Callie wanted to lick her lips, as she did whenever she got nervous. She'd put on strawberry chapstick just minutes before so she had to be careful. If she licked them she'd lick the chapstick off and she didn't think she'd be able to reapply without being obvious about it. Instead, she clenched her fists and let her nails dig into her palms. Thinking of them suddenly made her conscious of the fact that her nails were bare. She had been in such a rush that there hadn't been time for everything she wanted. It was only dumb luck that she'd still had chapstick in her backpack. In July.
She bent over to check herself in her driver's side mirror one last time out of sheer nervousness. Her wavy black hair still looked right, with a big curl that washed over her forehead and covered half of her face; a carefully orchestrated mess, with exactly the right number of strands providing cover. She had on her best black bra, and it was doing its darndest to give the impression of something she normally didn't have a whole lot of. She'd pulled off a specific kind of casual that only looked casual at first glance, and that had taken a lot of frantic effort mostly while driving.
It was unlike her to be so flustered and off balance, but the stakes were sky high.
It was day twenty-seven of a brutal heat wave and Callie was tempted to sip from her water bottle, but again she held off. There were numerous trees along the concrete walkway between her car and the front door, and the slight breeze was just strong enough to take the edge off. Her white tee clung to her skin, and she regretted having brought the light flannel shirt even if it was only tied around her waist. She hoped that her skinny black jeans and low chucks made the right impression.
The door opened as she was just taking the first step up to the porch, and her stomach leaped directly into her throat.
"
Callie,
" Echo cried, as she jumped out.
"Hey," was all Callie managed before the redhead barrelled into her.
"I know it's only been a couple weeks, but it felt like a lot more!"
"Yeah." After a moment she returned the hug, and her eyes drifted closed. "A lot more."
"I've missed you!"
"Missed you too," Callie murmured. That hug seemed to stretch on forever. She tucked her head into Echo's shoulder, burying her face in red locks, and was surrounded by the smell of her. It was intoxicating.
For a moment.
"Hey Callie," came a flat voice from the door.
Callie's eyes narrowed as she looked up, and the intoxicating high all but vanished. A tall boy in a gray t-shirt, handsome in his way, leaned against the door and gave an unamused smirk.
"Hey Trevor," she said, her calm voice belying the unrest within.
"Come on in," Echo said eagerly. "God, you smell like strawberries. I love strawberries!"
I know,
Callie thought bitterly, and she finally gave in to the urge to lick her lips.
God, I'm so stupid.
Trevor held the door for both of them, but it felt like his gaze held a bit more contempt when she passed by.
"When you said you'd be right over," Echo laughed, "you weren't kidding!"
Callie laughed too, and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair. "Yeah," she added belatedly. Her confidence teetered on the brink. "Well... I was nearby." That was a lie, but she didn't think that there was any way either of them would call her on it. "It's just nice to be in out of the heat."
"Hey," Trevor said. "Do you have any on you?"
"Trev!" Echo gave him a meaningful look and cocked her head. "Come on! Can you, like, give it a minute? She just walked in the door!"
"We've got shit to plan," he said, unimpressed. "Better to be upfront about it just in case."
"I... don't," Callie said, shrinking in on herself. "I'm sorry. I don't really sell anymore."
Trevor cursed and rolled his eyes. Echo looked embarrassed.
"I still have my contact though," she said, reluctantly. "How much do you need?"
"Whatever three hundred will get us."
Callie was pretty sure she did a bad job of hiding her surprise. "Oh. Wow."
"It's not all for us," Echo added quickly. "We came over here to see if my parents had any, and they didn't. When I told them I was going to try to buy from you, they asked me to get some for them too." Then she smiled, and Callie's world got a little bit brighter. "They said to say hi."
"Are they here?" she asked, but Echo shook her head.
"They were on their way out when we got here."
When we got here
, Callie repeated in her head, putting two and two together.
They arrived together, and they probably spent the night together someplace else. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
As if sensing Callie's discomfort, Echo gently pulled her toward the couch and sat down with a big smile. "How've you been?"
"Fine," she said, emotionlessly. She was uncomfortably aware of Trevor's eyes on her, so she pulled out her phone. "I'm texting my friend, okay? Probably won't take long."
"Come on," Echo urged. "You've gotta give me more than that. How did your finals go?"
She shrugged and stared back at her friend. "Mostly A's."
"That's great!"
"Yeah." She bit her lip for a moment. "Seemed like once I got some of my
priorities
sorted out, it wasn't so bad. I wish I'd started in the fall, at the same time you did, but still. Better late than never. I want to get out of community college though. Started thinking about transferring in a semester or two." Then she trailed off and looked down. "You know, somewhere else, but we'll see. Gotta keep my grades up first."
"Ohh!" Echo squealed. "If you got into A&M, we could get an apartment off campus together!"
"Yeah," she said, smiling but staring down absently. "Maybe."
"We used to talk about living together all the time," Echo said, leaning back so she could fill Trevor in. "We'd make up all these crazy floor plans. We had a special room set aside for our crowns, one just for kissing boys, and one that was supposed to look like a completely normal living room to hide the trap door that went down—"
"The special kitchen just for snacks," said Callie , nodding. "Yeah."
Trevor's voice came from the kitchen as he opened the fridge. "How many boys are
you
planning to kiss, Callie?"
"Hey," Echo said defensively. "Come on. We made those plans when we were, like, ten."
"I'm just saying," he said, holding up his hands in innocence. Both hands held beer bottles. "Plus, didn't you know you were a lesbian in, like, third grade?"
Callie wanted to melt into the sofa and disappear, but neither of them seemed to notice her shrinking.
"You can be a real jerk, you know that? And no, I don't want one. It's like ten in the morning!"
"They're both for me," he said with a smirk, as he headed for the back porch.
She waited for the doors to slide shut before saying, "Asshole. Sorry about that."
"It's okay," Callie said softly. "So you two are back together?"
"No," Echo answered quickly, though she looked away when she did. "Not really."
She laughed bitterly, but tried to keep the bite out of it. "What does
not really
mean?"
"I don't know. It's complicated." She wrapped her arms around her middle and leaned back into the couch, sinking into the plush cushions as she did. "We've been spending a lot of time together now that we're both back for the summer, but I
know
