He was a Boy, She was a Girl

“so, what should I wear tonight?” I ask aiden as I pull up to my driveway.

He stares at me like I just spoke foreign words, “what do you mean?”

“fancy, semi-fancy…”

“what you have on now?”

now it was my turn to stare at him like his words were foreign. I’d never gone to a dinner where I didn’t have to dress up.

“this? Jeans and a t-shirt?” I ask, to make sure I heard him right.

“if you come in some fancy dress they’ll laugh. Well, okay, they won’t laugh, but you’ll be out of place. I would not kid you callie, I’ve seen you mad, not going there again. Trust me, don’t change, just come at 5.” We both get out of the car.

“if you say so” aiden laughs as he walks into his house and I walk into mine.

After my moms sudden phone call, I turned off my phone. Since I had nothing to do for two hours, I decide to pull it out and see if there were any missed messages. Let me tell you, there were A LOT. So I sit there on my couch, listening to the radio, reading each and every text.

The first one being from the one and only Logan, look, I’m sorry, okay? I shouldn’t have done that to you, at all. And she defiantly shouldn’t have said that to you in front of the whole school. But, I mean, give me a break. I’m quarterback for goodness sakes! If people found out I wasn’t getting any, well, I’d lose my reputation quickly. You understand, right?

The next was from Jamie, also apologizing, hey, you okay? What am I asking? Of course you are. You’re the famous Callie Morgan who never gets hurt. Correct? Logan was out of line. SAMANTHA was out of line. As of right now I’m no longer friends with them, or him. He really shouldn’t have done any of that to you callie, and I know it wasn’t my fault, but I still feel obligated to apologize.

My life. It officially sucks. The rest were calling me a virgin mary, some were saying that I was a slut. Others felt sorry for me. To wrap it up, my life in high school was about to take a big U-turn, even if I still was assistant-head cheerleader. I check the time once I’m finished with the texts and see that it was ten ‘til five. I go to the mirror in the hall and fix my hair and make-up. With that, I followed aidens instructions, and walked out the door looking exactly the same as I did when I left this morning.

I lock my front door and walk over to Aidens house, ringing the doorbell. You could hear shuffling inside, and then the door burst open with aiden standing there in a red and black t-shirt. This morning his t-shirt was grey and said “the who” on it.

I frown at him, “you changed shirts.”

“you look fine.” He exasperates, dragging me into the house.

“but you said-“

“callie, I spilled tomato sauce on the shirt. Do you want me to show you to prove that I didn’t just change?”

“no-wait-tomato sauce?”

“yeah, I hope you’re okay with pizza for dinner.” He smirks as I follow him into the kitchen. The first thing I see is his dad tossing pizza dough into the air.

“hey callie.” He nods toward me before catching the dough.

“hi mr.baker.”

“please, Robert, otherwise I sound old.”

Cathy rolls her eyes at her husband and smiles, “come on you guys, there’s enough dough for everyone to toss.”

“toss the pizza dough?” I ask surprised, “you really don’t want me doing that.”

“of course we do. Here I’ll show you,” cathy walks over to me and takes me by the arm, dragging me over to the counter next to her. Aiden laughs and grabs a ball of dough, stretching it out before tossing it like a professional.

“just put your hand I a fist and set the dough on top of it.” I do as she tells me, “now, as you toss up, spin your wrist a little. Start off with little tosses”

I toss it up and it lands practically bag to where it started. I smile at my accomplishment. I toss it up higher the next time and after a few more tosses it started to really spread out.

“okay, good job.” Cathy tells me, “now, that it’s bigger, use to fists for the last toss, just to help it spread out some.”

I do as she tells me to. Although this time the dough went a little higher than planned, and didn’t come anywhere close to planned. It landed right on cathy’s head. I bite my lip to keep from laughing. But aiden and Robert can’t restrain themselves and instantly burst into a fit of laughter. Cathy started laughing too and I couldn’t help but laugh a little, still embarrassed though. She pulls the dough off easily without in mess thank god.

