It's Always Been You

“We look so silly!” Madison giggled as she twirled around in her new dress and ran her fingers over her blonde wig.

“The boys won’t even recognize us,” Lorryn chimed in, glancing over at Callie through the vanity mirror she was seated in front of. Callie swiped on bright red lipstick and smacked her lips together.

“This is such a bad idea you guys,” she sighed, but a smile still made its way onto her face as she took in her appearance. Her dirty blonde hair was now hidden beneath a jet-black wig, making her skin seem abnormally white, and her outfit was on the borderline of being classified as scandalous. The deep mahogany dress she adorned clung to her body, giving everyone who laid eyes on her a nice view of her curves, and was just long enough to cover her backside.

“Oh come on Cal. Lorryn and I both know that you’re dying to see what that fiancé of yours is up to,” Madison playfully rolled her eyes.

“But this is supposed to be his bachelor party!”

“It’s not like he’s going to see us,” Lorryn rummaged through her luggage to find her heels, “We’re just going to go sit at one of the tables in the corner and spy on them!”

This whole plan had trouble written all over it. Ever since Claude had walked out of the hotel room with a few of his teammates, two of them being Lorryn and Madison’s boyfriends, the girls had done nothing but scheme and make a detailed plan to find them and watch them get crazy together for one last time. Callie immediately shot the plan down at first, but caved when Lorryn suggested that they dress up as someone completely different for the night.

“And if they see us?”

“Then we’ll act like the vixens we’re supposed to be tonight,” Madison struck a sexy pose, causing all three of the girls to burst out into giggles.

“Claude will most likely rush you right back to his hotel room when he sees you in that dress,” the other girl snickered. Callie’s cheeks instantly turned a shade of red, knowing that it was the truth. She and Claude had a very hard time keeping their hands off of each other.

“We should go.”

The girls grabbed their purses and made their way out to Callie’s rental car, joking with one another about what their new names for the night should be. Once inside, Callie turned on the GPS and asked where they were going.

“According to Scotty’s twitter, they’re at this club called Hypnotic,” Lorryn replied, checking through her twitter feed once more to make sure that she had the name right. Callie typed it in, found the address, and soon enough they were on their way to spy on her fiancé and his closest buddies. The car ride was filled with small chatter about wedding details. Callie and Madison carried on a conversation amongst themselves, only to be interrupted by a loud gasp from the back seat.

“Oh my god!” Lorryn shouted. Callie glanced up the rearview mirror to look at her friend while Madison turned around in her seat completely.

“What?” Madison questioned. Lorryn shook her head and stared down at her phone in disbelief.

“Oh my god,” she repeated once more.

“What?” Callie and Madison both yelled at the exact same time. Lorryn looked up and frowned.

“Callum just texted me and told me that Kirsten flew up here for the week.”

Madison audibly gasped. “That bitch!”

“She has no business being here. Cal, doesn’t this piss you off?”

Callie didn’t know what to feel. She was neither shocked nor surprised that Kirsten had coincidentally shown up just days before her wedding to Claude. It was obvious that she had some sort of ulterior motives and seeing as the two ended on very bad terms, Callie could only imagine what the girl had up her sleeve this time.

“Not really,” Callie shrugged her shoulders. Both of her friends whipped their heads towards her and stared at her with wide eyes.

“How can you be so calm about this after all of the shit she put you and Claude through?” Lorryn threw her hands up in the air. Callie focused on the road and slowly tuned her friends out as they began to talk about the one girl they all shared a common hatred for.

Callie and Kirsten had once been best friends and at one point had even called each other sisters, though they were the complete opposite of one another. Kirsten was always known as the party girl and was labeled by many as the man-eater. She did what she wanted and screwed around with whomever she pleased. Kirsten was the type of girl who always got what she wanted. Callie, on the other hand, was a very laid back girl who got along with just about everyone. She was always “one of the boys”. Although she always saw this as a positive, it was something that became the underlying root of her fallout with Kirsten.

