Previously
Callie spoke, "Arizona, would you go on a date with me?"
It felt like time had stopped, in this moment it was only them on the planet. The things going on around them were unimportant.
"When would you like for us to go on this date Calliope?" came Arizona's sweet reply.
Callie's eyes finally found her's. She had sunk into her own world, questioning if she had scared Arizona away. Self-doubt overwhelmed her, "Is Arizona even gay?" "She might not even be interested in me if she is gay."
But Arizona's question reassured her.
"How about tomorrow night around 7? I'll pick you up." Callie said with a shy smile.
"I will be there." Arizona gave a smile of her own.
They just gazed into the other's eyes, content with doing just that.
Then the bell rang. Both too shy to speak, but shared one more glance before heading off to their afternoon class.
Saturday
"I didn't even remember to ask her what I should wear. She might want me to wear a dress. But what if she doesn't and I'm suppose to be casual. Or...or maybe I'll over dress and look too formal for where we go. How do I forget to ask my date for her number? What is wrong with my brain, Teddy?" Arizona whined.
"I only know the answers to so much?" she answered amused.
"Funny." she said sarcastically.
"Sorry. Maybe she just wants you to come as you." Teddy offered.
"But I don't want to look out of place for where we're going."
"Ok, so why not just call and ask?"
"That leads to problem number two." Arizona said with a face palm.
"You know, for teachers, your minds don't seem very efficient." Teddy quipped.
"Oh you're just full of jokes today."
Teddy grinned at her.
There was a chime from Arizona's phones.
- So it would seem I have the worst game on the planet.
- I asked a pretty girl on a date but forgot to ask her number.
Arizona's cheeks hurt from the huge smile on her face, she found Callie's little rambles very cute.
- This is Callie by the way. I'm not an obsessed stalker, I swear. I had to get your cell phone number from the secretary, I hope you don't mind.
* It's fine Calliope, and to be fair I didn't remember to ask you for yours either.
- Yeah but I asked you out, I should have been the who asked.
* Well in that case, yes, you have terrible game.
* I'm kidding, I think it's sweet that you weren't thinking about anything else when you asked me out.
"Is that her?" Teddy said, now trying to perp over Arizona's shoulder.
"Yeah, it is. She got my number from the secretary."
"See? She likes you, a lot of people wouldn't have went out of their way. Ask her what you should wear." giving her a nudge to type.
* What should I wear to the date tonight.
- It's your choice, but it doesn't have to be anything too fancy, and I'd actually like whatever you wore.
"See, I told you it doesn't matter." Teddy said proudly. "Wait till I tell Tim that you're in here freaking out over a date."
Arizona rolled her eyes playfully. She never caught a break when the two of them are together.
"Do you think she'll like it there?" Callie asked unsure.
"Yeah, I'm sure she'll like it." Aria assured her.
"I just don't want her feeling like I'm expecting her to be this perfect person. Not that she isn't already perfect in my eyes, but I don't want her to think she has to step out of who she is now because I'm taking her on a date."
"You said you two are comfortable around one another right?"
Callie nodded
"Good, then you'll be ok, this is just the pre-date jitters"
"Yeah, probably." the nerves had calmed a little.
"Alright, you have to start getting ready so I'll leave you to do that." Aria said hopping off the bed. "Don't forget to ask her address so you can pick her up, or you'll be going on a date with your imagination." she teased from the doorframe. Callie usually forgot things in her nervousness.
"Thank you for the reminder." Callie replied sarcastically.
Aria was glad her sister was getting out.
- Could you send me the address to pick you up?
* Sure, give me a minute.
Callie got up and went on her way to the bath.
Knock Knock
Callie had sat in her car for the last 10 minutes trying to build up the courage to walk up to Arizona's apartment room.
The door opens, "Calliope hey, hold on let me grab my purse then we can go."
Callie was memorized by how beautiful Arizona looked, "You look really beautiful."
She got a blush in return. All of the doubt Arizona had about her outfit disappeared.
"You ready to go?"
"Yup."
They walked down to the car and got in. The drive to the restaurant was quiet, but the silence wasn't awkward. There was just the satisfaction of being in the other's presence.
When they got there, Callie parked and opened Arizona's door and led them in.
"Thank you." Arizona said walking through the door Callie held open for her to the restaurant.
"Where do you wanna sit?" Callie asked. "We could sit over there where it's a little farther away from all of the moving around." she pointed.
"Yeah, sure."
"Ok, I'll be there in a second." Callie off to the counter talking to someone before joining Arizona again. "I was just getting you a menu."
"Thank you." she smiled. "So you know what you're getting or do you wanna share my menu?"
"I know what I'm getting, it's usually the same thing." Callie brushed her off.
"Cal, who's your friend?" a new voice came.
"This is Arizona. Arizona, Christina. Me and Christina became friends when I started being a regular here." she introduced. "Arizona is my date."
"Hi, nice to meet you." Arizona gave a small wave and smile.
"Charming." Christina says giving a tight smile. "What would you like to eat?"