“how about we finish the dough for right now, you two can go watch a movie or something.” Cathy suggests between laughs.

Aiden finishes toss and then motions for me to follow him, “we’ll be in my room!” he shouts to his parents.

Why did that phrase make me nervous? I know that nothing’s going to happen. For goodness sakes his parents are right down stairs! And it’s not like I haven’t been in ‘his’ room before. I’ve been in it more time than he has. WAY more times than he has.

I pause in the doorway as we enter the room. My feet wouldn’t move any further. Aiden noticed this quickly, “ya know? I really can handle a girl cry. But three, four times in a day, for one girl, that’s pushing it.”

I laugh, “sorry, there’s just so much,” I pause, switching my words, “so much has happened in this room.” I finally get out.

“so? Remember the happy ones, forget the bad, and push aside those that meant nothing. Oh, and make new memories as we speak. Come on, we’ve got a mollie rinefield to look up.”

“you’re right. I should just remember the good things. Like that closet? First time I played seven minutes in heaven. Logan and i-“

“whoa whoa whoa whoa.” Aiden puts up his hands stopping me, “bad memories callie, those are bad memories.”

“no, it was actually a pretty fun night.”

“I’m no dumbass callie, you can’t just start talking about your ex like it’s not big deal right after he breaks up with you.” Aiden says, pulling out a box of books that made a big thud, “did you even realize you were talking about him?”

he was right, I didn’t realize I was talking about him. Not only was I talking about him, I was talking as if we were still together, as if it made sense we’d be making out in that closet. “no,” I whisper. My eyes becoming glossy.

“f*ck. Please, don’t cry.”

“aiden, I’m fine. My eyes just got watery.”

“I really did meet you at a bad time in your life, huh?”

“you have no idea. So! Mollie rinefield!” I pick up the year book and flip to the second to correct page.

“there she is.” I say, pointing to a short little girl in my fifth grade class. “oh! And look at you! No red hair, no punk outfit, just the perfect little angel your mother raised you to be.”

“you mean that witch downstairs raised an angel?” aiden asks and we both laugh. “so she was in my class, I still don’t remember her specifically.”

“that’s just sad.” I look at more of the pictures and spot one of mollie and aiden dancing. The instant my eyes fell upon that picture, I knew who aiden baker was. I knew the whole story. “oh my god.” She says, staring at the page.

“what?!” he asks urgently.

“I remember you. Her stories. I remember who you are/were.” He looks at the picture, quickly seeing him and mollie dancing. “still nothing cal. I mean, yes, I see us dancing. But that doesn’t bring back any memories.”

“you know, mollie has been a real bitch to me these past years, and she’s going to be worse now that I know you. But at the moment, I feel pretty bad for her, and you are going to feel so guilty when I’m finished.” I tell him, he just waits for me to continue, “second grade, you guys were table partners, you stole her strawberry pink crayon. Third grade you beat her in a race. Fourth grade you made the best cookies ever for your classes valentines day party. Fifth grade you-“ I pause, “you told mollie that she “has the most beautiful gray/lavender eyes. when the sun hits [her] dark brown hair it shines red. And [that she] was the prettiest girl you’ve ever seen.”” I look up at aiden and he’s watching me.

“sounds like me. Care to continue?”

“you don’t remember that? the most important day of your life and you don’t remember?!” I screech at him.

“callie, please, just continue.”

“you guys shared your first kiss in the gazebo by the maple tree. You went to the valentines day dance thing together, you dated for two years and then she moved away and you two instantly lost contact.”

“oh.”

“oh? All you have to say to that is oh?!”

“what am I supposed to say? Whoops, screwed up there? I honestly had no idea who she was. In my defense, she doesn’t look the same.”

“but her name hasn’t changed aiden. Oh god, she’s going to hate me, like seriously hate me, make my life a living hell hate me. No wonder she wanted to punch me today.” Like on cue, my phone buzzes, indicating a new text. “speaking of the devil,” I say, seeing her name flash across the screen.

