He was a Boy, She was a Girl

Callies POV

It took me almost all week to get used to Aidens new hair style. But I wasn’t alone in that. Jamie kept pulling him aside talking about it. yes, that’s right, two teenage boys talking about hair.

By Saturday I was pretty comfortable with it. Whether that was by actually looking at it, or feeling it through my fingers, I couldn’t tell you. But I was used to it, and that’s what matters, right?

“CALLIE! For the last time! WE NEED TO GO!!” Paige screams up at me. I was still in my room doing and redoing my hair. I was obviously nervous for tonight. Who wouldn’t be? I had to go face my ex-boyfriend on his property. I hadn’t told Aiden yet the real reason on why I didn’t want to show up. The truth is that I’m afraid Logan hasn’t informed his family yet about our…break up. Obviously Christine knows, but his parents are another story. I sigh and set down my comb, I grab my clutch and jog down the stairs.

Jamie was sitting with Mollie on the couch while Paige and Matt were cuddled on one of the big chairs.

“sorry,” I apologize, entering the room, “we should go.”

“ya think?” Mollie remarks, getting off of the couch. Aiden gets up last and walks over to me.

We stand at the door for a moment, “nervous, huh?”

"You have no idea.”

“just stick with me, it’ll be over before you know it.” I nod, and we walk out to the awaiting limo. That’s right, his parents rented two limos for the night, one for us and one for them. Sweet, huh?

The guys pile into the car first, Paige and Mollie pause and turn to me, "You going to be okay hun?” Paige asks.

“do I have a choice?” I reply.

Mollie and Paige look at each other hesitantly, “have you talked to Aiden yet?” I had told them about my worries.

“no, but he’ll find out soon enough. Come on, get in you guys.” I tell them and we all slide in opposite of the boys.

The driver takes a few shortcuts to the house and we arrive just as a large group enters.

“ready?” Aiden asks, linking arms with me.

“not even close.”

"You’ve been to hundreds of these Callie, you’ll do fine.” He reassures me. We all walk into the ballroom as a group and find our table.

After a couple dances, Aiden and I take a break and sit down to talk.

“Callie!” I hear a shout, and look up to see Christine run as fast as she can in her heels, “I need to talk to you.” She says a little out of breath once she reaches us.

I excuse myself from Aiden and follow her a little ways away.

“what?”

“my parents still think you and Logan are dating.”

“I was afraid of this,” I mumble more to myself than to her.

“it shouldn’t make a difference, but I just want you to be careful. If I were you, I would just tell them once you see them. Make it quick and simple, they don’t need details.” I nod and thank her before heading back to the table.

“everything alright?” Aiden asks.

“yeah, she just had a question about some guy.” Aiden nods. ‘I’ll Be,’ comes on and he asks me to dance. I accept and we walk back out to the dance floor. At the end of the song Aiden twirled me out and then back in into a dip. I smile at how cheesy this was as he bent down and gave me a small kiss on the lips.

That’s when all hell broke lose. “Callie?” I hear his voice ask, sounding hurt. My eyes pop open as Aiden pulls back frozen.

“what’s going on?” he mouths to me.

“I have no clue,” I mouth back.

Aiden pulls me up and lets go of me. “how could you do this to me?” Logan asks. People around us stopped dancing and watched.

What the fuck is this jerk doing?

“Logan, what are you doing?” I ask quietly to him. He just gives Aiden and I a quick smirk before letting the smile disappear and him looking all sad and pissed.

“I can’t believe you just kissed him in front of me!” he cries. My mouth drops and even though I wasn’t even touching Aiden I could feel him tense up next to me, ready to beat the crap out of Logan once again.

Logan’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Powell appear into a gap that was suddenly made in the crowd for them.

“Logan dear, what on earth is going on here?” Mrs. Powell asks.

“This…” he points up to Aiden, “guy, just kissed my girlfriend.” I was taking deep breaths, attempting to calm myself. Aiden wasn’t doing anything to Logan before I got my hands on him.

“How dare you-“ I start but get cut off by Mr. Powell.

"You want to explain yourself son?” Mr. Powell asks staring directly at Aiden.

