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Callie

Chapter 17

"Why can't you just tell me who he is?" Callie asked Melina as she searched through racks and racks of evening dresses.

Melina turned to face her friend. "Because I don't want you to back out last minute." The two friends were out shopping for dresses for the Hall of Fame ceremony that was taking place in only a few days. Mel, of course, had had a dress for months but Callie had pushed it off until the very last minute. A week after Callie had visited Ted, she had broken down and agreed to let Melina set her up on a date. Because neither she nor the guy Mel had in mind had a date for the Hall of Fame, Melina had taken it upon herself to set the date up for them. On their little shopping excursion, Cal had asked just who it was she had set her up with but she wouldn't; apparently it was now a blind date.

Cal's eyebrow shot up. "And why would I back out?" She asked, automatically assuming her friend had set her up with someone she knew Cal wouldn't be interested in.

Mel rolled her eyes as she continued to search through dresses. "Oh come on, there's nothing wrong with him, it's you!"

Cal scrunched up her face, taking offense. "Me? What are you talking about?"

"All I'm saying is you'll look for imperfections and try to get out of the date. And he's a nice guy, I don't want that to happen. Plus, I really think you'll like him if you just give it a shot."

Callie set her lips in a line as she listened to her friend. "I already told you I was going to give it a shot. What more do you want from me?" She asked as she took a cute turquoise dress off the rack, carrying it with her to try on later.

"A little excitement maybe?" Mel suggested, following her friend to the other side of the store where more dresses awaited. When she didn't receive a response from her friend she frowned. "Cal, seriously, are you okay? Don't think I haven't noticed you've been a little down in recent weeks."

Callie let out a sigh. Of course she wasn't ok but as much as she wanted to tell Mel, she couldn't. It was over between her and John now, no reason to go telling anyone the details. "I'm fine, just a little stressed out."

Mel nodded, accepting that. "Well then this date will be good for you."

Cal grabbed another dress, draping it over arm as she moved down the rack. "And what about you?" She asked, changing the subject. "Mr. Barrett finally asked you to be his date, you must be very excited."

As expected, Mel beamed and thrust a dress at her friend for her to try on. "So excited, I wish he didn't wait until last minute to ask though."

Cal laughed and rolled her eyes. "Oh please, you knew he was going to ask you. I don't know why you two don't just make things official."

Mel let out a breath; obviously this had been weighing on her mind a lot lately. "I know, I've been thinking about it a lot lately. And trust me when I say I've brought it up to him and we've discussed things. I think he has this fear of labels or something. I mean it's not like everyone doesn't already know we're seeing each other; we don't try to hide it or anything."

"Has he had some bad relationships?" She wondered aloud.

Her friend shrugged. "He doesn't really talk about it. Each time we talk about making things official he just says it's not the right time."

Cal gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "Well, I'm sure he'll figure things out eventually."

"I'm not too worried," Mel said with a smile. "Now you go try those on,"

"So you and Maryse, huh?" John asked Mike as they were at the cash register to pay for their tuxedo's for the Hall of Fame ceremony.

Mike smiled as he signed the receipt. "Yeah, she's really great."

"When the hell did that happen?" He'd had no idea his friend was even seeing Maryse, so imagine his surprise when he'd seen the two of them share some major PDA at the arena the other day and heard they were attending the Hall of Fame together. Of course how could he be aware of his friend's sex life when his thoughts for the past few weeks had been otherwise occupied with thoughts of Callie. As each day went on, he became more aware of just how deep his feelings for Callie went.

Mike laughed, not offended in the least that his friend hadn't noticed he'd been dating Maryse since only a week after Cal had ended things with him. Seems her advice had been true, the perfect woman for him had been right in front of him for quite a while now. "Man, you've really been out of it huh? We hooked up a couple weeks ago."

John shook his head as he slid his sunglasses on his face and followed his friend out of the store. "Sorry man…I haven't really been myself lately."

"I've noticed," Mike said but didn't push it further. He knew even if he asked, his friend wouldn't expand on what was going on.

The men drove in silence to the hotel where the whole company had been staying for the week and would until the Smackdown after Wrestlemania weekend was over. The two went their separate ways once arriving, Mike probably to see Maryse and John to go mope in his hotel room.

John lay on his bed and turned on the TV, trying to find something that would hold his attention and take his focus away from the one woman he had been unable to get away from for the past few weeks. As usual, he found his thoughts straying from the plot of the TV show that was on. In his mind an image of Callie popped up. It was times like these, which occurred often, that John wondered if he'd done the right thing by letting Callie go. The more he thought about their last encounter, the more he realized if he'd told her he was willing to go public, chances were she'd be lying in bed right next to him.

He turned his head to the side and he envisioned Cal cuddled up to him, her head resting on his chest. He closed his eyes tight. For a while after she had ended things, whenever thoughts of their relationship entered his thought process, he would convince himself that it was for the best that they were no longer together. Not only would they have possibly hurt Melina, a very close friend to the both of them, there was a very high chance that he would have also lost his best friend. But the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if it was all worth it. It was hard to tell.

Sure he'd saved his friends from possible betrayal and harm. But it became increasingly obvious that in the process of looking out for his friends, he'd failed to look out for himself. He was hurting so bad. He often wondered how Callie was dealing with all this. He'd seen her around the arena and sometimes he'd even go as far as to approach her to see how she was doing but she'd never let him get close enough. As soon as she saw him coming her way, she turned the other way and fled.

He went over their confrontation almost daily, dissecting it. He went over everything from what she had said, to what she had been wearing and what emotions he could read on her face. Many times he'd gone back to the point where he called her selfish.

He shook his head painfully as he remembered that moment. He hadn't realized it until after the whole thing was over but she had actually been pretty selfless since they had gotten together. Every time he had said he regretted what they'd done, every time he'd leave after their sex session, and then every time he would bring up Mike or Melina as a reason for keeping things a secret. She'd been selfless until she could no longer handle the burden that came along with it. He didn't blame her for being selfish, he only wished he had had the strength to be selfish along with her. Maybe if he had taken her lead and looked out for himself more than others then he wouldn't be sitting here alone or getting ready to go to the Hall of Fame ceremony in a few days alone.

And then there would be days, like today, when he argued that Cal actually hadn't been being selfish at all. He could argue that she hadn't been looking out just for herself, but for him as well. She wanted them to tell their friends about them together and they could handle any criticism they would face together. She'd just wanted to be with him without being scared about what anyone thought of that. Was that really selfish?

John had had a tough time adjusting to his life without Callie in it. And he knew his close friends noticed the change. Though none of them said anything other than asking if he was okay, to which his response was always yes. They knew he wasn't going to open up. And he wouldn't. The whole reason Cal had ended things with him was because he was unwilling to tell his friends. And to tell his friends now, without Callie there to support him through it…well, it just wasn't worth it.

A/N: Alright, this chapter is kind of just setting up the Hall of Fame. The next couple of chapter are quite long, at least double what they usually are so you have that to look forward to. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks again for reading and reviewing! :)