"Diet Coke, your candy, spicy chips, and gum," Tim announced as he took each item from the grocery bag and tossed it onto Arizona's bed next to her.
"Did you get my smokes?" The sixteen-year-old asked, completely disregarding everything else from the bag. When Tim had announced that he was going to fill his truck up at the gas station, Arizona had handed him a $20 bill and requested cigarettes as well as all of her favorite snacks.
Tim sighed and reached into his front pocket, pulling out a pack of Marlboro Reds and handing them to her. "Arizona, I swear to God if you get caught this time you better not throw me under the bus. It hasn't even been a month."
"It's been long enough. I gave it three weeks so they'd get off my ass. And plus I'm not gonna get caught again," she giggled. "I'm smarter now, I have a better hiding spot for my box. And also, I took full responsibility for the first time. You didn't even get in trouble."
Arizona's 'box' was an old shoebox full of pretty much every single thing no sixteen year old girl should have their hands on: copies of Playboy magazine, shooters from the liquor store, and of course, cigarettes. Her mother had unfortunately stumbled upon it one day when she went up to Arizona's room to grab her dirty laundry and Arizona was fairly certain she would never again be as afraid of her parents as she was when she walked into the kitchen after work that day and the box was sitting on the kitchen table.
"They know damn well you didn't get your hands on all of that stuff on your own," Tim said with an eye roll. "At least you got to come out to dad and get in trouble all at once."
"Killed two birds with one stone." Arizona shrugged and sat up on her bed to grab the bottle of Diet Coke. "Where's my change?" She wondered.
"You owe me five dollars," Tim replied. "But don't worry about it, just don't get caught again because I don't think I can take hearing Dad's 'good man in a storm' speech ever again."
"Oh shut up, it was kind of sweet." Arizona rolled her eyes at him as he started walking towards her bedroom door. "Are you going to work?"
Tim nodded. "I picked up a shift last minute, sorry I forgot to mention it earlier."
"It's all good, Calliope is coming over," Arizona said with a grin.
"Calliope?"
"Callie Torres. Brunette, bisexual, hot. She's in a couple of classes with me." Arizona tried to hide the smile on her face as she stood to get her lighter out of her desk drawer and returned to her spot on the bed, flicking it on and off to avoid looking Tim in the eye. She hoped that the distraction of her playing with the lighter would be enough for Tim to drop the Callie subject, but of course, he had to keep prying.
"You like her," he said with a proud smile.
"No," Arizona corrected him. "I think she's hot."
"Whatever." He put his hands up in defense before opening her bedroom door. "I'll leave the door unlocked for her."
"Thanks," Arizona smiled at him as he walked out. "And thanks for the cigs."
"You better find someone else to buy them for you before I get shipped off to boot camp in May," he called from the hallway after he'd shut her door.
She swallowed thickly at that. She'd spent the better part of her life hoping and even praying that Tim wouldn't decide to enlist in the military like their father, but by the time he'd reached high school four years ago he'd made his decision that he wanted to enlist in the army. She spent every day since she was twelve in complete denial, pushing the thought of him leaving to the very back of her mind, but with his high school graduation only eight months away, she was starting to realize that she was going to have to come to terms with it at one point or another.
She let herself spiral just long enough to feel tears sting her eyes before turning on the tv to distract herself. She found some sort of mindless sitcom and sat down at her desk in front of the window before lighting a cigarette out of the brand new pack Tim had gotten her. It sucked a little bit of her anxiety away and the rest of it was cured when she saw Callie's '57 Thunderbird pull into the driveway. She added that to the mental list of the many reasons she loved that her bedroom faced the front of the house and she couldn't even try to hide the smile on her face as Callie pulled up.
"Are we smoking out the window again?" The brunette chastised her from the ground once she had gotten out of the car.
Arizona ignored her comment and rolled her eyes at the fact that Callie had grabbed her school backpack from the passenger seat. "Door's open, Timothy left it unlocked for you."
Callie opened her bedroom door not even a minute later and Arizona put her cigarette out before standing up. "Hi." She smiled into a gentle kiss and Callie laughed before responding.
