Sky Full of Stars

09

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Felicity laughs at her friend's voice behind the door, knowing why she's already protesting. "Just try it on, Calista, for fuck's sake."

"There is no way in hell I'm wearing this to that party!"

"Put the damn thing on and then we'll talk."

"I'm gonna kill you," she hears Calista mutter but only a few short minutes later, the younger girl swings the door open to show her the outfit, an absolutely murderous look on her face. "I repeat, there is no way in hell."

"God damn, girl!" Felicity cheers. "You look hot!"

Calista looks down at the sequined red dress barely covering her body. "Felicity, I cannot wear this in public. This is fucking obscene. It doesn't even contain my boobs! Like, at all. And look at this damn split!"

"Your boobs look fantastic in that," Felicity argues. "And, so what, the split goes all the way up to your hip. It's a little slutty, but you look so damn good, and all the boys are going to die when they see you."

"No. There's no way I'm leaving my apartment in this dress."

"Oh, yes you are. First of all, that's your only clothing option at this point. Second, Calista, you know I wouldn't lie to you, and I'm saying you look fucking amazing in that. Seriously. If you won't do it for yourself, do it for me. Make Jordie suffer."

"That's not why I'm going," Calista mutters, frowning. "I'm going because Jamie's noticed how scarce I've been making myself these days and if he gets any more suspicious, I'm completely screwed."

"Yeah, but won't this just be a fun side effect? You can go to the party dressed like that and make him suffer in silence while you find some hot guy to flirt with, and maybe even bring home?"

Calista scoffs at the mere suggestion of hooking up with someone. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen. More like I'm gonna go to the party dressed like this and disgust everyone while Jordie completely ignores me because he's got his super hot girlfriend attached to his side."

"Calista Clark, I swear to God, if you don't fucking stop saying that shit about yourself, I'm gonna knock you into next week."

"Good. At least I won't have to go to this fucking party."

"You're being such a little brat right now."

"I'm not trying to be a brat! I'm just saying, I don't think this is appropriate for someone like me. For you, yeah, it'd be fine, but me-...."

"No, nope, stop it right now," Felicity says, shaking her head. She pushes Calista further back into her room and makes her sit down on the edge of the bed. "I'm your best friend, Calista. Would I let you go somewhere looking stupid? Especially somewhere where Jordie will be, knowing how you feel about him? Well, would I?"

"No," Calista mutters.

"Okay then, good. Now I'm saying you look incredible and you're gonna look even more incredible once I do your makeup and you finish off the costume with the accessories. So just sit there and shut up and stop fucking arguing with me."

Calista huffs, but says nothing else, and she just sits there silently pouting the whole time Felicity's doing her makeup, complete with smokey eyes and dark red lips. Felicity goes back into the bag she brought and pulls out a pair of dark red stilettos, handing them over for Calista to put on before she grabs the purple elbow length gloves that complete the look. Once she's all done and completely dressed, Felicity grins wickedly and shakes her head. "He is going to die. Literally everyone will."

"I still don't know about this, Fifi," Calista sighs hesitantly. "This is so.....racy. So not me."

"That's why it's going to work! You're always so clothed, Liss. They've never seen you like this and that's why their reactions are gonna be priceless. I wish I could see them, holy fuck."

Calista lets out a chuckle at that. "I'm still gonna wear a jacket."

"And you better fucking take it off the second you get inside. Don't think I won't find out if you don't."

"God, you're so demanding!"

"You'll thank me, I promise."

Luckily the black coat she has goes down to her knees so she doesn't have to worry about the split of the dress for the trip. Since the bar is downtown and she's definitely going to be drinking, she takes a cab instead of driving. She's over half an hour late for the nine o'clock time Jamie told her to be there, and when she walks in, the music is almost deafening. She begrudgingly checks her coat at the door before making her way upstairs to the private space the boys have rented for tonight and as soon as she reaches the top of the stairs, she's met with a mass of people she doesn't know drinking and dancing along to the loud music.