I know what you’re thinking calvina. And don’t, okay? Just don’t think it at all. Because aiden baker is mine, has been since fifth grade and always will be. I don’t give a sh*t about what happened to you with logan, you probably deserved it. Just don’t go running to my ex for a shoulder to lean on.

I suck in a breath holding back the tears.

“I swear I’m not this freaking sensitive.” I say, trying to laugh about it.

Aiden easily slips the phone out of my hands and reads the message that brought me to tears.

He sets down the phone a moment later and then embraces me in a big hug, “you did not deserve what logan did to you, understand?” I nod slowly into his shoulder. He lets go and grabs my hand, “come on, lets go fix your make-up.” I pick up my clutch and follow him into the bathroom down the hall.

And he fixed it, all. First he took out some make-up remover and took off all of my make-up and started over. He just put on some light browns and pinks for eyeshadow, mascara, and some blush. There was nothing more on my face. I look in the mirror once he’s done and stare at the reflection, shocked. I looked beautiful. I mean, I always thought I was pretty and all of that, but the colors and how much of each was just perfect for my skin.

I turn to aiden with shock plastered to my face, “sure you’re not gay?” I ask.

He stares and me and laughs, “pretty damn sure about that one.”

“aiden! Callie! The pizza is done.” We hear cathy shout from downstairs.

We walk down the stairs and into the kitchen, “so, what were you kids doing up there?” Robert asks.

“remember mollie?” aiden asks.

“mollie rinefield?” cathy asks

“such a sweet girl” Robert says, looking up from his slice of pizza.

“yeah, well, people change. Anyways, they moved here, did you guys know that?”

“nope, that’s cool though.”

“so you guys remember her?”

“of course we do aiden, why wouldn’t we?”

aiden sighs, “I don’t know. Maybe because you’ve met hundreds of people since you last saw her?”

Robert and cathy exchange glances and then Robert finally speaks up, “you forgot who she was, didn’t you?” he asks his son.

It was aidens and my turn to exchange glances. “well I wouldn’t exactly say it like that.” I say, to back him up.

Aiden stares at me confused, “how would you say it?”

I think of something quick, “well, maybe you just pushed her aside because you didn’t want to remember her. Not quite that you forgot, you just didn’t remember. That’s what you’re supposed to do with exes, right?” I say, “I mean, she was probably really rude or something and you were just glad she was finally out of your life. Instead of breaking up, you could just lose contact with her. So much easier and I know for a fact guys go for the easy way out.”

His parents were staring at me and aiden cracks a smile, “she, uh, got dumped yesterday.” Aiden says to his parents, explaining my negative thoughts. They both nod understandably.

“so, how are your parents doing callie?” Robert asks, changing the subject.

Without skipping a beat I say the first word that pop into my head, “pregnant.” This time aiden doesn’t just smile, he laughs, “I mean, my mom is pregnant, obviously my dad isn’t.”

“well isn’t that exciting.” Cathy says, in the same tone I used earlier that day. I nod.

“hey, did you hear about the male birth control their trying to make?” Robert asks, breaking the ice. And might I say he defiantly broke the ice, that’s all we talked about throughout dinner.

I help cathy clear and wash the dishes as aiden and his father continue the conversation into the other room.

“thanks for this evening.” I say as I dry some of the dishes.

Cathy smiles and nods, “can I ask you something callie?”

“sure.”

“why are you so proper?” her question took me off guard.

“excuse me?”

“like that. instead of saying ‘what?’ you ask politely, ‘excuse me’. I mean, I know at parties and all that it’s practically forced upon you, but when you’re just at a casual thing, you still act all polite.”

“I’m not used to casual things.” I tell her.

“you guys don’t do this?” she asks, surprised.

“this, what I just had with you, making a homemade dinner, sitting down with family, talking like normal people. No, I’ve never done that in my life. Tonight was a first for me.”

