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Callie

Chapter 8

The next morning, Callie walked onto the plane carrying a venti vanilla latte from Starbucks. She found her seat and smiled happily when she saw it was a window seat. She turned her head and looked out the window, watching the airport crew moving around in a hurry as her thoughts turned to last night. After John and Callie went a couple rounds, she had snuggled up to John with every intention to stay the night. That didn't happen though. As soon as she wrapped her arms around his form, John had immediately tensed up. She looked up at him and he smiled back, though it was obvious sleepovers were not something he was interested in. So she left. She got dressed while he was watching her and then she'd thanked him for a great night and left.

As sad as it made her that he wasn't ready for the next step, she had to give the man credit. He had had her over at his place this time and that was definitely a step in the right direction.

When she heard someone sit next to her, she turned her head. "Mike, hey," She said as Mike's smiling face stared back at her.

"Hey you, what a coincidence," He said warmly.

She smiled back. "Yeah," She turned her head back to look out the window.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he gently touched her elbow, forcing her to look at him again. "I tried calling you a couple times yesterday but you never answered."

She had received those phone calls and she'd ignored each of them. She knew he would be inviting to take her out again and she didn't want to have to let him down so she'd done the incredibly immature thing and just ignored his calls. "I'm so sorry. My phone has been acting funny lately, I took it in for them to fix it and I just got it back this morning." She lied and paused. "Was it important?" She asked about his phone calls to her.

He seemed to visibly relax at her explanation as if he were expecting her to tell him she didn't want to speak to him. "Oh, for a minute there I thought you might have been ignoring me." He joked. No, of course not, she thought to herself sarcastically. "I was just going to invite you for dinner."

She nodded. "Sorry about that,"

He shrugged. "No problem. When I couldn't get a hold of you I went over to John's but he was a little busy."

She raised a brow. She had tried listening to their conversation yesterday through the door but all she could hear was mumbling. "What?"

Mike chuckled. "Did you know John was back on the dating scene?" She shook her head. "Well apparently he is. He had a girl over last night. He told me they had had dinner before I showed up and that she was upstairs slipping into something more comfortable." More laughter from the man.

She couldn't help but be amused as well. If only Mike knew the truth he wouldn't be laughing so hard. "Good for him."

"Yeah," He said once his laughter quieted down. "It's about time."

After Callie's plane landed and she reluctantly accepted a ride to the hotel from Mike, she dropped her things off in her hotel room before going to see her best friend.

"Teddy," Callie said once Ted opened his hotel door. She gave him a big hug before walking into the room. "How were your days off?" She asked as he sat next to her on the couch, his arm resting behind her shoulders.

"Great as always," He answered. "Kristin wants me to tell you that you need to come visit very soon."

She smiled. She had become fast friends with his wife when they met while both Callie and Ted had been at FCW. "Tell her I will be coming soon."

"Will do. So how was your break?" He asked.

She let out a dramatic sigh. "Where do I begin?"

"The beginning." He answered easily. He liked that Callie trusted him enough to come to him with her problems. He knew he was the only one that knew about her and John and it touched him.

She launched into the story, starting from when she sat next to John on the plane to LA and ending with their "dinner" date, though they didn't even end up eating dinner. "It's just confusing. I really felt like a huge step was made and that maybe he likes me as much as I like him. But there are still things that he obviously can't do, like staying the night, and, obviously, telling people. And then of course there's the Mike and Melina factor."

"Have you told John how you feel?" Ted asked after digesting all the information.

"No," She answered.

He smiled at her. "Maybe he's holding back because he thinks you want a strictly sexual relationship." He said reasonably.

"I guess," She said skeptically. "I feel like I'm so obvious though. Is there really the possibility that he doesn't know how I feel about him?"

"He's a guy, Cal. Guys are thick and they need to be told how you feel. Just like you girls always want us to constantly remind you how we feel about you, we want that too."

She laughed. "Fine, I need to tell him." She paused. "But I'm scared. What if I tell him and he doesn't feel the same way and then he wants nothing to do with me?" She looked up at Ted who was like her brother with sad eyes. "I know you hate that I keep this going but I like being connected to him. Even though I hate that it's such a secret and sometimes I feel so cheap, I like that he keeps coming back to me."

Ted frowned at her. "You deserve better," He said, not for the first time.

"I know Teddy," She said as she snuggled up to him. "But I'll take what I can get."

"Making her way to the ring, from Los Angeles, California…Callie!" The ring announcer exclaimed into the microphone at the house show that night as Let it Out by Hoobastank echoed through the arena. She did her usual strut down the ramp in her skimpy, purple and silver ring gear as she did the pageant wave with a huge smile on her face. That wave always got a rise out of the crowd. She waved as if they were all her fans and in actuality, they all hated her and didn't want her to think they liked her, so they booed loudly. Once she was in the ring, she stood on the posts doing her wave and blowing a couple kisses. After her entrance she stood in the middle of the ring as she kept her feet moving as she adjusted her elbow pads and waited for her opponent to come down. She was all business now.

Callie blocked out the noise as she glared at Melina as she made her way to the ring. She got out of the ring when Melina approached it and watched her friend wave at the fans. Once she was done, she got back in the ring and stood just feet from her opponent. "Back for more?" Melina asked with a smile.

Callie grinned back. "Back to take that title." She said playing up her part as she pointed to the title Melina had just handed to the ref.

"Take a number." She said before the two locked up and the ref signaled to ring the bell to start the beginning of the match.

The match went back and forth, each of them getting the upper hand at some point. In the end, Melina performed her finisher and picked up the win to retain her title. It wasn't an unexpected ending as it was a house show and titles don't usually change hands. Callie knew she was ready for the title though and it was only a matter of time before she actually got it.

After her match, Callie walked down the hall with a water bottle lifted to her lips and a towel in her hand as she rubbed the sweat off her face and neck. She let out a surprised shriek when a hand reached out from an open locker room and grabbed her elbow, hauling her into the room. The door slammed shut and Callie whirled around to see who it was.

"John," She said surprised as she put a hand over her heart. "You scared me." She used her towel to wipe off the water that had spilled on her when she'd thrown her water bottle in surprise.

"Sorry," He said though he had a smile on his lips. "How are you doing today?"

"Good," She answered skeptically. Why had he pulled her into an empty room? To shoot the breeze? "How are you?"

"I was hoping you'd ask that." He said as he stepped closer to her. "I've been thinking a lot and I think that I like this thing between us."

"You think?" She asked.

He grinned. "I know I like it. I had fun with you this week."

"I had fun too." She replied. "Don't you feel guilty?" She couldn't help but ask. After they slept together, he always felt guilty about sleeping with the woman his best friend liked.

"I do," He said but reached a hand up to touch her cheek. "I feel really guilty. But I realize that if the guilt isn't stopping things from happening then why fight it? Everything happens for a reason right?" He asked as his gaze dropped to her lips.

She raised a brow in amusement. "Are you drunk?" She joked.

He shook his head as his hand dropped to grip her waist gently. "Damn," He mumbled as his head dropped to her neck where he placed a chaste kiss. "Have I ever told you how much I love your ring gear?"

She chuckled. "No you haven't but thanks."

"Anytime," He said before pushing his lips against hers. "I want to see you tonight," He said a minute later after breaking the kiss.

"Ok," She said automatically. Would she ever say no to him? Doubtful.

A/N: Happy happy Thanksgiving everyone! And thanks for reading and reviewing, hope you enjoy this chapter! :)