Freaks and Fortune

"Eighteen."

I was asleep. Wonderful, golden slumber... Warm blankets, so soft that I was almost willing to bet that magic was woven into them.

"Eighteen."

No, no, no... Someone was talking. I could now distinctly see slots of red light through my eyelids. I tried to sink back down into my bed, but the sound came again.

"Eighteen."
"Shut up, Cal, you idiot!" Aqua yelled, always the first to result to verbal abuse when beauty rest was threatened.
"Sorry."

I gradually allowed my eyes to open. I was curled up upon myself, my nose pointing toward Cal and his hammock. If it weren't for the small slot of early morning sun fighting to beat through our window, I would have never seen Cal's lips - half-hidden in shadow - silently mouthing the words to a familiar song.

"Happy birthday to you," his lips formed. "Happy birthday to you..."

He didn't betray himself with a whisper or a hiss of breath. His lips barely touched together as they sang, so as not to smack when they met.

"Happy birthday to Cal. Happy birthday to you."

He rolled over on his hammock. I could see the diamond-patterned imprint, left from the netting, on his bare shoulders; not covered by his navy tank top.

It was midday before I was able to pull Cal into the dark depths of Tent C, between both of our shifts. The cool air greeted us pleasantly. Cal's bright smile was visible in the dim light... But he had an entirely different ideas in his mind.

"You look very-"

I never found out how I looked that day. I silenced him with a blazing look and he blanched.

"What? What did I do?"

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Calvin Orion-"
"Oh no, the full name," he groaned. "Something bad..."
"Why didn't you tell anyone that today was your birthday?"
Cal blanched, apparently very surprised that I'd found out.

"What - What? I didn't... How did you...?"
"This morning..." I began, but trailed off when he winced in embarrassment.

"I didn't want anyone making a big thing of it," he said. "So... Kindly keep it on the quiet, yeah?"
"But, Cal-"
"It's not exactly a celebration for me, babe. My dad wasn't even there when I was born. It's just... You know. Another day."

I didn't want to drop the subject, but I could see that Cal was uncomfortable.

I scowled. "You confuse me sometimes, Cal."
"I'm sorry," he said, suddenly full of playful giddiness. "I could try to use smaller words? Would that help?"
"Oh, shut up!" I laughed, pushing his shoulder.

He tried to take a bite at my nose, but I squirmed away from him. He faked left, but then caught me going right, wrapping his arms around my waist and holding me very, very close.

"Because you're obviously interested in my dazzling intellect and biting wit," he deadpanned, tickling the back of my neck and ignoring my squealing laughs/cries of protest. "You know, instead of my looks or god-like body..."

And I suddenly realized that I could feel his breath on my lips, making my stomach feel a little dizzy. Cal's eyes were very focused, for some reason, on my left eyebrow. He stared at it as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.

Then he got colder.

"Sort of takes the spontaneity out of a kiss, doesn't it?" I teased.
"Shut up," he muttered, a small smile coiling around his mouth. "Let me concentrate."
"Okay, okay," I sighed. "So you won't mind if I stand in the corner and shimmy a little?"
"Ivy."
"Sorry."

He readjusted his hands, curling his fingers into his palms to warm them. It felt odd being held with fists. At least he was confident enough to hold me, I guess. But when Cal's eyes fluttered close, I couldn't help but smile. It was enough that he was trying. It was more than enough. More than I felt I deserved.

I shocked him with a small kiss, taking his bottom lip softly between my own.

He jerked back and made a sound as if I'd just stepped on his foot.

"I wasn't done..."
"Well, stop," I instructed. "You're already too cold."
"Really?" He paused, looking pleased with himself. "I'm getting better at this!"
"Yeah, yeah," I huffed. "Hurry. You feel like a dead body."
He closed his eyes. "Better?"

I stood on my tip toes and kissed him, shuffling forward until his back bumped against the wall. He seemed to suddenly make his mind up about something. He sighed and turned his head, looking at his feet.

"I got you a present," he said after a while.
I rolled my eyes. "You got me a present for your birthday?"
"No!" he insisted, looking pouty. "It's not for anybody's birthday. It's just for -- For you."

