Paradise City

"Hey."

"I really don't want to talk right now, Dad."

"Do you mind if I turn on the light?" He asked, completely ignoring me.

Without waiting for me to answer, he turned on the light, illuminating my room. He took one look around and let out a low whistle, and then he chuckled. I reached over to the small stereo on my nightstand and pressed pause. I'd have to wait until he left to go back to lip-syncing Britney.

"You're really taking this break up hard, huh?" He was laughing at me. I knew that he thought this whole thing was funny, but it wasn't. My heart was broken. "You save any of those for me?"

He said, pointing to the box of Fudge Rounds that laid next to my bed on the floor. I reached into the box and pulled out the last one, tossing it at him.

"Come on. Get up, Cal. Just because something sad happens doesn't mean you put your whole life on hold. You're sixteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. There'll be plenty of boys. And they will be better and make you happier than that little punk Jared."

"But I love him." I cried.

He let out a bark of laughter. "Callie Beth Jordan, you don't know what love is. But you will, and that's the point. You'll find it someday. It could be tomorrow, it could be in a year, or when you're forty. The secret is that it will come to you when you're ready. Not when some sixteen year old boy wants you to be ready."

I sighed. I hated it when he actually made sense.

"Say, I got a couple Hershey bars. You wanna go make s'mores in the fireplace?"

A small smile tugged at my lips. He held out his hand and I took it, allowing him to pull me up from my cocoon of blankets. When I got to my feet I wrapped my arms tight around his abdomen.

"I love you, Dad."

He smiled down at me and kissed the top of my head. "I love you too, kiddo."

A slight knock pulled me awake. I must have fallen asleep on the couch. Late night, black and white re-runs of 'I Love Lucy' were playing on the television. And there were empty bags of chips and pudding containers scattered about.

Another knock.

I checked my phone quickly to see what time it was; just past midnight. Who would be at my door at midnight? It had to be Alisha. But then again, I hadn't talked to her for days. I had tried calling her, but she sent me straight to voicemail every time. Even Madison was avoiding me at work, and Colin wasn't texting me back.

I peeked through the door to see a man in the hallway wearing a black leather jacket, and holding a pizza box up so that I couldn't see his face. That's weird, I thought to myself. I didn't order pizza.

"I'm sorry, sir. You must have the wrong address. I didn't order anything." I said through the door.

"Are you sure?"

Immediately, I froze. I knew that voice. That unmistakable, low and husky voice that I had been so desperate to hear for the past three weeks. I threw open the door and threw myself at Dean, wrapping my arms tightly around his middle.

"I take it you missed me?" He asked with that signature smirk.

"Ew, no." I replied, shoving myself off of him. "I was hugging you because you brought me food."

I took the pizza box from his grip and turned around, however, I noticed something I had completely forgot about. The place was a mess! I threw the pizza on the counter and quickly gathered up as much clutter as I could carry and disposed of it in the kitchen trashcan. I straightened the cushions on the couch, and wiped down the coffee table, all while Dean stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room.

His eyebrows were raised. "Calm down, Mr. Clean, don't feel like you need to straighten up on my account."

"What are you even doing here?"

He dropped himself down on the couch and kicked off his shoes. "I fucked up my shoulder."

I moved his feet off of the couch and placed them on the coffee table instead, and sat cross-legged next to him. Underneath his jacket, I could see the white bandage that wrapped around his chest. "Well, that's what you get when you go out there every night and act like a raging lunatic."

He glared at me.

"I mean, you poor thing! You want me to kiss it all better?"

"Nah, I can't over exert myself with strenuous activities." He replied as his index finger innocently traced a line down my calf to my ankle.

I rolled my eyes, catching his innuendo. "About that, I think there's something we should discuss." I said, trying to ignore the goosebumps that were forming on my arms.

He eyed me suspiciously. "Go ahead?"

"I don't know what this is," I said motioning between the two of us. "I don't know what happened that night before you left." Where am I going with this? "I mean, I've never done this kind of thing before." Please, take the hint without me actually having to say it. "I'm definitely attracted to you, sexually." I cleared my throat, trying to swallow the huge lump that had formed in it. How exactly do I say this without making him run for the hills?

"But?" He prodded me to continue.

"But, I'm a virgin." I replied under my breath.

He didn't say anything.

"I just don't want to rush into anything."

He still didn't say anything.

"Or get hurt."

Not a word.

"I mean, I don't have any huge expectations on my 'first time' or anything, but I'd like for it to be special."

Still nothing.

"Goddammit, Dean. Can you say something?"

