Throughout her childhood, Callie's father gone on many business trips, not only all over the nation, but all over the world. And whenever she and her sister Aria weren't in school – every vacation, really – their time was spent joining him on those trips. And if they weren't on trips with him, they were going on typical vacations.
And though they often flew to their destinations – after all, given certain distances there was no choice – her mother was known in their family for loving road trips. Which had been great for her, because she'd always had a slightly irrational fear of flying.
During one such road trip, consisting of Callie, her mother, sister, and grandmother, when she and Aria had been teenagers, Aria had taken a pregnancy test and left it in the hotel trash on the morning they were leaving, thinking it would be safe from view given that they were checking out.
However, Callie's mother forgot her moisturizer, therefore had made an extra trip back to the bathroom. And then saw the pregnancy test – that was thankfully negative, given the fact that Aria had just turned eighteen – in the trash.
Which in turn led to Lucia interrogating both Callie and Aria as they were stuck in the backseat on the highway until Aria confessed it was hers, but that she walked in on Callie almost having sex once. Which effectively threw her under the bus as well, and resulted in them listening to a long, graphic, in-depth lecture about safe sex practices, finding "the right person," and biology. For four hours.
And it only got better when her abuela had jumped in to share with them a detailed story about losing her virginity, which absolutely no one had wanted to hear.
Needless to say, Callie had experienced her fair share of uncomfortable car rides in her lifetime. Possibly more than her fair share, honestly. However, she would go far enough to say that the car ride she was currently experiencing with Arizona Robbins was quickly rising in the ranks.
She was readily trying to ignore it, seeing as how she had her headphones in and iPod on, rocking out in her own personal space to one of her playlists. She'd been sitting like this in her seat since getting into the car an hour ago.
Wait, only an hour ago?!
As soon as she spared a glance toward the time, she had to do a double take, because it felt like they had been in this ridiculously awkward car ride for hours already. Dark eyes blinked, purposefully closing for a few seconds, before she reopened just to confirm that they really hadn't been driving for longer than that.
Jesus. How was she supposed to get through a few whole days of this?
The drive from Maryland to California was approximately forty hours, nonstop. Now, she wasn't unreasonable – she expected for there to be a couple of stops in order for them to sleep, of course. But she figured that the trip would take them about three days.
After all, when she'd been planning on making the drive herself, in her own vehicle, that was her rough estimate of time. Though, that plan had been dashed and destroyed at almost three o'clock on a Saturday morning, a few weeks ago. When she'd been woken up to a loud – sleep-piercingly loud – crash, and had run outside to see her prized 1957 Thunderbird totaled. And a gaggle of college students who were in the car that had crashed into her poor, innocent one all climbing out of the vehicle, looking shocked.
Well, some of them looked shocked, because most of them were just very, very drunk. Wait, did five people count as a gaggle?
Regardless, the person with the keys in hand, and the one who had approached her looking extremely apologetic, was the blonde currently sitting next to her. Dark eyes flickered to look over at her, despite Callie trying to stop herself.
Arizona was bobbing her head along to what Callie assumed was the radio, though she couldn't hear it over the music coming from her iPod, as she tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. Callie assumed it was whatever was currently on the Top 40, because that was the music that was always blasted into her apartment whenever Arizona threw parties.
Blonde hair blew slightly from the air conditioning, the slight waves bouncing even more with the head bobbing, and blue eyes were sharply focused on the road. Thankfully.
She tore her gaze away and scowled down at her iPod, staring back at her own reflection as she let out a sigh. Being around Arizona had always made her feel… tense. And uncomfortable. It wasn't like she wanted it to be like that – in fact, she actively tried not to feel like that. Back in the beginning, within the first few months, she even attended a one of those parties she liked to throw in the effort of becoming friends.
And, god, had that backfired, she thought back to the event, the memory of it causing her to sink lower into her seat, stomach tightening.
But her feelings and subsequent relationship, if she could call it that, with Arizona had been tense no matter what. However, what was she supposed to feel for the neighbor who threw ridiculously loud and crowded parties semi-frequently, who was often straight up bubbly. And Callie didn't do bubbly; she didn't like it.
And she didn't like Arizona Robbins, despite what her roommate, Elise, said or thought. A growl nearly worked its way out of her throat as she thought back to her roommate, who was probably still laughing her stoned ass off at the result of her hijinks.
After her car had been totaled – she stole another surreptitious glare at her oblivious companion – her plans had been derailed. She had to go to Santa Barbara, to her parent's summer house, for at least a few weeks this summer. After all, it was Aria's wedding and she was not only her sister, but also the Maid of Honor.
