Sky Full of Stars

It's busy in downtown at lunch time, sidewalks littered with people in fancy suits hurrying to and from restaurants and their giant skyscraper office buildings. Calista's supposed to be at the restaurant at 1, but thanks to the popular time of day, it takes her an extra ten minutes to weave a path down the busy streets and through a pack of grouchy middle aged CEOs hanging around outside their building's doors, polluting her air with a haze of cigarette smoke. Her phone beeps with a message just as she reaches the Italian restaurant that is her destination and she pauses out of the way of the traffic flow to slide her finger across the screen and read it. All it says is 'I seeee youuuu' and, if it weren't from her friend, it probably would have been a little creepy.

"Oh my God, it's you!" she hears about a half second before something solid crashes against her back, slender arms wrapping around her waist and hugging her tightly from behind. "Don't you dare leave the country for three whole months ever again!"

Calista laughs as the grip on her loosens and she slides her phone back into the pocket of her hoodie before turning to face the blonde and blue haired woman standing behind her, dressed in some weird hippie dress that only she could ever pull off. "I missed you too, Fifi. Sorry I'm late."

"You're late? Oh well, guess we're late too. That idiot boyfriend of mine told Violet we could go into the candy store for a few minutes just to look but, big surprise, she pitched a fit when we didn't buy her anything."

"Come on, that's just mean taking a kid in there and leaving empty handed!"

"What, you wanna be the one to watch her when she's bouncing off the walls on a sugar high? Besides, it'd ruin her lunch."

"You're just such a mom sometimes," Calista scoffs, rolling her eyes. "It's gross."

"Shut up and c'mere," Felicity retorts, and before the younger girl can respond, she's throwing her arms around her again. For such a tiny person, Felicity really does have a lot of strength and the way she hugs makes it difficult to breathe but impossible not to love. Calista's been without her ever since she went back to visit her parents over the summer, and even though they've spoken via text and skype, it just isn't the same as having her friend there in person.

Neither one of them lets go for a long few moments, earning a few questioning glances from people passing by on the sidewalk, but a familiar tiny voice is enough to make Calista loosen her hold on Felicity and turn around to greet the little girl running at her full force.

"Aunt Lissy's back, Aunt Lissy's back!" she squeals and Calista grins automatically as she scoops her up, the child's tiny arms wrapping themselves around her neck in a tight hug. "I missed you!"

"I missed you too, kid," she coos, slipping her finger under Violet's big brown eyes to wipe away the thick crocodile tears that she'd probably been using to try and get her way in the candy store a few minutes ago. "When did you get so big?"

The little girl only giggles as her father, who was lagging a few steps behind and looks a little frazzled, finally catches up to his excited four year old and he pulls Calista in for a hug too. They're most definitely a hugging family. "Thank God you're back. These two were driving me crazy without you here."

Felicity doesn't even look offended at her boyfriend's statement, instead just shrugging her shoulders like she pretty much agrees with him. Violet grins at all three adults like she agrees too and Calista chuckles as she kisses the little girl's cheek. "It feels good to be back, Nick."

"Daddyyyy, I'm hungryyyy," Violet whines, making sure to stretch out the ends of her words and Nick shakes his head before reaching out for her, but she just says no and curls herself back into Calista, giggling. "Come on, Aunt Lissy! I want some spaghetti!"

Calista laughs, hiking the little girl up higher on her hip, and follows her friends into the restaurant. Violet refuses the seat next to her mother in favor of the one across the table so that she can be next to her long lost buddy but as soon as the waiter brings her a children's menu and crayons, it's like the adults no longer exist at all. They get their drinks and place their orders and once the waiter leaves the table, Felicity figures she has a good fifteen minutes to talk without interruption.

"So, how's the family?"

"Pretty good. Not really much goin' on up there in BC."

"And the hockey buds? They're doing well in the preseason, right?"

"Yeah, they're doing really well so far. Jamie got named captain last week so everyone's really excited about the season getting underway."

"And what about--" Felicity pauses to glance over at her daughter, but Violet is lost in her own little world, drawing a picture consisting of what looks to be a couple of stick figures. "What about the fuck buddy?"

Calista lets out an involuntary groan as she glances over at the little girl to make sure she didn't hear even though Felicity had whispered the words. Her face feels hot and the couple across the table from her are giving her sly grins because they can plainly see the twinge of red staining her cheeks.

"He's....fine? It's only my third day back in town, you know. We haven't-....I mean, I don't even know if he's got a girlfriend or not. A lot can happen in three months."

"Did he have one when you left?"

"No. My last night here would've been a whole lot different if he did. I almost missed my flight the next morning because I didn't get to finish packing."

"Worth it," Felicity smirks. "So you gonna go talk to him? Figure out where things are?"

"Nah, probably not. If he doesn't have a girlfriend, I'm sure he'll let me know that sooner rather than later."

"Of course he will," Nick chuckles, giving her a ridiculous wink. "No guy could resist."