"Hi. Miss me today?" Callie had gone on a field trip with her journalism class leaving Arizona in biology with no lab partner and no pretty girl to catch herself staring at all day long.
"I just didn't have anybody teasing me all day," Arizona shrugged, deciding not to admit that she had really missed Callie. Typical Arizona wouldn't miss people. She wouldn't even get attached, but Callie had her wrapped around her finger and she wasn't about to let her know that information. "Please don't tell me you have to do homework."
"If I do it today, I won't have to worry about it all weekend," Callie shrugged. She dropped her backpack on Arizona's bed and made herself comfortable before opening it up and pulling out her planner.
"You're a nerd, you know that?" Arizona asked with a smirk.
"I do." Callie winked back at her and started making a list of the assignments she needed to get done on the back of her hand. "You could also do your homework."
"I got all of mine done in detention," Arizona shrugged.
"Don't tell me you got caught smoking at school." Callie's eyes grew wide in realization. "Arizona."
"Relax. I did not," Arizona said with a laugh. "They didn't like that I was roller skating in the hallways."
"Oh." Callie shrugged as if that was completely normal and went back to looking at the textbook she had opened. Because it was normal for Arizona. She literally roller skated in her heelys straight into their chemistry class on the first day of school and Callie didn't even bat an eyelash then. Of course administration had plenty to say about it, but Arizona was exactly the type of girl that would roller skate at school, so Callie never thought anything of it.
"I'll be right back, I'm gonna go change the laundry." She threw her phone into her back pocket before grabbing her empty laundry basket from across the room and heading downstairs. It wasn't until she was about to get her first load of laundry out of the dryer that she felt her phone buzzing in her back pocket. She smiled at the name that showed up on the FaceTime call and quickly swiped to answer it. "I know you just left two weeks ago but I miss you more than you know."
"Phoenix! I missed your face," Nick said with a grin. Nick was Arizona and Tim's childhood best friend from when their dad had been stationed in Maryland for two years. Once they had moved away, the Robbins parents promised that Nick could fly out to wherever they were living and spend every summer with them and that was exactly what he ended up doing. "What's Tim up to? I wanted to play GTA but he's not answering his phone."
"He picked up a shift," Arizona explained with a shrug before setting her phone down on top of the washing machine. "I could play GTA with you."
"I didn't ask you first because you suck," Nick said with a laugh. "But mostly because you said you were hanging out with that girl. Is she there?"
"She's upstairs doing homework." Arizona picked up her phone once the washing machine was started and walked into the kitchen to find herself something healthier than chips and candy to snack on. She dug through the cabinet and managed to find a protein bar and she sat down on the kitchen counter to eat it while she continued talking to him. "I invited her over to make out with me and she's doing homework."
"What?" Nick asked in surprise. "I don't think I've ever met anybody that can resist you and she's perfectly content doing homework?"
Arizona laughed at that and popped another bite into her mouth. "She just cares about school, it's kind of cute."
"Not everyone can be a prodigy like you, Scottsdale," Nick shrugged. "Some people actually have to try."
"I know," Arizona said with a sigh. "I'm just so smart, I don't know what to say."
"You're also humble." Nick chuckled. "How's school otherwise?"
"Fine. Administration is strict, I got in trouble for using my heelys." Arizona rolled her eyes when Nick started laughing at her and she stood up to throw the empty wrapper away. "But I'm making some friends and Callie seems cool." She grabbed two bottles of water from the fridge and started heading up the stairs back towards her bedroom.
"Good," Nick said with a smile. "I should let you get back to her. I just wanted to see what Tim was up to."
"Call us later," Arizona said once she opened her bedroom door. "Even if you don't let me play GTA, I still want to watch."
"Sounds like a plan, I love you Phoenix."
"I love you too." Arizona hung up the call and shifted Callie's books over to the end of the bed so she could lay down.
"Who was that?"
"My secret boyfriend from Maryland," Arizona shrugged, completely avoiding eye contact because she knew she'd start laughing the second she looked at the brunette.
