Hey guys! I didn't expect all the feedback I got from everyone about this story! :D it means a lot and I have so many ideas I want to incorporate into the story! But did you guys see next weeks trailer!? The Quinceanera? The break-up? The BALLIE MOMENTS? I cannot wait! xxx Lottie
Callie's POV
The darkness behind my eyes was slowly getting lighter, and then all of a sudden, brightness. My eyes fluttered open, automatically searching the room for my step-father. Not seeing him towering over me was an unfamiliar feeling, and as my eyes focused in the early morning daylight, the rest of the room became unfamiliar to me as well. A strange feeling rushed through me when the events of the previous day came back into my memory. I couldn't identify this strange feeling, but my body remembered it from another time, another place. I pull myself out of my bed, running my fingers through my short layers to untangle it. I looked over and saw that Brandon's bed had already been made. My bare feet were cold walking over the hardwood floors and down the stairs. I stumbled sleepily into the kitchen, where I saw Brandon sitting at the table in his plaid pajama bottoms and Pink Floyd tee shirt, eating a bowl of cereal.
"Morning Callie." He said, pushing an empty bowl and spoon towards me.
"Hey," I said back, yawning a little as I poured myself some cereal, "Where is everyone?" The house was eerily quiet.
"They all went Quinceanera shopping," he said, smiling at me with his floppy smile,"You know how much work goes into those things?"
"Not really.." I smiled back at him across the island. Slowly, I could feel myself open up to him. He was chipping at my defenses, like a sculptor with a block of marble. "Hey do you know any running routes around here?" I asked after finishing my cereal. He reached across the table and grabbed my empty bowl, putting both of them in the sink. Turning his head slightly, a little laugh escaped his lips.
"You run?" He asked, his eyebrows raised.
"All the time. I love it." I said back to him. Putting the cereal back into the open kitchen cabinet.
"Me too!" He said, surprised. "I can show you some this afternoon if you want?"
"I mean I could probably figure it out on my own.." I said casually, "I don't run well with others." He smiled at me.
"Callie, come on..." He said, smiling back at me.
xxx
I bounced down the stairs in my running gear, my hair tied up in a high ponytail. After a while of pleading, I finally decided to let Brandon come with me, and I met him at the bottom of the stairs.
"Alright," he said, his eyes shining. "Let's get started. Okay, so we're going to go down the street, take a left, run on that for a couple miles until we get to Lincoln, then we turn left again and go down half a mile until we reach the beach. Got it?" He held the door open for me as I passed.
"It's on." I said, smiling at him. We were off not soon after that. I kept my first couple miles slow and steady running about 7 minutes per mile. I kept a good distance of twenty feet or so between us, focusing on my own breathing. After we hit Lincoln, I fired it up, easily closing the distance. My lungs ached from breathing the salty air, and there was fire in my legs, pumping me forward. I passed Brandon and blew by him, covering double the distance I had before. My feet hit the pavement in a steady motion, sweat beading up on my forehead and shoulders. The sun scorched me from behind as I heard Brandon's surprised cries. The beach appeared over the asphalt, my lungs burned for water. I pushed myself harder, pumping my arms and breathing heavily. The sand got closer and closer, and I heard Brandon's footsteps catching up with my own. Finally I closed the gap, collapsing onto the sand. Brandon fell next to me, sprawling out with sweat dripping down his forehead. We both laid there for minutes, staying silent until our breaths steadied. His hand was barely touching my leg. I pulled it out of his reach. Brandon lifted his head from the sand, blocking out the sun from his eyes.
"You're not too bad..." he said, grinning at me.
"You're not too bad yourself." I said back, looking over the water. The sun reflected off the surface, blinding us.
"So, when you're not tearing it up on the pavement, what do you like to do?" Brandon asked, adjusting his body so he was sitting next to me on the sand.
"Well I don't really like much of anything. I didn't really have the kind of freedom to figure it out..." I paused briefly, looking around.
"Come on Callie, you can tell me something about you.." He looked at me with wide blue eyes. "You don't have to keep everything to yourself you know." I laughed a little despite myself. It wasn't an actual laugh, but more of a chuckle. I hadn't been able to laugh since mom died.
"I play guitar. I love music. I write. I run. What else is there?" I said looking over at him.
"You play guitar?" He asked me, looking excited and confused at the same time. I nodded in affirmation.
"That's cool. I have one you could use if you wanted to." He smiled at me again.