So, her car was out of commission for a little while. It was going to take weeks of actual labor to fix, let alone the fact that there were a lot of parts her mechanic was waiting on to come in. That car was Callie's baby, and there was no way she was letting anything but the best of the best go into it. Driving herself was completely out of the question, as much as it pained her to realize she would be stuck in California without her own car while there for the summer.
Naturally, the logical plan to make after that was to book a seat on a flight. Which she had been willing to do – despite her resistance to planes and flying in general – when Elise had come to her saying that her friend was also driving to California, and was planning on leaving only a few days after Callie had been planning on leaving.
All that was expected from her was to split travel expenses, which Callie had no problem with. She hadn't been particularly concerned with which friend of Elise's it was; Elise didn't exactly have a ton of friends, and all of the ones she did have, Callie got along with. She supposed it was easy to get along with the group of extremely agreeable people who were always laid back and feeling pretty good after getting a little high.
Which was why she'd been shocked to see that Elise's "friend" was Arizona fucking Robbins, because Elise didn't like Arizona at all. And on top of that, her roommate was the only person that knew about all of Callie and Arizona's interactions, and the… tenseness that Callie felt around the blonde.
Scowling, she shook her head before dropping it back to rest on the seat. She shouldn't be surprised by this, anyway. From the first day she'd met her roommate, Elise had cut through all bullshit and always called Callie on hers. And she'd been trying to call Callie on her shit that involved avoiding Arizona Robbins for the majority of the year.
Not like Callie listened.
And maybe she should have or this car ride might not have been so damn awkward. But what was she supposed to say to the obnoxious neighbor who had totaled her prized car less than a month ago, who clearly wasn't happy about having to be stuck on this trip with Callie, either?
Maybe it wouldn't be that difficult to just mind their own –
Wait a second.
Callie whipped her head up to double check the sign her eyes had locked on as she'd been staring out the window. And then she reached up to rub at them – after all, she had been awake for hours on very little sleep, so maybe she was seeing things.
Nope, she wasn't.
The sign on the side of the highway informed her that she was in Pennsylvania. Now, she wasn't a geography expert by any means. But she'd seen the map enough – not to mention planned her own road trip – to know that while the quickest route to Santa Barbara, California from school did involve a brief travel through the southwestern area of the state, they shouldn't have been in Pennsylvania this soon.
For a second, she let herself think that she was mistaken, but within a few more minutes, she came to the conclusion that they were definitely heading off the course that they should be on.
And she couldn't ignore it, so for the first time since being in the car, she pulled on her headphone wire until they fell from her ears and landed on her lap so she could shift in her seat enough to look at Arizona, who was completely unconcerned that they were heading in the wrong direction.
"We're going north," she stated, her voice devoid of inflection. She phrased it like a sentence, but it was a question, and she waited for the blonde to expand.
Arizona seemed unfazed by her less than enthusiastic comment, and simply acknowledged her with a quiet, "Mhmm."
Feeling annoyed, she stared at her for a few moments, dark eyes narrowing for a moment before she sighed and lifted her head off the head rest so she could properly give the blonde a look, "Why are we heading north into Pennsylvania?"
"It's the first stop," the blonde told her, momentarily taking her eyes off of the road to give her a duh look.
But, what the hell? "First stop?" What did that mean? "Shouldn't the first stop be like a hotel for us to sleep in? Somewhere a few states away?" She was thinking probably somewhere between the Illinois/Indiana border – about ten or eleven hours' worth of driving for the day.
Then Callie's breath left her in a gasp because Arizona stopped short, thrusting them both forward in their seats for a moment, until Callie felt herself jerked back by her seatbelt as anxiety rose quickly inside of her and she was this close to closing her eyes to prepare for an accident. But as quickly as it had happened, Arizona recovered and pulled them to a much smoother stop on the side of the road.
She could feel her heart beating in her chest like a fucking drum, "Christ, Robbins, I thought you were going to convince me that you were a good driver? Was my car the first one you totaled?"
Because who the hell stopped in the middle of the highway?
Arizona didn't say anything back to her verbal snipes, which she usually did, and her eyes didn't even do that thing where they flashed in annoyance. Instead, those bright blues were looking at her in complete seriousness, "Elise didn't tell you?"
The incredulous tone in the blonde's voice made Callie feel uncomfortable, so she huffed out, "Tell me what?" god, she didn't want to be frustrated. She just couldn't help it at the moment.
Arizona bit her lip and appeared to be deep in thought for a few moments, her eyes searching Callie's face before she asked slowly, "How long did you think this trip was going to be?"
