It's been two and a half weeks since Arizona met Callie's family and things just got better between them. They easily crossed "Chinese food & watching movies/studying" and "Pizza and watching movies or studying" off their list and Arizona had added "Have Calliope teach me how to play lacrosse." With their second date they got to cross off "zoo." Callie tried to act like she was only there because Arizona wanted to go, but Arizona saw that Callie was really enjoying it. Her brown eyes lit up when they saw the lions and tigers. Her eyes also lit up when they went into the butterfly house and a little blue one landed right on the tip of Arizona's nose. Callie snapped a picture with her phone as Arizona smiled, causing her closed eyes to crinkle. Arizona shared that one of the bases her family lived when she was a kid always had butterflies around and they were one of her favorite things. They always look so happy and bright, cheery. That date was the only official one they had time for because they were so swamped with studying for their finals. They both only had one more to take and then Arizona was staying a few days to be with Callie. Aside from the house the Torres family regularly lived in they also had a bungalow on a private beach. Callie had told her parents she was staying there with some friends to celebrate the end of the semester and Arizona's parents knew about Callie so she just told them that she was staying a few days after the end of classes to be with her girlfriend. They had both already packed up what they needed to bring home over the break and had their bags in Callie's car. They were having their last breakfast of the semester in the dining hall early before their test. In the past couple weeks they had become more and more open in public and by now they didn't even give it a second thought. They're together and that's it.
"I really think we've got this Calliope. There's no way your flashcards will fail us." They had studied the most for this Bio exam and with the Torres Method inside them they were both sure they were going to ace it.
"Damn right. My study methods are flawless." Callie winked at Arizona and Arizona scooted her chair closer to Callie.
"Hey, no disagreements here; especially about the part where every time one of us got a question right we got to do this…" Arizona leaned in and kissed Callie's lips.
"Mmm it's funny how once I suggested that all of a sudden you started getting more questions right."
"Don't use it against me, but I'm almost certain you could get me to do anything that way." Callie leaned in and kissed Arizona's soft pink lips.
"I don't want to abuse my power, but I would love some more water? Please?" Callie smiled super sweetly and there was no way Arizona could deny her something as simple as a glass of water.
"One more kiss and you've got a deal." Callie happily obliged and Arizona got up to get her girlfriend her drink. Callie was watching Arizona's backside when she saw someone standing in front of her table out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey Callie. How have you been?" She looked up to see Cameron standing tall in front of her. They hadn't spoken since they broke up and only occasionally saw each other around campus from a distance.
"Cam! Hi! I've been, um, well. I've been really well. How about you?" There was a nervous energy flowing between them. Callie didn't know why this situation was even happening.
"I've been doing alright. Finals are killer, but you know academics were never my strong suit. I'm sure you're breezing by though, you were always such an academic." Even though they hadn't had any communication recently, they still had years of history together that allowed them to fall into conversation without too much awkwardness. Callie gestured for him to sit in one of the seats across from her and he sat down.
"I don't know; college is pretty different. I guess I'll see when final grades come in. I'm sure you did pretty well, you were never as bad in school as you thought. Football helped focus you. You had a killer football season this year. You're just a freshman and you got to start in a few games. That's really impressive." Callie had watched or looked up the stats for a game here and there to see how he was doing. She had no romantic feelings for Cameron left over, but she was still proud of him. He worked really hard in high school to get here and he was really talented on the field.
"Thanks Cal, I appreciate your support…So I saw Arizona over here before, are you guys a thing?" This was quickly approaching awkward territory. They used to be the ones dating so they never talked about other people in this way. Callie really couldn't tell which way Cameron was going with this. Either way Callie couldn't keep the smile off her face as she talked about her Arizona.
"Yeah, we're girlfriends. She'll actually be back any second. We have one more final and then we're done for the semester." A bit of darkness passed across his features.