Aiden gulps and looks down at me for support. I give him a look that tells him, ‘what the hell am I supposed to do?’ His chest rises as he takes a deep breath and starts improving, “sorry sir, I wasn’t aware this young lady was already taken.” Aiden says all gentlemen like. I was actually surprised since I’d never seen this side of him.

“Ha! As if!” Logan exclaims, “Father, this boy is in my French class at school. He sure knows who I’m dating.” Logan explains to his dad, “and in all honesty, I was pretty sure he was going out with that girl Samantha Reynolds.”

That did it for me. I slip off my earrings, necklace, and shoes as Logan continues on with his explanation to his dad.

He was turned toward Mr. Powell and didn’t see me coming which was probably the only reason I was able to tackle my schools varsity football player to the ground. I punched him in the face a good five times, and elbowed him some lower down.

"You jerk!” I scream at him, "You fucking manipulating jerk!” everyone was around us now, but I didn’t care. I get off of him and stand up, “never talk about me, my friends, or my boyfriend like that ever again. You hear me Logan!? Never!”

I walk back over to Aiden who handed me my stuff. “thank you.” I tell him, putting everything back on.

“so, I, uh, guess I don’t get to take a swing at him tonight.” Aiden asks.

“sorry, I just had some anger built up.”

“Yeah, I noticed. I’d rather you beat him up than me, so it’s all good.”

I turn back around to the crowd and notice Logan still on the ground. “don’t even think about it Callie.” Aiden says, reading my mind.

“I know what I’m doing.” I tell him. Aiden hesitantly lets me go. I walk over to the side of Logan and stare down at him. He flinches and I laugh a little. Heels would hurt a lot more. Guess I should have thought about that beforehand though. I reach out my hand to help him up and he takes it, not smiling one bit. “now you know what you’re messing with Logan, so stay away.” I let go of him and walk past everyone back to my table.

Jamie, Matt, Mollie and Paige were all waiting for me.

"You all good now?” Jamie asks, giving me a quick hug.

“yeah, I’m good.” I tell him.

Matt smiles at me, “I can’t believe you just took down our quarterback.” He comments.

“I know. I’m slightly jealous and slightly scared of you now.” Paige says and we all laugh.

The laughing though, ended shortly with a small scream. I knew that specific scream came from Mrs. Powell, and we all sprinted to see what was happening. I guess I just assumed that Aiden would have followed me, but I guess he didn’t. Instead he was on the ground under Logan, and they were fighting.

Jamie and Matt look at each other and nod as they intervene with the fight and attempt to pull them apart once again. But they wouldn’t have it and kept on fighting. I barely noticed that Paige had left until she came back holding two fairly large pieces of ice. She handed them to Matt and Jamie and they looked at her for a second confused.

“down the shirt,” she said in her ‘duh’ tone.

They nod and follow her instructions, putting the ice down the guys’ shirts. Aiden must’ve noticed something going on, because he grabbed Matt’s hand and stopped it before the ice could reach his skin. Logan on the other hand wasn’t so aware and Jamie easily got the piece of ice down his shirt. This made him flail around some, but not really let go of Aiden. Although his loosen grip made it possible for Jamie and Matt to pull them apart.

“never,” Aiden instructs Matt, “put ice down the back of the guy you’re trying to save. Do you think I wanted to be down there? No. so, pull him off me, not the other way around.” Aiden was slightly out of breath and defiantly more bruised up than the prior week. Logan though, Logan was a disaster. Aiden, Jamie, Mollie, Matt, and Paige all head to leave and I tell them I’ll catch up with them. First though, I had to apologize to Mr. and Mrs. Powell.

I slowly walk up to them and they eye me carefully, “Mr. and Mrs. Powell, I’d just like to inform you, if you didn’t catch on, that Logan and I are separated and have been separated for two week now upon him cheating on me with the earlier mentioned Samantha Reynolds. I apologize for my behavior this night, but the lies he was telling you guys just got the best of me. I also apologize for the second fight that occurred, although I’m not quite sure who started that one…” I trail off. Christine pops out from the other side of her mom then and walks over to me.

“this has been the best coming out party ever!” she hugs me tightly, “I knew it wouldn’t be the same without you.” We both laugh, mine more nervous than hers.