She already did not enjoy that tone in Arizona's voice, because she felt like it was not going to lead to something she wanted to hear, "Like three days. Four, tops."
And Callie could tell by the way Arizona's eyes widened almost comically that it was completely wrong, "Uh… oh." It was all Arizona got out before she hummed for a moment, looking away from Callie and out at the cars flying by them for a few moments.
Her mouth had already opened to question what the fuck was going on when Arizona released her seatbelt and leaned over the console, coming within inches of Callie, her hand in the air above Callie's thighs for a moment, and she jumped away from it because the proximity was making her stomach clench, and she growled out, "Personal space, Robbins."
Only to be spared an eye roll before Arizona opened the glove compartment and pulled out an honest to god paper map. Who even used paper maps anymore, what with GPS systems everywhere? Hell, Arizona even had one pulled up on her phone, and Callie could tell that she'd been following it.
But that was as far as her thought process took her when the map was unceremoniously dropped onto her lap, and her eyes dipped to look over the route. And then those unwanted and uncomfortable feelings in her stomach were completely forgotten about because all she could focus on was the fact that the route that they were traveling wasn't so much one that would only take a few days.
Dark eyes darted to each destination, as well as the itinerary she'd just noticed pinned to the corner, with everything listed that Arizona had apparently intended to do on this road trip. And then she zeroed in on the approximated arrival date, her voice leaving her much louder than intended as an acute feeling of uneasiness washed over her before settling low in her stomach, "We're supposed to be on this trip for two fucking weeks?!"
That… definitely wasn't right. Something was written incorrectly on the map or something.
But as soon as she turned to look at Arizona, who was biting her bottom lip and was looking at her with an expression she couldn't place, she knew the answer. After all, Arizona clearly hadn't been expecting her on this trip. There was no way the blonde had planned in advance for some sort of elaborate joke against Callie.
"I take it Elise definitely didn't tell you, then," Arizona commented, and Callie knew for a fact she heard some sort of amusement in her tone.
Which just irritated her on top of that bad feeling she already had, and she snapped, "Obviously not."
She groaned and dropped her head against the headrest, but didn't take her eyes off of the map laid out in front of her, muttering, "What the fuck."
They sat for a few seconds in silence, but then Arizona was pulling back onto the highway, and Callie assumed they were heading towards their first destination. But she really couldn't be bothered to think about that at the moment, because she was mostly thinking about how she was supposed to get out of this.
Aria's wedding was two weekends away – according to Arizona's plan, they would arrive just in time. But her bachelorette party? Was in less than a week.
She inwardly stewed, trying to make plans in her head about how she was going to solve this – also how she was going to kill Elise. Was it possible to hire a hitman on the road? She had the money, so…
Before she even realized it – damn, it had been less than a half hour – they were pulling into a parking lot for Hershey's Chocolate World. She took it all in with narrowed eyes, because what even was this?
Was this what the rest of the stops were planned to be? Like, children's attractions? She'd been too distracted by the timeline of the trip to look at the actual stops, and now she realized she was going to have to look back at that damn map.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Arizona grinning softly as she unbuckled her seatbelt. Then the blonde hesitated, because she must have noticed Callie hadn't moved an inch, and she lifted an eyebrow, "Are you coming?"
Dark eyes looked around the area once more, "This is seriously the first stop?"
And she didn't mean for it to sound insulting or anything, but... she really was just incredulous that this was legitimately happening. After all, this whole day had felt kind of like something out of a bad rom-com.
Her eyes widened at her own thoughts, cheeks heating up before she quickly glanced at Arizona and inwardly corrected her thoughts - not rom-com. Sitcom.
The very soft, tentative smile that had been on the blonde's face fell completely, dimples disappearing and Callie so did not feel any sort of guilt at that. She really didn't, at all. Her stomach just felt like shit because of everything else going on.
The blonde huffed out a breath, as Callie had noticed many times she was prone to do in situations where she was unhappy, "Yes this is the first stop. You had the map in your hands," she pointed out, before reaching in the backseat to reach for her large, blue purse, "Now, are you coming in?"
"Uh, no," she declined, already reaching for her phone. She needed more time to think and less time to be in the same proximity with the blonde. It was somehow messing with her mind. Like always, "Have fun in chocolate world," the words sounded judgmental to her own ears, even though she didn't mean for them to be actually hurtful, again.
It seemed that Arizona definitely didn't pick up on that, though, because she shook her head, "I will. And I can't promise how long I'm going to be in there. It could be a while." The words sounded like a warning, not a threat.
But still, Callie had no desire to go in there, and she had shit to take care of.