"Did you think that it would matter to me?" He finally asked after a few more seconds of silence. "I mean, did you really think that I was that much of an asshole that I wouldn't like you anymore because you've never had sex with anyone?"

"No. Yes. I don't know. I'm insecure about it. I'm twenty-two years old and I'm still a virgin. People think that's weird; especially guys. Especially experienced guys. Like I'm not womanly enough or something. They look at me like a little kid."

"Trust me, Callie, you're not a little kid." He paused. "You act like one sometimes, but..." His eyes trailed down my figure, I caught on and a blush rose to my cheeks. "And who cares what people think anyways? A lot of people just have sex because it feels good, they don't really care if it's with someone they hate or someone they love. You're waiting for someone you care about and that's admirable. Fucking someone or not fucking someone doesn't make you cool or more mature. It's really personal, and it can be terrifying. Some people just aren't ready, yet. You don't have to be afraid of me, though. I'm not perfect, but I'd try to not hurt you."

I wasn't exactly sure what to say after that. I had honestly thought that he would laugh, and make fun of me, and get up and leave. He was this older, more experienced guy and that scared the crap out of me. I knew first hand, because I had heard it through my bedroom wall. He knew what he was doing. He had probably slept with countless women. How was I going to make myself matter to him? This was probably all just another game to him.

One that I had just probably made a lot more fun to play.

Even after what he had just said. How did I know I could believe him?

"What are you thinking?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I was thinking you should probably ice that shoulder."

He chuckled. "I'm going to be out for a few months, you can play nurse some other time. Right now, you come here."

Dean opened his arms, inviting me in. I wrapped myself around his middle, and placed my face in the crook of his neck, breathing in the smell of his skin. I didn't want to move. I probably could have stayed like this for the rest of my life and been completely happy. He was so big, and so warm, and soft.

I felt him shift underneath me.

"Am I hurting you?" I asked, remembering his shoulder.

"Not at all." He replied. "Just trying to get more comfortable."

I then felt the reason for his sudden shift poking into my hip and blushed wildly.

"Dean!" I whined.

"What?! I can't help it."

I rolled off of the couch, deciding to go get that ice anyways.

"That was a nice moment and you totally ruined it with your creepy, perv ways."

"Creepy Perv, she says." He mocked me. "Yet she kisses me? That makes a lot of sense."

"Are you talking to yourself?" I asked from the kitchen. "I thought the crazy thing was just an act?"

I walked back into the living room and stood over him. He smiled up at me innocently, as I held the cold bag of ice in my hand.

"Take off your jacket." I told him. He sighed, pulling his large arms out of the sleeves. His shoulder was compressed in bandage, but you could tell it was swollen. "What did you even do to it?"

"It's a minor tear, no surgery required. I'm just not allowed to wre- fuck that's cold! God damn, woman!" I laughed. "I'm not allowed to wrestle until it's healed because it could go from minor to major very easily." His voice said that he was fine, but his face said that he was a little scared.

"I'm sorry." I said softly, bending over the back of the couch to give him a peck on the lips.

I lingered there for a moment just relishing in the feeling of his lips. I don't think I'll ever get used to that.

"At least I have you to take care of me, otherwise I'd be pissy about it." He gave me a lazy smile as I pulled away and reapplied the ice to his shoulder, he winced and I giggled again. "But right now, if I wasn't so injured, I'd get up and kick your ass."

"Are you sure it's because you're injured or are you just a pussy?"

He pulled the pillow out from underneath him and launched it at me, but I ducked quickly out of the way.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" He yelled, but I knew better. "My poor shoulder, ow!"

"Stop faking, you lazy bum!" I scolded. "I'm gonna call your boss and tell him that you're fine and beg him to come pick you up so that you wont be here annoying me for however long."

"Aw you don't want me around?" He stood up off the couch.

"I thought we already established that you're an annoying jerk?"

He laughed. "Okay, fine. I'll just go to my apartment then, see ya."

Dean grabbed his suitcases and headed for the door. He turned to look at me one last time, his hand on the door handle for added effect, not to mention the big pout on his lips and droopy eyes.

"Have fun over there!" I called as I fell backwards on the couch and flipped the TV back on.

With an exasperated sigh, Dean threw the door open and left. I didn't really think he would, and I was a little disappointed that he didn't put up much more of a fight. But, he needed his rest if his shoulder was going to get any better.

A yawn escaped my lips, and I realized how tired I was. I shut off the television and all the lights in the front room, and made my way back to bed. I laid there for a minute with my arm under my head, unable to erase the man that was just on the other side of that wall out of my mind for even a second.

I could only hope that he was having the same problem.