Magnolias Blossoms: Eleven

Callie sighed to herself, rubbing her temples to try and ward off her oncoming headache. She'd been telling Kaiba the truth three days ago when she'd said she'd had a dress. Now, she didn't. She'd (stupidly) left it out in the open, and what had Devin, her visiting cousin, done? He had poured grape juice on the dress, naturally. After all, why on earth would Callie want to wear a dress without grape juice stains on it? She closed her eyes, trying to stop her train of thought. She didn't want to try to understand the mind of a five-year-old. Of course, her aunt had tried to convince her to let her pay for it, but Callie knew that she was on the verge of a divorce. So, she'd waved the offer off, and was now without a dress. Suddenly, her aching head came to a conclusion that she wished she'd thought of before.

She nearly ran over to her dresser, picking up her phone. She punched in the numbers, and waited in silence as the phone began to ring. Finally, she heard Tea's voice. "Tea, could I take you up on that shopping tour offer? I need a fancy dress. And I don't know what there is, and so I need your help!" she said calmly, her mind protesting her rational thinking. Sometimes, it would be nice just to let go and scream.

"Sure, Callie, that's fine. How about in an hour or so?" Tea asked. Callie glanced at her watch. It was 4:00 in the afternoon. She mentally reviewed her schedule. Mokuba was at a friend's house after school today, so she didn't need to go to the Kaibas' mansion.

"That's fine. I'll pick you up at 5, then. What's your address?" she questioned, scribbling the address on her hand. "Okay. See ya." She hung up, and sighed to herself. She had an hour to blow off. What was she supposed to do? With a sigh, she collapsed onto her bed, looking at her painted ceiling. It was a large mural, a picturesque scene depicting a cherubic picnic with the goddess of love Aphrodite. Not really her taste, but it was pretty enough, and it had been there originally. In her mind, it was part of the house's personality. "Ow!" she exclaimed as she rolled over, discovering the remote to her stereo. She shot upright. "Hey, I've been looking for this!" With a shrug of her shoulders, she reclined on her bed, and hit play.


"Hey, Tea, hurry up. How long does it take to get a jacket?" Callie snapped, lounging against the door of Tea's apartment. The younger girl stuck her tongue out in Callie's general direction.

"I just have to grab my cell, okay? There, let's go. We're gonna go to the 'Ever After' place that opened three months ago. It's supposed to have awesome dresses." Callie shrugged, striding out the door. Tea followed her, hopping into the passenger seat. Ten minutes later, a very disgruntled Callie was laden with dresses (and damn, they were heavy!) following Tea around as the younger girl threw more dresses on the ever-growing load.

"Tea…I need one dress. One. Not fifty!" Callie finally growled, eyeing the brunette as she grabbed what looked to be a twenty-pound dress. With a roll of her cerulean eyes, Tea urged Callie in towards the dressing room. The older girl suffered through stuck zippers, horrible fits, dresses that added weight to her hips, dresses that weighed a ton due to the fact that the dressmaker had sneezed during the creation and rhinestones had stuck to the dress, and various other things. If anything, Tea was enjoying herself far more than Callie was. Finally, Callie had had enough. With an indecipherable string of curses, she stormed out of the dressing room, looking ready to throttle Tea.

"That's it! I've had enough. We're leaving, so no more dresses! I'm gonna go get dressed," she growled, watching Tea's eyes widen. She moved to go back to the dressing room, but something stopped her. "Tea? What in heaven's name are you staring at? I wasn't being that loud," she snarled, still in a foul temper. The younger teen sent her a smirk, and pointed to the mirror next to her. With a roll of her eyes, Callie turned to look at herself.

"Huh…" she said, narrowing her eyes at her reflection. "Well, problem solved, I guess."

"Damn straight, girl. You're getting that dress, no doubt about it!" Tea said, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "You look just like a model in that!" Callie winced.

"Don't say that. Please," she muttered, turning to go back into the changing room. Tea shrugged, and went to claim the dress from Callie as the girl changed back into her street clothes.