"What happened to your gold star lesbian status?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That was Nick, he's me and Tim's best friend from when we lived in Maryland," Arizona explained with a grin. "He stays with us every summer."
"Wait." Callie sat up on the bed and turned so she was facing Arizona. "You and Tim share a best friend and you don't want to kill each other?"
"Of course," Arizona shrugged. "Tim's my best friend."
"That's crazy," Callie said, her eyes wide in disbelief. "Aria's four years older than me but when she lived with us I couldn't even interact with the people she hung out with without her losing her mind." Aria was Callie's half sister from her mother's first marriage. They had never gotten along as kids and that didn't really change when Aria went off to college either.
"We moved around a lot," Arizona shrugged. "Especially in different countries, he was all I had and I was all he had."
"That's sweet," Callie smiled. "Is Nick a senior like him?"
"No, he's my age," Arizona shrugged. "He knocked on our door an hour after we moved into our house in Maryland asking if we wanted to ride our bikes around the neighborhood and from that day on the three of us were inseparable." Most of her best childhood memories were from their house on that quiet street in Maryland, especially when it was warm outside and she and Tim and Nick would race their bikes up and down the street. She would almost always lose and Nick would steal the pink and blue glittery streamers off her bike but at the end of every day, she was cared for and loved by two boys that would literally hang the sun in the sky for her every single day if they could.
"I still need to formally meet Tim," Callie reminded her. "You've told me so much that I feel like I know him but I don't think you've actually ever introduced us."
"I will, I promise. Maybe later tonight we can all hang out and you can meet him. He wants to see your Thunderbird too."
"I'm convinced you're only hanging out with me for the Thunderbird," Callie teased.
"Calliope," Arizona said with a playful eye roll and a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I hang out with you because you were the only person that talked to me on the first day of school, and you're the best kisser I've ever come across."
"Must be all of my experience kissing boys," Callie shrugged, smirking at the blonde. Arizona rolled her eyes at that. The fact that Callie was bisexual didn't bother her, mainly because Callie was absolutely obsessed with her so she didn't need to feel threatened by that small piece of information and the possibility that Callie could be into somebody else. Arizona was most certainly the jealous type, but she didn't need to be because Callie very clearly only had eyes for her.
"Would you just shut up," Arizona giggled, shifting on the bed so she was facing Callie and she leaned forward to give her a chaste kiss on the lips. "How's that homework coming along?" She asked once she had pulled away just slightly, just enough to tease Callie into putting her books away. It seemed like her plan was working and she was relieved it was considering she only had around a half hour until her parents were getting home.
"Arizona," Callie whined before closing the gap and reconnecting their lips. The kiss only lasted a few seconds before Arizona pulled away again, only to tease Callie further. "You're so unfair," the brunette whined again. She tugged on the hem of Arizona's shirt, hoping the blonde would get the hint and straddle her lap. Instead, Arizona stood up and started picking up Callie's books one by one and placing them into her backpack.
"Do you like kissing me more than you like kissing boys?" Arizona wondered, a smirk evident on her face as Callie pouted.
"Yes." Arizona made a point to move even more slowly as she put the books away and once they were all in the backpack, she zipped it shut and walked over to her desk, dropping the bag on the floor in front of it.
"Why?" She finally moved back over to the bed and settled into her spot on Callie's lap.
"Your lips are softer," Callie said matter-of-factly.
Arizona smiled at that, trying her best to resist Callie's pleading eyes. Something about those dark brown eyes made Arizona fold almost instantly, but she loved teasing girls that liked her, and she knew that the longer she teased, the more Callie would want to kiss her. "Mhm? What else?" She tucked a loose strand of hair behind Callie's ear and returned her hand to where it was resting on Callie's hip.
"I don't know if it's the chapstick you use, but sometimes your lips taste like watermelon, and now that scent makes me think of you."
Arizona giggled at the blush that showed up on Callie's cheeks after she admitted that. "Don't be embarrassed, that's sweet," she reassured her.
