He was a Boy, She was a Girl

Aidens POV

While skating, Callies parents called her so I drove her to the hospital and waited with her. Hours of crossword puzzles and crappy coffee later, her dad appears. Callie follows him into the room and I sit back, relaxing some, and worrying some.
About thirty minutes later she comes out grinning. “cute kid?” I ask, standing up.
“adorable” she replies, “he’s going to be a heartbreaker some day.”
I smile, “must run in the family.”
Callie gasps at my joke and playfully slaps my arm, “not funny!” she grabs my hand and pulls it for me to follow, “come on. I’m exhausted.”
On the drive to the neighborhood and I told her the date of when Reilly was coming. I decided that it was easier to slide into these type of things. Small amounts of information at once.
I walk her to her door after parking in my driveway. “thanks for coming with me tonight. It really meant a lot.” She says, squeezing my hand.
“don’t mention it.”
Her next question surprised me, “could you spend the night tonight?”
I stared at her for a moment, slightly confused. Did she really just ask that? “of course.” I reply.
“really?!” I guess she wasn’t expecting me to say yes.
“yes really. Can you open the door though, it’s getting chilly out here.” She smiles widely and unlocks the front door.
“You do know that Tristan told me how you’ve been getting into the house. Your secrets out mister.”
“darn. Well, it was fun while it lasted.”
I follow her upstairs and she walks into her bathroom to change while I just slip on some pajama pants that she ‘borrowed’ from me. I wasn’t exactly tired as I sat down on the bed, waiting for Callie.
She comes out of the bathroom and sits next to me, “you called your parents, right?”
“yup.” I lie. I would just explain to them tomorrow, “I told them I didn’t like the idea of you staying here alone with Tristan back around.”
Callie leans over and kisses me, “one of the reasons you’re my boyfriend.” She says when she pulls back.
I smile, “because I lie to my parents for you?” or just that I lie in general…
“something like that.” She replies and kisses me again.
I pull back, detaching our lips, “what are the other reasons?”
Callie kisses me quickly, “you’re sweet,” kiss, “rude, “kiss, “different,” kiss, “honest,” kiss, “and last but most important. Gorgeous.” She kisses me deeply and my hands wrap around her waist, pulling her closer. I move my lips down her neck, nibbling on her sweet spot that was right above her collarbone. Callie moans and I smile against her skin, moving my fingers up her shirt a little. This felt right, felt how it was supposed to be. But when she giggled and moved her lips back to mine, a flash of memory went through my head and I had to pull away. I lift her off of me, setting her to the side. She stares at me and I stare back. “I’m sorry.” I say.
“you don’t have to apologize Aiden.” Callie says, sounding out of breath, “but you do have to explain.
“there’s something I didn’t tell you.”
“and of course you choose now to do so.” She replies sarcastically. It was true that I always seemed to choose the worst moments to tell her the worst things, “please, continue.”
“I- like I said before, I’m not virgin.” Callie nods, “but the three times I have, uh, had sex, I was drunk.” She stayed silent, “so technically I’m not virgin, but I, in all honesty, have no idea what I’m doing.” I admit.
Callie laughs, “that’s why we experiment honey.” She pecks my lips and slides under the covers. “we’ll continue later. You totally killed the mood.”
I get under the covers also and wrap my arms around her, “if you can call me honey, can I call you cupcake?” I whisper into her ear.
“that’s not how it works sweetheart.”
“Callie…” I groan.
“I could just call you Aids again.” Oh gosh, it seems like years since she called me that, when it was a mere eight months ago.
“sounds tougher than sweetheart.”
“and when exactly did you start worrying about toughness?”
“when my girlfriend started calling me sweetheart.”
Another laugh escapes Callies lips, “I’m really tired Aiden, let’s go to sleep.”