"This isn't exactly how I pictured the end of our first semester of college…" He had pictured them dating through college and graduate school or medical school, whatever Callie wanted to do, then get engaged, married, buy a house, have kids, the whole American dream. He never would have guessed that they would break up their first semester here and for Callie to move on so quickly.
"Cameron-" Callie let out a sigh and shook her head. She knew she had changed his entire future and took away what they had planned, and for that she did feel bad, but she could never regret doing something that brought her to Arizona.
"Sorry…She's pretty. You two look good together and you seem really happy now." Callie hadn't expected this conversation to happen, much less go this way. She didn't really know what to do in this situation.
"Thanks Cameron. I am. I was happy with you for a long time too, things just changed." She could tell he was holding back something; she just wanted him to spit it out before Arizona got back. When Arizona was walking back to the table she had seen Cameron sitting with Callie and figured she'd hang back to let them talk, not for too long though.
"It's just, and please tell me the truth, when we were still going out did you and her ever-"
"No! We never anything. I would never- I promise you nothing ever happened. I never meant to do anything to hurt you. You're such a good man and any girl would be so lucky to be with you." When Arizona saw Callie got flustered and started to walk over.
"I'm sorry I even asked, I don't have the right, I just wanted to make sure. I know you would never cheat on a boyfriend, or, or a girlfriend." He never really thought that Callie cheated on him, she always thought that was one of the worst things one person could do to another. That just would have made it easier for him to understand.
"It's okay. I'm sorry I ever made you doubt our relationship. When I was with you, I was with you." She wanted him to have whatever closure he needed to get from her. She was so, so happy with Arizona and she wanted him to have someone that made him this happy. He really was so good and the way he handled all this only showed her more of that.
"You were a good girlfriend. Arizona's lucky to have you." Arizona arrived at the table as Cameron finished talking. Callie looked up at her and her smile got so much bigger.
"Speak of the devil." Arizona raised her eyebrows at the remark, put the glass of water down and retook her seat next to Callie.
"Oh?" She turned to Cameron. "Hi Cameron, how are you?"
"Pretty good, thanks. I was actually just about to go, my exam is starting soon, but it was good to talk to you Callie. Thank you."
"It was good to talk to you too. Good luck Cam, with everything." Cameron stood up and looked between the two girls.
"Thanks. I hope you guys are happy together." His tone was entirely sincere and he gave a genuine smile as he walked away. Arizona looked over to see Callie smiling.
"Everything good?" Callie turned and pressed her lips against Arizona's.
"Everything's perfect." That was all Arizona needed to hear. She trusted Callie and whatever she and Cameron had talked about was between them unless Callie talked to her about it. They got rid of their trays and started walking to the exam room.
"So, what are we going to do after the test? I mean I know we're going to your beach house, but we should do something to celebrate finishing our first semester!" Arizona couldn't believe how quickly it went. All of a sudden she was halfway through her first year of college, she was learning more than she ever had before, and she had the most amazing girlfriend she could ever imagine. She needed these next few days with Callie to get her through until the next time she saw Callie and she didn't know when that would be. The break was for about a month and being apart that long after spending every day for months together seemed impossible.
"I was thinking that we could stay in tonight. I'm picturing us making dinner and relaxing. We could set up the fire pit on the beach and snuggle up under the stars."
"That sounds okay, I guess." Arizona looked disinterested at Callie's words. Callie thought Arizona would like her idea. They would relax tonight because they were finally done doing any school work for a month.
"Okay, you guess?" Callie was starting to pout. It had though it was really good idea. Arizona smirked up at her.
"It would sound incredible if s'mores were involved. Hint, hint." She nudged Callie's side with her elbow and Callie burst out laughing.
"You give me too little credit my love. I already had the place completely stocked with everything we'll need, with a special request for wine, dinner ingredients, and s'mores fixings for tonight." They stopped outside the exam room door.
"You're too good to me." She laid a soft kiss on Callie's lips.
"You deserve the best. Now let's go rock this test and get out of here." They kissed again quickly and walked into the exam room.