Tyler and Dillon are standing at the bar with Jordie while Megan is off dancing with the group of friends she invited without telling him. They're talking about how this party probably wasn't the best idea because they have an early morning skate and a game tomorrow night so none of them can drink very much. Tyler laughs about something ridiculous someone on the dance floor has done but Dillon reaches out blindly to smack his arm and when Tyler turns to see what it is that's causing his teammate to stare unblinking with mouth hanging open, the sound dies immediately. His mouth goes dry and he feels like there's something stuck in his throat hindering his breathing as he watches her stop to talk to one of the other player's girlfriends.

Jordie, who's been halfway tuned out to his teammates' conversation, finally realizes that both of them have gone silent and when he looks up at them, they're both completely frozen, staring wide eyed at something over his shoulder. He turns his head to look at whatever it is they're staring at, and his reaction is pretty much the same. His jaw literally drops when he sees Calista making her way through the crowd in that tight red dress that's split all the way up to her hip, the minimal light in the room catching and bouncing off of each and every sequin. Dillon lets out a loud whistle when she gets closer and she looks up in surprise before giving him a sheepish smile.

She doesn't even look at Jordie as she passes and that drives him crazy.

Jamie's standing on the opposite side of the room talking to Eakin and he's dressed in blue jeans and a plain white tee shirt with a leather jacket and slicked back hair, the look he's going for obviously being that of a greaser. Calista makes a beeline for them, sneaking up behind Jamie and enjoying the surprised look that takes over Eakin's face when he sees her coming.

"That's not a very creative costume, Benn."

He turns at her voice, and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise as he gives her a once over before a huge grin spreads across his face. "Jessica Rabbit. Nice."

"It was Fifi's idea," she sighs, looking down at her outfit. "I'm honestly surprised I managed to convince myself to leave the house looking like this."

"Why?" Eakin asks, his eyes roaming over her outfit. "You should wear that every damn day."

"You look hot," Jamie confirms, throwing his arm around her shoulders. "Which is why you're never wearing that thing again. I don't like the way the guys are looking at you."

"And what way are they looking at me?"

"Like that," Jamie tells her, nodding his head toward his teammate, and when Calista looks back at Eakin, she finds him still checking her out with a little smirk on his face.

"Oh please," she laughs as she reaches over to smack the redhead's arm. "Eaks doesn't count. He's just a perv."

"I'm not!" Eakin objects, laughing too. "I have a deep appreciation for beautiful women. Nothing wrong with that."

Calista rolls her eyes, brushing off his compliment, and cranes her neck to look up at Jamie. "How about we get me a drink now?"

Jordie finds himself watching her from across the room for practically the entire night. She spends the first part of it with Jamie before she finally leaves his side to go and talk to Peverley and his wife, then a few of the other WAGs, before she finally makes it back around to the bar where Eakin, Roussel, and Dillon are hanging. She seems to be having a great time with them, sipping the alcoholic drink in her hand and laughing along with whatever it is they're saying that's so funny. She even does a few shots with Dillon, despite the fact that Dillon and shots are never a good mix, especially when there's a game to be played the next day.

"Jordie! Did you hear me?"

He shakes himself out of his thoughts and tears his eyes away from the girl across the room to the one who's walked up right in front of him. His girlfriend is wearing a teeny tiny dark blue cop costume that leaves little to the imagination and yet he hasn't even been paying any attention to her the whole night. She's not very happy about it either.

"God, you're not even listening to me at all, are you?!"

"Of course I am," he replies automatically.

Megan rolls her eyes, obviously not believing his lie, and plants her hand on her hip, cocking it out to the side as she glances over her shoulder at the small group over by the bar. "You've been staring at her all night."

He scoffs and turns up his beer bottle, finishing it off and waving the bartender for another. "I have not."

"Is there something going on between you?"

"Of course not. She's my friend, Megs. We grew up together."

"No, it's more than that. It's definitely more than that."

"That's ridiculous."

"Oh, is it?" she laughs derisively. "I saw you talking in the hall after that game, Jordie. You're definitely not just friends with her."

"So what if we had something before?" he says, suddenly defensive, and he knows even as he says the words that it's a very bad idea because her whole face turns red with anger. "It doesn't matter. I'm with you now, right? I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this."

