Instead I Called You

“Times up.” the cop said, pulling on my shoulder.

“Please come get me.” I said into the receiver before it got cut off. I sighed and allowed the cop to pull me back to the holding cell. He shut the door and took the cuffs off. I went back and sat in the same spot that I had been before. I put my head in my hands and sighed.

She wouldn’t come get me. I would have had a better chance at my mother bailing me out of jail than Carla. I had broken her heart, ruined everything that we had. Why would she come rescue me when I did something that I knew that she hated? It wasn’t long before I felt the tears slip back down my cheeks as I waited.

“Turman!” a voice yelled, pulling me out of sleep. I blinked up at the cop who was standing there. “You made bail.”

I felt shocked, but I stood up and quickly made my way to the door. He opened it up and let me out. Slowly, he escorted me to the front desk where I was able to pick up my cell phone and wallet. I looked at the time to see that six hours had passed and sighed. No wonder I fell asleep. I rubbed my eyes again as I made my way out the door into the main hallway and my heart just about stopped.

Carla stood in front of me with her hands laced in front of her. She was wearing the glasses that she hated, and a simple white dress with red roses on it. The dress was completely wrinkled and looked as if she had pulled it off the floor before she slipped it on. It stopped just above her knees and she tried pulling it down a little more when she noticed that I was staring at her legs. Her burgundy hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head as she looked at me.

My eyes cast down to her feet with embarrassment. I had completely sobered up in the six hours that I had waited. In the silence I took notice to just how badly my head hurt.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” she asked after a moment of silence.

I sighed and looked up at her. “I can’t believe you came.” I replied, shoving my hands into my pockets. I used my toe to try and erase a black mark on the floor and her face softened.

“Of course I came.” she whispered, playing with the bracelet on her wrist. “I love you Caleb.” she laughed.

I bit my lip and cast my eyes down to the floor, wanting nothing more than to say those three words back to her, but not being able to do so.

When I didn’t say anything she sighed. “Lets get you home. I have a long drive ahead of me.”

I shook my head and looked up at her. “Carla, I…” I sighed, fighting with myself. Do I tell her, will it get her back?

She raised her eyebrow and looked at me “Yes Caleb?”

“You could stay at my place with me.” Is what I settled with. “That way you don’t have to drive back when you’re so tired. You can have my bed and I’ll take the couch.”

She bit her lip as she thought and removed her glasses to clean them on the hem of her dress, something that she did when she didn’t know how to respond.

“You can trust me.” I whispered, flinching when she bitterly laughed. My eyes flew down to the floor.

“Lets just go.” she said, turning to leave. I just stood where I was and watched as she took a few steps to the door. She stopped when she realized that I wasn’t following her. “Caleb, are you coming?”

It took me a second to take it all in, the girl that I was still madly in love with was standing right in front of me. She had come to bail me out of jail. She drove back here from California to bail me out of jail. She said she loves me still. And I’m still just a stupid guy that can’t say how I feel because I’m afraid.

I quickly took the six steps that separated us and pulled her too me. “Carla, I love you.” I said, hugging her close.

“Don’t do this Caleb.” she whispered, her voice cracking. “Don’t do this to me.”

“I mean it.” I responded, “I love you so much.”

I could feel her tears start to soak my hoodie and her body shake. I held onto her tighter and let her cry for everything that I had done to hurt her.

“I know I broke your heart, but please let me be the one to fix it.” I whispered when her crying had reduced to hiccups.

She sniffled and wiped at her eyes. She leaned back and looked up at me. I stared intently into her eyes, trying to let her know just how serious I was. Before I knew it, she had leaned up and pressed her lips back to mine. Something I had missed for over six months.

I placed my hands on her hips, pulling her body close to mine as her arms flew around my neck. Her knees went weak, reminding me of so many of the kisses that we had shared throughout our three years together, and she clung to me.

I have no idea how long we stayed like that, but when she finally pulled away I was trying to pull her back. She giggled slightly, “Caleb, you can fix my heart this time, as long as you don’t fuck up again.”

I looked down at her and smiled before kissing her forehead. “Now, that is one thing that I cannot promise. But I can promise to try my hardest to keep you mine this time.”

She smiled and rested her head on my chest, just above my heart. She sighed softly before she whispered “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I said, undoing her hair and letting it fall. she had grown it out, it reached past her shoulders and there were now layers and streaks of black and blonde in it. I ran my fingers through the tangles and hummed to her. “I love you.” I told her when she moved her head from my chest.

“I love you too.” she said, lacing her right hand with my left. I felt warm metal against my fingers and I looked down to see the ring that I had bought her. The key to my heart. I looked back up at her face and she blushed lightly. “I uh, never was able to take it off.” she said, looking away.

I dropped her hand so that I could grab her face and kissing her with all the passion that I could muster up. She kissed me back, with her hands lightly touching my wrists. It was all that I needed to know for sure, she did love me, she never stopped. And there was nothing in this world that could make me mess this up again.