~~

There aren’t any words to describe how glad I am that it’s finally the fifteenth. Well, sort of. It did mean that Reilly would be coming in a week, but it was also the day that it would just be Callie and I. Well, Paige, Mollie, Christie, Justin, Jamie and Matt would be there also, but that was better than Logan.
I still hate the guy and don’t trust him a little bit, but, I am able to pretend to be ‘friends’ for as long as it takes to convince Callie that he really isn’t that good of a person; just like Tristan.
Today though, today I got to put that all aside and enjoy time at the beach with my amazing girlfriend and the rest of our group. After dropping her parents off at the airport that is. Joey, Callies younger brother, would be staying with me, in my room. Something about getting me ready for Reilly to come or whatnot. I don’t know why my mom likes babies so much.
Callie slides back into the front seat next to me. “ready for the beach?” I ask, turning the music back on.
“no parents, no rules, and no service! That’s what I call a great day!” she screams her reply. I laugh and kiss her cheek before pulling out of the parking area
By the time we got to the beach, the rest of the group was already set up. The girls ran up to Callie screaming while the guys and I just exchanged looks, shaking our heads. We have yet to find out what the point of the screaming and running is.
“hey you guys!” Callie replies to them.
“with your parents out of town, we’ll see you more, won’t we?” Christie asks. Unlike her brother, Christie was a really nice person. Plus it didn’t hurt that she was dating Justin, they seemed to be working well.
“I don’t know, hopefully.” Was Callies answer.
“you do know and the answer is yes.” Paige says. We walk over to the area the others picked out and I set down my sweatshirt. Callie pulled out her sunscreen, getting disapproved looks from the other girls.
After a short fight with Christina about skin cancer, she hands the bottle to me so that I can do the back. The rest start to head down to the water. I rub the lotion on the small parts of skin that wasn’t covered by her swimsuit. As I spread it onto her lower back, I slip my fingers under the strap of her shorts, just to see her reaction. Callie, of course, quickly slapped my hand away, “Aiden!”
I smile, “it was an innocent mistake.”
“uh-huh. I’m sure it was.” She replies and I knew she didn’t believe me.
I snap the cap to the sunscreen closed and set it back into the bag, “all done.” I turn her around in my arms and pout. Even as a cheerleader, she insists on wearing a tank top and shorts as her swimsuit. “I don’t get why you don’t show off your body more, it’s amazing.” I comment for the millionth time, kissing her forehead.
And, I just get the same explanation like always, “because I don’t think women should have to show more skin just to impress other people, men especially.”
“didn’t know I got with such a feminist.” I joke, kissing her again.
“race ‘ya to the water!” she was already running past me as she said this and I chase her down.
“hey!” I catch up with her and swiftly lift her up. Callie tries to wiggle out but fails as I dump her into the water.
She pops up and shakes her wet hair, “I’m going to get you for that!” and that my friends, is how the big water fight started. Girls against boys of course, and the boys won. We had quite the advantage of being able to lift them, and them not being able to lift us.

The girls ran off talking which left Jamie, Justin, Matt and I to talk amongst ourselves.
“dude, when are you going to tell her?” Jamie asks. I glare at him. I knew that the question was going to be asked, but I really wish it wasn’t now. Although it wasn’t like we’d had a lot of alone time to talk about this.
“I’m starting to decided that never is the best decision.” I reply.
Justin knew about Reilly, but Matt still didn’t have a clue, “what are you guys talking about? Tell who what?” He was so clueless sometimes.
I sigh and look out over the water, “you know how my parents adopted a baby?” I ask, making sure he was caught up and he nods his head yes, “well, Reilly, the baby, is, um, mine.”
“yours?”
“yeah.”
“as in you are the father?”
“yes.”
“and you don’t plan on telling Callie this?”
“I have no f*cking clue at this point.” I reply, telling the truth. I wanted to tell her, but there was still that fear of rejection hanging out in the back of my head.

