He was a Boy, She was a Girl

Callie came to school today for the first time in about two weeks. People were happy to see her and it was kind of funny how much she was actually missed. Logan though, kept his distance. That was probably a good idea since every inch of my body wanted to beat the shit out of him.

In French Jamie and I talked about the whole situation. He felt sorry for Logan while I didn’t feel the slightest bit sad. Logan did bring this all upon himself.

Somehow in the conversation though, Jamie made me agree to help him with the Freshmen Basketball team.

“You’ve got cheer, right?” I ask Callie after school ended. We were walking to her locker and it was probably one of the first times today she wasn’t surrounded by people.

“thought I’d help out some.” She says.

“well, I’ll be helping out with the freshmen basketball team, so meet you in the gym?”

Callie looks up at me confused, “since when do you play basketball?”

This was true. I wasn’t exactly the best at basketball. Football was really the only game I could play well. “since I realized it wasn’t hard to throw a ball into a hoop.” I answer.

She starts to unlock her locker, “yeah, I can meet you in the gym.” An envelope slips out of it when she opens the door. I pick it up off the floor and quickly examine it before handing it to her.”

“who’s it from?” I ask, not recognizing the handwriting.”

“Logan.” She whispers in a voice that was barely audible.

I tense up, “Logan?” I wanted to be sure about this so I knew who’s butt to kick later.

Callie senses this and intertwines her fingers with mine. “Aiden, it’s fin, it’s just a letter.” She squeezes my hand, “I’ll open it later when we leave. Right now though, I’ve got to go. So I’ll see you in about an hour, okay?”

I lean down and peck her lips, “yeah.” We separated then, walking in opposite directions.

Jamie instantly noticed I wasn’t in a good mood anymore and was hesitant to allow me to lead warm-up.

“you look seriously pissed man.” He comments when I enter the gym.

“I’m fine.”

“you and Cal have a fight?” why is that that’s the first thing he thinks of?

“no, we didn’t have a fight. Somebody left a note in her locker.”

Jamie knew who I meant by ‘somebody’ and let out a long “oh.” The group of boys enters the room then and I get introduced to them. Though that last part was probably unnecessary. If they boys weren’t on the football the team, they still knew who the quarterback was.

“okay guys! We’re going to do twenty laps. So remember to pace yourself.” I tell them and lead them off on twenty laps around the room. some of them groaned but the majority were perfectly fine with running.

About half way through I turn around and run backwards to watch the group. “you’re doing great guys, just ten more laps!”

Just as I was about to turn back around I saw one of the guys push another one, calling them a wimp. I don’t know how Jamie handles them, but I don’t put up with that type of behavior.

The kid, Sam, fell down and wasn’t getting back up. I jog over to him and tell the rest to continue jogging.

“you okay Sam?” I ask, kneeling down to him.

“I think I sprained it. I wasn’t expecting Joel to push me and tripped when he did.” Tears were pushing at the corners of his eyes which made sense. Sprains hurt.

I help him up and walk him over to the bench, “hey look, the little wimp is hurt!” Joel yells as he passes by.

“I’ll be right back.” I tell Sam. And walk over to the other end of the bleachers and call for Joel to come over. He jogs over and stops in front of me, “unless you want to be kicked off this team you are going to respect your teammates. Which means no name calling and no pushing, tripping or any other cause of pain during games, practices, or in and out of school. If I hear of any bullying from you I’ll make sure you don’t play a game.”

Joel gulps, “fine.”

“and you won’t practice today.”

“so I’ll just go home.”

I chuckle, “think it’s that easy? Think again. Go grab you book bag.” The bags were lined around the gym. Joel’s ended up being a couple feet away. I unzip it and pull out his math book and the necessities for that, handing them to him. “you’re going to sit on the bleachers and do your homework. No music, no texting, no nothing. Just you and the book.”

“yes. Got it.” He sighs and goes up to the top level of the stairs, cracking open the book.

I walk back to Sam who had put ice on his sprain. I sat down and we talked for awhile until the swelling went down some. When it did I started to wrap it and Callie came through the doors. It hadn’t seemed like an hour had passed, but I didn’t mind leaving a little early.

She took a seat next to Sam on the bench to wait for me. “Sprained ankle,” I explain, getting to the end of the wrap and clipping it with a safety pin. “Okay Sam, just rest it up and you should be good in a week or two.”

“thanks,” he says, putting the ice back onto the now wrapped ankle.

I stand up and look down at Callie, “ready to go?”

“yup.”

I grab her hand and we walk out to my car. “how was cheer?” I ask on the way out

“eh, the girls don’t listen to Paige and Paige doesn’t have the confidence to make them listen.” Callie explains in short.

“sounds fun.” I say sarcastically.

Callie laughs, “totally fun. How was basketball?”

We were feet away from the car now, “kid sprained his ankle, not exactly what I would call a successful practice.” I open the door for her and walk around to the other side. “you didn’t open the note, did you?” I ask.