So she waved her onward, "Yeah, yeah. I'll be here until you get back. In your Prius."
She received an eye roll for that, but then Arizona was gone, strutting across the parking lot. And Callie sighed, pressing her hand against her temple, where a fucking pounding headache was already starting to make itself known.
Jesus. She'd gotten up at six in the morning – and she was so not a morning person – in order to pay a visit to the mechanic fixing her baby. She'd had to make arrangements for where it would be kept when the reparations were done, given that she would still be in California most likely. Elise had offered to pick it up for her, and even though her roommate was on the very short list of people she trusted in the driver's seat, she didn't want her car sitting in the very parking spot that it had been injured in, left unattended while she was in California.
So after those arrangements had been made, she'd rushed back to her apartment to pack for this little trip, as well as clean up. She wasn't the neatest person in the world, but she knew that Elise would have a fit if she came back from her shift at the coffee shop to find that Callie had gone and left behind her mess.
Callie was tired, she was stressed, and she had that tense, on-edge feeling. Add to that, she was sitting in a fucking Prius. A Prius! She was a car buff, and she took pride in her T-bird. It was a badass car. How the mighty had fallen.
She ignored her inner voice that said she was being a bit too dramatic, before she got out her phone and pulled up Aria's contact information, hesitating before she pressed the call button. But she figured this was the first logical step, and she took a deep breath, before hitting the screen and holding the phone to her ear.
It only rang once before it was picked up, "Calliope! Honey, it's about time. I've been waiting on your call all morning."
And that definitely was her mother and not her sister, so for what felt like the millionth time that afternoon, she pulled the phone away from her ear to double check that she had in fact dialed Aria.
She had. Closing her eyes, she sighed, "Mom, why do you have Aria's phone?"
"We're at the tailor, getting last minute alterations on your sister's dress. I've been telling her to watch what she's been eating," her mom's voice didn't even lower in volume, because she had no shame, "I mean, everyone knows your sister puts her weight on right in her breasts. I'm sure it'll make David happy," she cut herself off with a light laugh, "And of course she would look stunning no matter what. But after the last fitting a few months ago, we had that discussion about maintaining weight. And now we're here, only two weeks until the big day, making changes in the dress."
Callie leaned her head back on the headrest; listening to her mother was honestly somewhat of a stressful thing for her. She had a lot to say, all of the time, and was not shy about saying it. She loved her mother, of course, but she was… overwhelming.
Which was why she hadn't called her mom yet today, despite the fact that she knew the older woman was waiting for her call. It certainly wasn't helping with her headache, and she wondered if there was any ibuprofen packed up in this car.
Before she could even think about where to find it, her mom was talking again, "Now, it's been five months since you've been fitted in your dress, Calliope. Have you been maintaining?"
She spared a look down her body, as if that would help, "I think so? All of my clothes fit the same." After all, unlike her sister, Callie did not primarily gain weight in her chest. Which had been something she had been jealous of when they were younger.
"Hmm. Well, when you get here, we'll make a quick trip back here with you and your dress, just to make sure. You'll be here by Monday, right?" her mother asked, but even though it was phrased as a question, Callie knew that it wasn't. It was a statement of fact.
Aria's wedding was more of her mother's project than Aria's herself, and she was more worried about talking to her mom about possibly not arriving in a few days than her sister. Though she and Aria were fairly close, they were not the dream best friend kind of sisters that were in some movies and television shows. They were sisters; they had a bond and they got along generally well. They loved each other without a doubt.
But Aria was a couple of years older, and the two of them had always had separate friends groups and separate lives in general.
Drawing her bottom lip between her teeth, she was silent for a few seconds before releasing a deep breath, "Yeah, actually, I was wondering if I could talk to Aria? It's something important."
Which, well, was the truth.
And her mother let out a little laugh, "Oh, an important maid of honor to bride confidential discussion," she stated, knowingly.
"Right," she agreed slowly, drawing the word out, "But if she's busy, I guess she can just call me when she's –"
Lucia was quick to cut her off, "Don't be silly, Calliope. You are the most important person to be there for her on her big day! Give me just a second."
And there it was again, the reminder that she was supposed to be Aria's most important person for her wedding day. Aside from David, the fiancé, of course. Callie was certain that if Aria had it her way, she wouldn't be her sister's maid of honor. Actually, she knew it to be a fact, because Aria had basically said it.
Which was fine, because if Callie found herself in a position where she was getting married in the near future, her sister wouldn't be her choice, either. That was their relationship, and it was built on mutual respect. Honestly, if Aria had it her way, a lot of things about her wedding would probably be a lot different.