Calista snorts out a laugh. "Yeah, right. If that were true, I'd have an actual boyfriend to make a semi-honest woman out of me, but instead I've got this ongoing thing with someone I have absolutely no business sleeping with. Honestly, I'd probably die if anyone ever found out about it. If not from embarrassment, from being murdered."

"Uh, hello? We know about him."

"Yeah, but you guys don't count. You're literally the only ones who know. I can't talk to anyone else about it."

"I'd like to see some reactions if your hockey buddies found out," Felicity laughs.

Calista shakes her head, looking mildly horrified at the idea. "No way that is ever gonna happen. Don't even joke about it!"

"I don't understand how it hasn't happened already. I mean, they just come and go as they please. How have they not, like, walked in on you before?"

"They usually text me first at least," she shrugs. "But you're starting to make me paranoid so I'm just gonna go ahead and suggest a change of subject and we're not gonna talk about it anymore right now."

Both Nick and Felicity find her discomfort amusing but Nick decides to let her have her way. "Okay, what would you like to talk about?"

"I don't care, literally anything else. How's everything with the studio?"

"Oh God, I forgot to tell you!" Felicity squeals. "We've gotten so many new people in the past month or so that we had to add more classes. I had to start offering them during the day and Nick has them in the evenings. Even Tasha! She had so many women sign up for her class, she had to offer two separate ones to accommodate everyone. Plus we have classes back to back all day on Saturdays."

"That's so great, you guys. Congrats!"

"Thanks, babe! So now that you're back, you're gonna start coming again, right? Because I definitely miss having you there."

Calista laughs. "Well I missed being there, but I don't even know if I remember the routines anymore."

"Well, what are you doing after this?" Nick asks, sipping on his iced tea. "Because we could probably get you into the 3 o'clock class. I mean the teacher's cool about shit like that."

Felicity smirks. "Yeah, I hear she's a pretty chill bitch."

"Fine, fine. If you insist. As long as I get a few minutes before to refresh my mind. I am not about making a fool of myself in front of everyone."

"Nah, you'll be fine," Nick insists with a grin. "You've always been a natural."

Calista rolls her eyes. "Yeah, if you say so."

-

In hindsight, Italian food may have been a bad idea. Calista wants nothing more than to curl up and take a nap now that she's full of pasta, but she's already agreed to go back to the studio with her friends and, besides, it definitely won't hurt to get some exercise in. Violet doesn't let go of her hand for the whole walk, but when they arrive at the studio, she immediately takes off to go hide in the cozy little fort Nick built for her behind the front desk. Tasha, the third of the three dance teachers, is already there in the first room for Felicity's 3pm class and she's crouched down in front of her laptop, scrolling though her iTunes library to find a song to play.

Calista knocks on the door even though it's open and she smiles as Tasha's head snaps up, eyes widening when she sees her standing there. "Oh my God!" she squeals, jumping up from the hard wood floor to run over and pounce on the taller girl. "I'm so glad you're back! I missed you!"

"I missed you too," Calista laughs. "Fifi told me you got enough people for yet another class. That's great!"

"Yeah, it's been crazy in here the past few weeks! We've kinda just blown up. But you know there's always room in my class for you, babe."

"I think we all know how much I sucked in your class, Tash. The whole striptease thing just isn't me."

"Oh, shut up. You were good, wasn't she, Nick?" Calista and Tasha both look up at Nick in the mirror where he's just come in with Felicity to lean against the wall behind them, but he doesn't even hesitate with his answer.

"Uh, hell yeah."

Felicity nods along in agreement and Calista just rolls her eyes as she unzips her hoodie and drops it on the floor next to Tasha's laptop, along with her bag. "Whatever, you're all crazy. Now, Fifi, can you tell me what songs you're doing in class so I can at least try to remember some of the steps?"

"Sure, babe," the blonde chuckles and she pushes off against the wall to go over and look at Tasha's iTunes library. Once she finds the song she's looking for, she heads to the bathroom to change out of her sundress, leaving Nick to refresh Calista's mind on the steps.

Surprisingly, she remembers more than she expected to, and by the time people start arriving for the actual class, she's pretty much back to doing it as well as she was before she left for BC. There are a lot of new faces in this class so of course Felicity pulls her up to the front to lead with her. The only comfort in it is that she can zone in on herself on the mirrored wall and forget about the thirty strangers behind her who are watching her for guidance.

By the time the class ends, Calista is sweaty and short of breath but it just makes her realize how much she missed it and her friends while she was back home in Canada. She says her goodbyes after making plans to see them at a class next week but Violet wraps herself around her leg, refusing to let go even after some coaxing from both parents. Calista finally bribes her with a girls' night, just the two of them, and that seems to appease the little girl because she unlatches herself and immediately goes over to jump into Nick's lap where he sits at the front desk. With one more blanket goodbye to everyone, she leaves the studio and sets off down the street back to her apartment building. There's no rush this time, which makes the walk much more enjoyable, but when she pulls her phone out of her bag and looks at the screen, she's forced to pick up the pace a little bit.