"I just think that because you're a girl, you know how girls like to be kissed," Callie's eyes darted back and forth between Arizona's eyes and lips as she spoke. "You know how I like to be kissed."
"I do." Arizona leaned down to place a gentle kiss on Callie's neck and she stifled a giggle at the goosebumps that appeared on Callie's skin. "I know you like that." She felt Callie nod against her and she continued making her way up Callie's neck, placing a chaste kiss on her ear before moving towards the brunette's lips. She gently cupped the brunette's face and pulled her in for a long kiss.
In the few weeks since they'd first met, Callie's lips had become one of Arizona's favorite things in the world. Callie had become one of Arizona's favorite people in the world, and that fact scared her just a little bit. So instead of thinking about it, she just thought about Callie's lips instead. She would often find herself thinking about how soft they were, how they were the perfect shape for her face, and how she wanted to kiss them literally all the time. This lead to a lot of sneaking around at school, between classes and in the bathroom during study hall, and Arizona was so glad she had finally worked up the nerve to invite Callie over to her house. Granted, she had been too nervous to actually get the words out so she settled for slipping her a note during their British literature class with her address on it and 'come over this afternoon for a kiss' in pink glittery gel pen. Callie had torn off the corner with the address on it to keep for herself and written back 'just one?' with a smiley face and Arizona internally breathed a sigh of relief knowing that Callie was actually excited to come over and hang out with her. She refused to acknowledge why it mattered to her so much because after her last relationship, she had vowed to take a break from dating and she hadn't really expected Callie to come along. She spent nearly every day searching for a reason to not like her, some sort of red flag or just something to make them incompatible, but in the two weeks they'd known each other she had found nothing. Granted, they had definitely done more kissing than talking in those two weeks, but Callie was nearly perfect and that scared the shit out of Arizona. So much that she would rather just focus on kissing her instead.
Callie came up for air for just a second and her fingers naturally found Arizona's waist and pulled her closer. "You are just so perfect."
"I know," Arizona replied with a wink, her voice low. She kissed Callie again and the brunette parted her lips just enough to let Arizona's tongue in. The blonde quickly deepened the kiss with both of their tongues battling for dominance. They came up for air after a couple of minutes again and Arizona brushed Callie's hair out of the way and began placing gentle kisses on Callie's ear. She knew from the previous times they'd made out that Callie's ears were extremely sensitive and that it almost always turned her on.
"You're not fair," Callie whispered as Arizona trailed back down her neck all the way to her collar bone and began gently sucking and leaving faint little marks on Callie's skin. "I'm going to get my ass handed to me by my father," she whispered in the blonde's ear as she came back up.
Arizona panicked for a second, silently cursing herself for getting carried away. Her eyes quickly found Callie's and she was relieved to see that Callie didn't look mad at all. She actually looked like she was trying not to laugh and Arizona cracked a smile at that. She sucked in a breath and tried to shake the panic that she was still feeling. Arizona was by no means a rule follower, but in a way, it felt like getting carried away was breaking her own rules. Rules she had made up to make sure she wouldn't allow her heart go further than her brain would allow her to. "It's fine, I'll give you a t-shirt." She shifted to get off the bed to find one until she felt Callie's hands on her waist.
"Wait." Arizona paused at her words and turned back around before Callie closed the gap between them again. Her hands rested gently on Arizona's ribs and Arizona reached up to grip her elbow, as if to ground herself. Somehow, the grounding worked, she let herself melt into Callie's touch and her lips and she very quickly found her footing again and deepened the kiss. Callie hummed in satisfaction once she realized Arizona was fine and they stayed that way for a couple of minutes, lips moving in perfect sync with each other before Arizona finally pulled away.
"It's time for you to go." She placed one more kiss on Callie's lips before standing up from her bed.
"Why?" Callie whined from the bed as Arizona walked over to her closet.
"Because my parents will be home soon." She pulled an old band tee out of her closet and tossed it in Callie's direction before closing the door and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "And I'm pretty sure you don't want to meet The Colonel just yet." She winked and Callie laughed as she slipped the t-shirt over the tank top she was wearing.
