're shuffling around the cast. Owen will play the shrink...I'm the lead Callie."
Callie felt her eyes go wide, "that's amazing Arizona!"
Arizona didn't smile, she just nodded, "yeah...it is. Ummm," she looked at her phone, "I've got to be in there right now to go over lines. Are you ok to wait around for a bit? You can hng out backstage before we start."
Arizona's distracted state made Callie concerned, "sure." she weakly smiled before they got out of the car and went into the theatre backstage door. Arizona walked Callie down a corridor and into a small dressing room.
"this is mine," Arizona frantically took off her coat and began collecting various scripts and papers from around the room, "just hang out here for a bit and I'll come and get you when we start, ok?"
"ok...Arizona I thi-"
"I can't talk now Callie," Arizona shook her head and pecked her on the cheek, "but I'll see you soon, ok?"
Callie nodded and watched the blonde run out of the room, she sat on a small sofa and took out her phone to check her facebook. She hadn't been on for days. She searched for 'Arizona Robbins' and saw 9 results. Callie scrolled down, looking at the profile pictures and personal information until she found her Arizona beaming at her.
But it wasn't an Arizona she had seen before. This Arizona had shorter, curlier hair. Callie could see by her smoother face that she was younger. 'or maybe just less stressesd'. This Arizona stood next to a young blonde man with similar, sapphire eyes and dimpled smiles. A pang of dread ran through Callie, had she seen this man before? Obviously this was Arizona's late brother, Tim. They were standing by the statue of liberty.
'This must've been moments before he died' Callie thought as she tapped on the photo so she could see it in full. This Arizona looked so much younger, her eyes were lighter and her smile was wider. This was not an Arizona Callie would've fallen for she decided. Part of what drew Callie to the blonde, apart from her adorable personality and oh god those dimples, was the parts of her that weren't entirely whole.
Callie loved that Arizona could look at the pain of others and immediately empathise, much like she had done when she had seen Richard in her bar. She loved that Arizona understood hurt and what that did to people, she loved that Arizona understood her.
She sent Arizona a friend request and closed the app. As she placed her phone in her pocket, she felt it vibrate. Callie looked at the caller ID, "dammit".
"hello?"
"hola mija, ¿Cómo estás?"
Callie rolled her eyes "I'm fine daddy, how are you?"
"well I would be a lot better if my own daughter would give me a call sometimes," Carlos Torres replied, "and if she would bother to speak to me in our mother tongue."
"Glad to hear it Dad," Callie said, she loved her father, but she hated these conversations, they always ended up discussing her love life, "how's business?"
"Oh, I won't bore you with that Calliope, I just phoned to see how you were doing. I haven't heard from you in days, is there something you're not telling me?"
'yes'
"no"
"who is he calliope?" Callie panicked. Her father was a strict catholic and she wasnt sure how he would respond to her dating a woman.
"There isn't anyone daddy, I've just been busy with the inn." Callie hated lying to her father. The man had raised her, taught her the difference between right and wrong, took care of her when she was in trouble.
"Yes, er, about that Calliope, I was just going over your accounts today mija, you never told me that that you are in some debt."
"daddy, lots of small businesses are in some debt at the moment."
"But I thought you just took on another member of staff?"
"She's part time, and a full time employee has just left and we aren't replacing her." Callie replied. She had not thought about Erica in days and was very happy to run the bar without her.
"ok mija, I was just checking that you aren't in any trouble. I may be your accountant but I am a father first and I worry about you when you don't call."
"I know daddy," Callie smiled at her father's concern for her, "but you dont have to be. I'm fine," Callie heard a rustling outside, Arizona must be returning from the rehearsal, "I've got to go now, love you daddy."
"Te quiero, calliope."
Callie hang up her phone as Arizona opened the door.
"was someone in here?"
"oh no I was on the phone," Callie explained as she stood up, "how was rehearsal?"
Arizona sighed and collapsed onto the sofa Callie was just sitting on, "stressful, I know the dialogue and directions, but everyone else is really off their game." she looked into Callie's eyes, "i am too."
Callie kissed her worried forehead. "Arizona Robbins, you are great," she kneeled down to look her directly in the eyes, "you...are...great." she slowly repeated, making sure that the blonde heard it.
A soft smile appeared on the actresses face, "thank you Calliope."
Callie stood back up, "so you are starting soon?"
"ten minutes"
"ok, I'm going to get a seat, find me in the audience. If you need a reminder of how great you are, you know where to look," she winked.
Arizona nodded and stood to give Callie a peck on the cheek, "I'll see you soon."
"Break a leg" Callie smiled at Arizona before walking out the door.
"Break a leg everybody" Owen called as he walked into position. Arizona had not seen Owen perform before and was interested to see his wamring up technique. As Arizona practiced her heavy breathing and Alex stretched, Owen paced around in circles around his shrink's chair on the platform above them. "We're on in 5"
"hey!" Leah waved as she bounded up to Arizona, "great news about the part hey?" she smiled breathlessly.
Arizona was confused, "What do you mean? Izzie my have ruined the show!" she hissed angrily, trying not be overheard.
Leah rolled her eyes, her wide smile was starting to get on Arizona's nerves. "Silly thing, this was all for you."
Arizona walked up to the young actress, "what are you talking about?"
Leah was taken aback by Arizona's hostile attitude "Izzie was saying...well, i didn't...we didnt want you to leave us."
"So you got Izzie to sabotage my auditions?!" She furiously whispered.
"She...she wanted to leave...she was ready to...i...i...you got the lead Arizona!" Leah was panicking. "I thought you would...be grateful"
Arizona was livid. How dare the little creep meddle with her career! Just because of some stupid crush! She wanted to throw Leah against the wall like she had with Izzie, she wanted to scream and yell and hit.
But it was two minutes before show time, and, despite popular opinion, Arizona was determine not to be a quitter.
"In...out...in...out..."
"Leah," Arizona looked squarely in Leah's eyes, "you had no right to do this, do you understand? No. Right." she sternly explained, "Now, we are going to temporarily forget about this and go and perform. But after, we are going to discuss what you think is going on here Leah, because obviously, you are misunderstanding." she stormed away from a hurt Leah back to her position on the side of the stage, and waited for the curtain to rise.