“oh. Wow. That must really suck.”

“I wouldn’t know it’s what I’m used to. But watching you guys act how you do, I guess it just feels like something was missing in my life. And knowing that another kid is going to have to be deprived of this, that’s what really sucks.”

“yeah, that does. But I’m sure you’ll be an amazing older sister. I never would’ve told you mike could’ve helped raise aiden, but he did more of it than I did.”

She was right, I could be the one to raise, “I guess.”

Cathy puts on a smile, “come on, the boys put in a movie.”

“you allow them to choose a movie?” I ask, following her into the living room.

“don’t worry, they know my limits which I’m sure is close to yours.”

We enter the room and see the menu for prom night, “except this isn’t within my limits.” She whispers to me, “Robert, what are you two doing?”

“well, we decided that we wanted to watch something funny.” Robert replies.

“so, we chose prom night. Totally hilarious.” Aiden adds on to his dads words.

Cathy rolls her eyes, “at least only one of them has some of my blood in them. Although that doesn’t seem to be of use right now.”

I laugh at her comment. “prom night is pretty funny actually.” I say.

“see? This Barbie looking human agrees with us. That’s gotta be like once in a lifetime right there.”

Cathy’s face was shocked at his words, “we’ll be having a talk later buddy.” She says to him, “I guess its okay.” And then we walk over to the sofa and sat down. I was on the left end with aiden next to me and then his mom next to him and Robert was on the other end. Since his mom insisted on cuddling up to Robert, she took up more space, which just pushed aiden and me closer together.

I wasn’t arguing about being so close to aiden. His body was warm and I was pretty sure by the end of the night at least one of them would be wrapped around me. But at the moment, all I could focus on was his bare skin touching mine. That’s what I focused on for half the movie.

Halfway through the movie is the one scene that makes me jump. The one part that I actually can’t handle, that doesn’t make me laugh. I knew it was coming up, I had memorized it ages ago. No matter what though, I always freaked out about it. The knife comes up and cathy and I both scream. I planned on turning my head to the left, away from aiden, but when I acted in the moment, that didn’t happen. No, off of instinct, I drop my head into his shoulder. Aiden laughs and I didn’t know if that was from my scream or the movie. Probably both. He wraps his arm around me and pulls me closer and I let him. It all felt right, me being in his arms. By the time the movie ended, cathy and Robert were asleep on the sofa next to us. I sit up and aiden straightens out.

“I’ll walk you home,” aiden says standing up, and then helping me up.

“thanks,” I smile and we head out the door and across our two yards. We stop on my porch and I turn toward him. The moon made his dark hair shine and his eyes were happy looking down at me. “tell your parents I had a great time tonight.”

“mhmm.” Aiden mumbles, I don’t know how it happened, but our faces were really close. I noticed I had taken a step or two closer to him, I was the one that moved but he wasn’t moving away. We were staring at each other, his eyes all dark and intense. “can I try something?” he whispers, I shiver at his voice, his soft breath warm on my skin.

My heart started beating faster, knowing what came next, wanting what came next. That’s when it hit me, when I couldn’t deny the feelings any longer.

I, Calvina Morgan, was falling for Aiden.

But I couldn’t let him kiss me. Especially now, I wasn’t one that just went from guy to guy. “no,” I answer, his lips only three inches or so from mine. He smiles and leans in, kissing my cheek.

“goodnight Calvina.” He whispers in my ear and then steps away. I watch him walk back to his house before entering mine. I close and lock the door behind me, leaning my head against it. Did that really just happen? I mean, seriously, he was going to kiss me, right? Yes, right, defiantly leaning in for a kiss. My life couldn’t get any crazier at the moment.

Just then, my phone buzzes, I look and see that it’s a new text from logan goodnight callie. I sigh. He couldn’t keep doing this, he couldn’t be holding on when I was letting go.