"Nope, I'll pass for now," the brunette said as she stood up and walked over to Arizona's full-length mirror. "I didn't know you listen to The Ramones," She said once she finally looked at the shirt Arizona had given her.
"Oh." Arizona picked up Callie's backpack off the floor and slung it over her shoulder as Callie threw her hair into a ponytail. "Tim's always been into punk rock. He finally got me into it a few years ago," she shrugged.
"That's cute," Callie smiled. She pressed a kiss to Arizona's cheek and took her hand as they walked downstairs. "Walking me out and carrying my backpack? What did I do to deserve the princess treatment?"
"Calliope, you always deserve the princess treatment." Arizona rolled her eyes and opened the front door for her once they were down the stairs.
"Do you want to go out for ice cream later?" Callie asked, opening the passenger door so Arizona could put her backpack into the car. "I want to meet Tim and I'm sure he wants a joyride in the t-bird."
"I would love that," Arizona said with a grin. Tim was going to be thrilled and she was over the moon that Callie wanted to hang out with her brother. Tim was her best friend in the entire world and it always made her happy when the girls she would hang out with didn't mind him being around sometimes.
"Good," Callie smiled. "Text me when he's back from work."
"I will," Arizona smiled. She shut the door for Callie once she got in the car and waved from the porch before she drove away. She found herself smiling already about hanging out with two of her favorite people later that evening as she went inside and started doing the dishes so her parents could cook dinner when they got home. Daniel would normally get off work around 2:00 on Fridays and he and Barbara would go see a movie, so she could count on them being home around 5:30 every Friday. She always tried to tidy up the kitchen because she knew it made her mom happy. This Friday it was especially important because both of her parents were still a little bit mad about finding her stash of cigarettes and alcohol a few weeks prior, and she wanted to make sure she'd be allowed to go out with Callie later.
She found herself lost in her daydreams about Callie for close to 20 minutes until she heard her parents' keys in the front door. They walked into the kitchen and Barbara gave her a gracious smile. "You didn't have to clean everything, you're too sweet."
"I wanted to," Arizona shrugged. "Tim's at work, I had nothing to do anyway."
"No friends to hang out with yet?" Daniel asked as he came around the counter and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"Actually," Arizona paused, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "I've made a few. Me and Tim might go hang out with this girl named Callie tonight."
"Tim too?" Barbara wondered as she washed her hands.
"She drives an old Thunderbird, he wants to take a joyride in it," Arizona said with a laugh. "Can I help with dinner?"
"Nope, you already cleaned the kitchen," Barbara shrugged.
"A safe joyride," Daniel cleared his throat as he sat down at the kitchen table. "Right?"
"Oh, absolutely," Arizona reassured him. That car was Callie's baby and she wouldn't even go a mile over the speed limit in it. "She's just picking us up and we're getting ice cream."
"Okay," Daniel agreed with a laugh.
Barbara got to work on dinner while Arizona caught them up about her day at school and her work schedule for the weekend. At the beginning of the summer when they had first moved to Florida, Tim and Arizona, as well as Nick all found summer jobs to make sure they had enough money to go on plenty of adventures whenever they weren't working. Arizona was practically hired on the spot at Home Depot when she and her dad went to go pick up paint for her new bedroom and Tim and Nick had found jobs serving at an Italian restaurant. Tim would admit that work wasn't nearly as fun when Nick went back to Maryland, but he had a good schedule and the tips were good so he decided to stay. Arizona absolutely loved Home Depot, mainly because she got to mix paint for customers all day long, but also because she really only had to work for a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays once the school year started.
Arizona listened to her dad talk about work and her mom talk about whatever book she was currently reading for her book club that week. Barbara had been a stay at home mom since Arizona was born and she decided to occupy her time through as many hobbies as she possibly could. She participated in a book club, volunteered for a few different non-profits, and spent the rest of her free time cooking and baking. Arizona was just glad that her mom was content no matter where they lived, and that she always had plenty of book recommendations (because as much as Arizona swore up and down that she wasn't a nerd, she loved reading).
