Torn

CALLIE

I wake up, not being confused by the change of enviroment at all. I throw my fading blue hair into a lazy ponytail, a strand or two still sticking out, but I don't care too much. Calum is nowhere to be found, so I silently walk downstairs. I assume Calum hasn't told his parents or Mali Koa that Jonathan is who I'm living with, so I'd rather not get into that without coffee. Or, for that particular subject, without twelve gallons of coffee.

I turn into the light blue kitchen, with the white counters and multiple clean windows. This has always been my favorite roomin the house, and not just because of all the great food they have in here. It just reminds me so much of happy, something I never got in my own home. The very presence of the room feels gentle, and soft.

Calum sits at the white island, on a wooden stool, on his phone. He still doesn't have a shirt on, in fact he looks about the same he looked last night, just less tired. He looks up at me and smiles, but his eyes are focused on the bruises.

"Coffee?" I question. He seems amused with my immediate need for it,but nods. He wouldn;t understand, he refuses to drink coffee. Sometimes when he feels left out though, he'll buy tea, and make all of us call it coffee. I laughed everytime he did that. He hands me a cup of steamy coffee. I look down at it, and am really surprised that he actually remembered exactly how I like it. I look up at him, eyebrows raised.

"What, did you think I'd forget?" He asks,smiling. I look backdown at the coffee.

"Well... Yeah." I laugh.

"Please." He rolls his eyes, "It's not like you had me memorize it with notecards and a quiz or anything." He says sarcastically, I laugh.

"Hey, that was an important week, I did that for your own good. We allknow if you got it wrong once, there would be endless teasing and maybe a few kicks." We laugh. That was one of the many weeks we were dating. Mikey had dared me to beat his highscore in his favorite video game, and being the dare enthusiast I am, I accepted. It took a week of no sleeping, Calum bringing me consistent coffee,and then falling asleep on my shoulder, but I did it. Michael is still mad over it.

"A FEW kicks?" He laughs, "No no, we all know you would have full on attacked me." I laugh.

"Probably." I smile, and drink the coffee, which he was spot on with. Then we go to school, and you can tell Sara is a little nervous. That bitch is going down. "Can I talk to you?" I ask her, glancing at Luke. She nods slightly, and we walk a little ways away from everyone. "DId you tell Luke about my dad?!"

"Uh. Yeah. Callie, I-"

"I fucking told you not to telll anyone!" I yell, and shove her. She stumbles back, pretty surprised. She's never been in an actual fight before, so of course she is. How the fuck did Calum fall for HER?!

"And I fucking told you to not go after my boyfriend!" She yells back, but doesn't do anything.

"He loved ME first-" Damn it. Calum can probably hear us, I shouldn't have said that.

"Does it hurt he left you and then immediately dated me? Does it hurt that he told me he loved me faster than he told you? Or, are those just the bruises on your face?" I freeze. She actually took it there? Next thing I know, Morgan steps in, and punches Sara directly in the face. Of course, Morgan is the best at fighting here, so Sara's instantly on the ground. I just put my head down, like I have to do at home, and walk.

"Callie, wait," Calum runs after me, so I walk faster. Her words just keep spinning around in my head. How could she've taken it that far? Sure, I pushed her, but she had it coming. Sure, I brought up Calum, but SHE dumped him. "Callie!" I shut my eyes to stop any form of tear. "Callie!" I turn around, us being way closer than I thought.

"What?!"

"Are you okay?" I laugh.

"Am I okay? Calum. Just stop trying to take care of me, okay? I know you love her, I know you'd rather be taking care of her punched face, I know you'd rather-" His lips press up against mine, sending this wave of love, and also sadness over me. I pull away from him. "You can't.. You can't do that." I whisper, and start walking again.

"Callie, I won't kiss you, just please-" I turn around again.

"Calum I want more than anything for you to kiss me."

"Then why-"

"You love Sara. Or at least more than me." I shrug, the words hurting more than the bruises.

"No, Callie, I've loved you since fifth grade." He says, his eyes deep in mine.

"What?"

"I told you later than I told her, because if you didn't love me, it would hurt more. With her, it wouldn't be a big deal."

"Do you. Like. Still love me?"

"I haven't stopped." He mutters, before I grab his shirt and slam my lips into his. His arms immediately wrap around my waist.

Notes

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