Two Vibrant Hearts Can Change

It was a cold morning in the city of New York. Snowflakes were slowly beginning to fall from the darkened sky. They seemed to linger in the air, waiting for the guidance of the wind to point them in the right direction. Calla Rose Baker stood at the window of her apartment on the Upper East Side gazing at the snowflakes as they fell. It was the first snow of the winter, and it brought a never-ending peace to the busy streets of NYC. It was amazingly lucky to have peace at 7:30 am on a Monday morning in the city, but it seemed everyone was as captivated by the snow as Calla was.

However it was just another day like any other in Calla’s life, and just as she got comfortable high pitched barks were heard coming from her living room. She sighed realizing the peace could only last so long, and with that she was brought back into the reality of her life or rather the most important thing in it; her three-month-old husky pup named Pirate. Other then her older brother Zacky, Pirate was her life, and he kept her sane. With one last look out the window, Calla closed the curtains and made her way down the hallway to her living room. She entered the room to find Pirate ready to pounce on one of his many colored dog toys. Calla couldn’t help but laugh at him as he barked and pushed the stuffed animal toy with his wet, black nose. But as soon as Pirate heard Calla’s laugh he stopped playing with his toy and ran right over to her. He waited for her to bend down a little and then he licked her face. Calla smiled; she loved Pirate more than anything.

After about an hour of giving the dog the attention that he craved every morning, Calla decided she wanted to take a shower. She walked into her bathroom and started at her reflection in the mirror. Calla had long, chocolate brown hair that fell just perfectly around her high cheek boned face. Random streaks of color stood out in her soft curls, and her bangs were held back with a pin. Calla’s eyes were a piercing blue color. She was often told that one could get lost in her eyes, and she loved that. The left side of her nose was pierced along with her tongue and her ears. She also had acquired a few tattoos. On her left forearm a delicate red rose shown brightly. Her left foot had black paw prints coming up the side nearest her pinky toe, and her right foot had the word, “believe,” scripted in black ink with intricate line work and a few colored stars around it. On her back stood a prowling tiger surrounded by many different colored lilies, and finally on the back of her right calve stood a tribal looking, but very realistic wolf howling at the moon. Calla’s tattoos meant a lot to her, and she showed them off proudly. The human body was a work of art in her eyes. Why not decorate it? She had just turned twenty-one two weeks ago, and she loved being that age. It gave her the freedom to get into any show, any bar, to basically do whatever she pleased. Calla quickly washed her face off with warm water and slipped into the shower. She let the water run on her bare skin until she got used to its hot temperature. Then she washed her hair and body, stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself.

Calla had curves in all the right places that fit perfectly for her height. She had all the assets every woman wanted and she wasn’t scared to flaunt them. Once again she stepped in front of the mirror, and this time she quickly blow dried her hair and ran her delicate fingers through it with a small amount of hair products. Her curls bounced as she walked to her bedroom, threw on dark blue jeans, a slightly tighter green vintage tee, her leather jacket, and her black winter boots. She also grabbed for her red and gold Gryffindor scarf, that she wore all the time. Calla then made her way back to the bathroom and applied some black eye liner, mascara, and smudged some silvery grey eye shadow on her lids. She threw her hair up into a ponytail, and stared at her reflection. She wasn’t satisfied with how she looked today but she didn’t care. After all she had no one to impress at NYU anyway. Calla grabbed her random patched messenger bag, and put all her books in it along with her ipod, camera, iphone, gum, and car keys. She walked into the kitchen, poured herself a steaming hot cup of espresso, grabbed her glasses case, and walked towards the door out into the hallway of her apartment building. Just as she pressed the down button on the elevator her phone started ringing. “Crazy Bitch” by Buckcherry filled the hallway. Calla quickly took the phone out of the little compartment in her bag and answered it without looking at the caller I.D. “Hey Cal,” came the familiar voice of her older brother through the phone. Calla hadn’t talked to her brother in a very long time. Ever since his band Avenged Sevenfold had gotten the fame it deserved he was growing more distant by the day.