Turning to Arizona, Callie said, "Go ahead, you can call first."
"I'd like to have the chicken alfredo, mashed potatoes and sauteed greens. And then for drink I'll have fruit punch."
"Could I get grilled chicken, baked vegetables and potato salad how i usually get it? And a bottle of water."
"I'll be back with everything." Christina said, leaving the table after she was finished writing.
"She is delightful." Arizona said with a small laugh.
Callie in turn gave a laugh, "She seems mean, but once you get to know her she's fun to be around. Pleasantries just isn't her thing."
"Fair enough."
"I hope you're comfortable here with me."
"I'm definitely comfortable. I actually haven't been on a date in a while." It felt easy for Arizona to share things with Callie.
"How come?...wait sorry, did that sound nosey?"
"No, and I made the statement, so any question that comes after it is well warranted." she smiled at Callie. "To answer your question, I haven't really gone on much dates since my last relationship a couple years ago. We had the same plan for what we wanted in the future, but we were taking different paths to get there so we decided to go our separate ways. And then there was last year, so not much dating happened."
"So what made you go on one with me?" Callie asked curiously.
"There's just...something about you just feels right, you intrigue me." Arizona was looking into her eyes as she said this, those brown eyes held so much expression.
"I haven't been on a date in a while either, it's crazy how much clicked in the time we started talking." she was so glad it wasn't just her feeling it. "You said that you had a brother, is he younger or older?"
"Tim is two years younger than I am. He just moved out from with my parents, so he's living with me for a while till his new apartment is ready."
"Where are you from?"
"We stopped moving around when I turned five. My dad was in the marines, but he gave it up once I was ready to start elementary school, they wanted us to have some sort of stability in terms of where we live so that's when they settled in Seattle."
"You lived here practically your whole life."
"Yup. What about you, where are you from?"
"I'm from Tacoma. Me and my sister lived there with our aunt." Callie explained.
"Not that far away then. When did you move here?"
"A few years ago, I was looking for a teaching job and got one in Seattle. I didn't want to move too far away from my aunt. My sister Aria started living with me recently too."
"You two look a lot alike... assuming it was her I saw. There was this lady who came up to the breakroom for you my first day." Arizona still wondered what that day was about but she didn't push.
"That was her, she's older by 4 years. I looked up to her growing up, we did almost everything together."
"Me and Tim were like that. What does your sister do?"
"Aria has a job at a flower shop for now, she's working on starting a little plant nursery. Her dream has been to have a big one since we were kids, but she taking baby steps to get there. What about you brother?"
"Mechanic. My uncle has a shop so that's where he works, we spent most of our time there after school when we were younger so I guess he got attached. I was more of the "sit-in-a-corner-and-read'' type girl."
"You were a bookworm." Callie smiled at the thought of young Arizona. "Enjoying your food?"
Arizona tried to chew the food in her mouth so she could give an answer. Callie was glad she didn't feel self-conscious eating in front of her, it was nice to see she was comfortable.
"The food tastes great." Arizona finally swallowed her food and gave a reply with a cheeky smile. "You want a bite?"
Callie smiled back, "No I'm good, just happy you like it. Do you want something for dessert or are you full?"
"I don't think anything else can fit in my stomach, I'm so full." she said with a content sigh.
Once again Callie was just caught staring at her.
"What Calliope? You've been looking at me like that the entire night." Arizona said with a giggle.
"Nothing, you really do look beautiful."
"You are beautiful too." They shared another smile before they got back to talking.
The rest of the night was spent full of laughs.
"Are you ready to head home?" she asked when she saw Arizona yawn.
"I'm ready when you are."
"I'll go pay so we can get going" as Callie got up Arizona grabbed her sleeve.
"Let me pay half." she didn't want to expense Callie.
"It's fine. If it makes you feel better, I get a discount when I come here." she tried at easing her. "I promise it's fine."
Slowly Arizona's grip loosened.
They walked back to the car and drove off to Arizona's apartment.
"So let me ask the same question you asked me, why haven't you gone on any dates until this one?"
As she came up to the traffic lights and stopped, Callie turned so she was looking at Arizona.
"I tried when I first moved here, but a lot of them felt forced so I kinda went with the flow of things after the rather than leading people on."
"So you thought I was worth going on a date with?"
"You intrigue me." Callie stated simply.
By this time they wear pulling into the parking lot of the apartment building.
"Thank you for tonight Calliope." Arizona planted a gentle kiss on her cheek. "Do you want to go on a second date with me?" she asked shyly.
"Of course." she said smiling brightly for the hundredth time. "Have a good night Arizona."
"You too." her smile shined just as bright.
"Do you want me to walk you up?"
"No I'm fine, you get home, it's getting late. Bye Calliope." she opened the door and started up the stares with one more kiss.
Callie stayed until she got up the stairs safely and out of sight, then drove off.
Neither of them would take back anything about the night they had.
* Author *
How was this chapter?
Sorry about that, Callie is actually from Tacoma not Chicago. I forgot to change that.