Tim returned home shortly after they'd finished dinner while Barbara and Daniel were on their normal evening walk. Arizona sat on the kitchen counter while he ate dinner and listened while he complained about an annoying table he'd had that evening. He finally paused his story when he realized that she definitely wasn't paying attention to it. "Sorry, I'll shut up. I know you want to tell me about Callie before I meet her." She had texted him at some point during his shift and said hopefully you're free for a ride in the Thunderbird tonight and she was practically beaming with excitement the second he walked in the door.
And sure Arizona was excited for them to meet, but she was more thrilled that Callie seemed excited. Nobody ever wants to meet the protective older brother but Tim was the most important person in the world to her and she was over the moon that Callie understood that and was so willing to meet him. "Callie is fantastic," she said with a grin. "I'm not telling you anything else though. You need to form your own opinion because I need to hear it, deal?"
"Deal," Tim replied. "What time is she picking us up?"
"8:30, so you need to go shower and I need to go make myself look presentable again." She hopped off the counter and picked up her phone from where she'd left it at the table.
"I'll be ready, come find me when she gets here," Tim called from the kitchen. Arizona had already disappeared out of the room and up the stairs so she could quickly freshen up in the bathroom before Tim got up there to shower. She washed her face and put a fresh layer of deodorant on before moving into her bedroom to redo her makeup. Before she knew it, they were outside and Tim was so fascinated by the Thunderbird that he hadn't even introduced himself yet.
"Timothy, at least say hello," Arizona said with an eye roll as she climbed into the passenger seat, not even bothering to wait for her brother.
"Dude this is sick," he said, finally shaking Callie's hand. "I'm Tim, it's great to finally put a face to the name."
"You too," Callie said with a grin. She climbed back into the driver's side and Arizona had to hide her smile when Callie's hand immediately found her thigh. "Scooch over, it's technically a two seater."
"Oh." Arizona slid over onto the hump between the two seats so Tim had room to get in the passenger seat.
"I know you said you like punk rock so I found an old CD I burned with all of my favorite Green Day songs," Callie said as she turned up the radio. "They might be the overplayed ones but they're still my favorites."
"Nothing can be as overplayed as 'American Idiot,'" Arizona said as Callie pulled out of the driveway.
"Did you forget about '21 Guns?" Tim asked.
"Nope, 'American Idiot' is still my final answer," Arizona shrugged. "'21 Guns' is good."
"We're not talking about good, we're talking about overplayed," Callie pointed out. "I think 'Good Riddance' is worse."
"Oh my god, you're both wrong," Tim laughed.
Arizona found herself relaxing as she listened to Callie and Tim talk about music. Callie's hand stayed firmly planted on her thigh, aside from when she was switching gears. She zoned out, thinking about how attractive it was that Callie not only knew how to drive a manual, but she was good at it, and she was quickly pulled out of her thoughts when she heard Tim's voice asking her name. "Earth to Arizona."
"Hmm?"
"Most overplayed Weezer song," Callie filled in what she had missed.
"Oh. Easy. 'Beverly Hills.'" She still felt a little bit lost in her trance as Callie pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall.
"Good, glad we're all on the same page there," Tim laughed. "Where are we getting ice cream?"
"The michoacana," Callie replied with a grin. "Arizona told me you guys have never been."
"We have not," Tim replied. "Considering we've lived all over the place, we're painfully uncultured."
"I'm about to fix that," Callie said, squeezing Arizona's thigh once she put the car into park. "You okay?"
"Yeah, it's just cool watching you drive," Arizona admitted, a blush creeping onto her cheeks. She meant it as a compliment and she knew Callie would take it that way. The brunette just smiled at that and took Arizona's hand to help her over to the driver's seat and out of the car.
"Mark taught me," she shrugged. "Maybe he can teach you if you want."
Arizona practically shuddered at the name. She couldn't understand why Callie talked to someone who was such a sleazeball, as her mother had put it. "If that's the same Mark that asked me if my name is Arizona because I'm so hot on the first day of school, then I'm good."
