Hanging By A Moment
Hanging By A Moment
Paring: Callie/Arizona
Rating: M
A/N: Sorry for the late update but for some reason this chapter was really hard to write. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to let me know what you think of it. I always (that is when you're not calling me mean names) enjoy reading your reviews.
Chapter 6:
Teddy and Callie waited a while inside Mark's office before they joined Aria and Arizona at a booth. Aria was surprised at first that Callie was there with Teddy, maybe because of the alcohol running through her veins she brushed it off. Callie sat in between Arizona and Teddy. Under the table Callie took the opportunity to place her hand on Arizona's thigh giving her a warm squeeze, in return gave her a dimpled smile.
"What's up with you?" Aria asked eying Arizona suspiciously.
"What? Why? Nothing." Arizona said stumbling over her words.
"Way to play it cool." Callie whispered in Arizona's ear.
"I'm watching you." Aria said to Arizona.
"Lets go dance." Teddy said hoping to distract Aria.
"Yay, that's a great idea, Teddy." Arizona said overenthusiastically.
"Come on, Aria." Teddy said standing up from the booth. She dragged Aria to the dance floor leaving Callie and Arizona alone.
They looked at one another for a few seconds without exchanging words. It was pleasant to look at a person in the eyes without that person looking shyly away.
"I really want to kiss you." Callie said causing Arizona to blush.
"Then why don't you?" Arizona answered with a smirk.
"You know why." Callie said gesturing to Aria.
Arizona got her face closer to Callie's almost to the point where their mouths grazed each other. "Let's get our dance on." Arizona said pulling away suddenly before Callie had a chance to do anything. She dragged Callie onto the dance floor far away from where Aria and Teddy were already dancing with a bunch of guys vaguely familiar to Arizona.
They danced for a few songs, nothing too dirty, just enough grinding to be sexy and flirty but not enough to be scandalous. They were dancing around like they were they only ones in the whole room.
"Are you having fun?" Callie asked when they stopped dancing.
"Yeah. I just need a minute." Arizona said trying to catch her breath.
"Come on, let's go for a walk around the beach." Callie said leading Arizona out of the bar by the hand.
They walked around for a few seconds just feeling the night breeze hearing the distant thumping music sound coming from the bar behind them. Arizona held Callie's hand, sliding her thumb up, down and around Callie's hand in an almost nervous way.
"This is nice." Arizona said as they walked.
"It is." Callie said turning her head to the side to look and smile at Arizona.
"Callie, what are we doing?" Arizona asked seemly out of nowhere.
"I- I huh honestly don't know." Callie said. "Tonight doesn't have to mean anything if you don't want to. Tomorrow we can go back to being tentative friends. I wont be offended or anything."
"That's not at all what I want." Arizona said quickly. "I really, really like you, Calliope. But I would be lying if I say that I'm not scared."
"What's scaring you?" Callie asked.
"You." Arizona said. "From what I've heard you're very experienced in areas I have little to no experience. That scares me. The fact that you may expect things that I'm not ready to provide yet scares me."
"Arizona." Callie said stopping and turning to face Arizona. "I'm never going to pressure you into doing something you're not fully comfortable with. I really like you too, there could be something here if you want it, but only if you really want it."
"I do. I want it." Arizona said as she reached the gap between them to give Callie a kiss. "So you wouldn't mind taking it slow for a little bit?"
"No." Callie said. "I'm going to be honest, it will be an adjustment but I don't mind taking things as slow as you want them."
"Okay, good." Arizona said beaming.
"Another thing is, I want to take you out and date you properly." Callie said.
"You can take me out, Calliope." Arizona said with a chuckle.
"I'm just nervous about how your parents and Aria are going to react." Callie said.
"How about we just keep this to ourselves for a little while?" Arizona said. "Its not that I want to hide. My parents know that I'm gay; it's just that I don't want to share this with them yet. I want to keep you to myself for a while."
"I can work with that." Callie said wrapping her arms around Arizona's waist.
The beach was dark and you could hear the waves crashing on the shore, the breeze was cool, the moon was full and the stars were out. They night had all the elements to be a perfect one. Callie and Arizona sat on a spot near the shore where they could feel the water on their feet when the waves crashed.
