Blossom for Me

Garrett opened the door of the diner and held it open for his companion. She stepped inside and felt a burst of cold air collide with her body. The change in temperature felt relieving, but, at the same time, felt somewhat uncomfortable. Outside, the air was stuffy, dry, and blistering; inside the diner, it was cold and pricked at her skin like tiny needles. Though, it still provided much reprieve from the oven-like feeling beyond the glass door. Garrett followed her inside the small building, keeping close behind. He placed his warm hand on the small of her back, guiding her further into the restaurant. Goosebumps sprouted across her skin, all along her arms and her bare legs, and she felt the small hairs that grew at the nape of her neck stand on ends. Callie wasn't sure if it was from the air-conditioned building or from the copper-haired boy’s touch that sent a wave of shivers to run through her body in ripples.

But Garrett mistook the small action for a chill and pulled her closer to him as they walked, wrapping his arm around her shoulders until she was pressed to his chest. His familiar smell filled her nostrils and Callie felt a certain kind of comfort with the familiarity, a certain comfort that only a child feels when he’s curled up in his mother’s bed and his nose is pressed to the pillow that which her perfume clings to. It reminded her of the night before—with his arms wound tightly around her small waist and his face buried in her neck, her lips on his hair and the smell of boy, his own personal cologne, that stuck to him filling her senses. Her cheeks erupted in flames.

They approached the wooden podium, where the tall blonde hostess stood smiling wider than her jaw could handle and faker than her platinum hair. She looked between the pair, deciphering whether or not they were a couple or the like. Her eyes traveled to Garrett, barely paying attention to the petite girl he had his arm around, and they stayed on him in a conspicuous stare. Callie felt molting lava shoot through her veins, anger growing in the pit of her stomach and her ears getting hot.

"For two?" the hostess asked politely, merely glancing in Callie's way before returning to Garrett's. Her white teeth gleamed in the florescent light and Callie thought they would blind her.

Garrett nodded his head. The blonde shot him another smile, more genuine than the first, and turned around to lead them to a booth in the middle of the diner. The hostess wasn't quick enough to hide the scowl that had found its way onto her face and Callie had caught it. As they walked, Callie began glaring at the tall girl's back, wishing hopelessly that for once she had Jedi mind tricks so she could crush her trachea.

She laid out two menus on either side of the table and Garrett helped Callie scoot into the booth. He took a seat next to her and picked up the menu, paying half-attention to the hostess as she announced that someone would be there to help them shortly. His eyes scanned down the breakfast choices and he nodded uninterestedly. The hostess threw him one last gleaming smile before she frowned and walked indignantly walked away, hurt and rejected. Callie smiled victoriously to herself before she looked up at Garrett, who was either unperturbed by the blonde or just utterly oblivious. He remained indifferent towards the hostess as he turned to look at her with a small smile gracing his lips.

“What do you feel like getting?” he asked her, leaning the menu in his hands towards her so that she could scan through the selections.

She lifted her shoulders up slightly and let them fall slack in a small shrug. She looked through the choices, but couldn’t decide. She stared at the menu without actually combing through them seriously as Garrett did the same.

“Pancakes?” he asked her hopefully.

She thought about it for a minute and then smiled widely up at him with a nod. Settled with a decision, he set the menu down on the table and picked up the straw in front of him while Callie watched him. He pulled the straw from its wrapper and dipped it into his glass and continued to fiddle the paper, folding it into squares and twirling it between his fingers. Callie set her elbow on the table and held her chin in her hand to look up at him. They had been laughing, smiling, and messing around like they always did when they were together all morning, but he couldn’t hide it. He couldn’t hide it from Callie. He couldn’t hide anything from her, much like she could never be able to hide anything from him either. Something was bothering Garrett. She knew it the minute she saw him last night, his eyes glazed and his arms wound so tightly around her, holding onto her for dear life. She had been his comfort last night, as she would be any other time. She would always be there for him, provide that assurance that he needed when something was wrong. Callie was Garrett’s best friend. She knew when something was the matter, when something was eating him up, when something was crushing his heart and tearing his head open like a migraine that wouldn’t go away. She didn’t understand why he was acting like everything was normal and fine and dandy when something was scratching at his insides, tugging and pulling on his organs, making his head spin around and his eyes burn. She didn’t want to see him like this. She didn’t like to see his smiles not reach his eyes or hear his laugh sound just a little forced. They might have looked normal to everyone else, to someone on the outside looking in, but to Callie, it was so apparent that he had something on his mind.

