Change My Mind

There was something about parties that Callie never liked. They made her so uncomfortable that her throat would dry and for some strange reason her palms would start to itch. Her friends always said it was because her hands would get clammy, but she just thought that she was allergic to parties.

The moment she arrived at the music filled house with her best friend, Kellan, she wanted out. She knew Kellan would slap her silly if she left though, so she stood in the corner for as long as she could, wiping her moist palms against the side of her jeans.

Everyone around her looked like they were having one hell of a time and Callie briefly wished she could be having as much fun as them, but it just wasn’t in her. She couldn’t bring herself to take that plunge into the bottle of vodka and swing her hips to the beat of the music. Honestly, being reckless the way so many of those people were terrified her more than anything.

After only half an hour, which felt like six, Callie decided she needed a breath of fresh air if she was going to survive the night. She knew the house had a lovely backyard with a beautiful garden, so she made her way to the back door, hoping the soft night air would calm her in a way that nothing else could.

She slid the sliding glass door, stepping through it, and took a look up at the beautiful night sky. There were more stars above her than she would ever be able to count, and somehow that made her feel better.

“What’s a girl like you doing out here all by yourself?”

Callie whipped her head around to find a pair of honey eyes staring down at her, topped by the most perfect dark hair she’d ever seen. She knew immediately that it was Zayn, and she gave him a soft smile back.

“Kellan ditched me to make out with some ginger kid.”

Zayn chuckled. “Doesn’t she always?”

Callie smiled back, nodding her head. Zayn knew better than anyone that Kellan would always drag her to these parties, saying that she needed a wing woman, and would then head to the bedroom with the first guy who told her she was beautiful. It was a joke they had back before Zayn was famous, and Callie was almost surprised that he still remembered it.

After a short pause, Zayn moved forward to lean against the edge of the deck, twisting his head sideways so he could look at Callie.

“How have you been?” he asked, twiddling his thumbs back and forth. “I haven’t seen you in –”

Zayn paused, trying to come up with a timeframe, and when he paused too long, Callie answered for him.

“In a year,” she said, biting her lip. “It’s been a year.”

“God, that long?”

She nodded.

“Things sure have changed, haven’t they?”

All Marissa could do was nod, because, God, they sure had. It seemed like one minute she, Kellan, and Zayn were best friends, ditching class to get shakes at the diner and sneaking out to skip rocks at the lake. With one audition, one simple, short audition, everything had changed, and Callie was still trying to figure out if it was for the worse or for the better.