But they both dealt with their mother the same way – in that they both found it best and easiest to just give in, in most cases.
In less than a minute, she could hear muffled voices coming from the other line, but she couldn't make out what anyone was saying until her sister's voice was grumbling into her ear, "Cal? What is your super important top secret maid of honor business that just can't wait?"
God, she couldn't help but groan, "It's not – ugh. Mom." At that point, she unbuckled her seat belt and opened the door, because she was positive that she'd seen Arizona fumbling around with a first aid kit when she saw her earlier, and that was in the far back of the car.
Aria seemed to get what she meant, "So I take it there isn't an emergency? Just a… momergency?"
Callie hated herself for snorting out a laugh at the lame joke, "Yeah. Kind of. Maybe." Without her permission, her eyes looked in the direction that Arizona had walked off to, and she sighed, "I'm – there's kind of a delay in my plans to get to California."
"What kind of delay?" her sister sounded more interested than anything else, which made her grateful.
Then she opened the hatchback, looking for the kit as she answered, "The girl I'm driving with ended up planning, I don't know, this long road trip. I swear I didn't know she was planning to take two fucking weeks to get there; I thought it was just going to be a few days."
Her head nearly exploded in relief when she spotted the bottle of ibuprofen in the first aid kit, and as she was working on getting out some pills, Aria put it all together, "So, what you're saying is that you're not going to be here in time for my bachelorette party."
And her voice was kind of flat – blank, really, which made Callie's stomach twist in guilt. Then she heard the sound of their mother's dramatic gasp in the background, and she knew this was going to be just as bad as she'd thought it would be.
"Yeah…" but she trailed off and bit her lip, absently running her hand through her hair, "I just found out, and," she sighed, but the idea was the only one she could think of that would solve their time sensitive problem, "I can book a flight and get Arizona to drop me off somewhere. I think we're heading through Ohio tomorrow."
She had to double check that fucking map. And what major airport was even in Ohio? Also, did Arizona keep any drugs in this kit that were strong enough to knock her out for the duration of the flight?
But her sister's voice was in her ear again, now quiet and Callie realized that she couldn't hear her mother in the background anymore, "No! No. Don't book a flight, don't change a thing."
The ibuprofen tablets in her hand were starting to feel gross, but she couldn't dry swallow them, so she tucked them into her pocket, her eyebrows drawing down in confusion, "What do you mean?"
It occurred to her that Aria sounded almost giddy as she stated, "You're going to miss my bachelorette party if you go on this road trip with your friend."
Which did nothing to alleviate her confusion, but she thought back to Arizona, "She's not exactly a friend," she murmured.
But her sister paid her no mind, "Cal. No offense, but my friends have kind of been wanting to do this bachelorette party that is very, uh, not you. It involves a trip to Tijuana."
It was the nice way of saying that they didn't want Aria's younger sister who none of them knew very well around. And she honestly didn't mind at all. In fact, she'd gone out with Aria and her friends once before, a few years ago, and… look, Callie didn't have any trouble letting go and having fun if the time was right.
But she was the first person to say her sister's friends were batshit crazy, and she was in no hurry to even learn what their activities were going to be. Let alone partake in them. This, at the very least, was a relief, "So, you're not mad? And you don't want me to hop a flight?"
She had to make sure. Because even though she wasn't crazy about being the maid of honor, Aria was her sister and she did want her wedding – including pre-wedding activities – to be everything that she wanted them to be.
"No, no. Take your time, please. But don't take too much time; I do actually want you to be here for the wedding," she teased, and this was truthfully one of a handful of times she had heard Aria be actually excited when discussing upcoming bachelorette activities.
She wondered how many happy moments Aria would have had if she had the strength to tell their mother when she was going too far and taking over, "What about mom?" She was the whole reason Callie was the maid of honor, because their mother was convinced that was the way it should be, and she had sat them down for several long, long lectures about the importance of family and how sisters would be sisters forever, and the importance of a strong bond.
Callie definitely didn't want to be on the receiving end of a lecture about disrupting the planned bachelorette party. Or having to hear about her mom's concerns that she and Aria weren't close enough – again. Or having to be on the receiving end of their mom's wrath by changing anything about the wedding, really.
Aria was quiet, and Callie knew that her sister didn't want those things, either.
"She isn't going to be happy. But… it's my wedding, right?" she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, and Callie made an affirmative noise, which prompted Aria to continue, "We'll just have to deal with it."
Great. That meant avoiding a few more of her mom's calls for sure.