"Have you had girlfriends before?" Callie asked.
"Are you implying that we're girlfriends?" Arizona asked teasingly.
"Just answer the question." Callie said with a laugh.
"I've dated before." Arizona said. "But I've only had one serious girlfriend, Joanne, we broke up a few months ago."
"Why did it end?" Callie asked curiously.
"She put a lot of pressure on me." Arizona said. "She wanted me to do things I wasn't ready to do. I mean we did stuff but not all… stuff… you do with a girl…."
"That's… interesting…" Callie said.
"How about you?" Arizona asked enjoying the feel of the water on her feet. "What's your story?"
"I huh, I've had girlfriends before." Callie said.
"I assumed as much." Arizona said with a chuckle. "I'm going to need you to be a little bit more specific than that."
"Okay, so I've really only had one serious relationship." Callie said. "Serious as in I thought she was the one, we were madly in love and I thought we were meant to be together and that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. We broke up four years ago, it was a mess."
"And you haven't dated anyone since?" Arizona asked.
"I mean I've dated people after her but for some reason they never seem to last long." Callie said.
"Maybe you're just really difficult to be in a relationship with." Arizona said.
"Well you have it all figured out, don't you, Dr. Phil?" Callie asked. "You'll tell me though, right? If I'm being too much of a bitch."
"I promise." Arizona said quietly before she kissed Callie tenderly.
They spent a few more minutes sitting on the sand enjoying each other's company before they headed back to the party. They knew that once they were inside, the moment would end and they would have to go back to keeping a distance. Callie could see why Arizona wanted to keep things quiet for a while but this wasn't what she was used to, she was used to doing whatever she wanted, getting her way and not caring what anyone had to say about it. But this was Arizona and just for this time she was willing to make a compromise.
"Cal, where have you been?" Mark asked when he saw Callie walking in behind Arizona.
"I was just…" Callie said. "What's up? Why are you asking?"
Arizona felt Callie stop walking behind her so she turned around to see what had happened, with a silent gesture Callie told Arizona to keep going, that everything was okay.
"Oh God, tell me you didn't." Mark said dragging Callie off by the arm to a secluded corner where they could talk. "Callie, no. No."
"What are you talking about?" Callie asked.
"You and Aria's friend." Mark said. "You had sex with her! With your sister's best friend. Oh my God, Aria is going to be devastated."
"No, Mark, we didn't do anything." Callie said. "We just walked around for a little bit. She's not like that. It's not like that."
"That girl is into you, Callie." Mark said. "And you need to shut it down before it goes any further."
"Okay, first of all you're not one to talk about inappropriate relationships." Callie said. "You like, wrote the book. Second, keep your mouth shut. Things are not like you think they are."
"And how are things exactly?" Mark asked.
"I like her, okay?" Callie said. "I really do."
"Callie, I'm saying this as a friend that loves you," Mark said. "That girl will bring you nothing but trouble. Stay out of it."
Across the room Callie caught sight of Arizona dancing like a fool between Teddy and Aria. Her long hair was getting all over her face she looked beautiful and free. Callie had to force herself to look away.
"I don't know, Mark." Callie said. "I think I might be willing to risk it."
"Who are you checking out?" Aria asked Arizona when she noticed that she had stopped dancing and that her bright blue eyes were fixed on something. Aria turned around trying to follow her friend's gaze but with all the people around it was near impossible.
"Huh?" Arizona asked missing what Aria said.
"I said that I noticed you checking someone out." Aria said. "Who is it?"
"Oh, no one." Arizona said looking away from Callie who was staring back at her.
"Come on just tell me." Aria said. "You've been acting really weird, plus don't think I didn't notice you disappearing earlier."
"Aria, lets not get into that right now." Arizona said. She didn't want to lie to her friend but she wasn't prepared to tell her the truth either.
"So there is someone." Aria said.
"There might be someone." Arizona clarified.
"Anyone I know?" Aria asked concerned.
"Maybe." Arizona said with a shrug finding Callie's eyes again amongst the crowd. This time when Aria turned back she saw her sister sporting the same lovesick grin that Arizona had.