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" she screeches and he thanks his lucky stars that the music is so loud because that's the only reason the whole place isn't staring in his direction right now. "Jordie, if you like her, you better tell me now because I am not about to hang around and be humiliated when my boyfriend chooses some cow over me."

"Don't fucking talk about her like that."

Neither of them notice that Calista had finally broken away from her group and is walking by at precisely that exact moment. She freezes mid stride and looks over at the fighting couple with wide eyes but they're too focused on each other to see her. She ducks behind the curtain off to their right so that she's hidden but can still hear them because she's 99% positive they're arguing about her.

"Why not?" she challenges. "Because you like her?"

"No, I don't fucking like her! Jesus Christ, Megs, I know you're pissed about this, but it's not like I can do anything about it. I had a life before you, okay? I can't just go erase every other girl I've ever slept with now that I have a girlfriend."

Megan's voice reaches a whole new octave as she shrieks, "You slept with her?!"

"Could you maybe not tell the whole bar?" he retorts, annoyed.

"You're embarrassed, aren't you?" Megan says, a smirk slowly sliding onto her face as she crosses her arms over her chest, satisfied. "You don't want people to find out you slept with her. You don't even want your friends to know because you're embarrassed."

"I'm not fucking embarrassed," he snaps. "I just happen to know she values her job and I'm not about to fuck it up for her."

"I call bullshit. I still say you're just ashamed of her. But who could blame you? I mean, she's huge-"

"That's it," he interrupts, setting his beer down and sliding off of the stool he'd been sitting on to stand up right in front of her. "We're fucking done."

"Are you serious? You're seriously going to break up with me just because I have a problem with one of your friends?"

"When it's her, yeah, because she's not going anywhere. If I have to choose, then-...."

He trails off, not even needing to finish the sentence because she's already red in the face, fists balled up at her sides in anger. "You're making a big fucking mistake, Jordie Benn."

"I really don't think so, Megs."

Her jaw clenches as she glares at him for a long moment before storming off and Jordie lets out a heavy sigh as he sinks back down onto the stool, picking up his beer again.

Calista waits until she's calmed herself down enough to leave the safety and obscurity of the curtain she'd been hiding behind. While thankful that Jordie had taken up for her, the words Megan had spoken about her had felt like a barely healed wound being ripped open again. She'd always had enough trouble with the things she thought about herself, but hearing someone else say those things out loud is a whole different ball game and it's a whole new level of pain. She can feel her face burning in shame as she once again looks down at her costume, feeling foolish for thinking she could ever pull off something like it. The fact that she's definitely intoxicated from hanging around Dillon for half the night only magnifies all those feelings.

Once she's wiped her cheeks with her gloves and taken a few deep breaths, she peeks out of the curtain looking for any sign of Jordie, but he's gone from the bar now and the coast seems clear so she decides to make a run for the stairs to leave. She doesn't even get halfway across the room before she hears her name being called and she sighs in defeat as she stops right where she is in the middle of the room. "Liss," he says again once he reaches her, and then she feels his rough hand on her bare shoulder, gently tugging in order to turn her around.

"Jord," she acknowledges in her best attempt at a casual, unassuming tone. She only hopes her misty eyes don't give her away.

"Can we talk?" he asks and she glances toward the stairs, feeling all hope of getting out unscathed going down the drain. He notices her hesitation and immediately tacks on a somewhat desperate, "Please?"

Sighing, she nods and lets him take her hand to lead her the rest of the way through the crowd over to the other side where a pair of glass doors lead to an medium sized outdoor patio. Of course no one is out there because the weather is a bit chillier than usual and there's plenty of party going on inside. She walks over to the balcony railing and grabs the top bar, leaning forward onto it a little as she looks down at the people littering the sidewalks below.

A million tiny goosebumps pop up all over her arms but she doesn't feel cold at all with the multiple Fireball shots pumping through her bloodstream. Jordie awkwardly shifts his weight from one foot to the other and back again, keeping his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket. He's dressed like Jamie and Dillon, which means he's the third greaser in the trio.

