Plight of Amour.

I scraped my nails along my blue jeans, staring out at the empty streets and sidewalks again. My Blackberry beside me said it was one in the afternoon and Teniell was two hours later than she said she would be.

Rillia was in the house, doing something that involved finding a new job where she could use her degree in psychology. I could hear her repeatedly say “Hello, my name is Rillia Klein, and I am looking for a position as a therapist.”

That would always end with a goodbye, and she would start yelling in impatient frustration.

I ran my nail along a deep white thread that went down the length of my thigh. I couldn’t decide. I was torn. Should I show Teniell my new project? Or would that be hell waiting to break loose?

I would make up my mind when she arrived.

There was nothing more that I could do than that.

I scooped up my phone and stared at the glowing screen.

1:12.

Two hours and twelve minutes late.

I hated unpunctuality. It annoyed me to no end.

I pressed down the off button until the screen went black before I placed it back on the porch step beside me.

The sun beat down on the yard and house around me. The temperature wasn’t any more than sixty, but it felt rather nice for this time of the year and it felt good to sit outside in the amazing silence.

I leaned my body backwards, my feet positioned on the porch step, my back on the porch. I folded my hands over my stomach and closed my eyes, rejoicing in the feeling of being relatively alone, having the sun heat my legs through my pants and listening to the sound of the soft wind fly through the rustling trees.

I sighed contently and began whispering, “What do you think I should do?”

Let her read it! my “good” voice answered. Everything will end well and the book’s ending will be amazing. Just like Rillia said yesterday! Women will be drooling over it.

If her rockstar heartthrob never shows back up, then the book and she will be pretty much screwed, don’t you think? I say you just forget about it and write something else. my bad voice argued.

Neither side of the argument provided anything that helped me, so I opened my eyes and stared at the roof overhead.

Inside, Rillia dropped something and it went crashing to the floor. I heard several pieces scatter across the wood flooring and hit other pieces of furniture.

“Oh, come on!” she cried.

I laughed dryly.

Rillia scuffled around. I heard her feet hit the legs of the coffee table and she swore even louder in an array of different languages.

“Hey, Rill,” I called.

“What?!”

“Any luck on the job hunt?”

“NO!”

I decided to leave it at that. No need to make her even more mad than necessary, especially when Teniell and Finn were on their way over. Rillia didn’t like Ten on a good day. I would hate to see what she did when in an actual bad mood.

As if reading my mind, my ears picked up the loud sound of Teniell’s Jeep revving in my driveway.

Quickly I sat up and jumped off the porch as Teniell cut the engine and slid out.

Before she could circle around the car, I was already throwing the back car door open and grabbing Finn from his car seat.

“Finn!” I shrieked, pressing the small boy to my chest in a vice tight hug.

“Callie!” Finn squeezed his own small arms around my neck, and I pressed my lips against his brunette hair.

“Oh, my baby boy,” I whispered, rocking us back and forth.

Teniell stopped to watch us, leaning against the hood of her car.

“Are you sure Finn’s not your son?” she asked, flicking her blonde hair from her face.

I kissed Finn’s cheek and set him back on the ground. “I would love if he was my son!” I cried. “I already think of him as one. So if something ever happens to you, give custody to me.”

Finn giggled and took my hand in his little one. “What are we going to do today?” he asked, his little voice filled with amusement and laughter.

I shrugged. “I don’t know. What will your Mommy let you do?”

We both glanced at Teniell pointedly. She raised her hands in defense.

“You can do whatever you want,” she said. “I trust you to take care of Finn, Calla. If you want, why don’t you walk around the neighborhood or something? You two would have a lot of fun with that! Or you can go into town and get something to eat. It doesn’t matter to me. I’ll probably go in the house and see what Rillia’s doing.”

I laughed and shook my head. “Be warned. She’s job hunting, so she’s a little annoyed and frustrated. Rillia loves you, but she’s not nice when angry.”