"I'd like that. What about you Mr. Twenty-Questions? What do you like to do?" I pulled my knees to my chest and locked my fingers around them protectively.
"I play piano mostly," he leaned back on his elbows, also looking out over the water. "But I love music too, all types but mainly classic rock and classical. I also run, as you know. I read too much to be normal..." he trailed off laughing and shaking the sand out of his hair. "Hopefully, I'll get accepted to Juilliard. It's my dream school after all. I have a practice audition for young talent next weekend."
"Thats good," I said, picking at a piece of dried seaweed. It felt easy, talking to Brandon. It felt right. "Do you know what you're playing?"
"It's an original composition, that I wrote about growing up through a divorce, and having gay parents. Remind me to play it for you sometime," he said, looking at me. A silence passed, not an awkward one, but a thinking one. After a while, Brandon got up off the sand, brushing off his legs. "We should get home, I'm starved."
xxx
The cold air hit me like a slap the second I stepped out of the shower. I squeezed the water out of my hair, brushing it out and getting dressed in the privacy of the bathroom. I avoided all the mirrors, I couldn't stand to look at myself much these days. I could hear a commotion outside the door, everyone was home and hungry. I opened the door and stepped out into the kitchen, holding my towel. I tugged my sleeve down to cover the bruise my step-dad had left on my wrist.
"Hey Callie. You're just in time for lunch." Lena called over to me, as she heaped tuna salad into a bowl on the kitchen island. "Everyone is at the table if you want to join them", she said smiling. I gave her a weak smile back, and headed for the table. I didn't really talk to anyone except Brandon. It was weird, the way he could convince me to let him in when all I wanted to do was shut everyone, including myself, out. I remained quiet throughout lunch, and when questions were asked to me, I avoided them with expert-like ease.
Brandon's POV
Callie was always quieter around the rest of my family then she was with me. I bit into my sandwich, and watched as she ate her own. She dodged a lot of the questions Stef and Lena were asking her, and after a while they gave up and started going through the plan for tomorrow.
"So," Stef started, "Tomorrow is your first big day! We eat breakfast at 7:15, we leave at 7:20. The first bell rings at 7:35." She looked over to Lena, signaling for her to continue while she took a bite out of her own sandwich.
"You'll be taking the basic core classes, so for this year that means Pre-Calculus, Physics, World History, English and two electives you can choose. We can set it all up tomorrow morning when you get there. Sound good?" Lena looked over at her smiling and waiting for her response.
"Yeah." she said, giving her a half-smile.
"We eat dinner at 7:00 sharp, everyones there unless you clear it with one of us. Weekday curfew is 8, lights out by 11. Weekend curfew is 11:00, lights out by midnight. Got it?"
"Got it." I finished off my sandwich as they resumed their normal conversation.
"I'm gonna head upstairs. Wanna come Callie?" I said, putting my plate in the sink. I could tell she wanted to get outta there.
"Yeah sure." She said, looking at me with an expression of relief. She put her plate in the sink and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, following me up the stairs.
xxx
"Hey heres that guitar," I said, handing it to Callie. She was sitting on the bed, legs crossed. "Do you mind if I play a little?." I asked her, pointing to the keyboard. She shook her head, strumming her fingers over the guitar strings.
"Hey-" She called over to me as I sat down on the keyboard bench. "Why don't you play that original thing you were talking about earlier?" She put the guitar down on her bed and walked over. "I'd like to hear it." She continued, leaning against the wall.
"Haha alright." I rustled around the piano stand for a while, looking for the right sheet music. I started to play, filling the room with chords and notes and trills. She was watching my hands as they ran across the octaves of white and black keys. The last note of the melody resonated through the room, and I took my hands off the keys.
"How is it about the divorce and you're family? It doesn't have any words." She said, confused.
"Well here," I started to explain, "This is me." I played the melody. "And these are my moms." I played a different one. "And this is everyone." I played both hands together along with a few other notes. "You see how it sounds better together?" I asked her, smiling.
"Yeah. I see it." She smiled back, looking down at her feet. I felt strange all of a sudden. I couldn't tell what it was but I felt strange.
"I have an idea, why don't we do a duet? You can play guitar and I'll play piano?" I felt triumphant for coming up with such a good idea. She smiled at me, no really smiled, it spreading full across her face. That was the first time I actually saw Callie smile since she got here. This whole situation couldn't be easy for her. I rustled around some more, pulling out some guitar music for Callie. She started reading it, getting used to the melody and fingerings.
"You ready?" She asked me, her eyes shining.