"I broke up with Megan," he finally says over the thump of the bass from the music playing inside. He leans against the railing sideways so that he's facing her instead of facing the street and the massive building on the other side of it.

She isn't sure what kind of reaction he wants from her and she definitely isn't sure how long she's going to be able to keep her emotions in check so, not fully trusting herself, she keeps her eyes on the people below and just asks him why.

Jordie isn't about to tell her the horrible things Megan said about her, but he also doesn't know that she already heard them for herself. "She's a bitch," he says vaguely.

"But isn't that kind of your type?"

His track record is full of bitch after bitch after bitch but he feels like she's doing more than just pointing that out to him. It feels like there's more meaning there. "Yeah, I guess it is," he agrees, sighing heavily. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Everything. You were right, I shouldn't have gotten involved with her. You're always right."

She breathes out a shaky laugh. "Definitely not always."

"Liss-"

He says it almost pleadingly before he straightens up and grabs her by both shoulders to turn her so that she's facing him completely, but even after she is, he doesn't let go of her. He's standing too close and looking down at her too seriously and she glances over at the door that's closed but still made of glass and still very much transparent.

"Jord, what are you-"

The last of her sentence is cut off when he leans down and presses his lips to hers, and, for a moment, she enjoys kissing him because truthfully it's all she wants and all she's ever wanted. But then the conversation she overheard between him and Megan surfaces at the forefront of her mind again and she realizes-- this isn't what she wants.

He's just broken up with his girlfriend ten minutes ago and he'd said literally right before that he doesn't like her. He's never liked her that way, and even though he's never said it bluntly to her face, she's always known it. She knows he loves her and cares about her, obviously, because he just defended her in a big way, but it doesn't matter right now because he doesn't love her in that way. And she'd decided awhile ago that she couldn't continue this thing with him if that's how it was going to be.

Calista pushes her hand against his chest and breaks the kiss, taking the opportunity to move away and put some space between them when he pulls back to look at her in confusion.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't do this with you anymore."

"Why not?"

She shakes her head, trying her hardest to will away the tears she can feel coming, but she's drunk and her resolve is weak so it doesn't work very well. Her vision goes blurry as she tries to blink the water from her eyes but they only spill out onto her cheekbones, sending tracks of wetness down her cheeks. "It hurts, Jordie. It hurts, like, all the time, and I know you don't mean to and I know you can't help how you feel about me but-....I can't help how I feel about you either. I don't-....I can't be your fuck buddy anymore, Jord. My heart can't take it."

He just stands there speechless, looking surprised both at what she'd said and the complete honesty of the way she'd said it, and she takes the moment of silence to get the hell out of there. Nobody inside seems to have even noticed their absence and they aren't at all concerned with the way she's high-tailing it right past them to get to the staircase on the opposite side of the room.

She hurries down the stairs as fast as she can in her high heels and mostly intoxicated state and practically throws her ticket at the coat check girl then immediately mutters an apology when the girl's eyes widen, a little frightened. She's on her way to storming out the main doors before she even gets her coat all the way on and someone calls her name from across the lobby area but she doesn't even stop. A hand reaches out and grabs her arm as she's trying to shove it into her sleeve and she whips around to yank it out of their grip, but when she sees who it is, she just feels like crying all over again.

"Fuck," she mutters a little less subtly than she meant and Tyler almost looks a little hurt that she's so unhappy to see him. "I'm sorry, I don't-...I can't do this now. I'm leaving. I have to leave."

"Whoa, whoa, what's wrong?"

He seems genuinely concerned, ducking his head down to look directly into her eyes, but she dodges the eye contact in favor of focusing on the button that's undone at the base of his throat. "Nothing. It's not important. I'm just gonna go."

"Wait, Calista, you're drunk. You shouldn't be going anywhere by yourself."

She scoffs, trying once again to free herself from his gentle but firm grip on her forearm, but he's right, she is drunk. She doesn't even have the coordination to pull away from him. "I'm fine, Tyler. Let me go. I just want to go home."

"Okay, fine," he agrees, dropping her arm. "But I'm driving you."

"No the fuck you're not. You shouldn't be driving at all."