But she could and would do it for Aria's greater good, "Have fun in Tijuana. Make sure you actually make it back in time for the wedding in one piece." And she was only half-joking, because she was still somewhat traumatized by the night out she'd had with Aria's law school friends a couple of years ago, when she'd been roped into go out with them for her sister's twenty-third birthday.
She shuddered. Never again.
Aria just laughed, "Of course. Um, I have to go. I'll figure out what to tell mom. Have fun with your friend!"
"Arizona's not –" the phone was disconnected and she was left with resounding silence against her ear, as she breathed out the end of her sentence, "my friend."
Before she made her way back to her seat, she closed the hatchback, leaning against it as she took a deep breath. This was… becoming more and more of a mess than she had thought. Her eyes narrowed and before she could even think about what she was doing, she had her phone back against her ear, waiting for her new call to be answered.
She didn't give a damn if Elise was still at work; she was going to call her until she took a break to talk to her. Which didn't take that long, as her roommate answered quickly, her voice drawling out, "Hey bud, how's the road trip going?"
"Fuck you," the words came out louder than she intended, and the glare she got from a woman with two children in tow, two cars over made her quiet down, as she started to get back into the car.
"Is that any way to speak to your best friend –"
"You're not my best friend," she interrupted, as she opened the passenger side door and sat back down.
But Elise was undeterred, "- who found you alternate transportation so you wouldn't have to fly back for your sister's wedding when you're terrified of heights!"
Thankfully, Arizona had a bottle of water in her cup holder. And, okay, she wouldn't notice a few sips gone, right? Callie didn't care at the moment, because her headache was throbbing by now and those ibuprofen tablets did not belong in her pocket.
Before she unscrewed the water cap, she retorted, "Yeah, you found me alternate transportation in the form of Arizona Robbins. Elise! Why didn't you at least give me some warning before, for all intents and purposes, tricking me in the car with her for two weeks?"
Her voice was nearly a hiss in her annoyance, which only bubbled even more under her skin as her roommate laughed, "Because if I did, you wouldn't have gone. Obviously."
Obviously not, her inner voice grumbled as she sipped the water with the ibuprofen, before putting it back down and capping it. Then she sighed, "And you know why I wouldn't."
"I also know that you have shit you need to work out, and you aren't going to really be happy until you do. You're welcome," her tone was a self-satisfied one that only Elise could nail even when Callie was dead sure she was wrong.
The annoyed groan she let out was also half of a whine, but she couldn't help it at this point, "So sticking me with Arizona is your solution to me figuring out how to be happy? Really?"
Elise's voice came out in somewhat of a sing-song, "You liiike her."
Which made her stomach feel like it was flip flopping, "I don't. I told you that I had this all cleared up. It was a – a fluke." And this topic of conversation made her feel like her headache was strong enough to cause nausea.
"Mhmm. A fluke that made you kiss her –"
Everything inside of her tensed and she almost looked around the car to make sure Arizona had no possible way of hearing, even though she knew logically that the blonde was inside of some damn chocolate world, plus Elise's voice was in her phone and not on speaker.
It didn't stop her from hissing, "We were never going to talk about that again."
Once more, Elise didn't give a damn that she'd been interrupted, "And ever since that kiss, you avoided her like the plague. Yeah, that doesn't sound like behavior from someone who is in denial about feelings at all."
Callie bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood, but it didn't matter. She took a deep breath through her nose, "Maybe I had… weird… almost feelings months ago," it was difficult enough to admit that, "But then I came to my senses, because I'm not – I don't… I don't have those feelings for her. It was a one-time, weird thing, and it's completely over now."
So, she had had confusing feelings for the blonde a long time ago, after they'd first met. But after what happened at that party, with the kiss, plus her fucking totaling Callie's car, those confusing feelings were gone.
Long gone.
"Because your attitude towards Arizona is really the attitude of someone who's completely fine, totally over anything, no ambivalence whatsoever," came the flippant reply.
Which made her roll her eyes, "Look in the mirror; you don't like her, either. Actually, you actively dislike her marginally more than I do."
"Uh, yeah, because the first time I ever spoke to the girl she was pounding on our apartment door, looking like a pre-school teacher and all dimply and shit, to yell at me about the smell of weed seeping into her apartment, telling me how it's un-neighborly. When she's the one throwing loud-ass parties every few weeks. Talk about un-neighborly," Elise muttered under her breath, which for some reason made Callie relax just a little bit, because this rant was familiar territory, at least.
So she tacked on, "Yeah, and if you don't recall, I live with you. Therefore, also am kept up at night from the damn parties." And they did annoy her, especially when the drunk people would attempt to wonder into her and Elise's apartment by mistake. That happened more often than one might think. "And, my car!"
