Hanging By A Moment
Hanging By A Moment
Paring: Callie/Arizona
Rating: M
A/N: Sorry, sorry, sorry. I know its been a while but I've been busy. I've been out of my home country for a while and I just got back. Good news is I have some free time on my hands so I can update more regularly. Thank you for sticking around, I really appreciate it.
Chapter 14:
After Callie got back from New York her relationship with Arizona had gotten stronger. They spent almost all of their free time together, a couple of nights a week Callie would sneak into Arizona's house and spend the night without anyone noticing. Things were good between them. Arizona felt as if she were walking on a cloud. Sure, Callie could sometimes be moody and at times distant but they were yet to have a serious fight and although the subject of the future was never approached she felt like they could make it work.
Callie was getting into her car after being done with work for the day when she received a text message from Arizona. All it said was: "Its here!" She wondered briefly what that meant but she quickly remembered that Arizona had been waiting for a few days now her letter from Notre Dame. Before starting her car she texted back: "So?! Did you open it?" A few seconds later her phone buzzed with a response, "Waiting for you. Get here."
Callie's hand stalled with the key in the ignition; somehow she felt weight of Arizona waiting for her to find out about this huge thing in her life on her shoulders. What will it mean for their relationship if Arizona gets in, what will it mean for their relationship if she doesn't get it. Callie knew what the next few years of her life looked like. She saw herself in New York working on her own stuff away from the burden of her father's name. She saw herself making a name for herself. But what about Arizona all the way out in Indiana? She shook her head trying not to think too much about it and she headed towards Arizona's house.
Arizona was a mess of excitement and nervousness. Barbara, Daniel and Tim were all waiting expectantly for her to open the letter.
"Come on, open it." Tim said. "We're all dying to know."
"No. I'm waiting until Callie gets here." Arizona said stubbornly.
"Open it now. You can tell her later." Tim insisted.
"No. We are waiting." Arizona said. "She should be here any minute now." A few seconds later a knock came from the front door. "Ha! That's her, told ya."
"So? What does it say?" Callie asked as soon as Arizona opened the door.
"I don't know, haven't opened it." Arizona said.
"Well open it! What are you waiting for?" Callie said.
"I was waiting for you." Arizona said leading her to the living room where her family sat expectantly.
"It's the big envelope so you probably got it." Callie said.
"That's exactly what I said." Tim said making a gesture from his head to Callie's as if to say: great minds think alike.
Arizona's nervous fingers carefully tore open the envelope. She read the letter with a neutral expression on her face, she read over the words over and over to herself before she made any expressions as to what the letter said.
"I got in." Arizona said almost not believing the words as they came out of her mouth. "I got in."
"Oh Honey." Barbara said her eyes getting glassy as she stood up from her seat to give her daughter a congratulatory hug.
"I'm so proud of you." Daniel said following his wife to hug his daughter.
"Congratulations, Phoenix." Tim said. "Turns out you're not so dumb after all."
"You're an idiot." Arizona said giving her brother a tight hug.
"I'm proud of you." Tim said in her ear.
"Congratulation, hon, this is just the start." Callie said kissing Arizona's cheek before giving her a hug.
"Thank you, baby." Arizona said. Even though her parents were sort of okay with Callie being her girlfriend it was still awkward whenever they acted like a couple in front of her parents. She could tell that her parents were trying to not say anything about it but that it still made them uncomfortable.
"Shit, that's work." Callie said with an apologetic look on her face after her phone started buzzing in her pocket. "I have to go back."
"Are you sure?" Arizona asked giving her puppy dog eyes. "Are you sure you can't stay?"
"If she has to go, she has to go. Work comes first, right?" Barbara said eagerly.
"You know what? I'll just make a quick call and solve the rest tomorrow." Callie said before Arizona gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
"If she has to go to her job you should let her." Barbara said once Callie was out of earshot. "She's an adult with adult responsibilities."
"Mom, can you not do this?" Arizona asked starting to get annoyed.
A few minutes later Callie came back happy that it wasn't anything too serious and that she didn't need to get back to the office until the next day.
"What did I miss?" Callie asked sitting down next to Arizona and throwing and arm around her. "My dad says congratulations by the way."
"You told him?" Arizona asked.
"Yeah, I talked briefly with him. Might have bragged about how smart my girl is." Callie said causing Arizona to blush unwillingly. "We should do something to celebrate."
"We'll have a small party for Arizona on Saturday." Barbara said. "You're more than welcome to come of course." She said almost painfully.
"But if you're busy, we'll understand." Daniel added for good measure.
"No, I can make it." Callie said. She knew Arizona's parents weren't her biggest fans but she appreciated that they made an effort to be cordial for the sake of their daughter.
That afternoon Callie had dinner at the Robbins household, after everyone ate Callie helped Barbara wash the dishes as had become routine whenever Callie had dinner at Arizona's house. The first few times the conversation between Callie and Barbara was tense and awkward but now it was almost friendly.