She shakes her head and turns to keep walking for the door, but he grabs her again before she can even get two steps away from him. "I haven't been drinking, Calista. We have a game tomorrow. C'mon, just let me take you home."

His voice is almost pleading and she lets out a heavy sigh, glancing back at the stairs before she drops her gaze to the floor and weakly nods. "Yeah, okay. Fine."

"Okay," Tyler repeats, feeling relieved, and he pulls his phone from his pocket, swiping his index finger across the screen. "Lemme text Jamie really quick."

"No!"

Calista snatches the phone out of his hands with impressive intoxicated dexterity and then looks down at it as if she's surprised by her own actions. "You can't," she says quietly and Tyler immediately picks up on the subtle quiver of her voice. He realizes her eyes aren't bloodshot just from the alcohol. "He'll come down here. He'll know something's-....He'll figure it out. You can't tell him."

Jordie hadn't been the only one who'd been watching her all night; Tyler had too. He'd seen her go out onto the patio with Jordie not ten minutes ago and now she was upset so of course this has something to do with him. Tyler just doesn't know what yet. "Okay," he hesitantly agrees and holds out his hand for her to give him back his phone but she just stares at him.

"Promise?"

Tyler looks at her wide eyes and her smudged mascara and the crease of worry pinching her brows together, and he's surprised at himself because he realizes he actually cares. He cares that she's upset and worried and drunk and he wants to take her home, not even for any reason other than for making sure that she gets back safely. Before, he wouldn't even be trying to decipher the look on her face; he'd be too preoccupied with his phone and how she's clutching it to her chest in that low cut dress that makes her breasts look even more fantastic than usual. It's more cleavage than he's ever seen from her before and while he'd unabashedly enjoyed the view upstairs in the bar, now he isn't even thinking about it. All because of the look on her face and the shake in her voice and because he cares.

"I promise," he says, and he's pretty sure she's never looked at him more positively than she does right then. It's not exactly happiness, but it's not the same indifferent, bordering-on-annoyed look that's become the norm since he confronted her about her feelings for Jordie.

She hands him his phone back wordlessly and turns to pull the door open, stepping out onto the cool, dark street as she tugs her coat tighter around her. He leads her in the direction of his sleek black sports car and opens the passenger door for her before he goes around to climb into the driver's side. The ride back to their apartment building is quiet except the faint sounds of the radio and he keeps shooting concerned looks over at her but she focuses her gaze on the buildings flying by outside her window.

They ride the elevator up to her floor in silence and, if she's surprised that he steps off with her, she doesn't show it. She fumbles with her key at the lock for a few moments before he takes it out of her hand and unlocks it for her, pushing the door open to let her walk in first. Once they're both inside and standing next to her kitchen counter, she turns to face him, holding the top of her jacket together just below her neck, like she's trying to completely hide the costume underneath.

"Thank you," she says quietly, avoiding his eyes. "For bringing me home. And for not telling Jamie."

"Do you wanna talk about it?" he finds himself asking and even as he says the words he's trying to decide where the fuck that came from. There it is again: just more proof that he cares. She shakes her head no and he nods in understanding as he sets her keys down on the counter beside them. "Well the offer stands."

"Thanks."

"Do you need anything else? Tylenol for the morning, or-"

"No," she interrupts, but then she bites her lip like she realizes that might have come off rude when she didn't mean to be. "I'm okay. Thanks."

"Alright, well-.....Guess I'll see you before the game tomorrow then?"

"Yeah," she agrees, nodding weakly at the hard wood floor between them.

He turns to walk back to the door and opens it to leave, but then he pauses to look back at her in hesitation. She pretends she doesn't notice that he's still standing there watching her and after another moment, he sighs heavily and finally leaves, shutting the door quietly behind him.
♠ ♠ ♠
Calista's costume for the Halloween party (P.S. That's actually her face claim in the costume too so that's like 120% what Calista looks like in this chapter).

This update comes to you early, thanks to an anon from tumblr who left a sweet message in my ask.

As always, let me know what you guys think!! And check out my other stories here and all the extra stuff here! :)