Teniell glanced fleetingly at the house. “Oh,” she muttered. “Maybe I should try to help her. I have more resources in Hamburg than she does.”

“That would help a lot,” I nodded. “She’s having a rough time.”

Teniell sighed and stuffed her keys into her purse. “You two go have fun,” she said, turning toward my house. “Come back before dark, though!”

“Of course!”

“Oh, and Calla.”

I looked at Teniell as she turned to look at us again.

“What?” I asked.

“Everyone knows that you’re back in town,” she said cryptically. “So watch out for crazy fans.”

“Okay.”

She disappeared into the house.

I glanced down at Finn, who was smiling.

“What would you like to do?” I asked.

Finn shrugged and looked around. “I want candy,” he said randomly. “We don’t have any at home.”

I planted my hand over my chest, shocked. “Then I will take you to the candy shop in the mall, how does that sound?”

Finn nodded, and I went into the house to get my purse and tell Teniell and Rillia where we were going.

/-/-/-/

“Your car is cooler than Mommy’s,” Finn observed as we drove downtown.

I glanced at him in the rearview mirror. He was sitting calmly in his booster seat, glancing around at the buildings we passed.

I smiled at him. “I know,” I said. “But you know what? We’ve had this car longer than your Mommy has had hers.”

“Really?” Finn made an impressed sound. “How long have you had it?”

“For about…six years, I believe.” I patted the dashboard of the electric blue Honda. “Rillia bought it when I was eleven.”

“Cool.” Finn fell silent.

I turned my full attention back to the road as we slowed to a stop at a red light. I took this moment to switch on the radio and turned the volume up. A radio announcer started blabbing on about some big event coming up in Hamburg stadium.

The light turned green and I pressed on the gas. Our Honda inched forward, waiting for a red truck in front of us to start moving.

“Callie,” Finn called in a whining voice.

I smiled to myself. “Yes, honey?”

“I’m hungry.”

I raised my eyebrows. The red truck finally started moving, so I pressed fully on the gas pedal to continue driving forward.

“Did you eat before you left home?” I asked, listening to the radio jockey announce the song coming on.

“No.”

“Oh, honey! I’m sorry! Let’s stop somewhere and get something to eat.” My eyes wandered the streets around us. “Does McDonalds sound good?”

“Yep!” Finn exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

I laughed and switched over to the next lane.

Through the radio speakers, the first strums from a guitar wafted around us. It sounded vaguely familiar, but the exact thought of what it was evaded my mind momentarily.

Until the singing started.

“Die Straßen leer. Ich dreh mich um. Die nacht hat mich verloren.”

I gasped louder than necessary and stared at the radio in disbelief. Bill…Bill…Oh, no. Why were they playing this?

“Callie…Callie, what’s wrong?” Finn called.

A chorus of beeping horns pulled me from my faint shock and I realized I had stopped driving.

“Dammit,” I muttered, pushing my car back to life.

The rest of the car ride to McDonalds was in complete silence, with only Finn asking me a few questions as I focused on the beautiful lyrics floating from the speakers.

The giant, yellow McDonalds sign grew closer as we neared, making me focus a little more on where I was driving instead of what I listening to.

“So, Finn, what do you want?” I asked, glancing at him again in the rearview mirror.

“Cheeseburger, fries, and a Coke!”

“I think I’ll have the same,” I said. “And some chicken nuggets to share?”

I turned the car into the parking lot and stopped it at the drive through speaker box.

The box flickered, filling with static, before I heard a young girl say, “May I take your order?” in German.

I quickly relayed our order to her and she told us to drive to the next window.

Finn was cheering with joy by the time I stopped the car at the next window.

“I love McDonalds,” he chanted, raising his hands in the air.

I leaned my arm outside and sighed, waiting patiently.

Since I didn’t want to eat in the car, we could stop a park and eat. It wasn’t that cold outside and Finn would have loads of fun. I could take him to the park close to the stadium.

I smiled at the thought. That park was where Bill and I spent most of our summer days, laying in the grass, climbing too-tall trees, dancing on the picnic tables…

A car screeched from behind us.