I thank them for the evening and make my way out to the two cars. Cathy and Robert are already out there with the rest of them which makes me wonder if they witnessed the whole show or not.

I slowly approach them and finally make it to Aidens side. He wraps an arm around me and pulls me a little closer. No one says anything for a moment or two, not quite sure of what to say. Suddenly though, Aidens dad speak up. “Damn girl, you know how to fight!”

“Robert!” Cathy scolds him.

“what?! It’s the truth, did you see the way she threw her punches?”

“dad, lets just drop it for tonight.” Aiden says.

My stomach quietly grumbles, wanting food. “I’m hungry,” I mention.

“I think we all are,” Cathy says, “so how about we go grab some dinner, the night is still young.”

“sounds great!” Paige says.

“okay, Paige, Mollie, Jamie and Matt, you guys come with us,” Cathy orders, “Aiden, you and Callie go home and get cleaned up. We’ll meet you at Starlite in about half an hour.”

Aiden gives his mom a quick hug and then grabs my hand and walks me to the other limo. Everyone else gets into the first limo and drive off while Aiden and I just stand there for a few minutes, enjoying the view.

“I still can’t believe you attacked him like that.” Aiden says, leaning next to me on the car.

“yeah, well, now you know never to cheat on me.” I point out. Aiden turns so that I’m pressed between him and the car.

"You really think I’d cheat on you?” he asks, leaning in closer to me.

“mmm, I would like to say no, but-“ our lips were centimeters apart and my eyes started to slip closed, "You never know.” Aiden rests his hands on my hips and starts to pull me closer.

"You’re right, you never know.” My eyes shoot open for the second time tonight.

Aiden turns around and stands in front of me, blocking me from seeing Logan.

“get in the car now Callie,” Aiden practically growls at me.

“he’s not worth it Aiden.”

“Callie, get in the car.”

“ah, look it’s the perfect couple fighting.” Logan comments while stepping closer to us.

I step out from behind Aiden, “give it up Logan! Nobody likes you!” I yell at him, “the only reason you were popular, was because of me. Without me, you’re just another guy at the school.”

He stood there for a second or two and then turned and stomped off. Aiden opens the door without a word and slides in after me. Actually, he was silent for most of the car ride to the house. It wasn’t until we reached downtown that he started talking.

“I think I should tell you something.” He says in that ‘I don’t want to talk about it’ tone.

I hesitantly turn to face him, "You don’t have t-“ I start to tell him not to talk, but he stops me.

“no, I have to.” His eyes were practically begging, “please, just let me do this.”

I nod slowly, “okay.”

“okay, so,” he lets out a big breath that I guess he had been holding in for awhile. “I-don’t freak out.”

“Aiden, do you realize that telling me not to freak out will probably lead to me freaking out.”

“fine, just. Ugh.” I smile at how hard this was for him. This is the first time I’ve seen him so…weak. I pull out a notebook and pen that came with the limo.

“here.” I say, handing the supplies to him.

“what the hell am I supposed to do with that?!”

“well, it’s obviously hard for you to get out, so I thought you could write it.”

he grabs the pen and paper and quickly writes something and then hands it back to me. well, that was fast. I mean, really fast.

I slowly read what he wrote and froze in my seat, dropping the notebook to the floor.

I’m not virgin, it read.

“Callie?” Aiden asks, “Callie!” I still didn’t move, “dammit, I told you not to freak.” He mumbles to himself but I could still hear.

He wasn’t virgin, wasn’t- ugh, that’s the reason why Logan broke up with me and cheated on me. It’s not like I’m waiting until marriage or anything, I’m just waiting.

“Callie, look, it’s not like I’m pressuring you or anything, I swear. Plus, I haven’t had sex in over a year. It’s just, I knew that that was one of the big secrets the Logan kept from you and I wanted to be straight forward, not have you find out from Mollie or something.” Wait, Mollie?

“Mollie!? How the hell would Mollie know?!” I scream at him.

Aiden bites his bottom lip, “wait, no, that’s-shit. Mollie and I never did anything, I swear. But she still talks to people from my old school and shit gets around, you of all people would know that.”

I look away from him and out the window. I take a few deep breaths, “okay.”

“okay?”