"I don't want to brag but I think I'm slowly growing on your mother." Callie almost sighed as she threw herself on Arizona's bed.
"You're super charming, of course she's starting to like you." Arizona said leaning over so as to rest half of her body on top of Callie.
"Hey, in all seriousness, I'm really proud of you." Callie said looking into Arizona's eyes. "Getting into that school isn't easy and you made it all on your own."
"Thank you." Arizona almost whispered before she closed the small gap between her and Callie's lips.
"The door stays open and Callie has to leave in thirty minutes." Daniel called as he made his way through the hallway.
"That was one way to ruin the mood." Callie said as she sat upright on the bed. "I should get going anyway. Today was a long day and tomorrow will be just as long."
"No." Arizona said pulling Callie back down. "Stay just a little while longer."
"Babe, I'm exhausted." Callie said.
"Is it because you worked a lot or because you're getting old?" Arizona asked as she straddled Callie.
"Oh I see. You think you're funny now?" Callie said tickling Arizona's belly.
"No! Callie stop." Arizona called between fits of laughter.
"Stop? Stop what?" Callie asked as she flipped them over so that now she was on top. "You give up?" She asked her lips hovering over Arizona's.
"Maybe." Arizona said. She moved to kiss Callie but Callie at the last moment backed away. "Asshole. You are an asshole."
"Yeah?" Callie asked as she started dropping kisses along Arizona's neck. "How about now?" She asked after she softly bit Arizona's neck.
"Callie…" Arizona almost moaned out.
"What?" Callie asked. "You want me to stop?"
"Callie… lets not start something we both know you can't finish." Arizona said her stare drifting to the open bedroom door.
"Ugh." Callie groaned. "You're right." She said as she moved to Arizona's side. "I just- I wish we had more time for us."
"What are you talking about?" Arizona asked. "We spend a lot of time together."
"Yeah but I feel like your parents are always watching over my shoulder to make sure I don't deflower their daughter." Callie said.
"But what did you expect?" Arizona asked. "We are lucky they let us spend so much time together, or any time together for that matter."
"I know." Callie said. "I'm not complaining, I'm just not used to this."
"Right…" Arizona said getting uncomfortable. She knew that Callie had a past. She just had a hard time acknowledging it. "I think you should leave now. It's getting late and you said you had a long day tomorrow."
"Arizona…" Callie said knowing that she had upset her. "Please don't get like this."
"Leave it alone, Callie." Arizona said. "We'll talk some other time."
"Okay…" Callie said. By now she knew that when Arizona was upset it was better to leave her alone for a while until she came around. "I'm going to leave now." When she was at the doorframe she turned back. "I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Sure." Arizona said without even looking at Callie.
When Callie got home Addison was already there waiting for her with a six pack of outrageously expensive beer. When she was on her way home Callie had texted her that she needed to unwind but didn't have any energy to go out to a bar.
"I love you." Callie said at the sight of the beer.
"I know." Addison said.
They drank the first beer while making idle chat until Addison got tired of it and outright asked her what was wrong.
"I don't know." Callie answered. "I guess it's just the weight of everything. Arizona is going to college in Indiana in a few months, my dad is pressuring me to take over in New York…."
"Arizona got into Notre Dame." Addison asked. "That's awesome. Good for her."
"How did you know about Notre Dame?" Callie asked.
"Oh Tim mentioned it the other day." Addison said.
"Tim huh." Was the only thing Callie had to say about that.
"He's nice. We've been getting along…" Addison said.
"That's good. He's a good guy." Callie said. "I like him for you."
"If Arizona is going to be in Indiana and you're going to be in New York, how are you going to make things work?" Addison asked.
"I don't know, we haven't really talked about that. She doesn't even know about New York." Callie said. "We haven't had the chance to really talk about stuff."
"According to Tim you practically live at his house." Addison noted. "Seems weird that you haven't had the time to talk about something so important."
"I don't know. I guess I've been avoiding the subject every time is brought up." Callie said. "The closest thing we came to talk about it was one time that I suggested that if she didn't get into Notre Dame I could take her to look at schools in New York. She knows that because of my job I go to New York a lot, she entertained the option but her sights are set in Notre Dame."
"Yeah, there's really nothing you can do about it." Addison said.
"Its not like I want to do something about it." Callie said. "She's smart and she should go wherever she feels like, I know I did."
"And that's what happened today? That's what has your panties in a bunch?" Addison asked.
"Sort of…" Callie said. "I think we're having a fight but I don't really know why…"
"What happened?" Addison asked as she took a swig of her beer.
"I don't know. We were almost about to hook up, we couldn't take things far because we were at her house with her parents still around and I said that I'm not used to that, to having my girlfriend's parents always hovering and then she got mad." She said taking a long sip of the beer in her hand. "Look I love her, but it irks me when she acts like this."
"Like a child? It bothers you when she acts like a child?" Addison asked rhetorically. "In case it escaped your notice… she is a child."
"Shut up." Callie said annoyed.