It surprised Finn just as much as it did me. He let out a cry of shock.

I glanced over my shoulder, peering out the back windshield. Just inches behind us sat a sleek, black Aston Martin. The windows were tinted; I couldn’t see the driver or any passengers.

“Whoa,” I whispered. “Someone has more money than they know what to do with.”

Finn craned his neck to see out the back, but failed. He was too short, the back seat much too tall.

I turned back around in my seat, but let my eyes wander up to the rearview mirror just to see if the Aston Martin was still there.

Sick rich people.

Ugh.

The drive through window slid open and a teenaged boy leaned out with our bags.

“Vielen Dank für Sie kommend,” he said as I took the bags from his hands. “Haben Sie einen netten Tag.”

I nodded to him, put the bags in the passenger’s seat, and pulled out of the parking lot, watching the Aston Martin shrink away from my rearview mirror.

/-/-/-/

“I can’t believe it’s still here!” I cried, jogging across the sidewalk. “Finn, do you see that little picnic table over there?”

Finn nodded. “Yes. Callie, slow down, please!”

I dug my heels against the concrete, making myself stop. Finn squeezed my hand, panting.

“Thanks.”

I smiled at him. “Sorry about that. It’s just…I came here with my best friend when I was younger. And that little picnic table over there is special to me.”

Finn giggled cutely. “Then let’s go sit at the table and eat!”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

The two of us jogged at a more reasonable speed to the table. Finn sat on the left side of the table. I placed myself on the right and began sifting through the food. I handed Finn his things.

“Eat up, honey. Then off to the mall and straight to the candy store!”

Finn removed his hamburger from the wrapper and immediately took a giant carnivorous bite out of it. I laughed at his giant appetite, unwrapping my own burger and laying out our fries.

I took our drinks from the cardboard holder and pierced the lids with the bright straws. Finn grabbed his Coke seconds after the straw went in. Finally, I set the chicken nuggets between us and I was ready to eat in peace.

With a sigh, I took a drink of Coke.

Finn looked up curiously from his burger. “Callie, why is this table special?”

Surprised by his question, I breathed at the same time I was taking a drink. The Coke lingering in my mouth sucked down my windpipe and I started sputtering for air, coughing and hacking. I slammed my cup onto the table and pounded my fist onto my thigh.

“Callie!” Finn cried in horror.

I waved my hand around, leaning over the side of the table where I sat. “I’m—fine!” I gasped. “Just—choked—a—little!”

“Breathe!”

“Trying!”

I spat a few times in the grass, my hand clutching at my chest desperately. With the liquid finally broke up in my lungs and I heaved a deep breath into my burning lungs.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m okay now,” I panted, throwing my legs back underneath the picnic table. “Now, what did you ask?”

“Why is this table special?” Finn repeated. He sounded a little apprehensive this time.

“My best friend and I came here a lot when we were younger.” I took a bite of a chicken nugget and chewed without really tasting it. “And…we carved our names into the seat where you’re sitting.”

Finn glanced beside him. “Where?”

I stood up and leaned my torso on the tabletop. “You’re sitting on it,” I told him.

“Oh!” Finn scooted himself to the right.

There it sat. Right where we carved it the day we shared our first kiss. Finn touched it gingerly.

“What does it say?” he asked, tilting his head left and right to get a better view of it.

“It says, ‘Bill Kaulitz and Calla Klein. Forever more.’ I’m surprised it’s still there,” I knew my voice cracked when I said our names, but Finn was too occupied to notice.

Coming to the park was the worst thing I could do for my depression. It was hurting already and I barely even explained anything.

Finn nodded in understanding, though I highly doubt his childlike brain could even begin to stretch to the depths of how much I wish that carving was true.

I looked down at my food and continued eating in silence.

Finn finished his burger rather quickly and started working on his fries. I gave him the rest of the chicken nuggets and half of my burger, having lost my appetite. I sipped on my Coke, blocking out the world around me.

