Paradise City

Dean was gone in the morning.

His side of the bed seemed like it hadn't been slept in at all, as opposed to my side, where the sheets and comforter were completely a mess. I frowned. It was probably for the best. Awkward morning-afters weren't exactly my thing, and probably not his either.

I stared at my reflection in his bathroom mirror. There were grey bags under my eyes, my eyes were puffy. It had been a very long twenty-four hours, and barely sleeping didn't help. I probably wouldn't have slept at all if Dean wasn't there.

Remind me to thank him for that when he gets back, I thought to myself.

Though, when I reached the living room, I noticed that he hadn't gone anywhere. He was fast asleep on the couch, cuddling a baseball bat.

I had to hold back a giggle as I tiptoed over to him. I knelt down beside him, softly brushing a few stray hairs from his face. He was adorable when he slept; mouth hanging slightly open, breathing peaceful breaths.

"Dean," I whispered.

He stirred slightly, eyes fluttering open to meet mine. "Hey."

"Did you sleep out here?"

"I had to make sure no one tried to mess with you."

"Is that what this is for?" I asked as I motioned towards his Louisville Slugger.

"Well I didn't have a steel chair..." He trailed off and I shook my head. "Have you been over there, yet?"

Right. My apartment was still a disaster. He was almost enough to make me forget about that. It would have to wait til tonight, because I had to work. And I needed the money tonight if I was going to get everything fixed. Lord knows Alisha probably wasn't going to do anything to help.

I shook my head and sighed. "I need to, I have to find my work uniform. If it's still intact."

"I'll come with you."

It was worse with the sun shining through the windows. The blinds and curtains had been ripped off the walls. The light hit the broken glass on the floor, shooting multi-colored reflections at the walls. The bright red spray paint on my bedroom wall really churned my stomach though.

Bitch.

What had I done? Tried to help a friend? I should have known better than to trust someone so quickly. All she had to do was call me her friend and I was putty in her hands instantly. I should have known not to buy in to her crap so easily. How could I be so stupid?

With Dean's help, I moved my mattress over to the bed frame, and started shifting through my clothes. The straps to many of my tank tops had been cut. Mostly every pair of jeans I owned had been cut in half, and not in the way where you could possibly make shorts out of them. I mean they were cut in half. On leg was separated from the other. The dress that I had worn the night Dean and I danced together at the club had been completely ruined.

There were two piles. 'Destroyed' and 'not as destroyed'.

I managed to find my work pants, which were thankfully still perfectly fine, and a dressy black top that wasn't what I usually wore, but it would have to do.

The bathroom was destroyed. My immaculate glass shower that I adored so much was shattered. Glass was everywhere. It cracked under my feet as I walked over it, Dean holding my hand of course. I threw my soap, shampoo, conditioner, and loofa in a plastic bag. Then shuffled through my counter drawers for my make up bag.

"I hope you don't mind if I shower at your place?" I asked Dean.

"Not at all. In fact, I'd prefer if you stayed with me for a few days." I eyed him. "At least until this blows over and we know Alisha and whatever the fuck her boyfriend's name is aren't going to come back here." He added quickly.

Staying with him? As in living with him for a few days?

He caught on to my hesitation. "This place is a mess. You can't stay here."

I hated how easily he could talk me into something. "Okay."

Dean was right after all. There was broken glass everywhere. I could get hurt. I had no choice but to stay with him, right?

After I got out of the shower, and got myself ready for work, I walked across the hallway to see Dean picking up in my apartment. I leaned up against the door frame just watching him. He was really doing so much to help me.

"All you need now is a French maid outfit." I joked.

He faked a laugh. "You'd like that wouldn't you?"

I bit my lip as he sat the broom down and took a few steps toward me. He hooked his fingers in my belt loops. "Maybe."

"Is that what I have to do then? Roleplay as a French maid? I can do that, you know? There's a sex shop right down the street."

"Shhh, don't talk." I said softly, pulling him down to meet my lips. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

He pulled away slowly. I was drowning in those dark blue eyes. "You don't need to thank me, Callie."

"Yes, I do. I really appreciate it. I probably wouldn't have been able to handle all of this, but you helped me. And you're still helping me. Thank you."

He touched our foreheads together and smiled. "You smell really good."

"Don't ruin this moment with your creepiness." I pushed him away, grabbing my car keys.

"Have a great night at work, dear." He smiled.

As soon as I got to work, Madison was giving me the cold shoulder and a nasty side-eye. It was really awesome because she was the hostess, so she was purposefully not seating me. Roger was too busy behind the line for me to talk to him about what had been going on. But then again, I was never the type of girl to run and cry to the boss.

After the fourth rotation of Madison skipping me, I marched right up to the redhead; she was flirting with the bus-boy, again.

"Beat it, Cody." I said to him. "She's never going to go out with you."

Madison scoffed, but Cody scampered away quickly.

"What the hell is your problem!?" She asked.

"What the hell is yours? Whatever you have against me because of Alisha, leave it at the damn door, Madison. We're at work. Let's not be childish. Stop skipping me. I know you're doing it on purpose."

She smirked. "I'm not skipping you on purpose, the costumers just don't want to sit in your section."

"Would you like me to keep you company as you sit the next table?" I asked.

She stayed quiet.

"I didn't think so. Stop skipping me, okay?" I flashed a fake smile and left it at that, disappearing back to the kitchen.