Calla couldn’t complain, her brother got everything he had ever wanted, and who was she to ruin it for him? He was living the life of a typical rock star, in a band with his best friends partying it up every night and waking up with hangovers every morning. But one thing separated himself from his friends. Zachary Baker had the love of a girl named Hannah Jane back in California. Sure the other guys had their “girlfriends” but they mindlessly cheated on them right under their noses. Calla was proud of her brother, and she was happy to finally hear from him. “Zacky, I haven’t talked to you in the longest time. How have you been?” she replied with a happy tone.

A mental picture of Zacky appeared in Calla's mind. Zachary Baker looked a little like Calla himself, anyone could definitely tell they were related. However they had their differences. Zacky wasn't completely tall but he wasn't short either. He was pretty much average, but he had a big build. His chest was huge, his forearms were huge; his muscles were huge. Anyone could be able to tell he worked out. Not to mention, those huge arms and muscles were covered in tattoos. He was like a walking tattoo. He always tried so hard to put himself out there as a badass but he had such a soft face with such innocent features. His lips pouted with two rings on the bottom one and his nose, a little on the larger side, sat in the middle of his face with a hoop in the middle. His cheeks were chubby like a baby and his eyes were a striking green. They seemed to stand out the most from his features. Especially with the way he styled his hair. His hair was shorter and black. It had been dyed many times in its past but it was plain now. He always gelled and spiked it up into a little fauxhawk. It just gave him more of a baby-faced appearance, which wasn't exactly what he was going for. But either way, his face seemed to fit together perfectly. And there was a clear image of that face in Calla's mind. She remembered her brother, and she smiled at the thought of him.

“I’ve been really busy with the tour and everything, but hey guess what?” he paused and waited for Calla to attempt to guess. “Come on Zacky I don’t have all day. I have to get to class and you know I hate guessing games.” She waited and after a few minutes of arguing back and forth between brother and sister Zacky finally spoke up. “Our tour is heading towards NYC tomorrow, and I want you to come see us. Hannah’s also flying in today at about three. Can you do me a big favor and pick her up. We tried booking a car for her but nothing was available, and the hotels are all booked up. I know I’m asking a lot but can she stay with you? I don’t really want to make her stay on the tour bus with the guys, you know how they are.” Zacky ended this sentence with an unsure tone, but he waited for his sister’s answer. “Yea, sure I’ll pick her up, and you know I have the guest rooms here, just let her know ok Zack?” Calla wondered how different Hannah would be. She hadn’t talked to, or seen the girl in over two years, and she had a funny feeling that Hannah wasn’t the little preppy blonde girl that she remembered her as being. “Cal you are amazing! I’ll call you at around 2 so you don’t forget, and then when we get to the bus, I’ll let you know. I owe you one little sis.” The phone call ended with the usual I love yous and Calla telling Zacky that she was 21 and definitely not little anymore. No matter how much Zacky went against being the “protective brother” he was, and he would always think of his sister as his responsibility.

Calla stepped out of the elevator and walked through the main lobby, occasionally saying hi or waving at someone’s face she found familiar. She reached the front, glass doors only to have them opened by man with a young face, a face Calla didn’t recognize. Her blue eyes met his green ones that were surrounded by smudged black eye shadow, and she took in this new man’s appearance. He was on the taller side, with shaggy, blond hair that fell past his ears. A lip ring shined from the right side of his lip, and to Calla’s surprise he was wearing a homemade Avenged Sevenfold t-shirt that said “Take a Trip with Me…I’m The Beast” on the front and on the back it stated “Now Where Are My Harlots?” with a picture of the deathbat underneath it. Creative, she thought. As she started at the boy in front of her a smile appeared on Calla’s face. It amused her to meet fans of her brother’s band, especially ones that came up with cool t-shirt designs. However, Calla couldn’t help but wonder what this boy was doing in the lobby of her apartment building.