Chapter Eleven: A New Friend
"I'm not so sure about this, Tony." I said.
"Relax, Cal. It's not like you have to go out on a date with the kid. You just have to meet him. Just say hi and talk to the guy until the party is over." He answered.
"Yeah, but what if he's boring? Then I'll have no fun whatsoever. Also, I'm wearing this stupid thing." I grabbed the ruffled end of my dark blue dress and held it in my hand.
I didn't have anything against dresses. I just chose not to wear one, but Tony insisted that I wear one for this party.
"Why can't I just stayed in my lab? I'll be fine there. All by myself." I tried to persuade Tony to let me be by myself in the lab. I really didn't want to meet this boy who could just possibly be the most boring person ever in the history of the world. Okay, I may have exaggerated a bit there, but it still could be true.
"Stop overreacting. You'll be fine. Also if you do this for me, I'll do something for you." He tried to persuade ME to go out there and face this guy I haven't even met.
"Something for me?" I inquired.
"Yep." He said popping the 'p'.
"Fine, I'll do it. Only if I can have some quiet time next week to myself, please." I bargained.
"Deal. Now, let's go on out there." He said as he pushed me in front of him and led me out to the party.
The party was going on full blast even though we had about two hours left 'till midnight. People dancing, closely. People drinking wine, apparently, and people just having fun while the music blasted out from the speakers.
There was a group of three waiting by the front entrance. A man who seemed to be in his late forties, a woman in her early forties, and a guy who looked slightly older than me. Both adults dressed semi formal, while the guy dressed much more causal than his adult counterparts.
The guy had dark green eyes, and black hair. He looked around the room, sulking. He seemed to be the only other person in the room that didn't want to be here other than me.
He had a fair complexion much like, I would assume, his mother. He also had slight curls in his hair much like his mother as well. Yet he shared nothing in common with the man. They looked strikingly similar, but they didn't resemble one another.
The man had dark brown, almost black, hair, yet his eyes were a dark brown. He was tall. At least a good 6 ft. The guy was almost reaching his height as well. Me being me, I was about almost as tall as Tony, if not taller by an inch or two.
The woman, on the other hand, had the boy's dark green eyes, but she had dirty blonde hair. She had crinkles around her eyes, signifying that she smiled very often. Unlike the man who had a stern face and was surveying the crowd, she had a small smile on her lips and swayed slightly to the music. The man looked kind, despite of his stern look, yet held this air around him, an air of respect and authority.
I turned to Tony and back at the group of three as we got near. I swallowed a lump that was in my throat.
Despite my intellect and outgoing personality around Tony and Pepper (and Rhodey and Happy whenever they're around), I am still a very quiet, shy person. I am a bit cold toward new people that I meet. Unless it's someone I have looked up to then I'll more than likely mess something up.
Tony stopped me from turning around to leave, I had chosen to leave too late. We had arrived in front of the group. The man stared me down, while the woman just smiled warmly at me. The guy didn't even bother to look at me.
'Great, first impression, dude.' I thought.
"Hello, Mr. Grant" Tony said and stretched his hand out to Mr. Grant.
"Mr. Stark" He responded and shook, quite briefly, Tony's hand. "This is my wife, Margaret, and my son, Eric." Mr. Grant pointed to each in turn as he spoke. Son? Hmm, maybe I was wrong.
"Pleasure to meet you." He shook Mrs. Grant's hand and Eric's hand as he spoke.
"This is a close friend, Callie Chase." Tony said as I smiled at both adults and gave Eric a nod.
Now let me get something straight, so people will understand. Tony thinks that 'Chase' is my surname. That being because legally it is Chase. Mom and Dad didn't want their enemies to find them because of my last name. I'm a Coulson from the moment I was born, but legally I'm a Chase.
Tony was speaking with Mr. Grant, while Mrs. Grant went to get something to drink. I stood awkwardly to the side with Eric, who was standing slightly farther away. After a while, Tony came up to me.
"Cal." I turned towards Tony. "Mr. Grant and I will go to the garage to show him some of the new designs and statistics of the company. We'll be back up soon." He said then looked between me and Eric, who was leaning on the wall and looking at the crowd.
"Also, I think you should give Eric some company." I gave Eric a quick look and glared at Tony.
"Tony, he didn't even give me the time of day, how do you expect for me to get along with a guy like that?" I said.
"Well, he's quite a looker, I'll give you that, but not like yours truly." I gave Tony a small smile. I couldn't ignore the fact that Eric wasn't good looking either.
"Any who, you guys may have more in common than you think." He said.
"How would you know?" I asked.
"And how would you know, if you don't talk to him. Come on, give him a chance. You never know until you try." Tony said. I sighed.
"Fine, you win. I'll head over there and talk to him." I said.
"I always win. I'll be back up later." And with that he walked next to Mr. Grant and led him to the garage.
I knew I'd have to talk to Eric eventually, since Tony would probably check up with JARVIS to see if I did. And sometimes JARVIS had to do what Tony asked, because he is his creator.
Even if I could manipulate the computerised butler to do my bidding. Quite fun actually, very handy when it comes to pranks.
I walked over and stood next to Eric. I gave him a quick glance before looking out at the crowd before us. Rambunctious people.
"What do you want?" Eric said harshly. It was the first time I'd heard him speak. Rather rude if you ask me, but whatever.
"Callie Chase" I said and stuck my hand out waiting for him to shake it. He looked down at my hand then back at my face.
"No thank you. I'd rather not associate myself with idiotic people." I stared at him with a blank expression. Really? Idiotic? I am not idiotic.