"Honestly, Mokuba, what's taking so long?" Rosie said softly. She'd been waiting patiently outside of the young boy's door for a half hour now. It was almost time for him to go. Kaiba Senior had left already to make some arrangements at the party; Callie was supposed to be picking Mokuba up any minute now. By now, Rosie had settled against Mokuba's door. Around three seconds later, she discovered exactly why this was a mistake as a snickering Mokuba helped her up from the floor.

"C'mon, let's go!" the boy yelled, dragging the maid towards the stairs. They'd just reached the bottom when the doorbell rang: Mokuba ran to get it. "Woah," he breathed. "Callie, you look…like a girl!" Rosie couldn't help it- she started laughing.

"Thanks, brat," a disgruntled Callie muttered. "It's good to know that I look like a man most of the time. Hey, you, stop laughing," she shot at Rosie. The panting maid smiled and waved breathlessly.

"It's not you, Callie, it's Mokuba. I'm sorry, but the look on your face…" Rosie trailed off. Callie rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah."

"No, really. You do look wonderful," Rosie said, taking a longer look at the floor-length ball-gown Callie was wearing. Once more, the woman rolled her eyes.

"That doesn't mean I like it. Or that I can walk."

"Callie, we're going to be late!" Mokuba whined. With a sigh and a bow, the sitter waved a hand towards the door.

"Your chariot awaits, milord. Ah, the dress, the dress!" she yelled, seeing Mokuba ready to launch himself at her. A pout crossed the young boy's face, but he marched out the door. Rosie watched, laughing, as Callie tried to arrange her skirts in the driver's seat. Without a glance back, the other woman flipped her the bird, and revved her car.

"My, she's a bit of a wild driver…" Rosie said, wide-eyed as Callie's car shot off into the night.


Seto Kaiba was alternating between being bored, nodding to business tycoons, and worrying about whether Callie had the sense to show up on time and dress properly. Rubbing his temples slightly, he turned to the man next to him, a fashion designer who happened to be interested in his holographic projectors for runway shows. His name was Ryten (1), a name he'd apparently created for himself. Still, Seto wasn't going to turn away just yet: there happened to be a good amount of profit possible in this deal. He was in the middle of a conversation with the man when he suddenly sharpened his hearing.

"…Mokuba Kaiba and Callie Haveles," one of the many doormen announced. Seto clenched his teeth at the nickname. Why on earth did she think that was okay? He watched Mokuba with pride: the young boy was acting quite mature, making his way down the staircase with a bright smile. Callie was next to him, and Seto noted that her smile seemed more strained. He made his way towards them, stopping them at the bottom of the stairs.

"A bit lavish, don't you think?" he whispered to Callie, taking in her dress, which was a detailed red piece, with quite interesting and dizzying spirals of vines and flowers. It clung to her in an entirely flattering way, enhancing her waist and her chest, he noticed. Add in her curled, waist length hair and the jewelry, and it made for quite a wealthy picture. Until she ruined it by sticking out her tongue.

"Hey, you're the one who said it was supposed to be fancy." He raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose so. It'll do. At least you don't look like a total tramp," he sneered. She glared at him, but kept her calm.

"Mm, good thing, too, because then I'd be your type of woman, Mr. Kaiba," she retorted. She watched anger flare in his captivating sapphire orbs, but before he could retaliate with a scathing retort, she was just about tackled from behind. Cursing softly, she tried to escape the person's grasp, noting the irritated look on Kaiba's face.

"Calandra, darling, it's been such a long time!" a distinctly male voice announced. The hands holding her twirled her around, and she groaned as she saw who was holding her. Before Seto could say anything, she leaned into the other man, and whispered quietly into his ear.

"Calandra, you know Ryten?" Seto asked, arching an eyebrow at the girl.

"You could say that," she evaded, playing with a strand of her hair. He waited, crossing his arms. She was going to elaborate whether she liked it or not.

"We used to date, Mr. Kaiba," Ryten said, a sly smirk dancing over his face.


A/N: Not sure how I feel about this chapter. Be on the lookout, I may replace the ending with something new. The first part is okay, but I'm not sure about the last part. Want to give me some input?

(1) I made this name up. Heh.

TheFutureMrs.Kaiba: Thanks.

Hero Girl of Brien: I know, I know. You'll see why there's no cliffhangers soon enough.

Tolea: It's not that there's no secret, it's just that it's not a huge secret.