“What’s wrong,” she questioned in a soft voice. She placed her hand over his, which were still fidgeting with the wrapped that once held the straw now in his ice water. He looked up at her with glassy eyes and averted his gaze back to their hands on the table. He let out a sigh and Callie thought he was finally going to voice what was the matter, but he didn’t. She held onto his hand and brushed her fingers across his knuckles in the way she knew soothed the boy.

“It’s nothing,” he answered shortly.

Callie scowled and narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t bullshit me, Gare. Don’t you fucking tell me everything is fine and alright when I can see something’s wrong,” she said in a firm voice. He visibly flinched at her words. “I played along all morning; now it’s time to tell me what it is.”

“Will and I fought last night,” he said lowly. Callie let go of his hand and straightened up in her seat. Her blood boiled in her veins and she fought the urge to roll her eyes and scream at him. It wasn’t her place to call out her distaste. Not only would it put a rift between the two friends, it would just open a can of worms that Callie wasn’t ready—or ever would be ready—to let out. Her face pinched up and she settled on sipping on her water to drown out the words that were creeping up her throat.

Garrett glanced at his best friend with those sad eyes he had given her the night before. He looked so vulnerable, like a kicked puppy on the grimy street. She wanted to hold him and whisper words of comfort in his ear, run her hand through his hair and clasp onto his hand and tell him everything would be okay. But the other part of her, the sadistic part, the vindictive Callie that lived in the back of her head, clawing its way to the front, wanted to yell at him, tell him ‘I told you so’ and call him words that had never slipped past her lips before because of their vulgarity.

“I-I don’t know what I did—she just…she just started yelling at me. It’s like…it’s like she likes to pick fights with me. She expects so much from me, and it’s hard, Cal, y’know? She wants me to be this perfect guy, but, I mean, she’s known me for years and…and…doesn’t she realize that I’m not perfect? No fucking guy is perfect. No one is perfect.” Garrett was breaking her heart. She wanted to smack him. She wanted to scream at him at the top of her lung and lunge at him and claw at his eyes and scratch his face and pull his hair out and punch his stomach and slap his arms and kick his legs and press her lips to his and tell him that he was perfect in her eyes. She wanted to tell him that he was stupid and that he was so oblivious of what was in front of him. “I don’t know what she wants from me anymore, Cal. Willow—she confuses me as fuck, but y’know what? God, Cal, I-I fucking love that girl. I want to make her so happy, but it’s like whenever we’re together she lashes out at me, and fuck, it hurts.”

That was it. That was the trigger. That was the spark that started the forest fire that burned through Callie. She pressed her hand over her mouth and swallowed hard. What a morning, she thought. It started out well enough. They were supposed have a good breakfast and talk and catch up because she hadn’t seen him in a couple days. He hadn’t been at the party and it was nice that he was going to spend a lazy Sunday with her. Maybe it was her fault, maybe she’s shouldn’t have brought up what was wrong. Maybe she should have minded her own business and not have asked him what was bothering him. But Callie was his best friend! What was she to do when she knew her best friend was hurting? She just didn’t think that a conversation like that would spring about.

She knew he loved her. She knew that Willow might as well have been the one, but he had never told her so upfront of his feelings. When they were younger and he had just started going out with Willow Holland, they used to stay up late at night and he would tell her how amazing he thought she was. He had been a smitten fourteen-year-old boy. It was hard not to admit to herself that she was envious of the girl. She had hated her from the start. Willow was just so pretty and so damn smart. Willow was everything she wanted to be, because she was everything that Garrett had wanted. She was so kind that Callie had a hard time even hating her. Then, Garrett started making plans without Callie and instead with Willow. He sat with her at lunch and brought her to parties and to their game nights. She started seeing less and less of him alone and more and more of Willow. It wasn’t Garrett anymore. It was Garrett and Willow. Their friends joked that the two were going to get married when high school was over. It ripped Callie’s heart at the seams. Hearing him say the L-word tore it open, making the rip even bigger than it was. It tore at her chest and broke through her ribs and squeezed her heart until it just stopped pumping. She felt her stomach tighten and she frowned, her lips turning down so low that they almost fell off her face.