"Okay...?"
He smiled. "Say: What's the occasion, Cal?" he instructed, putting on a high girly voice.
"I don't sound like that."
"Say it!"
I snorted in laughter. "What's the occasion, Cal?"
He gave an accomplished smile. "For the occasion that you're pretty."

He dug around in his pocket, still smiling and ignoring me when I smacked his shoulder and called him a cheeseball. After a while, I figured he either didn't really have a present for me, or that he'd found it already and was still trying to work up the nerve to give it to me.

"Uh..." he muttered. "Before... Before..."
I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Before I give you this... Just know that I'm not, you know, asking for you to marry me. Or... anything."
"Cal?"
"It's not - not... It's... Here." He held out his hand, palm flat out, and then turned away slightly.

I was in awe.

It was a ring with a flawlessly cut stone in the middle. Not a diamond or an emerald... But a stone that I couldn't name. In awe, I picked it from his palm and held it up to my eye. It was a glassy red color, slightly opaque. Orange and blue undertones shone through in the sunlight. A solid black obsidian-like crumble of stone sat in the middle.

Cal sneaked a small look at my face. He seemed to be sickened by what he saw.

"Sorry," he said, quickly plucking the ring from me and wrapping his fingers around it. "Shouldn't have... Don't know why I.."
"Cal."
"You're angry... I should have known that you'd-
"Cal."
"I must look like a jerk. Let's pretend this-"
"Cal!"
"What?"
"Give it back!" I cried, almost laughing.

He looked like I'd slapped him. Slowly, he brought the ring back out.

"You're hopeless," I scoffed, fighting the urge to roll my eyes.
"You like it?" he asked tonelessly.
"I love it!" I told him earnestly, slipping the ring on my finger and secretly admiring how it fit perfectly. "Idiot..." I added under my breath.

"Ivy?"
"Hm?"
"That was my mom's."

I tried to ignore the prickling feeling in my eyes and stomach.

"Thank you."
"It looks like fire," he commented. "I..."
"Yeah," I whispered. "It looks sort of real."

And when he smiled lightly and kissed my forehead, something happened.

It was as if a great weight had been lifted from both of our shoulders and we were suddenly able to breathe. Cal's eyes were startled and pleased.

There was no big climactic moment. There was no profession of love or proposals of lives spent together. There was no wildly flailing limbs and fast breaths of passion.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. Cal suddenly caught sight of my tiny crystalline watch and muttered a rude word.

"I've got a show to do in five minutes," he moaned. "And they're going to want to put me in the black pants again."

Cal hated the black pants.

"I hate the black pants."
"Sorry, fireboy," I teased, pretending to be sad. "Would you like me to play you a song on the worlds smallest violin?" I proceeded to rub my thumb and first finger together and hum a mournful tune.
"Ha, ha," he said dryly, rolling his eyes.

He kissed my cheek and then ran out of the tent.

And then I realized what had happened... I was finally able to put my finger on what that lifted weight had been. It had been a barrier. It had been Cal's fear, my impatience. It had been apprehension and cautiousness and our distance. We were close now. Closer to each other than we had each ever been to anyone else before.

The barrier had dissolved and there was a connection in it's place.

And something told me that this connection was something that was not meant to be broken. No, stronger than that. This connection couldn't be broken.

"Forgot something."

Cal was back.

"What?" I asked, looking around the floor for his jacket.

He raced toward me, a smile gripping his face with a force that I'd never seen in him before. He wrapped his arms around my waist and swung me around, my feet feeling eerily weightless as they spun through the air.

I laughed uncontrollably, and then sighed unconsciously. That made Cal laugh and he caught my eye as put me down, my head spinning so fast that I didn't even have time to say something witty or teasing before he kissed me. Soft and sweet, like a lemon-flavored sno-cone melting on your tongue on a hot day.

And the whole ordeal perfectly described Cal himself. Dizzy. Sweet. Slightly warmer than average, but in a good way. The way that made you feel pleasantly sleepy and comforted.

That was Cal.

My Cal.

the end