Callie just laughed it off and took her hand as they walked through the parking lot. "What kind of ice cream are you guys getting?"
"Anything with chocolate," Tim replied with a shrug. He opened the door for the two girls and they stepped inside.
"Just get me whatever you like. I want to try something new." Arizona reached into her purse for her wallet and pulled out her debit card, handing it to Callie. "Do you want us to go find a table?"
"Yeah." Callie squeezed her hand before letting it go and Arizona and Tim found a table on the opposite end of the restaurant.
"What do you think?" She asked as she sat down. "Isn't she awesome?"
"Very awesome," Tim agreed. "Does she come from money?" he asked, lowering his voice just in case it carried all the way across the restaurant.
"Oh absolutely, her parents are wealthy," Arizona said with a laugh. "Half the time she doesn't drive that car, she drives a BMW."
"Oh my god," Tim laughed. "Also a manual?"
"Yep, isn't it hot?" Arizona asked with a smile. He just shook his head with a laugh and she rolled her eyes at that. "You can say she's hot, Timothy. That's just a fact, I'm not gonna get mad at that."
"She is hot," Tim finally agreed with a laugh.
"And she's obsessed with me." He rolled his eyes at the proud smile on his sister's face, knowing she was absolutely right. Callie was obsessed with Arizona, but it was going to take a lot of convincing for her to admit she was equally as obsessed with Callie.
Callie returned a few minutes later with a cup of chocolate ice cream for Tim and two different things for Arizona. She handed Arizona her card back and Arizona snatched the receipt out of her hand along with it, reading the bottom to see the last four digits of the card number.
"You didn't use mine."
"Of course I didn't." Callie shrugged and caught the receipt that Arizona had crumpled into a ball and tossed in her direction. "I got two different things, I'll have whichever one you don't want."
"What are they?" Arizona asked.
"A mangonada, which is just mango sorbet with chamoy and tajin. It's just a little bit spicy but I thought you'd want to try it," Callie shrugged. "And then agua fresca de fresa. Some people call it strawberry horchata."
Arizona took a sip of the agua fresca first and shrugged before moving onto the mangonada. "That's good," she said with a grin, laughing at Callie's surprised expression. "Did you think I wasn't going to like it?"
"That's why I played it safe with the agua fresca," Callie laughed.
"It's good," Arizona shrugged. "This is different though, I like it."
"Good, I'll have to take you here more often."
The three of them fell into casual conversation about school, music, and Tim's favorite topic of conversation, cars. It was one hobby of his that Arizona didn't know too much about, so she fell quiet and just listened to them talk. It amazed her how well Callie was able to click with both of them together. They moved around so often that Arizona was never really concerned about whether or not people would click with them or stick around. As far as she was concerned, it was her and Tim against the world. She knew they were incredibly lucky to have found Nick. It was rare for people to remain friends when they're states, or even countries away from each other, especially since they were so young when they'd met and moved away.
It wasn't that she thought luck like that was a one time thing, or that their luck had run out because Nick was so incredible, but Callie was a breath of fresh air after years of not having too much luck finding friends when they moved to new places. Girlfriends were easy; Arizona knew she was attractive, and she knew how to flirt her way into nearly any relationship. But Callie was different. Sure, Arizona had been bold enough to kiss her in the locker room after the first day of school, but Arizona also wanted to learn every single thing about Callie, and she had never found herself caring so much about another person before, especially not one that she'd only known for a few weeks. But watching Callie and Tim share every single piece of knowledge about cars that they had ever learned with each other made her realize that maybe Callie was serious, and maybe this casual friends-with-benefits situation she had gotten herself into was going to turn into something more than that.
There was definitely a spark. All there was left to do was follow it, and Arizona had to decide if she was ready to.
This is cross-posted on AO3 ( /works/49648594). This is my first story in nearly five years! I want to write more one-shots from this universe so let me know what you'd like to see written! You can message or send me an ask on tumblr ( .com) with prompts as well!