“well, what am I supposed to say? It’s not like we can go back in time and change stuff or something. If you promise not to pressure me into anything, then okay.” Aiden slides over closer to me and gently but sternly forces me to face him.

“I promise.” He says, looking deep into my eyes.

“okay then.” I say.

“okay then.” Aiden repeats and slides his fingers in between mine while moving back over to his side.

“was that your big secret?” I ask.

“huh?” he had been looking out the window and now turns to me.

"You know how we both have secrets, was that yours?”

“oh, no.”

“no?”

“no.”

“oh.”

He must have seen the disappointment in my face. If that wasn’t his secret, than how big was it? “I need to work some stuff out before I tell you.” He explains, “I, -it’s complicated.” I nod, understanding. “can I ask you something now?” he asks.

I roll my eyes at him, “of course you can.”

“well, back at the party, you called me your boyfriend and I just wanted to make sure that you’re ready for that…”

“if I’m ready for a relationship?” I ask, to clear things up.

“yeah…” he looks over at me confused at the way I was reacting, “what?”

"You’re asking me what?”

“do I have to spit it out?”

“I think at this point you do Aiden.”

He sighs and I laugh, "You just broke up with your boyfriend of what? Four, five years? That was only two weeks ago Callie. I’ve been the rebound boyfriend before and I don’t aspire to being that guy again.”

“trust me,” I tell him, “you would not be my rebound boyfriend.”

“is that supposed to be an insult?” he asks jokingly.

"You’ll never know.”

“oh, I think I will.”

The car pulls into the driveway and I laugh as he I hop out and beat him to the locked front door. Aiden catches up to me and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. He starts tickling me which makes me burst out int laughter.

“Aiden!!!”

“what?!!”

“that tickles!”

“that’s the point!”

“unlock the damn door Aiden!”

“why?” he stops tickling me and I catch my breath.

“because, I’m seriously hungry.” I tell him and right on cue my tummy grumbles.

He pulls out his key and unlocks the door, “I guess I can’t fight with that growl.” He says, smiling. We go to the bathroom and clean up the few scrapes each of us have and then head back out to the limo.

“just so you know.” He says, holding the door open for me and then sliding in after, “I know you changed the subject earlier.” I smile and don’t answer, “Callie, I’m, for once, being serious.” He says sternly.

“I’m ready, okay.” I tell him, “and you mister are asking me if I’m ready but you haven’t said anything about yourself.”

He pauses and looks away from me before answering, “I just think that, even though I really like, we don’t really know each other.”

“okay, fair enough. There’s a game Wednesday, we can go out after that.”

“about that…” he trails off.

“About what? The game? You’re going, right?” I ask frantically.

“yeah, I uh,” he pauses and gulps, “talked to coach Michael and there was an open spot on the JV and I sort of-“

“you sort of what?!”

“am now starting quarterback for JV.”

“you-you-you’re a football player?”

We were now parked in the restaurant parking lot and the driver was becoming impatient. I open my door and get out, slamming it shut.

I didn’t want a football player. I didn’t want to be that cliché couple again of a cheerleader and quarterback. I didn’t want that. Aiden was right, we really didn’t know anything about each other.

He gets out quickly behind me and catches up to my side.

“how could you not tell me?” I wonder, still walking toward the entrance.

“I just found out on Thursday and I was going to ease it into a conversation…”

“why not just tell me Aiden?”

“I don’t know.” But even if he doesn’t realize it, I do. He was like Logan. It was all clear now. Him not being virgin, his haircut, playing football… I stop in my tracks and turn to face him.

“you’re just like Logan, aren’t you?” I question him.

“what? No I-“

“yes you are Aiden, and that’s why you don’t want to tell me anything. You’re afraid that if you’re like him, I won’t want to be with you. You were right, we really don’t know anything about each other. I should never have called you my boyfriend.” With those last words hanging in the air I stomp off and enter the restaurant finding Cathy and Robert and all the rest instantly.

“where’s Aiden?” cathy asks a little worried.

“he’ll be in in just a second” I tell them and sure enough about a minute later Aiden walks in all calm looking and takes the seat next to me.

Jamie looks between me and Aiden and I can tell by his face that he knows something is up.