Logan, I need my space, please. I want to stay friends with you, we’ve known each other too long not to, but it’s not just something that is going to happen overnight. So please do me a favor and just stop. Stop texting me, stop talking to me, and over all, stop sitting at the lunch table with us. I just can’t see you right now, and I defiantly can’t see her. You understand, right?

I shut my phone and right at that moment it rings. If it’s logan I’m going to fu- “hello?” I answer, not even bothering looking at the caller id.

“callie?” her voice rings on the other end of the line. Alice, it was alice, my best friend.

“oh thank god! I have so much to tell you!” I scream, running up to my room and sitting on my bed.

She laughs, “I have so much to ask you.”

“well, you first.” I tell her.

“this is going to be sort of hard. But- well, I got a text, scratch that, I got about a hundred texts from people at school. And…what happened?” she finally asks.

“logan was cheating on me, with Samantha.”

“logan cheated? Wow, never saw that one coming.”

“I know, he broke up with me last night. And then today I was sitting at lunch and Samantha pretty much told the whole school I was virgin.”

“callie…” she says sympathetically.

“oh, and my mom is pregnant.”

“WHAT THE HELL!?!” she screams.

“Alice! You will not be swearing under this roof!” I hear her dad scream at her in the background.

“what the hell?!?” she whispers this time.

“you’re telling me.”

“I’m so sorry,”

“me too.”

“so, on other notes, how’s the new neighbor, not as awesome as me, right?”

“defiantly not. But he’s got his perks.”

“he?!” she gets all excited and I laugh.

“yes he.”

“do tell miss morgan.”

“well, his name is aiden.”

“ooh, prep, they are hot.”

This made me laugh even harder, especially since he said that just this morning, “he’s not a prep. He’s punk/skater, that whole deal.”

“oh.”

“but he’s really sweet and has really helped me get over logan these past days.” There was silence on the other side and I knew what she was doing, “alice, I can practically hear you raising your eyebrows at me.”

“sorry!”

“I’m not like that. going from guy to guy. Not my deal. What I meant was that he’s just been there, like you would’ve been.”

“so nothing’s going on?” I look over to aidens room and spot him changing. After all, I am a girl, and my eyes would not tear away from this. His arm muscles flexed as he took off his shirt and then he stepped out of his pants, now only in his snoopy boxers, (which were awesome) he looks up after that and catches me staring. Our windows were both fogging up at the top, but you could still see through them, he walks over to his and writes ‘like what you see?’ pretty neatly being backwards and all.

I smile ‘you wish’ I write, ‘I was just laughing about you’re boxers,’

“earth to callie!” alice screams at me on the phone, I hold up a finger to aiden and he just smirks.

“sorry.”

“let me guess, he got my bedroom.”

“how’d you-“

“callie, you were out for like 6 minutes. That’s defiantly boys stripping amount of time.”

“nothing is going on between us.” I tell her.

“I’m sure nothing is.” She says, “yet.”

“alice!” I scold.

“spill it morgan.”

“he tried to kiss me. Alright?”

I heard the phone clatter to the ground and laugh, “he did what?!”

I sigh, “his parents invited me over to dinner, and afterwards-like twenty minutes ago- he walked me home and we somehow got closer. Well, I took a couple steps closer, he must’ve done the same though cause we were inches apart. And he asked if he could try something and I told him no. he kissed my cheek though.”

“that’s so sweet.” She comments and I just laugh.

“look, I gotta sleep, a lot of shit has happened today and I’m wiped.”

“yeah yeah. Call me tomorrow okay?”

“always. Night alice.”

“night callie”

“oh, wait-“ I say.

“yeah?”

“he calls me princess calvina.”

There was silence for about two minutes.

“you’re going to hate my words, but I think you two are meant for each other.” And then before I could argue the line went dead. I look over at the window and notice aiden in bed, he taped a piece of paper up to the window. “night Barbie” I read. I smile and change into my pajamas and go to bed. Alices last words repeat through my head all night.

You two are meant for each other.