Later, we were lying on the sand, Callies head on my chest. She drew small designs in my hand while I used my other hand to play with her hair. “hey, Calvina...?”
“how many times do I have to say I hate that name to make you stop calling me it?” she questions.
“infinity.” I reply.
“and yes? You were saying something?”
“oh, well Reilly is coming in a week.”
“I know that silly.” She giggles.
It was that moment where I knew if I told her, I would never hear that laugh again, or feel her skin against mine. Her eyes wouldn’t sparkle the same way when they saw me and she wouldn’t smile 24/7. And I just couldn’t get myself to do that. “well there’s something I didn’t tell you…” I glance down at her and her face changed to worried.
“Aiden, do we have to talk about this now?” she asks.
“yes. It’s not bad though, I promise.” I feel her nod and continue, “all I was going to inform you about is that the girl my parents are adopting from, well, she is one of my friends from back west.”
“what?”
“yeah. So, I don’t know, just thought I’d tell you.”
“you guys had pregnant girls at your school?”
“Callie, we have pregnant girls at our school.”
“yeah, but-“ she stops, not knowing what to say.
“I know you’ll be nice to her; you’re nice to everyone. I just want to make sure you won’t tell anyone, she had enough rumors going around about her before and I’m sure she doesn’t need to be judged a second time.”
I feel another nod against my chest and everything goes silent. Callie continues to trace things on my palm, “it’s moments like these I wish I could just freeze,” she states after a couple minutes.
“mmm, yes.” I reply, hearing a snap as if a picture was just taken. I glance up and see Matthew standing there with his camera, “looks like it just was.”
Callie laughs and it vibrates through my body. She sits up a little, getting off me, and I follow. “you promised I got to hear you play tonight.”
This was true, I did promise her that. For a few reasons, one, Logan plays guitar, I had to make sure she knew I was musically talented too, and not just the Backstreet Boys. Two, I don’t know, just seemed like a big part of my life that I hadn’t really shared with her yet. “I did, didn’t I?”
“uh-huh.”
“okay, let’s go back to the fire then.” I stand up and reach down to help Callie to her feet. She pulled her camera out for the millionth time to look at the pictures.
Each of us had our own log around the fire which was nice I guess. Matt finished a few chords on his guitar which he named Ruby, and then set her aside. Callie nudges me in the ribs, reminding me of my promise.
“fine.” I mumble, “hey Matt, can I borrow Ruby for a second.”
“of course.” Matt says, carefully handing her over to me.
I hadn’t really planned for this, even though I did tell her yes. Of course I had songs memorized, but they seemed a little personal at the moment. Especially since they were either about Reilly or Callie. “can I see your camera?” I ask Callie next to me. She looks confused, but hands it to me anyways and I flip through some pictures before handing it back, “okay, let’s see what I can come up with…” I start humming and stroking a few chords.

“Look at this photograph
can’t you see how much fun we had
Back in the days when boys were rad
And girls just laughed
Well I can tell you this
We had quite a life…

The summer of ten,
Well it was way back when
Life was carefree, simple, plain
We had our fun in the sun
And now we’re all done
Going down memory lane
Back to the summer of two-thousand-ten

I try to think up another verse or two before continuing with my words.

“A couple stops by
remembering the days
when what they saw
was how they lived
forty years before
boys were strong
and girls were stronger
beer was nice
but drugs were better.

The summer of ten
Well it was way back when
Life was carefree, simple, plain
We had our fun in the sun
And now we’re all done
Going down memory lane
Back to the summer of two-thousand ten

No rules, no parents, no service
A day like today
Couldn’t get much better than this
Lets just say that with our friends
Summer of ten would be the best of them

The summer of ten
Well it was way back when
Life was carefree, simple, plain
We had our fun in the sun
And now we’re all done
Going down memory land
Back to the summer of two-thousand-ten
Yeah
We’re going back down memory lane
To the summer of two-thousand-ten
Back in the days when life was carefree
Simple and plain
We had our fun in the sun
The summer of two-thousand
Yeah-yeah
The summer of two-thousand-ten