They were like night and day. Everyone in their circle of friends always questioned why Callie put up with Kirsten and her reply was always the same: you wouldn’t understand. Their friendship was hard to define. Most days, the two were inseparable and it seemed as if they had the perfect friendship. Others, however, the extreme flaws were revealed through the petty fights Kirsten started. No one ever understood the complexity of their friendship. There were low points, however, where Callie seriously pondered distancing herself from Kirsten completely. Looking back on it all now, she kicks herself for not following through with it. The question she was asked the most after their friendship disintegrated was, what kept you from walking away?

We were friends for years and I was holding on to the good memories we shared, overlooking all of the bad.

Her reply, from an outsider’s perspective, seemed rather unjustifiable after everything Kirsten had done to her—Callie was well aware of that. She always thought that if they were in her position, they would understand what she felt and her reasons behind the things she did.

“Callie! Earth to Callie!” Shouts pulled her out of her thoughts and back to reality. They had finally arrived at the club.

“Now remember girls, the main objective tonight is to not be seen or recognized by the boys!” Madison happily strutted alongside her friends up to the bouncer. With a simple look-over, he let all three girls into the club and told them to have a good time.

Madison and Lorryn rushed towards a table near the back corner, just like they had planned, while Callie made her way closer to the dance floor. It didn’t take very long to spot the ginger she had been looking for. She watched him dance along with the beat for a few minutes, before he was shoved by his teammates towards the bar. Callie giggled to herself, knowing that they had forced Claude to go on a beer run. She was so tempted to walk up behind him and blow her cover, but she didn’t want to spoil his night with the guys.

She was about to make her way back towards her friends, when a platinum blonde haired girl in a familiar red dress caught her eye. She watched as the girl approached Claude and stood in front of him, stopping him a few feet short of the bar. It didn’t take Callie long to decipher who it was, seeing as it was her dress that the girl was wearing. Her blood started to boil when a boney hand was placed on Claude’s chest and the girl practically pressed herself against him.

Kirsten.

Like all feuds between people, there was a very interesting and almost cliché story behind the start of it all. The tale was rather simple. Callie and Kirsten had both met Claude through a mutual friend a few years back. Callie and Claude instantly hit it off and everyone around them saw the chemistry develop way before anything got serious. After hanging out together a few times, Kirsten started bragging to all of her friends, Callie included, that hockey superstar Claude Giroux was completely smitten with her. Everyone, of course, knew that this was far from the truth. The looks he gave Callie and the way he smiled at her told a far different story. Kirsten swore up and down that Claude was going to ask her out. Callie thought so too, considering her track record with boys of his status, until he asked her out instead.

What started out as just the two of them hanging out, turned into private dates, sleepovers, and eventually they were head over heels in love with each other. While Kirsten always professed her happiness for her friend, Callie always saw right through it. She had been told several times by other player’s girlfriends that Kirsten always gave dirty looks when she and Claude kissed or held hands. It was the first time Kirsten hadn’t gotten what she wanted and the amount of jealousy she harbored was incredible.

For a few months, everything with Kirsten seemed to quiet down and Callie thought that she had finally moved on. It wasn’t until Callie announced her engagement with Claude that all hell broke loose. Callie received a call not even a week after Claude had put a ring on her finger from Lorryn to look at a website that was dedicated to the wives and girlfriends of hockey players. She checked the blog specifically dedicated to Claude and broke down into tears when she saw the content. Posted by someone who wished to remain anonymous were intimate pictures of she and Claude, as well as outrageous stories that he was unfaithful to her while he was out on the road. It was certainly a scandal that tested their relationship, and of course Kirsten was always right there will her to “comfort” her in her time of need. It wasn’t until she and Claude had both sat down to look at the pictures on the website, that it became obvious by the photos and when they were taken who had leaked them.

The confrontation between Callie and Kirsten was brutal. It was a complete screaming match. If it weren’t for Claude stepping in punches would have been thrown. After ten years, their friendship was over.

Callie was surprised that it had taken her this long to put the moves on Claude. She stayed relatively hidden, watching the scene unfold. Sure, her first instinct was to pummel Kirsten to the ground and beat the living shit out of her for the way she was touching him, but she needed to know how Claude would react. In some weird way, it seemed as if this was the final test of both their trust and love before they said their vows. If Claude loved her as much as she thought he did, she knew deep down what his reaction would be.