But all she got in response was a sigh, "Look, maybe you have these reasons, and maybe there's something else there, too. But really, if you didn't feel anything for her aside from an extremely mild case of irritation, then this trip should be no big deal. Besides, at the very least you're driving to California like your original plan, right? So if nothing else comes of this trip, then at the very least, you're where you need to be."
Callie didn't even have the energy to point out that she was getting where she needed to be in like five times the amount of time she had been planning on. And she definitely wasn't going to comment on the fact that this shouldn't be a big deal, because she didn't think she would win in that particular debate.
Instead, she just added on quietly, "Assuming we get there in one piece," as she reached down to recline her seat. God only knew how long Arizona was going to be in there; she could do with a nap.
Elise cackled – it was the only way to describe her laugh sometimes – in her ear, "Yeah, you might tear each other apart. Robbins looks all innocent and whatnot, but you know what they say about the ones who look all innocent."
"Jesus, shut up," she closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, "That's enough. I'm going to nap."
Elise just laughed some more, "You love me," and then she sobered, "I know I've said it to you – a lot. But it really is fine, you know. Having feelings for her."
Yeah… not something Callie was willing to entertain, even though it seemed a little harder to breathe, and she was positive that her voice wasn't nearly as strong as she wanted, "I know it's fine. But I don't," she insisted.
"All right," Elise placated, "Well, drive safe or whatever."
Dark eyes rolled before they closed, "Bye."
As the car stilled in its silence, she let her mind wander, and thought maybe she should still catch a flight rather than go on this road trip. It was going to be awkward at best and she didn't even want to think of what it would be at worst.
And when her phone buzzed in her lap to signify a text message, she almost contemplated throwing it out the window.
It was Aria, and she unlocked the phone to read, Told mom that you got stuck helping your friend and that you tried everything but you won't be able to be here until the wedding. She's still in a tizzy; try to avoid her. But I'm going to Mexicoooo!
She was happy for her sister, she really was. But fuck her, seriously.
Dark eyes traced over the parking lot once more, even though she couldn't see Arizona as she was long gone into… whatever the hell someone did inside of chocolate world, as she took a deep breath. Then she dropped her head back, shutting off her phone for good measure, before she closed her eyes and draped her sweatshirt over her face. And hoped to god that she would be able to nap, as she fished out her headphones and turned on her iPod.
But rather than her mind shutting off, instead it felt like it was running on overdrive. She was an adult; she could get through this trip. So what if she and Arizona weren't friends? She'd moved in with Elise when the other woman was still a stranger – she'd answered an ad online for a roommate.
Not only was she going to get through this trip, but she was going to do it well, she decided even as her stomach clenched slightly at the idea of all of the close proximity time she was going to spend with the blonde. Nothing was between them and really, she was positive that Arizona never truly thought anything was.
She could do this, she told herself again. If only to prove that she was right to Elise – in that there were no feelings involved beyond, as her friend said – mild irritation.
Callie could do this. She could be… pleasant. Ish. Probably.
It couldn't hurt to try to get to know Arizona a little more so that she didn't feel the giant, pressing need to avoid her most of the time. Uh, probably wouldn't hurt.
She didn't open her eyes again until she heard a car door slamming, and it shook the vehicle a bit. Enough to jar her awake, anyway.
Pulling the sweatshirt off of her face, dark eyes blinked repeatedly, because the world was feeling a little bleary and disorienting. But that wasn't just because of sleeping, she realized, as she pushed herself up, it was because the sky was dark now.
What the hell? Rubbing her eyes, she looked down at her phone and saw that it was past ten at night – holy shit.
The last thing she remembered was still being awake at almost six in the evening, with no trace of Arizona who was still in chocolate land or whatever. And her head was still pounding, she dimly registered, before she heard Arizona's voice from the driver's side, "Oh, good, you're up."
And even though Arizona wasn't always the happiest person when talking to her, she'd never heard her voice sound as flat as it did just then.
Her voice sounded gruff to her own ears, "Where are we?"
"Still in Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. You slept through the drive," Arizona answered as Callie looked out the window. They were parked outside of a hotel. Not an amazing one, but no Motel 6, either, so she couldn't complain.
All she did in response was grunt – now she was kind of hungry, too. Maybe there was a vending machine around here that she could find something at. But before she could do or say anything, Arizona huffed out a breath, "You know, I wasn't going to say anything, but… I was excited about this trip, okay? I was even excited – for the most part – when Alex told me he knew someone who wanted to come. Someone to make conversation with on the drive, someone to see the sights with."