“You’re so stupid, Garrett. You’re just so fucking stupid!” she exclaimed. It came out like word vomit, against her will, and she instantly regretted it as it slipped past her lips. She wanted to smack her head on the table and stab herself with the butter-knife. She didn’t know what she was doing. She pushed him out of the booth and rushed outside while Garrett stared at her confusedly.

She flew out of the glass door, a wave of heat crashing into her. She gasped for air, but managed to hold in her tears. She was getting way too emotional. This wasn’t Callie. Maybe it had all caught up to her, after all those years of suffering, she was finally feeling the pain full throttle.

Garrett clambered out of the diner with a scowl on his face. “What is your problem?” he asked.

“Just take me home.”

He shook his head. He was confused and he wanted an explanation. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong. It’s your turn.” He fired back.

“Nothing,” she answered, rubbing her temples. She felt a headache forming and she dug through her bag for aspirin.

“My ass it’s nothing,” he yelled. He walked towards her until he was looming over the small girl. Garrett had a temper and it was clear he was losing it. She cowered, but kept her ground.

“You know what my problem is, Garrett?” she asked him slowly. Callie was losing it, but she couldn’t help it. Callie didn’t care. She was just so upset. She was just so hurt and it was all crashing down on her. She was the cliché she didn’t want to be. She was losing her mind. She wanted to blame it all on the alcohol from the night before, but that was out of her system and she knew it. She didn’t know what was going on with her. “Willow pushes you around and you let her. You let her poke at your insecurities and you let her pick those fights with you. You let her win and you let her do it all over again. You’re just so fucking whipped, and she doesn’t even love you back. If she did, she wouldn’t be such a fucking bitch to you all the time. And Willow is a fucking bitch.”

He looked appalled. “You never liked Willow!” he accused. “Who are you to judge her? You never gave her a chance.”

“She doesn’t need a chance. She doesn’t deserve anything.”

“Why are you being such a bitch, Cal?” he exclaimed heatedly.

“Because you’re so pathetic,” she seethed. Callie Berkley was losing her mind. She gasped and brought her hand up to her mouth, like she had said something so foul, something crude, and blasphemous. Garrett stumbled back, like her words had actually punched him in the gut. They might as well have though, and he narrowed his eyes at her. He didn’t reply, and instead walked swiftly towards his car. Callie wanted to call after him and ask him what he was doing, but he was already climbing into the driver’s seat and starting up the engine.

“You can fucking walk,” he growled and he wheeled out of the parking lot, leaving an angry puff of smoke in his wake.

Callie groaned loudly and slapped a hand to her face. She treaded back into the diner, avoiding the hostess’s vindictive smile. She sat at the table where they had been sitting at and slammed her head onto the table top. She pulled out her cell phone and called the first person that came to mind. She prayed he would answer this early in the morning before his name was highlighted and she pressed ‘okay’.

“Hey, Cal. Whaddup?”

“C-Can you…Can you pick me up?” she stuttered. She was shocked at her choked voice and to find tears leaking out of her eyes.

“Yeah, of course, babe. Are you alright? Where are you?” he asked her worriedly.

“I-I’m fine, honestly. Could you just…get me, please. I’m at the diner around the corner from the high school.” She wiped at her eyes as she stared out the tinted windows of the restaurant. They were rushing out so fast and all she wanted to do was lock herself in her room and curl up in her bed.

“I’m coming. Just hold on, okay? I'm coming, babe,” he assured her.

“O-Okay.” Callie tucked a piece of hair behind her ear hastily and let out a gasp as a bout of sobs overcame her. “J-Just stay on…stay on the phone—please, stay on the phone with me?”

“Alright, Sweetheart. I’m coming.”