After the surprisingly un-awkward dinner. (thanks to Robert and his weird conversation starters). We all walk out to the limos. I simply open the door to one from earlier and get in with Paige and Mollie to follow. Aiden on the other hand opens the door to the other limo and gets in with Jamie and Matt to following. I heard Cathy tell Robert that they would grab a cab and they walked away. The limo driver pulled out of the parking lot, heading for the neighborhood.

“what the hell happened?” Paige asks finally.

“life”

“he told you didn’t he?” Mollie asks.

“well I don’t know. He told me a few stuff, yes.”

“that he’s not virgin?” she asks.

“yes.”

“what about the football team?” Paige asks.

I snap my head up to face her, “how did you know about that?”

“matt” I nod.

“he’s just like Logan, and I can’t have that again.” I shrug.

“girl, that guy is far from Logan.” Paige remarks.

Mollie nods in agreement, “known both of them for quite some time and he really isn’t anything like that jerk who dumped you.”

“the secrets and lies? Not being a virgin? playing quarterback on the football team? Even his freaking hair cut!”

“which was not his choice. Leave the hair cut out of this.” Mollie says.

“whatever, even without the haircut, he still lied.”

“about what?” Paige asks.

“about,” I pause to think, “about me not being his type.” Mollie and Paige both crack up laughing.

“yeah, okay, any legit lies?” Paige asks.

“that is totally a legit lie.” I argue.

“no Callie, a legit lie is like him telling you he’s virgin but he isn’t. like Logan did. That’s a legit lie.” I cross my arms.

“fine, whatever, he hasn’t lied that I know of.”

“and he’s been there for you through Logan and Samantha and your mom.” Mollie points out.

“plus Jamie approves. And let me tell ya, that guy barely approved matt for me.” Paige says.

The limo pulls up to my driveway and I get out, heading straight for my house with my phone in hand. Yesterday I had added Paige to Aidens contacts just to make sure he had her number in case I was with her and my phone was broken or something. Right after entering Paige was the last name on the list, Zack. Under his name the relationship was under best friend. It wouldn’t hurt, right? To get Aidens best friends number. I quickly then added it to mine before anyone noticed. And now, standing in my living room with my phone on speaker I dial this strangers number.

“hello?” a groggy voice answers. The door bursts open then with Mollie and Paige standing there staring at me.

“what can you tell me about Aiden?” I ask.

“what?” he sounded confused.

“is that Zack?” Mollie asks, pointing toward the phone. I nod.

“Mollie?” he asks, sounding a little more awake now that he recognizes someone.

“hi there Zack!”

“so Aiden Baker, what can you tell me about him?” I ask again.

“uh, well…is this Callie?”

“yes, now answer.”

“he uh skateboards, has been for about three years now. His brother taught him and after that rumors started to spread and he found it easier to act skater punk than his usual jock-like self.”

“so he has always played football?”

“pretty much. Um, other than that…he’s really good at French and his car from Italy is probably the best car ever. And-“

“that’s enough.”

“good. Can I go back to bed?”

“yeah, whatever,”I shut my phone and crash onto the sofa.

“how did you get Zacks number?” Mollie asks suspiciously.

“I have my ways.” I reply into the pillow.

“whatever, have fun with your ways, I have to track down Matt to take me home.” Paige says and we all say our goodbyes to her.

“hey, can you stay tonight?” I ask Mollie, still talking to the pillow.

“sure thing. Works perfectly since Jamie is staying with Aiden”

“don’t remind me.” I mumble.

The doorbell rings and I look up, staring at Mollie, “slam it if it’s Aiden.” I tell her. She shrugs and walks to the door, opening it. Mollie closes the door just as quick and locks it before leaning against the hard wood.

“Aiden?” I guess. She shakes her head no frantically, “Logan?” I take a second guess, a little more confused at that.

Mollie shakes her head no again, “I know we’ve had a rough patch, but you trust me, right?”

“yeah…” I’m sure I sounded worried now and that’s because I was. if it wasn’t Aiden or Logan, who else could it be? And why were they at my house at midnight? And why would Mollie slam the door on them?”

“well then, I swear you’d rather have it be Aiden or even Logan in a million years than the guy who is at the door.”

My face drops. It couldn’t be him, could it?