I strum a few more chords and then set Ruby down next to me. Everyone was staring at me, “well?” I ask, turning to Callie specifically.
“that was magnificent!” she practically screams.
A couple of us laugh, “really Aiden, that was totally awesome.” Christina comments.
Matt seemed to be the one most shocked, “I can’t believe you just wrote that.”
I was worried then “you could tell?”
“dude, you were singing about today. It was slightly obvious after you asked for Callies camera.”
“I guess. It’s not that amazing of a song. Defiantly short.” I comment.
“short or not. I loved it.” Callie says and wraps her arms around me, kissing me gently on the lips. I hand the guitar back to Matt who then gets a lecture from Paige.
“why don’t you write songs for me?”
“um. When have I ever been good with words sweetie?” he asks in reply. Truth was, Matt had written songs for her, he just never shared them. I remember stumbling over some when I went over to his house and he was totally embarrassed about them. Though they were terrific lyrics, I think he’s just shy to sing.
“right. I forgot.” Paige
We decided to leave about then. It was getting late and none of us wanted our parents to worry. The others got to their cars while Callie and I spent another ten minutes or so sitting on the beach.
“that really was a great song Aiden.” She says, leaning her head against my shoulder. I smile.
“thanks babe.” I kiss her nose, “we should head out before my parents start worrying.” I say and stand up to help her up. We climb into my car and I get drive back onto the highway.
Callie had taken my phone to check for messages, and was staring at both of ours in shock once we hit service.
“Aiden, pull over.”
I was confused, but did so anyways, pulling to the side, “what’s wrong?” I ask, worriedly.
“I don’t know.” She replies and hands me my phone, “but I need to call your parents.” While she calls my mom, I go through my messages, landing on one from Logan. I grimaced as I read the text, “how much longer do I have to pretend I like you?” was his question and I deleted it. All the texts were from my parents or Mike and were practically the same, asking where we were.
One though, from Mike, stood out. “Aiden, I don’t care how many speed limits you get to get here, but the instant you get this, put your sports car to some good use.” What the hell was he talking about?!
Just as I was about to speed off, listening to Mike, Callie drops her phone and I look over to see her in shock. I picked up the phone which had my mom panicking on the other end.
“mom?” I ask, trying to stay calm.
“oh, Aiden! Is she okay?!”
“I-uh, don’t know really. What happened?”
“there was a plane crash and, well, it was the one Callies parents were on.”
I know this sounds rude, but the first thing that popped into my head was the fact that I would have to share a room with not one, but two babies. And then realization hit me that Callies parents were dead.
“we’ll be there shortly.” I say and hang up. Before driving away, I had to make sure Callie wasn’t going to hurt herself, “Callie, you okay?” I ask softly. She moves her head a little.
“Calvina, you’re just in shock. It’s going to be okay.”
“place crash Aiden. How is it going to be okay?!” she screams at me and I take a quick deep breath to calm myself. “I’m sorry for screaming.” She whispers, looking down.
“it’s alright,” I say, not wanting her to feel even more terrible, “I understand.” We drove the rest of the way home in silence, which was probably a good thing.
The first thing I noticed when we entered my living-room was Tristan sitting there on the couch, “Callie-“ he starts “they’ve announced the rest dead.” Callie quickly looked over to my parents to tell her he was kidding, but they didn’t look like much help.
My mom nods and that was when Callie collapsed to the floor in tears. Everyone looked at her in horror and she sat there. “I’m going to take her upstairs.” I say quietly, and lift her into my arms. She instantly buries her head into my chest and cries her eyes out.
By the time I set her on my bed, she was trying to wipe away her tears and I stop her, “Callie,” I whisper, brushing some stray hairs out of her face. “you don’t need to be strong now.” Callie slowly nods and lets it out again, “I’m going to go talk to my parents, is there anything you need?”
“A-A-Alice” she hiccups. I slip her phone out of my pocket, which I kept from the car ride, and go through her contacts to find Alice. After doing so, I hand it to her and kiss her forehead before making my way down stairs.
“so, what’s going to happen to the house and kids?” my dad finally asks as we sit silently in the living room. Everyone was thinking about it, he just puts it out there.
“since I’m over eighteen, I’d be taking custody, right?” Tristan asks.
I laugh. I know I shouldn’t in a situation like this, but the guy was a real dumbass. “yeah, if you were alive. But you’re dead, remember? If you go to the authorities about anything and give your real name, you’ll be arrested. Can’t exactly take custody when your dead.”
“Aiden has a point.” My mom agrees, “if you don’t exist in the system there is no way you’d be getting anything. Do you have any other family?”
“of course we do. Our grandparents live in Tennessee.” Wow, that’s quite a place to live. As in, no one lives there.
“anywhere closer?”
“nope, both our parents were an only-child. And my dads parents died just after Calvina was born.”
My dad nods. “Tennessee, really?” he asks again, Tristan nods. “there must be something we could do. She can’t spend senior year in Tennessee.”
I stayed silent, knowing that my idea wouldn’t pass with my parents.
“well we could…” my mom trails off.
“no Cathy.”
“she’s a good kid. Got aidens grades up and everything. Why not?” my mom argues.
“two babies and two teenagers?”
“I’m a stay at home mom who raised two boys, I think I can handle a teenage girl.”
“and babies.” My dad points out.
“and babies.” My mom adds. I smile, knowing exactly what they were talking about and liking the sound of it.
“okay, we’ll do it.” My dad gives in. I glance at Tristan who looked confused.
“do what?” he asks.
“Adopt another two kids,” my dad glares at me for a moment. I knew he was thinking about Reilly, I really do hope he loosens up about it though.
After a couple hours of talking with my parents, I go up to my room to sleep. Callie was sprawled across my bed and I chuckle as I scoot her to one side. Her arm instantly wraps around my waist when I get in, “mmm” she mumbles, cuddling closer to me. “I love you, Aiden.” She says quietly, not opening her eyes.
I smile and kiss the top of her head, “I love you too, Callie.”