A small amount of uncertainty filled her, however, when Kirsten leaned up and put her cheek flush against his and talked into his ear. She silently counted down from thirty. If she reached zero before he moved away from her, she was dead set on inflicting harm upon Kirsten. She was at twenty-five when she breathed a sigh of relief. Claude had reached up, grabbed her fingers, and pushed her away. The look of disgust on his face gave her this immense feeling of joy. He brushed past her, grabbed a few drinks from the bartender, and walked back to his friends.

Callie smirked to herself and laughed at Kirsten’s horrified expression. Kirsten high-tailed it off towards the bathroom and after a split-second debate with herself, Callie followed. When she pushed open the door she saw the platinum blonde leaning over the sink.

“The home wrecker role always suited you so well,” Callie sneered. Kirsten visibly stiffened. It was clear that she wasn’t expecting her dear old friend to be there.

“I don’t know what he sees in you,” she harshly muttered aloud. Callie darkly chuckled and quickly grabbed Kirsten’s arm and spun her around to face her.

“It kills you doesn’t it? That he picked me over you?”

“It’s always been you.”

Kirsten looked away and Callie knew that she was right. “If he wanted a girl who would have lied on her back at the drop of a dime, he would have showed interest in you.”

She knew that that was a below the belt insult, but she could care less. Callie took another step closer and got right in Kirsten’s face.

“You need to stay the fuck away from Claude, because I swear Kirsten, next time I’ll beat the shit out of you and no one will stop me.”

A look of fear flashed across her face and Callie smirked. She turned and walked back to the door, turning back just before opening it.

“Being a vindictive bitch has gotten you really far, hasn’t it?” Callie shook her head and then made her exit. It felt gratifying to her to finally get the last word.

Callie returned to her friends, who had witnessed the entire thing, and spilled the details of what went on in the bathroom. After having to calm both Madison and Lorryn down, the girls had a drink and then went back to the hotel. The three of them separated into their own rooms and called it a night. Callie took off her ridiculous costume and make-up as soon as she entered the bathroom and took a long shower. As she was cleaning herself, she couldn’t help but think about something Madison had said back at the club. I wonder if he’s going to tell you. Now that she was all alone and thinking about it, she couldn’t help but dwell on it. After her shower, she got into her pajamas and slipped into bed. She tried to close her eyes and sleep, but too many thoughts were racing through her head.

What if something like this happened while he was on the road? Would he tell me? Will he ever tell me about what happened with Kirsten?

Just like that, she started to become unsure of herself and the amount of honestly she and Claude had in their relationship. She lied awake staring at the ceiling for nearly two hours before the hotel room door opened and Claude quietly walked in. He went right into the bathroom and jumped into the shower. Callie took this time to sit up and turn on the small desk lamp beside the bed. Not long after she heard the water shut off, Claude walked out with just his boxer-briefs on.

“I didn’t know you were still awake,” he said rather surprised. He walked over to his side of the bed and pulled back the sheets.

“Couldn’t fall asleep,” Callie shrugged. Claude slid into bed and leaned over to kiss his fiancé on the forehead.

“Maybe you just missed me too much.” Callie smiled at that.

“How was your night?”

“It was fun. We went to this club and had some drinks. Danced for a bit,” he answered. Callie looked up at him and noticed that he seemed as if he was contemplating something.

“Is everything okay?” she sweetly asked as she rubbed her hand on his arm. He shook his head.

“Kirsten showed up at the club,” he heavily sighed. Callie had to bite her lip from smiling. She felt silly for overthinking everything.

“Did anything happen?”

“She tried to get me to go home with her. She pretty much threw herself at me and said, ‘You should come back to my place. I’ll show you a really good time. No one has to know.’ God, she just couldn’t take a fucking hint.”

If there was any lingering doubt in her mind, it had completely vanished.

Claude looked down at Callie and let out a sigh of relief when he saw her smiling at him.

“She’s just jealous that I am marrying the most amazing man in the world,” she murmured. She leaned up and placed her lips softly against his. Claude mumbled an ‘I love you’ after they pulled away from one another. He reached over and turned off the light, pulling Callie into his side after they both got comfortable under the sheets.

In that moment, wrapped in each other’s arms, nothing else mattered except the love they had for another. Nothing and nobody, not even backstabbing ex-best friends, could ever come between them.