“I told you I would wait, and that’s exactly what I did. so no, the note hasn’t been opened.” She says, sounding a little annoyed, “I’m a little scared to open it actually.”

“I’m sure it’s nothing terrible. He’s probably just apologizing.” I tell her. What else would it be?

“I hope you’re right.”

I pull into the driveway and we walk into the living room, taking our usual seats on the couch. Callie leans against me and I pull the envelope out of her bag. She looks at it for a moment.

“it’s not going to explode Calvina.” I whisper in her ear. She still hates the name and I still find it one of the most beautiful names ever. we argue about this a lot.

Finally she slips her finger under the flap and opens the envelope, pulling out a single piece of paper.

Callie (and Aiden since I’m sure you’re reading this too),

When I told you that I couldn’t do this anymore I didn’t mean us. Though when you started assuming things it seemed easier to lie than tell the truth. Now though, I think it’s time you know what really has been happening.

Tristan, he came to me awhile back, after he disappeared but before he came back into your life. He made a deal with me, one that I can barely remember now. Though I know it to do with getting rid of you and then I would get a percentage of the money. For some reason I agreed. When I told you I couldn’t do this anymore, I meant the whole killing you thing, not breaking up with you.

Then Tristan found out your mom was pregnant and that changed things since he’d have another person to go through to get the whole inheritance. That’s when he decided that he better get rid of your parents, which was obviously done.

I turned him in and he’s being held under a bunch of charges. Most likely won’t be getting out any time soon.

I don’t expect you to forgive me or anything. Just thought you should know the truth.

-Logan

After a couple minutes of being silent, I finally spoke up, “so, what do you want to do?” I ask.

“I want to talk to him.” Callie answers, not skipping a beat. Honestly this is what I was afraid of happening. Callie is way to forgivable and something like this just shouldn’t be forgiven. At least not anytime soon.

“so you forgive him?”

She turns in my arms and looks up at me, “do you think I should?”

This was one of those times that I couldn’t reply with a yes or no answer. “I think that whatever you choose will be the right choice.” I tell her.

She nods, excepting the answer (thank God) and leans her head back against my chest. “we were always friends. Before we started dating that is. And I guess, even when we were dating we were still friends. I know something like this should make me not trust him. And maybe I don’t trust him. But that doesn’t mean I want him to be lonely and have everyone hate him.” She rambles on. And though I love the girl, I spaced out about half way through.

“do you want me to drive you?” I ask and feel her nod against me, “now?”

“yeah, I just want to get this over with.”

Callie sets the note down on the table and I walk into the kitchen to grab a quick snack and to call Maggie.

We meet up in my car and I turn down the music that was cranked up no more than half an hour earlier.

“I called Melanie, she said she can take care of them as long as we need.”

“thank you.” I attempt a smile and leave for Logan’s house.

“Aiden, you okay?” Callie asks.

“yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“you just seem distant, that’s all.”

I glance to her for a second and then put my eyes back onto the road. “I just, don’t want to lose you again.” I say slightly fast.

I notice her smile out of the corner of my eye, “Aiden, this guy was planning on killing me. I’m not exactly going to run back into his arms, even if I do forgive him. I love you and my ex apologizing isn’t going to change that.” She reassures me. The rest of the drive was silent.

When I ring the door bell, I expected the butler or equivalent to open the door. Instead, Jason was standing there with a smile plastered on his face.

“sorry,” Christie says, coming into the doorway, “we were just leaving.” She grabs Jason’s hand and they walk past us.

“we were?” he asks, confused now.

Callie and I both laugh as the door closes behind them.

I look around the empty house and assume that he’d be up in the music room. “we should check-“ Callie and I start at the same time. She stops to giggle and I continue. “the music room.”

“how did you know about that?!” she was surprised I guess.

“you’re not the only one who knows.” I reply. This wasn’t the answer she wanted since she put her hands on her hips, waiting for the correct answer. “fine, Christie showed me.”

“now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“are we going to stand here fighting or go up and talk to Logan?” I ask.

“I hate it when you’re right.”

I pull on her hand, “come on Callie.” We walk upstairs to the music room and the sound of the piano fills the air in the hallway. Callie turns the door handle and creaks open the door.

“Don’t want to talk Christie.” Logan says, not looking up from the piano.

Callie takes another step in, pulling me with her. “finally you and Christie act like normal siblings. Not talking to each other and all.” She comments. Logan stops playing the piano and looks up at the two of us.

“what do you want?” let’s just say he didn’t sound too happy to see us.

“well, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out with us, including Alice…” What was Callie talking about? I’m so confused now. Why am I even here? If she’s inviting him out with us then why am I in the room? what kind of support does she need here?

“Alice?” Logan’s face brightened up a little but he didn’t say anything more.

“um, yeah.” Callie says, worried now. She obviously couldn’t read people the way I could.

“why do I feel as if this is some set up?”

Callie looks up to me for help and I put my hands up in surrender, “what? I have no clue what Alice has to do with any of this.” I say.

