Chapter 21:

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed I'm glad you're still enjoying it hah. I bet this chapter will be painfully slow to write, not because I don't have ideas, but I had a biking accident haha, and now I'm all wrapped up on my left wrist, seriously restraining my keyboard use. Bahh. Dislike falling off of handlebars. Anyways, here we go:

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Breakfast had indeed been just as delicious as they had hoped it would be. But despite the wonderful food, there had been an air of awkwardness in the air. Not because they had slept together, that wasn't awkward for them at all, that was simply the start of something wonderful. No, the awkward air was due to avoidance of Calleigh's family. Not only because Christmas was often considered a family holiday, and not only because they were surrounded by families, but because of the slight discrepancy they had encountered before leaving for breakfast. Eric wanted to talk about Calleigh's past with her. He wanted her to trust him, to let it go, but Calleigh couldn't do that. She refused, and that made Eric feel as if she didn't trust him though he trusted her.

"Eric…" Calleigh started, as they lay silently, collapsed on the bed.

"Yes?" Eric answered, urging her to continue her sentence, to trust him.

"Are you mad that I won't talk to you about everything that's happened?" Calleigh finally asked.

"I'm not mad." Eric sighed. He really wasn't. To him, mad insinuated that he was angry at her, that he held hostile feelings or spite towards her. Vengeance. No. That was not what he was feeling at all.

"You seem mad." Calleigh decided to continue the conversation. Maybe she would feel better if everything came out.

"I'm not mad, Cal." Eric assured her. "I'm… I don't know which word properly describes it. Upset, maybe. I'm upset you can't trust me enough to tell me."

"You're mad, then." She shrugged. "At least, that seems mad to me."

"If I was mad at anyone, it wouldn't be you. It'd be your family, or anyone else who hurt you in the past." He told her honestly.

"Eric…"

"I know you don't want to talk about it, it's fine." He cut her off.

"I do." She told him. "I think I want to talk about it. I mean, I've been so happy these past few days with you… and then, I started thinking about my family again, and it's killing me, keeping it all inside, not having anyone to talk about it with… I just can't let them ruin another Christmas for me."

"You're sure?" He checked, and she smiled. She knew how much he wanted her to talk about this with him, and yet he still double-checked she was ready before he pressed her to tell him anything. It only made her love him more.

"Yeah." She nodded with a skeleton of a smile. And so they talked. Calleigh told him stories of how she remembered being happy when she was really little. And then, after her younger brother was born, everything took a turn for the worst. Her Mother developed post-partum depression, but refused to take her medications, thus delving her into a world of isolation, depression and solitude. Her father, who was always a family man, began to dissolve as his older sons wanted less and less to do with him, and his wife turned even him away. Turning to alcohol for comfort, he completely ignored Calleigh, and her attempts to make him proud of her, or to make him happy with her. He ignored her for years, until suddenly, he had a drunken revelation, and began to love her like a father should love his daughter. When he was sober. Eric couldn't believe that Calleigh hadn't let a tear fall yet. He was holding her hand, and running his other hand in a comforting gesture up and down her arm. He could see the tears in her eyes, begging to fall, but they didn't. Not until then. Not until she started explaining how she wasn't ever sure whether to be happy her father gave her attention. When he was sober, she loved it. He did things with her, they talked, and spent time together, but when he was drunk, he didn't forget her. That was when the abuse started, and also when Calleigh's duties to clean up after her father started, as well. Duties she still lived up to today.

"Why do you do it?" Eric asked. He had been reluctant to, but his curiosity got the best of him. If his Dad had abused him, he wouldn't have kept contact.

"If I don't, who will?" She shrugged in reply, hastily wiping tears away from her eyes, making her hand the slightest bit damp when she placed it back in Eric's. He didn't know what to say, and she had nothing more to. Then suddenly, he had an idea. It had the possibility of cheering her up, which he wanted nothing more than to do, but it also had the possibility to make her sadder, if that was even a possibility anymore.

"Want to play a game?" He asked, and the twinkle in his eye did not go unnoticed by her.

"Okay." She agreed, albeit reluctantly. She needed to take her mind off the current topic of discussion anyhow. Though, as much as she hated to be wrong, she did feel a bit better after sharing her problems with Eric.

"It's kind of like truth or dare, except only truth, and we both answer the question." He explained. She raised an eyebrow at him. Truth? It was so teenage-esque, but she didn't have a better suggestion of how to waste an afternoon, and she wasn't quite up for another skiing extravaganza, so she nodded in reply. "First question."

"Okay." She was ready.

"How old were you when you had your first kiss?" He asked.

"Very teenage-esque." She complimented him with a smile. "Um, I believe I was…" She had to think about it for a moment, before it all came flooding back to her, and her smile widened. "I was thirteen."

"Who was he?" Eric pressed.

"Wait," Calleigh told him, her smile still present, and for that, he was grateful. "You have to answer first, before asking anymore questions. And really, we should alternate."

"Fine." Eric sighed. "I was fourteen."

"Who was she?" Calleigh asked the question she knew he would have asked anyways.

"Olivia Roberts." Eric recalled, smiling at the memory as well. "You?"

"Jordan Anderson." Calleigh answered.

"First time?" Eric asked.

"Why do you get all the good questions?" Calleigh pouted.

"Because I went first." Eric smirked, and Calleigh's pout became more exaggerated.

"I was twenty. Sophomore year in University." Calleigh told him.

"Freshman year at UOM." Eric answered. "So I was nineteen."

"First crush?" Calleigh asked. She didn't care to know who Eric's first time was with.

"I have to think about this one." Eric laughed. "First actual crush, that I can remember, was when I was eleven. She was the most popular girl in school, and eventually, after much hard work on my part, we went out for a week."

"A week." Calleigh laughed. "Must've been serious."

"We were eleven." Eric defended himself.

"I'm just kidding." Calleigh rolled her eyes.

"I know. Now you answer."

"I was twelve. The first one I remember, anyways." She told him. "He was probably the gawkiest boy in our grade, and I was paired with him on a Science project. After the initial: 'you're a geek, and I don't want to work with you' stage was over, and I actually got to know him, I thought I was in love. The joys of being twelve." She laughed.

"Did you go out with him?"

"No. He didn't like me back." Calleigh scowled at the memory. "Definitely up there in my most humiliating moments."

"He probably thought you weren't serious." Eric guessed.

"I don't know. It's not like it matters anyways." Calleigh shrugged. "Your turn." "Ever been in love?" Eric asked.

"Real love?" Calleigh asked.

"Yeah." Eric nodded. He knew he was delving into hazardous territory by asking that. What if she didn't love him? Well, if last night was any indication, she did, or felt something close to it…

"Okay." Shit. What if he doesn't love me back? "Yes."

"No detail?" He hated himself for not making more specific rules right then.

"I answered the question." She grinned smugly. Safe. "Now it's your turn."

"Okay. Yes."

"What was her name?" Calleigh was glad he had asked the more revealing question that round.

"Calleigh." He answered smugly, taking a risk. She struggled to keep from squealing, or kissing him, so she could answer the question she knew she had to. "You?"

"Eric." She was able to answer and stay safe that time as well. "I love you." She murmured, quietly now.

"I love you too." He answered, amazed. This trip had accomplished far more than he had hoped it to, and he couldn't be happier.

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A/N: Oo. Love. Okay, well that was… corny? I duno haha. Review and tell me? I'd love that. Good night! ONLY ONE WEEK LEFT OF SUMMER VACATION. This makes me sad.

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