Throughout the rest of the night, Madison didn't skip me once. Good. It would have been a shame if someone went to the boss about her childish little games. I did well, making a decent amount of money. As I was cleaning the soda machines, I noticed Madison and my manager Chris talking. They were too far from me to hear what they were saying, but I was hoping he was scolding her about not seating me.

"Hey Callie, can I see you for a moment?" Chris asked me after I had grabbed my things and was ready to go.

"What's up, boss?" I asked him.

He opened the door to Roger's office, and asked me to have a seat. A lump formed in my throat. This was never good.

"Callie, earlier we had an envelope with over five hundred dollars in it go missing. It was money I had taken out of the drawer to put in the safe. I thought that I had misplaced it, however-" He cleared his throat. "An employee said that they saw you put an envelop in your purse. Now, usually we don't go off of hearsay, but this is a very serious matter."

"I wasn't even aware that the money was missing, sir." I told him.

My knees were shaking, and I know that he noticed. I tried to make them stop, he probably thought that I was nervous. Like I had just been caught. but I didn't do anything. I would never steal anything.

"We know that you've been through a lot in the past few days, and we totally understand why you would feel the need to take the money."

"Sir, I haven't taken anything." I said. "You can check my bag if you'd like."

"May we?" He asked.

I handed him my bag and crossed my arms. There was nothing in there.

This was completely ridiculous.

Chris pulled a fat, white envelope out of my bag and raised his eyebrows. I almost jumped out of my seat.

"Someone put that there!" My voice was raised.

This wasn't right. Someone was setting me up. First my apartment and now my job? What would be next? Dean actually really didn't like me, and he was doing all of this for shits and giggles because Alisha told him to do so?

"Callie, we have an eye witness saying that they saw you with the envelope." He replied.

"Who? Madison?!"

"We are not allowed to disclose any names."

"Of course you're not."

Roger, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke up. "Look, Callie, I get it. Your apartment was broken into, all of your things were destroyed, you needed some fast cash to help you out. However, stealing money from any company is grounds for immediate termination. I'm sorry, Callie, but I have no other choice. You can keep what you made tonight, but I have to fire you."

My lips were trembling as I pulled them in between my teeth. All I could do was nod and accept that they weren't going to believe a word that I said.

"Well," I said. My voice broke. "I understand."

Keep it together, Cal. Just keep it together.

I stood up, swung my bag back over my shoulder, and opened the door. Madison wasn't far, probably eavesdropping on the entire conversation I just had. She had a plastic smirk on her face, one that was begging to be slapped off.

Keep it together!

I was half expecting my tires to be slashed, or for my car to have a long key mark running down the side. I wouldn't put anything past these girls after what they had just done. When I got in my car, I locked the doors, and immediately broke down. I hit the steering wheel with my fists, the horn blared loudly.

"Fuck!" I yelled about sixteen times. When I was done with my tantrum, I pulled out my phone and dialed James, but he didn't answer. "What the fuck, James!" I screamed at his voicemail, even though I knew this wasn't his fault.

But I needed him.

When I got back to the apartment, Dean was still cleaning. He was scrubbing the giant, red 'BITCH' off the wall. His hands were stained red. I wondered how long he had been scrubbing, it was no where near gone, but it was faded significantly.

I dropped my keys on the dresser, letting him know I was there without saying anything.

"Callie?" He dropped the sponge back in the bucket. "What's wrong? What happened?"

That was all it took to break down in his arms, again. It was becoming a habit of mine. When all I wanted was to be strong, I just couldn't hold up the act anymore. I hated crying like this in front of him. It was so childish. Little, virgin Callie the Crybaby. No man wants to put up with this.

"What happened?" He asked again.

"I g-got f-fired." I managed to get out past the choking sobs.

"Why!?"

"Madison s-set me up. Sh-she made it l-look like I was trying to st-steal money f-from the restaurant."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Anger flashed in his eyes. He pulled out his cellphone, typing furiously away at the keyboard.

"What are you doing?" I wiped my eyes and nose.

"Calling Alisha. I'm getting this shit set straight right now. I don't care who I have to fuckin' fight. Bad shoulder and all, I will fuck up that posh prick of hers."

"Don't." I said, pushing his phone down. "Please, don't. I've had enough drama for the week. I don't need you fighting some douchebag and taking a chance on getting hurt. I'd never forgive myself."

"Callie, babe, this shit a'int gonna fly. You can't let them get away with this."

"I know that, and I will, just not tonight."

He dropped it for the rest of the night, and followed me back to his bedroom. I changed into one of his t-shirts, and fell asleep in his arms again. It was hard to stay asleep, waking up every few hours with the fear that someone was there in the room with us. Every time I woke up, Dean was still there, holding me tightly to his chest as if something might try and pull me away from him.

It was the long hours of the early morning that I hated the most. There was nothing for me to do but think.

What was I doing? Avoiding every problem that I had? Precisely. I had so many parts of me, all screaming at me to do something different. I could hear my dad saying that I needed to wipe the snot from my nose and face my fears. I could hear my mother telling me that I needed to tell the cops the truth, and have Alisha and whoever else she was in cahoots with locked up. I could hear Dean saying that I needed to get rid of this problem fist-to-face, and knock that fake tan right off of the bitch. And I could hear James saying that I needed to just move back home and be with my best friend.

My voice was no where to be found.

I had no idea what to do.