Callie waited for her to say something else, and when she didn't, all Callie did was give her a questioning look – they had both been deceived by their friends in this situation. Arizona wasn't the only who didn't find this situation ideal.
When the blonde saw her lifted eyebrow, she took a deep breath before asking quietly, "What is your problem? Is it that we're going on this road trip at all or that you're going with me?"
And because Arizona was asking and she sounded introspective and not accusatory, Callie decided to respond in kind. Honesty was the best policy and all that, right? Taking a deep breath, she shrugged, "To be honest, a little of both."
After all, she was on this road trip with the woman who made her question her sexuality – a notion that had made her extremely uncomfortable – and had a rocky relationship with – at best, if what they even had was considered more than an acquaintanceship – who had totaled her car.
She could tell that Arizona was insulted, even before she turned to look at Callie, face scrunched up in irritation and before her voice came out in a near yell, "You – god! Do you even have manners? I would rather be on my road trip alone than with someone who wants to suck the fun out of everything. We were at a chocolate world today, which is super cool – I made my own candy bar! – and you still managed to be a grump!"
And she felt her own temper step up to bat because she wasn't even trying to be rude, she was trying to be truthful and have an actual conversation. So she turned in her seat to face the other woman, "Yeah, we were at a chocolate world, for god's sake! Why are you, like, thirteen?"
Blue eyes narrowed to slits, "I would rather act like I'm thirteen, and go out and enjoy life, than be a recluse!"
This was just another thing that told her that she definitely didn't have those confusing feelings anymore, because the blonde could be so irritating, "Just because I don't want to go to a damn chocolate world doesn't mean that I'm a fucking recluse! And it also means that I don't want to stop at every attraction and tourist trap from here to California in your – your freaking Prius." The word dripped from her lips like she was disgusted with it. And really, she kind of was.
The way Arizona practically growled made her shudder, and she didn't even have a moment to think about that… for which she was glad.
Then the blonde was speaking again, her voice filled with anger, "Well, I didn't force you to come with me, Callie Torres. I gave you the choice, which – after how much you try to avoid me and how rude you are sometimes – I didn't have to. But I thought I could give you the benefit of the doubt. You could have very well not have gotten into my car, okay? So I would appreciate if you would suck it up and act like a big girl instead of a toddler, because newsflash: this isn't all about you." Arizona took a deep breath, quieting down to deliver, "This is supposed to be a vacation for me; it's only been one day and you're kind of ruining it. You don't talk at all when we're together; you've been either ignoring me or sleeping, and you didn't even get out of the car when we stopped. I would be better off by myself than with someone who wants to act like I'm not even here, or like I'm a nuisance on my own trip!"
Callie crossed her arms over her stomach and let out a groan of annoyance - this was not how she had intended things to happen. Not that she'd thought things would be all sunshine and happiness, because she was still Callie, and Arizona was still Arizona. But there she was, so irritated she could feel it burning in the back of her throat, and it was so much easier to grab onto it's familiarity than do anything else, "Well I didn't know what this trip entailed, and guess what? I wouldn't have had to drive with you if you hadn't hit my car and made it impossible for me to complete my own plans to drive to California for the summer."
Not to mention all of the other shit with the wedding shit with her sister, and Elise, and everything else going on that was stressing her out.
Arizona practically shouted, "If you bring that up one more time, I swear I will – I will do something to make you regret it, all right? I apologized repeatedly, I offered to pay for the damage, and you turned everything down."
Callie felt like her head was going to explode because – ugh – Arizona really never had any clue. She took a few seconds to take some deep breaths and calm down, before turning over onto her other side so she couldn't see anything of the blonde's anymore as she opened the car door, "How about we just mind our own business while we're here, okay?"
Arizona scoffed behind her and opened her own door, "That won't be hard while we're sharing the same car. Nope. Not hard at all." She threw back, crossing her arms, "You don't like me. You never have. I get it, and you know what? I've realized that I don't really like you either."
Callie had barely gotten two steps away before Arizona placed a key card into the hood of the car, "We're room 315. I thought maybe I should wake you up so you didn't spend the night sleeping in the car," she said the words lowly, still clearly irritated, and like she regretted her decision to wake her up.
And just like that, she felt her annoyance fade, feeling that irritatingly prominent guilty feeling twisting in her stomach. She couldn't even mutter an actual thanks before Arizona was stomping off away from her.
God. Awkward at best, fucking miserable and maddening at worst. So much for pleasant.
Please let me know what you think! Thank you so incredibly much to everyone who did in the first chapter; the response so far has been amazing and super encouraging.
Also, to address the questions about updating - I'm going to update about every 4 days.