'Actually, he does have a point there. Remember-' The rational part of my brain began. 'Oh shut up!' I told it before we got anywhere.
I try to be nice and this is what I get in return? Oh, this guy is so dead. Eric turned to me and looked away quickly, when he noticed I saw him.
"Now, look here buster." I started and walked toward him "What do you take me for?! A narcissistic, bubbly, arrogant, boy obsessed girl?!" I paused and glared at him. I may have exaggerated on that description.
No response came from him. His eyes were huge. He looked kinda scared. I smirked internally.
"Well, listen well bud, 'cause I'm only saying this once. No one and I MEAN no one is going to insult me due to my outward appearance." I gritted my teeth before continuing. He got in my nerves quick. "Now if you excuse, Mr. Grant, I have to go."
I walked away in the direction of the passage that led from the dining room to the lab.
"I've had enough of this party," I said aloud. "JARVIS get me out of here. I can't deal with rude people." And he was quite rude, but before I was even out of the room I heard him quietly say.
"My name isn't Grant." I turned and faced him.
"What?" I said. He walked towards me and stopped when he was within a yard of me.
"My name isn't Grant." He repeated. Oh, so I wasn't hearing things. "My name is Eric Boyd."
The first thought that came to my head was 'I was right.' Apparently, I had voiced this aloud. And I had pumped my fist in the air, this wasn't helping the situation.
Eric gave me a weird look before saying "You were right? Right about what?" He asked.
That was my cue to run and hide, but my feet didn't budge. Great.
"See, uhh...well...okay. Thing is I'm a very observant person and so when I saw you next to Mr. Grant, I'd had guessed he wasn't your real dad, even if you looked strikingly similar to one another." He nodded taking in the things I had just told him.
"What gave it away? Skin tone? Eye color? Hair color?" He asked at last. He seemed much more relaxed than before.
"None." I simply stated. He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Your nose gave you away." Now he really did look confused.
"Well, you certainly don't seem to have your mother's nose and so your nose doesn't even remotely look like Mr. Grant's, thus leading to my guess that Mr. Grant isn't your real father." I said. He looked surprised.
"Wow, I never knew someone could get so much information from just my nose." He stated with a smile. For the sake of starting over again, I outstretched my hand, while saying,
"Callie Chase."
"Eric Boyd." He smiled even wider and shook my hand.
He let go of my hand after a minute or two and looked over at the crowd. Was it me, or did his cheeks look a little bit red?
"Hey Eric." He turned when he heard me. "Do you like science? Like...I don't know...quantum mechanics, biochemistry, or particle physics?" I asked.
Eric looked at me like if I was crazy, and thinking about it I probably was. I thought he didn't understand what I was saying, so I opened my mouth to reply when his answer shocked me.
"Actually, I'm more of a forensic chemistry, and electrical engineering kind of guy." He replied smugly. I smiled. Maybe I could form a friendship with this guy. He seems to be incredibly smart in the science area.
"Seriously? I thought no one liked forensics and engineering like I do. I mean I dabble. But it's nothing lije my work with chemistry, biology, physics. I even taught myself medicine." Eric gave me a confused look when I said 'medicine'.
"I had to learn medicine in my time here. Tony Stark has accidents." I said. "Many accidents."
I smiled thinking back to Tony's most recent accident. He had purple hair for over two weeks. It was hilarious. Pepper couldn't even look at him straight the entire time. She kept laughing at him. She tried to hide it, but it came out anyway. Tony wore a hat, since Pepper didn't stop laughing at him.
Eric smiled back at looking impressed. I guess it isn't every day that you meet someone like yourself.
"So tell me Miss Chase? How is it that you have so much knowledge, yet you aren't in school?" Eric asked me.
"Call me Callie, please, and I already graduated." I answered.
"Then call me Eric. Wow, are you like 18 or something?"
"No. I'm just a genius." I said casually.
"Really? Not hard to believe after you started talking about particle physics, biochemistry, etc. Now, seriously, how old are you?"
"Oh. That is something I will not reveal to you, Eric. Mostly because it's not nice to ask and then because its funny not to tell you." I said. Before I could talk anymore, Tony came up and headed in our direction.
"Hey lovebirds," he joked. Eric and I cracked up a bit (though it looked like Eric blushed a bit). Tony kept smiling as if nothing happened.
"How's it going? Hope you guys are having fun. Wait, before I say anything else, Cal," he turned to me "Did you interrogate again?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No. I did not." I said defensively. Eric looked at me with a raised eyebrow from behind Tony.
Okay, okay. Because I don't have much human interaction (and the times I do, aren't pretty), I intimidate people by asking them question about science, mathematics, and even literature.
It helps people stay clear of me. I like to be left alone. Yes, I did try to intimidate Eric, to get him to lay off even if I started the conversation (which never would've happened if Tony hadn't persisted).
"Good, then. Oh, and Eric," he turned to Eric "your father is looking for you." Tony said. Eric nodded in comprehension.
"He's by the kitchen. You'll know when you find it." Tony added.
Before Eric left the room, he said "Bye, Chase." Going by last names, huh?
"Bye, Boyd." I replied with a smirk. Tony glanced between Eric and I. He looked really confused.
After Eric left the room, Tony turned to me. "Chase? Boyd? Did I miss something?"
"Yes, you did actually. Though I believe I made a friend, tonight." I replied.
"Way to go, Cal! A new friend for you! At least one that's actually around your age and in a human body!"
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be talking Tony. You have many young lady friends if I'm correct." I said with a smirk.
"Pepper." Tony sighed as the people in the party got even louder as the final countdown to the new year got started. I didn't realise that much time had passed by.