It wasn’t that long after I went into the safety of my fantasy world that Finn said something that caught my attention.

“That car,” he whispered.

I twisted around. “What? What car, Finn?”

“That car from McDonalds.”

“Where?”

“The parking lot.”

My eyebrows knit together as I let my eyes rake across the parking lot.

It was positioned five spaces away from my car.

“What the hell?” I whispered.

Finn jumped up from where he sat and attacked me in a tight hug. “They’re following us.”

For a five year old, he was very insightful and knowing. And he jumped to conclusions just like I did.

“I think you’re right,” I mumbled. “Quick. Help me throw this stuff away. We can hurry to the mall to buy candy.”

I didn’t want to worry him, so I fought the urgency threatening to slip into my voice. I had to be the adult in the situation, even if I still had a year before I was legally so.

Finn and I shoved all our trash into our bags and deposited them in the nearest concrete trashcan. I then proceeded to hoist him up onto my hip and speed walk to my car, where I tossed him in, jumped in the driver’s seat, and was out onto the road in the blink of an eye.

I could only pray that I didn’t see that Aston Martin in the mall parking lot.

It only took fifteen minutes to get to the mall, and Finn was insanely happy as I pulled him out of his car seat and set him on the ground again.

I was happy he could forget about it as easily as that, but I didn’t want to bring it up as we skipped through the sliding doors at the mall’s front entrance.

We skipped and hopped around like maniacs for quite some time, going into a few stores, staring, and then running off repeatedly. Finally we made it to the escalator and jumped on.

“Where’s the candy store?” Finn yawned.

I ruffled his hair. “It’s just upstairs. Only a few moments away.”

Finn and I stepped off the escalator at the top and joined hands again. We passed a shoe store, which I glanced in just because, and a cookie store before a bright sign reading “Candy Shoppe” appeared above our heads.

We both turned ourselves inside.

It smelled sweet, like jawbreakers, lollipops, cotton candy, and various types of bubble gum and jelly beans.

My sweet tooth piqued with interest.

Finn led me over to a display full of lollipops. “Wow,” he gasped.

“That’s one heck of a lollipop,” I agreed, nodding.

He pointed to a rainbow colored one. “Let’s get that.”

“One for you and one for me?”

“Mhm.”

“What are you those?”

“Jawbreakers.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Oh, they are!” I grabbed a bag of tiny round white spheres that were splattered with many others colors.

Finn pointed at a strange invention called rock candy, which was merely oversized sugar crystals infused with different flavors. I didn’t mean to say it out loud, but when I did Finn gave me a confused look before crying, “It’s candy!”

“Yes, it’s candy, Finn. What colors do you want?” I asked, staring at the variety of flavors.

He immediately named off his favorites. “Red and blue.”

I grabbed those two as well as clear and pink.

“I think we have enough for one trip, Finn,” I sighed. “Are you ready to go home?”

“Yes.” Finn stifled a yawn with his little hand. I smiled softly and hoisted him up onto my hip as I sauntered over to check out. I laid out all our confections in front of the cashier and smiled in greeting.

She began swiping our things under the red laser. I patted Finn’s back and rocked him slowly, rhythmically.

I listened to the beep coming from the cash register and Finn’s slow, even breathing.

As we stood there, a man wearing a black hat, sunglasses, and a black hoodie came inside. He positioned himself beside me.

“Hello,” he greeted.

I smiled kindly. “Hello.” I quickly noted that his face was barely visible through the obstructions.

He nodded to Finn. “Cute kid.”

“Thank you,” I responded.

“Fräulein, das ist 14.50.”

“Ah.” I reached to grab my wallet, but the man was already pulling his money out.

“Let me pay for this.” He handed over his money.

The cashier put our bag of candy on the counter. I told the guy thank you and hurried away.

Rillia and Teniell would get one hell of a laugh out of this.

Stalked by an Aston Martin, harassed by a nice, faceless guy.

Yes.

Just another day in the life of Calla Klein.