“fine.” She turns back to Logan, “Don’t tell her I told you this, but she’s really liked you for like eight years now.”

“so you want to go on a double date tonight because…”

she looks up at me again. What was I supposed to say? “um, because we both forgive you for what you did and-” I stop for a second, “seriously Callie, I have no idea why I’m even here.”

Logan laughs, “fine, I’ll go out tonight.”

Callie seemed happy with this answer. “and really Logan, I do forgive you.”

“well you shouldn’t. what I did would usually fall under unforgivable.”

“will you just let this all be. I’m saying I forgive you, don’t argue that.”

“fine.

“Fine.” Logan gives in.

“well, now that that’s all worked out.” I say, clapping my hands together once, “can you leave the room Callie?”

“why?” she asks suspiciously, turning toward me.

“because I have something to ask Logan.”

“so I can stay here.”

“it involves you. now shoo.” I push her toward the door.

“bye Callie!” Logan says, laughing. She finally stops resisting and leaves. I quickly text Jason before turning my attention to Logan.

“so, how many instruments do you play?” I ask, leaning against the closed door.

“um…a lot.”

“drums?”

“yup.”

“Great. Justin and I are-“ there was a knock on the door and I move aside to let Jason in.

“hey.” He says, stepping inside. “got everything worked out.”

“well, you interrupted it.” I say.

“oh. So, what he was probably saying is that Matt, Aiden and I, and now you, are doing a surprise show for the girls at Prom.”

“my girl being…”

“Alice obviously.” I say.

“the girl Callie is setting me up with tonight.”

“oh don’t act so innocent Logan, I saw your face light up at the mention of her name. I know you like her.”

Great, now there’s an observant guy in the group.” I roll my eyes at his comment.

“anyways, matt and I are working on the lyrics now. So we’ll get back to you on that.”

“at what point did I agree to this?”

“the minute you agreed to the date tonight.”

After discussing some minor details, we all head downstairs and I take Callie home.

-------

I change out of the clothes I wore to school and into something a bit nicer. The door bell rang at about seven to seven and I answered it, not surprised to see Logan there at all. I tell him I’ll be right back and jog upstairs to get the girls.

“I can’t believe you!” I hear Alice half0shout.

“hey, he didn’t say no to the date tonight, so that’s a plus.”

“still hate you.”

I stand there in the door way and smile at their little argument. “aw, don’t worry about it Alice.” I add. I did, after all know, Logan’s little secret. “I’m sure you’ll be fine. But , to do that we’ve got to go like right now. Logan is downstairs waiting and it’s hard not to laugh at how nervous he is.”

“be nice Aiden.” Callie tells me. was that not nice? I was joking about the whole nervous thing, kind of. But still, I wasn’t being mean.

After asking if we were leaving or not, Callie pushes Alice down the stairs, saying that we had to pick up the kids. I had honestly forgotten about them until now. We wait a few minutes before leaving and picking up the car seats at my dad’s office. When we finally made it to the bowling alley, Logan and Alice had already started a game and were in their own little world. Callie wanted to leave them alone but I insisted on scaring them which is what I got to do in the end.

Logan and Alice became a legit couple that night which, pushing all manliness aside, is quite adorable.

Joey was asleep when we got into the car. On the contrary, Reilly was bouncing off the walls hyper

“settle down Reilly.” I tell her while trying to buckle her straps.

“nope!”

“Reilly, quite. Joey is sleeping.”

“why?”

“because we don’t want to wake him.”

“why?”

Callie laughs and climbs into the front seat. “we’re not playing the ‘why’ game right now Reilly.” She says. Reilly pouts and crosses her arms, finally making it possible for me to buckle her in. “the pout’s not gonna work.”

I get behind the wheel and start the short drive home.

By the end of the night a new couple (thanks to me) was created. Okay, so that’s a cheesy way to put it, still, that’s what happened.

“Joe is my bro?” Reilly asks. I bit my lip to keep from laughing.

“um, sure sweetie, Joey is your brother.” I answer. This was a topic that Callie I never really discussed. At least not yet.

“that doesn’t work Aiden.” Callie whispers to me.

“how so?”

“that would make Joey my son.”

“then what is he?”

“technically, if we were to get married, he’d be an uncle.”

“an uncle who is younger, that would be weird. How about cousin?”

I laugh, “cousin works.”

“no whisp-ing.” Reilly shouts at us.

“Reilly! Be quiet, Joey is sleeping.” I tell her again, taking his eyes off the road for a second to glance back at the two kids.

Reilly nods a little and Callie begins to yawn. She leans her head against my shoulder and closes her eyes.

“Calvin-a” I whisper, extending the ‘a’.

“mhmm?”

“first of all. You can’t sleep on me while I’m driving. Sorry dear, but safety comes first.”

She switches positions so that she’s now looking up at me. “I’m not sleeping.”

“of course not.”

“and second of all?”

I stop at a red light and look down at her. “I just love you.”

She smiles sleepily and leans up to kiss me. “love you too.”