Jamie's already sent about six million texts, asking when she's going to be home from her afternoon with her friends, but she waits to respond until she's already back to her building and in the elevator going up to her apartment. He must obviously just be sitting at home waiting with his phone in his hand because he texts her back immediately, letting her know that he'll be down to her place in just a few minutes.

As soon as she unlocks the door and gets into the apartment, she deposits her bag in the chair at the bar before going straight over to the stereo set up on top of the media cabinet under the television on the wall. She turns the volume up so obnoxiously loud that it'd definitely annoy her neighbors if they were home, and then she makes a beeline to her bedroom to get out of her sweaty clothes.

She doesn't hear the front door open over the bass of the song that's playing but when the volume suddenly decreases, she knows Jamie must've arrived. "What the fuck is this music?" he yells out to her from the living room.

Calista smiles as she leans down to untie her shoelaces. "Why, do you like it?" There's no response, which makes her laugh. "I'll take your silence as an answer in itself."

"Why is it that everything you listen to sounds like someone's getting a lap dance?"

"Maybe you just have a dirty mind," she chirps back, kicking off her shoes as she tugs her jacket off by the sleeves.

"Liss, the guy literally just used the expression 'come and sex me'."

Those words coming out of Jamie's mouth actually sound hilarious and she laughs again as she pulls off her socks, tossing them into the basket along with her discarded jacket. She throws her bedroom door open the rest of the way and heads back down the short hall to get a bottle of water from the kitchen.

All the breath escapes her lungs, leaving her feeling like she's been punched in the chest, and she freezes in her tracks when she looks up and sees more than just Jamie occupying her living room. She's known this moment was coming ever since July; hell, Jamie had even warned her yesterday, but still, she's not prepared to find Tyler sitting there on one end of her couch, looking up at her with eyes widened and mouth hanging open. He seems kind of surprised, and she wonders for a moment if maybe he actually recognizes her. Maybe he remembers what a colossal fuckboy he was back in Boston. Maybe he'll be ashamed of himself in front of his new friend for his old behavior.

That train of thought goes right out the window when he ends their staring contest to shamelessly check her out despite the fact that she's still in her sweaty workout clothes. She resists the urge to roll her eyes and maybe also smack him, but only because Jamie's sitting there in between the two of them. She must have gotten caught up in daydreaming about murder because the next thing she knows, Jamie's stretching a hand out to squeeze hers where it hangs limply by her side. "Lissy, you alright?"

"Yeah," she answers immediately, shaking her head as she tears her eyes away from the asshole on her sofa to her best friend. "Sorry. I, uh, wasn't expecting you to bring company."

Jamie just chuckles, obviously finding the whole thing amusing. "This is my new teammate, Tyler. Seggy, this is Calista."

Tyler's eyes snap back up to her face when he hears the name and she's not sure if it's just her eyes deceiving her, or if he actually did get more pale in the past five seconds. She knows her name isn't super common which means he probably does recognize her now, even if he didn't make the connection before. It doesn't matter though because she had decided long ago that when the time finally came that they'd have to interact, she would pretend like she'd never seen him in her life. "Nice to meet you," she says, smiling politely.

A confused look crosses his face because he thinks he recognizes her but then he decides she must not be the same girl he's thinking of because, if she were, there's no way she'd be this nice to him. He recovers quickly, smiling in return as he expresses the same sentiment, but even after she turns her attention to talk to Jamie, he can't help watching her. She definitely looks like the girl from Boston, but he's sure that if she were, she would have been very unhappy to see him. She might have stormed off, or screamed at him, or slapped him. But the last thing she would do is greet him so sweetly in the middle of her apartment.

Calista can feel him scrutinizing her as she stands there pretending to listen to whatever Jamie is talking about and it feels like her skin is on fire from his gaze. After only a minute or two, she can't take it anymore, and she leaves them in the living room, operating on the excuse that she needs to take a shower. She stays in the safety of her bathroom for as long as she can possibly drag it out, but after a solid thirty minutes with the water running, she finally gives up and climbs out of the shower. She kills another ten minutes drying off her body and squeezing the extra water out of her hair, and five more applying some concealer over the spatter of freckles across her nose. Jamie asks her what the fuck is taking her so long when she's darting across the hall to her bedroom so she has no choice but to choose an outfit and get dressed quickly. Having him be suspicious is the last thing she needs.

It's been an hour by the time she finally curls up in the big round chair perpendicular to the two boys on her sofa and she's acutely aware of how comfortable Tyler's already made himself in her home, all sprawled out with his hands folded behind his head and a little grin on his face. He's chewing a piece of bubblegum that she's pretty sure he took from the pack of Double Bubble she left on the coffee table and it kind of annoys her, even though she already knows that that's just the way he is. It's been over two years since she saw him for the last time in that bar, and Tyler Seguin hasn't changed a bit; he's still the same entitled, immature boy he was then.