That night, the cast party ended up being cancelled as a result of Dante contracting the flu. We met again on Monday. Shooting day. I got my makeup and costume on quickly because I was excited to see Amber and Charlie. We would shoot the scenes in chronological order over the course of the next two weeks. We were dressed in coats (which was a good thing because it was the first week of December and freezing outside). The street in front of the house had been blocked off because of shooting.
"Callie!" Amber said running up to me. "Did you know that you and Charlie's names start with C?" she asked as if this were ground-breaking information. My eyebrows shot upward.
"Really?" I asked. "I had no idea."
"The more you know," she told me. I giggled. "Look at him," she said, looking towards Charlie, who was talking to Robin.
"What about him?" I asked.
"Walkin' around here like he knows everything. I know more than him," she said.
"I'm sure you do, Amber," I told her, stifling a smile. "Hey, speaking of you knowing stuff, why do you call him, 'Cup?'" A question that had been on my mind all weekend.
"I can't tell you that," she said.
"Give me one good reason why you can't tell me!" I said.
"Charlie already gave me twenty good reasons not to tell you," she smiled, walking away. It must be embarrassing if he paid her not to tell anyone, and if it's embarrassing, I need to find out!
After we shot our scenes, we went to our trailers. I had a mug of hot chocolate as I did my homework.
"Cheryl, how long have you known Charlie?" I asked.
"I've been his tutor since his first movie, why?" she asked.
"Has he ever shown signs of anything different? Weird, maybe?"
"No," she replied after thinking for a moment.
"Anything...Cup-worthy?" I asked. She gave me a weird look.
"Are you feeling okay? Is this another way to try and get out of school work? I've heard it all but I've never heard 'cup-worthy' before," she said.
"No, seriously," I said. "Since we got to London, everyone has been calling him Cup. Everyone. And I cannot, for the life of me, find out why!"
"Just ask Amber," she said.
"I tried. He paid her not to say anything."
"Ooh. Then it must be bad," she said.
"That's what I thought!"
"Well, I do happen to have my ways around the set," she said, dramatically flipping her hair. "I suppose I could find time to investigate your little 'Cup' situation…"
"Oh, Cheryl! Thank you so much! It's been bugging me all day!"
"But, only if you promise to do ALL of your homework," she said.
"Deal," I promised. She smiled evilly. Oh no. Now she's getting ideas.
"Ya know, I wouldn't mind an autograph from Robin, either," she said. I sighed.
"Fine," I said.
"Great! I'll see what I can do for ya!" she said. She grabbed her bag of books and scurried off to someone else's trailer as I got started on my mountain full of homework.
As the cup thing ate away at me, bigger issues started to evolve. My dad started calling more. I honestly didn't want to find out why. Later that night, our moms went out again, so we were left babysitting Amber. It was much easier this time because I only had to go find her once before she fell asleep in her bedroom. Charlie and I sat and watched 'Rio' in the living room when my phone rang yet again.
"Who's calling?" he asked, noticing that it had rang repeatedly before the birds even got to Rio.
"Oh, just my dad," I said.
"And you don't wanna answer it?" he asked.
"Nope," I said.
"Mind if I ask why?" he asked. I thought about this for a moment. My relationship with my dad wasn't something I told everyone about, but for some reason, I thought Charlie would get it.
"He just works all the time. He's never really had time for me or my mom or my sister. They're divorced," I said. "My dad can just be such a…" I struggled to find the right words.
"Peter Banning?" he asked. I grinned and nodded.
"Yeah. Peter Banning." Then, Charlie did the most unexpected thing ever. He hugged me. It was awkward and brief, but it was still a hug.
"So, um...what's your sister like?" he asked, trying to make conversation. I put my phone on vibrate and put it in the bathroom.
"I don't really know anymore," I said. "They live in New York. I've been here for the past few months. My dad has custody of her, so even when I lived there, I didn't see her often. I know that she wanted to be an actress, too, but my dad never has time for anyone but himself. I kinda feel bad for her." After I said this, there was another awkward silence. I heard a weird noise behind me. I paused the movie and listened. It was the sound of my phone vibrating from the bath tub in the bathroom. Charlie and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. I'm not really sure why, but at that moment, there was just so much to be happy about.
Since the night where I told Charlie about my dad, I've felt a big weight lift off my shoulders and it made us better friends, too. But, apparently, still not good enough friends for him to tell me about the 'Cup' thing, so eventually, I gave up. We were on set, shooting the scene where Granny Wendy sits in the fort with Maggie and Hartlyn and reads to them, and Jack stands off to the side with his baseball glove like a buzzkill.
"I have come up with a nickname for you," he announced in between takes.
"Really?" I asked, hiding how excited I was. He nodded.
"Calista," he said.
"That's my name, doofus," I said.
"I know, but it's special because I know what it means," he said.
"What does it mean?" I asked.
"I looked it up online. It means 'woman of the most beauty.'"
"Oh. Thanks," I smiled and blushed.
"Okay, everyone, back to work!" Steven called. "Speed, rolling, ACTION!"
A/N: What are the odds, am I right, guys? I didn't even do the name thing on purpose! I looked it up to see what it meant last night. How convenient.
Relevant questions:
Will Callie resolve her issues with her dad?
Will she find out why Charlie is called 'Cup' (The reason isn't as interesting as you think, I promise. This is just something I threw in for more suspense. lol)
AND
Will she ever call him Roo? I mean, come on, she hasn't even done it once yet. -_-
PS: Should Challie be a thing? I've been wondering since the fanfic started. Should I make them a pair? Does anyone ship it? No? Just me? Okay.
Thanks for reading! Seeya in the next chapter! WILL BE POSTED SOON! BANGARANG! XD
*Whispers*
The story is about half-way finished, and it's too soon to tell, but I may or may not be thinking about a sequel… but you didn't hear it from me!